Database interface for GRASS

[PeterSroufe]

At 09:23 AM 4/15/96 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sat, 13 Apr 1996, Eric Buddington wrote:
>
>> 
>> I've been pondering the multitude of data formats and coordinate systems
>> available, and the difficulty of transformation from one to the other. In
>> writing programs that convert to GRASS format, I've begun to see that a
>> lot of data is lost in the translation. I suspect that this is generally
>> inevitable when one converts between formats. Additionally, GRASS doesn't
>> do very good compression, which is important for low-end (low disk space)
>> systems, like mine.
>
>I believe that the run-length encoding used by GRASS to compress raster 
>files was chosen partly due to the speed at which it can be uncompressed, 
>an important consideration for reading raster layers. I assume that 
>you're not referring to the archiving of GRASS data. I don't doubt that 
>there are better algorithms out there, but RLE has served GRASS pretty 
>well. With the price of disk storage today, I think that processing speed 
>is more of a consideration than storage size. My $.02 :^)
>
>> 
>> How about giving GRASS the ability to access a standard database that
>> could incorporate various kinds of information, and would be extensible as
>> needed? I'd guess that modern database programs are probably well-suited
>> for this sort of thing, as far as dealing with varied data types and
>> sometimes sparse data. If the interface were also standard (perhaps SQL?),
>> it would be portable and able to take advantage of future improvements in
>> database software. Also, we (as GRASS users) wouldn't have to maintain the
>> database code; we'd just need routines to dump existing data into the
>> database.
>
>Check out src.garden/grass.informix. These SQL tools have been ported to 
>one or two other databases by some other folks, as well; other people on 
>this list could probably tell you more. 
>> 
>> As a disclaimer, I don't know much about databases. After talking recently
>> to a friend who knows a litle, it seemes reasonable. Can someone with more
>> background comment?
>> 
>> -Eric
>> 
>       -Malcolm
>--
>Malcolm D. Williamson - GIS Specialist           E-mail: malcolm at cast.uark.edu
>Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies      Telephone: (501) 575-6159
>Ozark Rm. 12                                        Fax: (501) 575-5218 
>University of Arkansas              
>Fayetteville, AR 72701
>> 
>
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