[GRASS-user] Managing the Harmonized World Soil Database in GRASS

[Luigi Ponti]

On 25/03/2011 11:25, Luigi Ponti wrote:
> Dear Rich,
>>> > The HWSD is composed of a raster image file and a linked attribute database 
>>> > stored in Microsoft Access 2003 format.
>>>     
>>
>>    It would be nice if the attributes were made available in a format using
>> open standards. That would make it available to those of us who don't do
>> windows.
>>
>> Rich
>>   
>
> You are right.
>
> [...]
>
> I have inquired the data provider about the issue, and will let the 
> list know.

Here is what the data provider replied:

    "Thank you for your suggestion. The raster file is already available
    in an open format, since it is just a binary table.

    In the database file (HWSD.mdb), there is one main table in the
    database, the HWSD_Data table, that contains all the soil data. The
    other tables simply describe the codes and abbreviations. The
    simplest and most transferable option would be to export this
    HWSD_Data as a text file along with a document listing all the codes
    and abbreviations. At the moment, anyone with Access can do this for
    others. However, your point is well taken and we will consider
    making such a text file and perhaps other database formats available
    on our website with our next update.

    The viewer cannot so easily be transferred to other operating
    systems and we have no plan to do so."

Kind regards,

Luigi
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