[Java-collab] Simple Text Exchange Format

[Paul Austin]

Landon,

There weren't any "links" in the email. They are all just namespaceUri's 
which happen to be URLs and don't actually have a web site associated 
with them. It's just that the email clients make them into links.

Paul

Sunburned Surveyor wrote:
> Paul,
>
> I didn't get any of your hyperlinks to work.
>
> Landon
>
> On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Paul Austin <mail-lists at revolsys.com> wrote:
>   
>> All,
>>
>> I saw in one of the other posts there was a discussion of binary format to
>> replace shape files quick random access to data. Someone suggested using an
>> embedded database such as H2 with a spatial extension. I think that using a
>> database is a much better way to go for this kind of access. Otherwise if we
>> come up with our own binary format we'll need to deal with all the issues
>> such as storage management and indexing that databases already do for us.
>>
>> I do however think that we need a simple format for exchange of data.
>> Exchanging data may be via files or via a web service. GML in my view is
>> very verbose and complex to read and write and does not include an embedded
>> schema.
>>
>> I have been working on a CSV derivative which I'm calling Enhanced-CSV.
>> Basically it's a CSV file where the format is strict about placement of
>> commas and use of "". It also has two header sections. The first section is
>> a list of properties about the file, such as type name, projection, author
>> and a list of which attribute headers will follow. The next header is the
>> attribute header (schema). There can be multiple attribute headers including
>> the name,type, length, precision, required flag of the attribute. There is
>> one entry for each data column (attribute). Finally there is the data
>> section which is just all your rows of data encoded as CSV. Geometries are
>> encoded as WKT
>>
>> Below is a sample of a ECSV file with the three sections.
>>
>> {http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}typeName,QName,{GFT}GFT_CAPTURE_METHOD_CODE
>> {http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}srid,QName,{http://epsg.org}3005
>> {http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeHeaderTypes,list,"{http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeName,{http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeType,{http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeLength,{http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeScale,{http://ns.ecsv.org/ecsv}attributeRequired"
>>
>> CAPTURE_METHOD_CODE_ID,CODE_VALUE,WHO_CREATED,WHEN_CREATED
>> integer,string,string,dateTime
>> 3,255,255,2147483647
>> 0,0,0,0
>> false,false,false,false
>>
>> 1,Photogrammetric,PROXY_GFT,2008-05-26T00:00:00
>> 2,Differential Gps,PROXY_GFT,2008-05-26T00:00:00
>> 3,Tablet Digitizing,PROXY_GFT,2008-05-26T00:00:00
>>
>>
>> I'm working on a specification for this format and hopefully should have a
>> draft up in the next month or so. I have developed a reader and writer and a
>> JUMP plug-in which I'll make available when I've finalized the
>> specification.
>>
>> Is this something that would interest any one else?
>>
>> Paul
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>>
>>