[GRASS-user] Vector drawings in PDF -> converting them

[Kurt Heston]

Paul,

That tool works GREAT!  I tried it, half expecting it to simply discard 
what it couldn't convert like all of the open-source tools I'd found 
prior, but it worked...and well.  All of the objects the PDF had to 
offer came right over.

Interestingly, Illustrator complains before it opens the DXFs the tool 
produces, but Grass is delighted with them.  My guess is the AideCad 
people are formatting the DXF using an older standard.

Part of what I'm doing with the GIS project I'm working on is trying to 
convince my client that OS is the way to go (they are a non-profit).  
Having to buy a product to do this part of the data conversion with a 
non-GPL app doesn't help with that part of things.  However, it's great 
to have something that works. 

Thanks for the suggestion!

--Kurt

PA Light wrote:
> Try Aide PDF to DXF Converter
>
> http://www.aidecad.com/pdf-to-dxf-converter.html
>
> I've successfully used it to convert PDF to DXF.  Aide offers a free trial 
> version good for 20 conversion, after which you will be required to 
> purchase a licence.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Kurt Heston [SMTP:kheston at hestonsystems.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, January 17, 2008 8:42 PM
> To:	grass-user at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject:	Re: [GRASS-user] Vector drawings in PDF -> converting them
>
>
> Grass 6.2 appears to be even less agreeable to the DXF format that
> Inkscape writes than it was to the one Illustrator did.  I'm still
> playing with it, but no luck yet.
>
> Dylan Beaudette wrote:
>   
>> On Thursday 17 January 2008 11:10:39 am Kurt Heston wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Dylan,
>>>
>>> Will do.  Is there a specific feature I should look for that solves my
>>> specific problem?
>>>
>>> --K
>>>
>>>       
>> Kurt-
>>
>> Well, I would take a look at all of the vector (path) tools available in
>> Inkscape. I have not used to to work with much GIS data, but I do know 
>>     
> that
>   
>> it can import PDF data as vector (path) primitives.
>>
>> Feel free to post your findings back to the list.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Dylan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     
>>> Dylan Beaudette wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> On Wednesday 16 January 2008 11:22:02 pm Kurt Heston wrote:
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> I have a TON of vector drawings available to me in PDF format that I'm
>>>>> georeferencing.  So far, I'm doing it by converting them to PNGs and
>>>>> using r.to.vect to massage them.  This is really tedious and the data
>>>>> isn't as clean as a straight vector conversion would be.  In
>>>>> Illustrator, I can see that all the vector math is there.  That is, 
>>>>>           
> the
>   
>>>>> PDF isn't simply a wrapper around raster data.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've tried opening the PDFs in Illustrator and exporting them as DXFs,
>>>>> but Grass ignores a lot of the data when I do this...they look very
>>>>> different in Grass once imported.  I can export them as SVG from
>>>>> Illustrator, but surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be a single
>>>>> open-source tool available out there that converts SVG into some
>>>>> mainstream GIS file format.
>>>>>
>>>>> Does anyone have experience doing this type of conversion?  Pointers
>>>>> welcome.
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>
>>>>>           
>>>> Check out Inkscape.
>>>>
>>>> Dylan
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> grass-user mailing list
>>> grass-user at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-user
>>>
>>>       
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     
>
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