[Live-demo] gdal overview - what image should we use? and review please.

[Cameron Shorter]

I've written up an Overview for GDAL. I'm not very familiar with GDAL, 
so would appreciate it if someone who has used GDAL could review my text 
and confirm:
1. That what I've written is clear and understandable
2. Is technically accurate

I'd also appreciate suggestions regarding what image we should use to 
accompany the text.
Can we think of something better than a screen grab of a command line 
call of one of the gdal scripts?


  GDAL/OGR¶


    Transformation Library¶

Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL/OGR) provides command-line 
utilities to translate and process a wide range of raster and vector 
geospatial data formats.

The utilities are based upon a cross platform, C++ library, accessible 
via numerous programming languages. As a library, it presents a single 
abstract data model to the calling application for all supported formats.

GDAL/OGR is the most widely used geospatial data access library. It 
provides the primary data access engine for many applications including 
MapServer, GRASS, QGIS, and OpenEV. It is also utilized by packages such 
as OSSIM, Cadcorp SIS, FME, Google Earth, VTP, Thuban, ILWIS, MapGuide 
and ArcGIS.


      Core Features¶

    * Command-line utilities for data translation, image warping,
      subsetting, and various other common tasks
    * Highly efficiency raster data access, taking advantage of tiling
      and overviews
    * Support for large files - larger than 4GB
    * Library access from Python, Java, C#, Ruby, VB6 and Perl
    * Coordinate system engine built on PROJ.4 and OGC Well Known Text
      coordinate system descriptions


      Popular Supported Formats¶

GDAL supports over 50 raster formats, and OGR over 20 vector formats.

These include:

    * *Raster:* GeoTIFF, Erdas Imagine, SDTS, ESRI Grids, ECW, MrSID,
      JPEG2000, DTED, and more ...
    * *Vector:* MapInfo (tab and mid/mif), ESRI Shapefile, ESRI
      Coverages, ESRI Personal Geodatabase, DGN, GML, PostGIS, Oracle
      Spatial, and more ...


      Implemented Standards¶

The OGR vector data model closely aligned with OGC Simple Features.


      Details¶

*Website:* http://www.gdal.org

*Licence:* X/MIT style Open Source license 
<http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/FAQGeneral#WhatlicensedoesGDALOGRuse>

*Software Version:* 1.7.2-4~lucid3

*Supported Platforms:* Windows, Linux, Mac

*API Interfaces:* Python, Java, C#, Ruby, VB6 and Perl

*Support:* http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile



-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Director
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com

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