[mapguide-users] Some thought on FDO PostGIS Provider

[Zac Spitzer]

i'm suprised no one has mentioned this

autodesk are rewriting a new postgis provider

http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/wiki/FDORfc45

http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/changeset/5239
http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/changeset/5232

z


On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 1:17 AM, Gabriele Monfardini
<gabrimonfa at gmail.com> wrote:
> @all
> Thank you for your quick replies.
>
> @Traian
>> It never was compiled with PostGIS by default.
>> Before, I was doing a custom build with a static link to an
>> OGR build which has PostGIS support built in.
> Ok. I was only saying that there was PostGIS support out of the box in
> Windows binaries.
>
>>Needless to say that takes a long time to do due to the huge dependency list
>> and there have only been one or two people who have asked for it,
>> so not enough demand to make it worth my time.
>
> Compiling GDAL with support to all takes about 30 minutes on my Linux
> box, against 15 minutes if I disable all except the core.
> However, I don't want to blame you if you drop some less used dependencies, but
>
> 1. PostgreSQL+PostGIS is by far one the most used in open source GIS,
> much more than MySQL.
> Moreover it is at the state of the art w.r.t. much more expensive
> other solutions.
> 2. PostGIS provider doesn't always work, and it is not so well mantained.
>
> Don't you think that it would be useful for the casual user to have
> PostGIS support working well out-of-the-box?
>
>> However, since the default build now uses dynamic link to the GDAL DLL,
>> you should be able to replace the Gdal.dll with one that has PostGIS support
>> compiled in it and automatically get PostGIS support.
>>I only have such builds for FDO 3.3 (MG 1.2), posted at 13-9.com.
>> If there is enough demand, I could try to do a build with whatever FDO
>> the "new" MGOS is using -- but it would really be better if someone else
>> who is more vested in this volunteered, and I could provide some support
>> with how to build it.
>
> I've found this link.
>
> http://n2.nabble.com/FDO-OGR-Driver-3-4-0-Connecting-to-PostGIS-8-2-with-AutoCAD-Map-3d-2010-fails-td3728628.html#a3736552
>
> It is not perfect since you have to add 2 more dll to the list in
> order to solve all dependencies, and choose the correct gdal version.
>
> The fact that MapGuide is tied to one specific version of gdal and its
> dependencies may make difficult in the future to find all the dlls in
> the required versions (that moreover, AFAIK are not well documented
> anywhere...)
> It is one of the cons to include gdal source in mapguide instead of
> building against the current stable tree.
>
> I propose this solution, that I think is a win for all.
> Add one page into FDO site that hosts all dlls needed, in the
> "versions-needed-for-current-Mapguide-stable-tree" (TM) and a step by
> step procedure (that simply says delete these dlls, add these other
> ones).
> If you want I can help you finding all dlls, since my setup now seems to work.
>
> In this way you may keep compiling OGR faster without PostGIS support
> but PostGIS users are no more needed to guess which particular
> gdal.ddl, libpq.dll etc... are required, nor to find tricky hints into
> forums.
>
> @Jason
>> but the fact is that it's languishing because it hasn't had enough community
>> interest and development support.
> It is surely true, but also the contrary may be true.
> It hasn't had enough community interest since it has never worked well
> out of the box.
> I cannot promise my boss I can solve all the problems, thus it is
> difficult to "support" Mapguide adoption in a PostGIS environment.
> Let's at least make easier to use OGR that has supported PostGIS well
> until several years and it is maintained independently from MapGuide
>
> @Kenneth
>>I have recorded the requests as issue #1275:
> Thank you very much. Let me thank you again for the time saved using
> Mapguide Maestro, a very good project.
>
>> The "update layers, when featuresource changes" request, is recorded as issue #1067
>> If there is any way you can provide reproduce able instructions for the save problem,
>> please let me know.
> I'll do my best.
> For what I've seen, the problem happens only when the FDO PostGIS
> "timestamp with time zone" bug is triggered.
> The bug cause also FdoToolbox to crash, so I'm pretty sure is a FDO bug.
> When the schema is read correctly, also the save works in Maestro.
> I need to do some more tests, in order to provide you a small test
> that is reproducible.
>
>>Each time you start a map or something similar, MapGuide
>> issues a DescribeSchema request. If you simply reference
>> your entire database, this will take much longer than if you
>> split it up in "schema" parts.
> I understand the point.
>
>> Also, if you expose your entire db, be aware that you are effectively
>> exposing the database to the users. A rouge user can easily
>> get MapGuide to hand over all exposed data, so the less there
>> is avalible to MapGuide, the better.
> I also understand this point, however PostgreSQL has access control on
> all objects, it is not difficult to setup it to restrict access only
> to the needed data.
> This is the why all other libraries use connection to the db and not
> to the schema.
>
>> I have also built the OGR and Gdal provider with PostGIS support
>> some time ago. I belive the build procedure is now so simple that
>> it is just a matter of installing Visual Studio, checking out the code with
>> SubVersion, and running the "build.bat".
> I use Windows binaries in order to have them in the correct versions
> and working fast.
> In order to understand if it is worth to spend my time compiling on
> Linux, that is  by far my preferred environment.
>
> I would prefer, as a starting point, not to build things on my own on
> windows, since I want to know which is the current state of Mapguide
> project in terms of stability, performance and robustness using only
> "known-to-work components".
>
> @Zac
>> this relates to http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/wiki/FDORfc43
> I've read it, thanks.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gabriele
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>



-- 
Zac Spitzer
Solution Architect / Director
Ennoble Consultancy Australia
http://www.ennoble.com.au
http://zacster.blogspot.com
+61 405 847 168