[mapguide-users] Fdo2Fdo

Mon Nov 6 15:54:33 EST 2006

Hi Jason,

I think I made a mistake how I named it. it is not FDO Metadata but it
is Autodesk Metadata to describe data in RDBMS to be able to serve it as
FDO features.

FDO itself  doesn't have any requirements to having any metadata in
RDBMS. 

For instance King.Oracle provider is not using any Metadata, It is just
figuring out from RDBMS how features looks like.
This Autodesk Metadata (used to call it FDO metadata and I wrongly used
that ) I suppose comes because sometimes it is hard to figure out all
relationships between features by just looking at data model in RDBMS,
and also if you would like to apply that against file system than you
need it.
I am taking a word from Autodesk here, I hope I am not making any
mistake and if I am wrong please correct me.
When I was mentioning about Oracle Topology and Metadata, I was creating
Autodesk metadata tables in Oracle so that MAP can query and display
topology. 

So I think at the end it comes what provider will need to describe data
and in which app this data is used.

When I was thinking about supporting full FDO Meatada, I should say: I
am thinking of supporting creation of Autodesk Metadata so this data
(exported with fdo2fdo) can be immediately used with Autodesk MAP ( as
standard not "foreign" schema)..

Haris

________________________________

From: Jason Birch [mailto:Jason.Birch at nanaimo.ca] 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 8:02 PM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Cc: users at fdo.osgeo.org; Paul Ramsey; Frank Warmerdam; Mateusz Loskot
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Fdo2Fdo

FDO is open source.  If there are non-open parts of the specification,
I'd be EXTREMELY disappointed.  I'm not sure if using all caps was
enough to express the level to which I'd be disappointed...

It's frustrating that the default RDBMS providers require that you keep
the metadata in the database rather than mapping on the fly.  Given the
limited budget and the desire to integrate with the proprietary Autodesk
products, the PostGIS provider has been integrated with the core RDBMS
providers.  To me, it seemed more important to be able to use PostGIS
with Map 3D and spread the adoption of PostGIS by Autodesk users than it
was to enable access to existing PostGIS schemas.

It believe that what this means in the short term is that it may be
necessary to use Autodesk tools to populate it, and that you can not
just access existing data.  Longer-term, I'm sure that "foreign" schema
support will be added to this provider, but I think that this still
requires that you keep the metadata in the same data source (possibly in
a different schema?).  What I would really like to see is a third level
of function where all of the mappings are kept internally to FDO without
affecting the datasource.  I hope that over time FDO will give priority
to "on-the-fly" access to my data without making the data store
essentially proprietary to FDO.

I guess a lot of this is probably stemming from FDO starting out as a
way of storing Autodesk data in multiple sources, rather than as a
generic data access mechanism.  

If any of this is incorrect (Paul, Mateusz) I'd appreciate correction.

In the mean time, if you manage to extend fdo2fdo to support this
metadata, that would be a great interim measure.

Jason

________________________________

From: Haris Kurtagic [mailto:haris at sl-king.com] 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 10:28
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Fdo2Fdo

Hm, I wasn't thinking in that direction, but Map is still needed if you
wan't to have full FDO Meatada arround your data.

This tool will create plain tables in Oracle (indexes, keys,..) and this
data can be used in MapGuide or Map as foreign schemas or using
King.Oracle Provider.

If you would like to have full FDO Metadata, MAP is still needed.

P.S.
Not sure , if for non Autodesk tool is correct ( i mean some licence
restrictions) to create FDO metada also ?
I suppose it should be, but would be nice if someone from Autodesk would
confirm that.
I was already doing that once for Oracle Topology, puting FDO metadata
arround it.

Haris

________________________________

From: Jason Birch [mailto:Jason.Birch at nanaimo.ca] 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 7:19 PM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Fdo2Fdo

This is pretty cool Haris.

This means that users that aren't able to purchase a Map 3D license can
load data into RDBMS data sources.

Jason

________________________________

From: Haris Kurtagic
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 09:59
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: [mapguide-users] Fdo2Fdo

Hi,

Fdo2Fdo is a tool I am using to work with, learn and test FDO and
perhaps it can help to someone else also.
It is a FDO client application for copying FDO Data Sources and manage
FDO Data Sources with additional tools to work with Oracle.
It has two parts: standard library as fdo client and windows
application.

Some features:

1. Copy to/from SHP, SDF, Oracle ( didn't tested others but could work)
http://www.sl-king.com/fdo2fdo/screenshots_copy.html

2. Copy to Oracle and it will setup all stuff so you can view it
immediately in MapGuide (sdo metadata, spatial index, layer type,
primary key)

3. Fdo Toolbox: useful utilities for testing fdo providers and schemas
http://www.sl-king.com/fdo2fdo/screenshots_fdo.html

4. Oracle toolbox - manage sdo metadata, spatial index, primary keys
http://www.sl-king.com/fdo2fdo/screenshots_ora.html

5. API c, .net  http://www.sl-king.com/fdo2fdo/fdo2fdo_api.html

You can get it here:  www.sl-king.com/fdo2fdo

It is a self contained application.
It is 38 MB .zip file which you unzip and ready to go. It contains:
complete fdo, shp,sdf,king.oracle provider, oracle instant client and
needed microsoft redistributables.

I tested it around sdf,shp and oracle but it is general fdo client so it
could work with others also, if not let me know and I will try to fix
it.

If some of this, is material for open source I am happy to make it so.

Haris

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