[GRASS-dev] GDAL write support

Glynn Clements glynn at gclements.plus.com
Sun Dec 7 07:46:31 EST 2008


Markus Neteler wrote:

> > The feature is enabled with r.external.out,
> 
> Small suggestion: Perhaps rename to
>  r.in.external
>  r.out.external

I'm a bit unsure about naming. In particular, they aren't especially
symmetrical. r.external makes a specific existing GDAL dataset appear
as GRASS map, while r.external.out is a global switch.

[Having to "pre-link" output maps before each command would have been
a nuisance to use.]

r.external was chosen for equivalence with v.external. r.external.out
was chosen because I couldn't really think of a better name.

My main goal with this is with regard to making incompatible changes
to the raster format (e.g. storing all files for a map in a single
directory, as with vectors). If maps can be read via GDAL, and GDAL
includes support for the legacy GRASS formats, it wouldn't be
necessary to natively support both the old and new formats
simultaneously.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>


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