MI SDTS format - Dragon Slayers Wanted (fwd)

[Rich Shepard]

  Anyone with the time, knowledge and interest to work on a data translator?
This would be a tremendous benefit to the GRASS community as well as those
folks still stuck in MapInfo and the like.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

                       Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
              Making environmentally-responsible mining happen. (SM)         
                       --------------------------------
            2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
 + 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard at appl-ecosys.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Thoen <bthoen at ctmap.com>

Essgee19 at aol.com wrote:

> I've spent considerable time in processing this data format with MapInfo
> and (sorry to offend anyone with the following) ARCInfo / ArcView . It has
> been my experience that although there are work-arounds for getting the
> map / graphic aspects of the data into MapInfo, you will not get the ALL
> of the proper corresponding attribute data UNLESS you use ARCInfo running
> on NT / Unix platforms.

Well, naturally. The USGS developed that format with one of their goals
being that it work with their installed base of Arc/INFO systems. (Of
course, the official goal was to produce a open, public format to facilitate
data transfer between all federal government agencies.) But in either case
ESRI had a strong interest to get in early to ensure that one of their major
customers (the USGS) could use this format on Arc/INFO software. The USGS
has a strong interest in ensuring that the software they use will be able to
handle the SDTS format, so they turned to ESRI for assistance. Working
together, the USGS gets help on the development, and ESRI gets ahead of the
GIS pack. The format is now pretty much available to the public; there's
lots of free USGS data out there for online snarfing; the USGS can read and
write the format using their leased software, and ESRI leads the pack in
SDTS support. All goals met on paper, but what about the spirit of the
thing? We who don't have Arc/INFO available are left holding the short end
of the stick.

This alliance was no secret collusion. The process has been open right from
the start to anyone who wanted to get involved. ESRI may have been dragged
into it early on by USGS requests, but what would tell one of your major
customers? That you're not interested? So ESRI gets the jump on everyone
here, and it takes competitors and third-party developers two years to bring
other translators to market, and these all cost hundreds of dollars. Some
still don't have a decent translator. SDTS is a very difficult format to
fully support, and IMHO, it's reach exceeds its grasp, but still there ought
to be a good PUBLIC translator out there so that the PUBLIC and all the
other non-federal govt agencies can get some use out of it. As it is, your
tax dollars went into this development and for whatever reasons, if you
still can't use it unless you lease Arc/INFO for $20 grand, then you are
just paying your tithe to ESRI.

If we must have this format rammed down our throats, I would like to see it
so easy to use that federal state, county and municipal governments would
prefer to use it when offering their data to the public than E00 (a
proprietary format) or MapInfo TAB (another proprietary format), or anything
that requires expensive, proprietary software. Now that Sol Katz is no
longer with us, who do we have out there who will step up and provide public
support for this public format?  If you think you might be interested, take
a look at this data format beastie at http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/.

- Bill Thoen