[GRASSLIST:443] Re: Getting a file from Adobe Illustrator to GRASS

[Andrew]

Kurt Springs wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> BTW, thanks for those who helped with my last problem.  I couldn't remember
> the file name.
> 
> New challenge, and some of you will remember trying to help me with this
> some months ago.  I put it aside then because I had other things to do.  No
> I am back.  I have contour lines I've drawn in Adobe Illustrator.  I want to
> move them into GRASS as vectors so I can label the elevations and start
> using them.  This seems to elude me.
> 
> I tried converting them into .dxf files, but GRASS can't seem to see it.
> I've tried using Textwrangler to change the line breaks to UNIX.  I've even
> used the program Linebreak for this purpose.  I also tried using
> Textwrangler to do a hexdump and converted the file to ascii.
> 
> One thing I am considering is printing out the contours and trying to use
> v.digit to trace them.  Can I do this with out a digitizing tablet using an
> optical mouse?  I may have to get some transparent film and make a target to
> tape on it.
> 
> Can anyone thing of an easier way of doing it.
> 
> Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Kurt
> 
> 

I try to avoid serious problems with this by cheating. I create a 
reference image with a "nice" set of dimensions for importing into a 
program or script that can give me row-major or other ASCII ordering of 
numerical values that I can import with an appropriate header. When this 
is not possible I import it into IDRISI for Windows V 2 and georeference 
it (really simple in lat/lon under IDRISI if I am careful) and then 
export an ascii fle I can muck with. For contours I would probably 
digitize or "scan and scale" if it was hand-drawn or derived from 
another source.

For what its worth....