diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f0870e8..e7e702c 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ ENV PG_APP_HOME="/etc/docker-postgresql"\
     PG_HOME=/var/lib/postgresql \
     PG_RUNDIR=/run/postgresql \
     PG_LOGDIR=/var/log/postgresql \
-    PG_CERTDIR=/etc/postgresql/certs
+    PG_CERTDIR=/etc/postgresql/certs \
+    PG_POSTGIS_VERSION=2.1
 
 ENV PG_BINDIR=/usr/lib/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/bin \
     PG_DATADIR=${PG_HOME}/${PG_VERSION}/main
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ ENV PG_BINDIR=/usr/lib/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/bin \
 RUN wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | apt-key add - \
  && echo 'deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ trusty-pgdg main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list \
  && apt-get update \
- && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y postgresql-${PG_VERSION} postgresql-client-${PG_VERSION} postgresql-contrib-${PG_VERSION} \
+ && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y postgresql-${PG_VERSION} postgresql-client-${PG_VERSION} postgresql-contrib-${PG_VERSION} postgresql-${PG_VERSION}-postgis-${PG_POSTGIS_VERSION} postgresql-${PG_VERSION}-postgis-${PG_POSTGIS_VERSION}-scripts \
  && ln -sf ${PG_DATADIR}/postgresql.conf /etc/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/main/postgresql.conf \
  && ln -sf ${PG_DATADIR}/pg_hba.conf /etc/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/main/pg_hba.conf \
  && ln -sf ${PG_DATADIR}/pg_ident.conf /etc/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/main/pg_ident.conf \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4cf2e63..41e8e2b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   - [Creating database user](#creating-database-user)
   - [Creating databases](#creating-databases)
   - [Enabling unaccent extension](#enabling-unaccent-extension)
+  - [Enabling PostGIS extension](#enabling-postgis-extension)
   - [Granting user access to a database](#granting-user-access-to-a-database)
   - [Creating replication user](#creating-replication-user)
   - [Setting up a replication cluster](#setting-up-a-replication-cluster)
@@ -180,9 +181,21 @@ docker run --name postgresql -itd \
   --env 'DB_NAME=dbname' --env 'DB_UNACCENT=true' \
   sameersbn/postgresql:9.4-11
 ```
-
 *By default the unaccent extension is disabled*
 
+# Enabling PostGIS extension
+
+PostGIS is spatial extension to PostgreSQL.
+
+You can enable the PostGIS extension on database(s) by specifying `DB_POSTGIS=true`. For example, the following command enables the unaccent extension for the `dbname` database.
+
+```bash
+docker run --name postgresql -itd \
+  --env 'DB_NAME=dbname' --env 'DB_POSTGIS=true' \
+  sameersbn/postgresql:9.4-11
+```
+*By default the PostGIS extension is disabled*
+
 ## Granting user access to a database
 
 If the `DB_USER` and `DB_PASS` variables are specified along with the `DB_NAME` variable, then the user specified in `DB_USER` will be granted access to all the databases listed in `DB_NAME`. Note that if the user and/or databases do not exist, they will be created.
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index f36be50..fafb501 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.4-11
+9.4-12-snapshot
diff --git a/runtime/env-defaults b/runtime/env-defaults
index 17e374b..84f5efe 100644
--- a/runtime/env-defaults
+++ b/runtime/env-defaults
@@ -18,3 +18,7 @@ DB_USER=${DB_USER:-}
 DB_PASS=${DB_PASS:-}
 
 DB_UNACCENT=${DB_UNACCENT:-false}
+
+DB_POSTGIS=${DB_POSTGIS:-false}
+DB_POSTGIS_HSTORE=${DB_POSTGIS_HSTORE:-true}
+DB_POSTGIS_TOPOLOGY=${DB_POSTGIS_TOPOLOGY:-true}
diff --git a/runtime/functions b/runtime/functions
index 128b535..250a7ff 100755
--- a/runtime/functions
+++ b/runtime/functions
@@ -308,8 +308,31 @@ create_database() {
         echo -n "Creating database(s): "
         for database in $(awk -F',' '{for (i = 1 ; i <= NF ; i++) print $i}' <<< "${DB_NAME}"); do
           echo -n "${database} "
-          echo "CREATE DATABASE \"${database}\";" | \
-            exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single -D ${PG_DATADIR} >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+          if [[ ${DB_POSTGIS} == true ]]; then
+
+              echo "CREATE DATABASE template_postgis WITH ENCODING = 'UTF8' TEMPLATE = template0;" | \
+                  exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single -D ${PG_DATADIR} >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+              echo "UPDATE pg_database SET datistemplate = TRUE WHERE datname = 'template_postgis';" | \
+                  exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single -D ${PG_DATADIR} >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+              # because we can't create extensions in single-user mode, we will just read the SQL code for PostGIS
+              PG_POSTGIS_HOME=/usr/share/postgresql/${PG_VERSION}/contrib/postgis-${PG_POSTGIS_VERSION}
+              exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single template_postgis -D ${PG_DATADIR} -j \
+                               < ${PG_POSTGIS_HOME}/postgis.sql >/dev/null 2>&1
+              exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single template_postgis -D ${PG_DATADIR} -j \
+                               < ${PG_POSTGIS_HOME}/topology.sql >/dev/null 2>&1
+              exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single template_postgis -D ${PG_DATADIR} -j \
+                               < ${PG_POSTGIS_HOME}/spatial_ref_sys.sql >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+              # create PostGIS database
+              echo "CREATE DATABASE \"${database}\" WITH TEMPLATE = template_postgis;" | \
+                  exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single -D ${PG_DATADIR} >/dev/null 2>&1
+          else
+              echo "CREATE DATABASE \"${database}\";" | \
+                  exec_as_postgres ${PG_BINDIR}/postgres --single -D ${PG_DATADIR} >/dev/null 2>&1
+          fi
 
           if [[ ${DB_UNACCENT} == true ]]; then
             echo "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS unaccent;" | \