Postgres is an open source object-relational database management system that is available across many platforms. It has a large global community of developers and companies. Postgres began as the Post-Ingres project in the 1980s and was renamed PostgreSQL in 1996 to reflect its support for SQL. It offers advantages like being free, open source, highly reliable, scalable, and extensible. PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to Postgres, allowing it to process spatial data types. pgRouting provides routing functionality on PostGIS databases. The document provides instructions for installing Postgres, PostGIS, and related tools.