[GRASS-user] Possible databases for GRASS

[Moritz Lennert]

On 13/02/12 15:49, Thorsten wrote:
>
>
> Hello List,
> how flexible is GRASS with regards to the DB where the GIS-data are
> stored? I read in the docs that GRASS can now work with many popular
> relational DB systems.

This relates to storing attribute values, not the spatial feature 
information. GRASS has its own format for that.

You can work with spatial data stored in databases using v.external via 
OGR. So any system supported by OGR should work.

> But what about an entirely unconventional data
> store like an object-oriented database implemented in lisp?
> Is it just a question of correct data-types, that might be implemented
> in any language or system, or do the programming language and the DB
> system play an important role?
>
> In other words, could I have a look at a data format GRASS works
> with, define a class in an object-oriented lisp system that reflects
> that format, and GRASS will be able to access and work with the data?

Each database backend for attribute management has its own driver in the 
GRASS source code. If you can implement a similar driver for your system 
it should work. Or you can use the ODBC driver if it is easier for you 
to create an ODBC driver for your system.

See [1] and [2] and notably the READMEs for more info, as well as the 
GRASS Programmer's Manual, but that's currently offline...

Moritz

[1] http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/browser/grass/trunk/db/drivers
[2] http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/browser/grass/trunk/lib/db