ENVI file format

[Frank Warmerdam]

On 11/11/05, Norman Barker <nbarker at rsinc.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am using MapServer WCS (though it could be a WMS for this question), and I am wondering about serving ENVI file format data.  I am reading ENVI data from disk (*.img, *.hdr), but writing from a WCS is a problem since I would need to have multi-part response.
>
> Is there a way to make MapServer zip a file before delivery, so that I can have an output format like ENVI.zip containing envi.img, envi.hdr.
>
> I appreciate it is not part of the spec., but could be useful.

Norman,

I have had a vague intent to implement such a thing (zipped
multi-file responses) for a while; however, I haven't had the
time nor clear demand to do so.

One issue is that it isn't especially clear from the GDAL API
level if/when multiple files are being created.  We would likely
need to create a new sub-temp directory for each request
processed, and then if more than one file is created we
could zip the results.  We might even need some control
of whether this is enabled in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration.

Would you be interested in trying to implement this in
msSaveImageGDAL() in mapgdal.c?  You might want to
"prototype" it now and then you could write an RFC for the
feature for MapServer 5.0.  Since we are in feature freeze
now, we shouldn't be introducing such new features in CVS
till 4.8 is in the can.   Alternatively, I could implement it, but
I would likely need funding as it would likely be a couple days
effort.  I'm also booked up for 2-3 months.

Best regards,
--
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
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and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent