[Gdal-dev] OT: MrSID vs JPEG2000

[Frank Warmerdam]

Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> 
> Hi gang,
> 
> Just read this note:
> http://www.lizardtech.com/solutions/ms/

Tyler,

It will be interesting to see what effect the LizardTech acquisition of
Mapping Science will have.  However, it is important to keep in mind that
JPEG2000 is an open standard with several implementations of libraries for
the format, and with no company holding patents or other "intellectual
property" that prevents others from using the format.

> And wondered if anyone has any opinions on JPEG 2000.  I've never been 
> satisfied with MrSID format but know little about the JPEG one.  
> What are your thoughts on JPEG going forward?

You might want to skim some material at http://www.remotesensing.org/jpeg2000.
My intention is that this should be a neutral meeting place for folks interested
in jpeg2000 for geospatial applications.

My perception is that MrSID and JPEG2000 offer similar features for the
geospatial marketplace.  The MrSID format and tools are likely more mature at
this point, but we can hope that JPEG2000 will benefit from this as JPEG2000
support is incorporated into the LizardTech tool chain.   And of course, lots
of other sources of software exist for JPEG2000.

Within GDAL you can build in the commercial Kakadu library for pretty high
performance JPEG2000 support or use the free JasPer library which has poorer
(speed and memory) performance, especially for large images.

I know that there are folks successfully serving imagery in MapServer via
the GDAL/JPEG2000 (kakadu) gateway.  Of course people are doing so successfully
with MrSID as well.

I am not sure in what regard you haven't been satisfied by MrSID.  My perception
is that the technology is good, but that the LizardTech corporate lock on the
technology, and their licensing requirements make me nervous about the format
- especially for long term purposes.

PS. the folks at LizardTech are likely on this list, and are using GDAL for
some purposes, so lets make sure any discussion is polite.  They seem like nice
people, at least at the development level.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent