Format translator development

[David D Gray]

Hi Rich

I have been working on the shapefile import for some weeks now, and
I was planning to make some changes on the generate and dxf
import also. I don't know anything about MapInfo, though I had
at the back of my mind that someone would have to work on that also
eventually.

The problem with these others is that they mostly import lines
in the originating application's native format. Often that means
closed loops. Is that the case with MapInfo? If it was, I think
that some kind of engine for translating the MapInfo format to
GRASS arc-node would be required. Is that what you meant?

Because there are so many formats that require these changes on import,
I am coming round to the conclusion that there should be some
kind of translation engine in the main GRASS lib (to economise
on code space and streamline module development), perhaps like
the methods incorporated in the shapefile import - but more modular,
efficient and cleaner of course -...

Rich Shepard wrote:
> 
>   Before I dig into this in a serious way, is anyone working on a MapInfo
> <--> GRASS data translator? If not, I'll redo the export one and write an
> import filter. In either case, they'll work on the MapInfo export format
> (.mif/.mid) files, not the proprietary, binary formats.
> 
> Rich
>