Jason,
Jason Roberts wrote:
Peter,
are you constrained to retaining your data in an ArcGIS compatible format?
We are attempting to build tools that can work with data stored in a variety
of formats. Our current user community uses mostly shapefiles, ArcGIS
personal geodatabases, and ArcGIS file geodatabases. Many of them are
ecologists who do not have the interest or skills to deploy a real DBMS
system. Thus we are hoping to provide tools that can work without one. This
is one reason I was exploring how embeddable PostGIS and SpatiaLite might be
in the other fork of this thread.
I wonder how many users are aware that ESRI have announced the file geodatabase
as replacing the (Access) personal geodatabase? They have not, as yet,
announced a cut off for this format, but its many limitations as a result of
Access capabilities may make this sooner rather than later.
Until the File
Geodatabase format is published (later this year?) and someone has the
effort to
build an OGR interface, the DBMS route is probably the best route to
compatibility.
It would be really great for that to happen, but I'm not holding my breath.
If it does get published, I would seriously contemplate building an OGR
driver.
ESRI announced publication would be alongside the release of ArcGIS 9.4 at the
EMEA User Conference in November 2008 (London). They said that they see the
file geodatabase replacing both the personal geodatabase and shapefiles. I
believe 9.4 to currently be in beta test.
I have contemplated building an ArcObjects- or arcgisscripting-based driver.
This would at least allow people who have ArcGIS to use OGR to access any
ArcGIS layer, including those created by ArcGIS's tools for joining
arbitrary layers, etc. That would handle file geodatabases, as well as ALL
formats accessible from ArcGIS. If such a driver existed, then we could use
OGR as the base interface inside our application. But creating such a driver
would be a lot of work and have funky dependencies because it either needs
to use Windows COM (for ArcObjects) or Python (for arcgisscripting) to call
the ArcGIS APIs. I am certainly capable of implementing it but because most
of our code is in Python, it is probably easier for me to wrap OGR and
arcgisscripting behind a common abstraction, and then have our tools work
against that abstraction rather than OGR directly.
GDAL, including OGR, is actually embedded in ArcGIS: however I do not know quite
what ESRI use it for.
At any rate, I'm sure it is nice being able to do all your work in a
spatially-enabled DBMS...
Also an attraction of PostGres, of course.
Best wishes,
Peter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter J Halls, GIS Advisor, University of York
Telephone: 01904 433806 Fax: 01904 433740
Snail mail: Computing Service, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD
This message has the status of a private and personal communication
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
gdal-dev mailing list
gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/gdal-dev
