[Gdal-dev] Arc Binary Coverages

[Craig Miller]

 I'm not sure about librarian, but image catalog data is stored in the info
database.  Infolib allows you to work with info databases directly and has
been around since around 1990.  I'm not sure of the status of it these days
though.

--Craig


-----Original Message-----
From: Ari Jolma [mailto:ari.jolma at tkk.fi] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 11:43 PM
To: Craig Miller
Cc: 'Matthew Perry'; 'Gdal-Dev'
Subject: Re: [Gdal-dev] Arc Binary Coverages

Seems like the obvious solution is to write a new driver: "Arc/Info Binary
Coverage B"?

I have very little experience with a/i binary coverages. Is there any way
(even non-ogr but non a/i) to read librarian and image catalog data now?

Ari

Craig Miller kirjoitti:

>Matt,
>
>A coverage contains one data layer, along with different types of topology.
>These would all continue to be accessible if the Workspace was 
>considered the datasource.  They would all have the same name, but a 
>different type attribute.  Perhaps we would have to append something to 
>the coverage name to make it clear since OGIS (and as a result OGR) 
>doesn't support as many types as the Arc Coverage model, but rather 
>maps some of the types to a simple feature.  A name such as <layer> 
><type> would work.  For example, "Streams (ARC)".  This appears to be 
>more intuitive, informative, unique, and closer to the true name of the
coverage that always using "ARC".
>
>The workspace is also where the attribute database is stored and it 
>contains information such as Librarian data and Image Catalog data.  
>Right now, there is no way to add support for Librarian to the driver 
>(which is actually where I started looking at this).
>
>I was thinking that regions will continue to be supported with a name 
>such as <layername> - <region> <type>.  For example "Streams - 
>Lake_Wenatchee_Basin (region)"
>
>I'm still pretty confident that the two data models map perfectly onto 
>each other with exception to the fact that OGIS/OGR have smaller set of 
>supported layer types.  Naming conventions seems like an easy way to 
>work around this and still preserve the simple features nature of the OGR
library.
>
>--Craig
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Matthew Perry [mailto:perrygeo at gmail.com]
>Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 2:52 PM
>To: Craig Miller
>Cc: Gdal-Dev
>Subject: Re: [Gdal-dev] Arc Binary Coverages
>
>Craig,
>
>  There are good reasons to treat the coverage, rather than the 
>workspace, as the dataset. The biggest reason is that a coverage 
>contains multiple data layers (tics,lines, centroids, polygons or 
>points, etc). In addition ArcInfo's regions data model allows you to 
>store many spatially-related layers within a single coverage.
>
>If the workspace were the dataset and the coverage were the layer, 
>there would be no way to get at the region layers (or tics, or any of 
>the other supporting spatial data) within the coverage.
>
>I happen to work with regions occasionally so I'm very thankful for the 
>way OGR handles ArcInfo Coverages! ;-)
>
>matt
>
>On 11/14/05, Craig Miller <craig.miller at spatialminds.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>
>>Is there a reason why the Arc Binary Coverage driver uses the Coverage 
>>directory instead of the Workspace that is traditionally used in Arc/Info?
>>
>>
>>
>>E.g. I would have expected to pass a directory to the workspace like 
>>/data/county and receive back a list of coverages in that workspace 
>>such
>>    
>>
>as:
>  
>
>>
>>Lakes - Type:Polygon
>>
>>Lakes - Type:Point (Polygon Labels)
>>
>>Lakes - Type:Linestring (Polygon boundary with line topology built)
>>
>>Roads - Type:Linestring
>>
>>Etc.
>>
>>
>>
>>Instead it asks for a path to the coverage /data/county/lakes and 
>>returns layers named things such as ARC.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Gdal-dev mailing list
>>Gdal-dev at lists.maptools.org
>>http://lists.maptools.org/mailman/listinfo/gdal-dev
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>
>--
>Matt Perry
>perrygeo at gmail.com
>http://www.perrygeo.net
>
>
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>Gdal-dev mailing list
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>  
>


--
Prof. Ari Jolma
Kartografia ja Geoinformatiikka / Cartography and Geoinformatics Teknillinen
Korkeakoulu / Helsinki University of Technology POBox 1200, 02015 TKK,
Finland
Email: ari.jolma at tkk.fi URL: http://www.tkk.fi/~jolma