-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Re: Free, open source map publishing tool - gdal2tiles
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 13:46:09 -0000
From: Fleet, Christopher <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Matt, Nicholas,
Many thanks for your replies on this post, which have been very useful
and instructive for me. I hope that my colleague, Klokan Petr Pridal,
will reply properly to the technical issues you raise.
I just wanted to say (before this discussion develops any further into a
"map library bashing" missive!), that my original posting was trying to
promote the freer display of map library images, and at least had a few
URLs of map images being made available in a non-proprietary, open way!
In the case of my own library, I grant that we have also used the
proprietary MrSID format for nearly a decade now for displaying several
thousand historical maps, as it has continued to be one of the cheapest,
effective methods of allowing zoomable access to map images, but I know
that there are a growing range of technical alternatives.
As aired on this list and elsewhere, there are often a number of
institutional (economic and political) requirements that prevent map
libraries from allowing free downloads of mapping, as well as technical
limitations. Programs such as gdal2tiles are one means of reducing the
latter problem, and I was keen to share these possibilities and discover
related work.
Chris Fleet
Deputy Map Curator
National Library of Scotland
33 Salisbury Place
EDINBURGH
EH9 1SL
United Kingdom.
Tel. 0131 623 3973
Fax. 0131 623 3971
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
View maps website: http://www.nls.uk/maps
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maps-L
Sent: 06 November 2007 19:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Free, open source map publishing tool - gdal2tiles
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Free, open source map publishing tool - gdal2tiles
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 11:22:48 -0800
From: Matt Fox <[log in to unmask]>
To: 'Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum'
<[log in to unmask]>
Sorry for the confusion, we're talking apples and oranges here. Of
course
GeoTiffs, SHP files, etc. will always have their place as the primary
data
format and Google Earth is certainly not intended to replace a high end
dedicated GIS system. But a SHP file, or 100 megabyte IMG file is of no
use
when you're trying to provide access to the data for the general public.
I
was simply trying to show that KML can provide an easy and inexpensive
alternative to some of the proprietary formats (Zoomify, LizardTech
ExpressView, etc.) that many map libraries have latched on to.
I definitely agree with you that map libraries should provide their
scanned
maps in a standard format. Unfortunately very few do. The majority
only
provide access to their maps via a web browser plugin which doesn't even
allow for the actual scan to be downloaded.
Matt Fox
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maps-L
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 10:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Free, open source map publishing tool - gdal2tiles
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Free, open source map publishing tool - gdal2tiles
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:37:51 -0000
From: Nicholas Verge <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum
<[log in to unmask]>
Matt wrote
>
> KML is quickly becoming a primary standard for distribution of
geographic
> content on the internet.
May be for mashers. But hardly any professional in the GI and remote
sensing industry uses KML for this purpose. It is simply not suitable,
it
has no data attribute or metadata carrying capabiities.
Instead,you would use a file format suited to the data type being
disseminated, perhaps netCDF for arrayed data and imagery. Shape files
for
drawings. Geotiffs, or .img for uncompressed imagery, or .ecw or jp2
(but
not .sid!) for compressed imagery.
Google has even submitted KML to the Open
> Geospatial Consortium. Google Earth is simply a KML viewer and is
> certainly
> not the only program capable of displaying KML files. NASA's World
Wind
> (public domain) is just one example of another program that can view
KML
> (although limited right now). Even Microsoft Virtual Earth is
starting
> to
> add KML viewing to its list of features. In the next few years, we
will
> see
> many other 3rd party applications (web browser plugins, etc.) that can
> view
> KML. Also, don't forget that Google generates advertising revenue
> simply by
> listing a link to a website in its database.
Exactly. Google Earth is gee-whiz but otherwise rather limited piece of
technology that is a means to attract people to a place where Google
displays advertising. Google Earth is a like a museum (perhaps art
gallery
is a better anology) where you can go and look, but you cannot do much
more than look. The general public like it for this reason, but for most
in the GI industry this is not what is wanted. They want to be able to
query, manipulate, take out of context, and combine with other
information, the information displayed on GE.
>
> Another advantage of KML is that data created and hosted by many
> different
> institutions can all be integrated together seemlessly. Try doing
that
> with
> all the proprietary web-browser plugins that most map libraries are
now
> using.
Map libraries should be providing their scanned maps in standard image
file formats.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Nicholas J. Verge BSc. FGS
> Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK
>
> Geologist
>
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholas J. Verge BSc. FGS
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK
Geologist, amateur meteorologist & stormchaser
Member of European Storm Forecast Experiment (ESTOFEX)
http://www.estofex.org/
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