[Mapserver-users] 5 second survey: data formats

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Tyler,

OK, good point, I was not thinking about it that way.

I think that what is being used is selected based on a few criteria.

If one is experimenting with mapserver then the criteria probably has to 
do with what format is the data one has access to in. And is it easier 
to use it in this format or to convert it to another format.

If one is doing production servers, then the decision will be based on 
performance, functionality, capacity probably in that order. What is 
fastest? Given the functionality that is absolutely required (like 
dynamic data vs static data). And in some special cases disk capacity 
might be a driving consideration. Most people doing product servers are 
willing to transform their data to a format that is faster for drawing 
rather than convenient for setup.

That is my two cents, everyone should feel free to rebut or add you own 
opinions :)

-Steve


Tyler Mitchell wrote:

> Hmmm, you and Bob are both saying the same thing I think.
> 
> 
>>This is a somewhat self selecting poll. The poll results should be 
>>exactly those file formats that mapserver BEST supports because that is 
>>what people will use to get the job done.
> 
> 
> Let me put the question to you another way.  How well used is ECW image 
> format versus GeoTiff?  The point is, I don't know but would like to know 
> the relative proportion of users who depend on one or the other more. This 
> is helpful for those of us running workshops, etc. who may need to focus 
> in on specific formats that are of particular interest to the community 
> instead of assuming all are of equal importance.
> 
> 
>>A better poll would be to ask something like. If all vector formats had 
>>the same level of support and performance in mapserver, what are the top 
> 
> 
>>two that you would use. An ditto for raster.
> 
> 
> That makes sense, but it is a completely different answer I was looking 
> for.
> 
> 
>>You have done a few polls, Can you summarize the results to the list.
> 
> 
> Links to all the polls are available at:
> http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SurveyResults
> 
> I may summarize the results when I have some more time.  I put the two one 
> or two results on the wiki already.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback, 
> Tyler
>