[GRASSLIST:1855] Re: Russia query/DCW script

[David T Mason]

I had an interesting problem using Russian boundaries with a vector GIS
called Maptitude.  Maptitude didn't like finding boundary points going
past 180 degrees east in northeastern Siberia.   Since it was a GIS
mainly designed for the U.S.A., probably it had never been tested for
that particular condition, or it didn't like the way this particular
boundary file encoded these points.  Obviously the same problem awaits in
large-scale maps of the Pacific Ocean.  There are definitely some
significant interoperability issues in how these longitudes are to be
encoded and mapped; perhaps they have been resolved by now?

BTW, you can get quite a lot of Russian GIS data -- both vector and
raster -- on the CD "Forest and Landcover Data of Russia and the Former
Soviet Union". This was published under a grant by Peter Schlesinger
(pschles at whrc.org) and Thomas Stone (tstone at whrc.org) and see
www.whrc.org as well.  I obtained this CD about two years ago and I'm not
sure whether these links still work.

- Dave Mason

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!