[PROJ] PROJ / Springer Handbook of Geographic Information

[Martin Desruisseaux]

Hello Peter

Thanks for this announcement. Since this is the second time that I see 
an announcement about a GIS book on this mailing list (I do not remember 
if it was the same book) and since GeoTools is mentioned, please allows 
me to abuse this mailing list once for bringing a clarification about 
GeoTools versus GeoAPI history (with connection to PROJ), in the hope 
that it may be relevant to book writers.

In the Java world, a common way to improve interoperability and vendor 
neutrality is to define a set of standard interfaces that can be 
implemented by multiple vendors. A successful industrial example is the 
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) interfaces. A similar thing is 
possible in C/C++ as well (e.g. ODBC), but may be more difficult to do. 
More than 20 years ago, OGC initiated a similar effort for GIS with 
interfaces in Java, IDL, COM and CORBA. Only the Java part still exists 
today (draft Python abstract classes are also proposed), now under an 
OGC standard named "GeoAPI". PROJ implements indirectly those 
interfaces, through the PROJ-JNI community project. Among the benefits 
of that, it is possible to write Java applications capable to use any 
GeoAPI implementation, and one such application is the GIGS tests. More 
information about how to execute GIGS tests with PROJ-JNI is at [1]. 
This is of potential interest to the PROJ community because the 
application reports a few GIGS test failures when executed with PROJ. I 
have not yet reported them to this mailing list because I have not yet 
investigated if they are issues with the PROJ library, or with the GIGS 
tests, or with the JNI binding between them.

Despite some usages, the OGC GeoAPI standard has not reached the 
popularity that I hoped. Personal communications with different 
developers confirmed that a major impediment to GeoAPI adoption is the 
collision of "org.opengis" package name with GeoTools. The reason for 
that collision is outside the scope of this mailing list, but I tried to 
explain the historical facts, current situation and planed actions in 
[2] for those who are interested in this part of the GIS world.

     Regards,

         Martin

[1]https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ-JNI/wiki/GIGS-tests
[2]https://desruisseaux.github.io/history/GeoAPI.html


Le 25/04/2023 à 07:51, Peter Löwe a écrit :

> Dear PROJ community,
>
> get your free copy of the Open Source GIS chapter of the Springer Handbook of Geographic Information before the paywall goes up by the end of April:https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-53125-6_30.pdf
>
> The chapter covers PROJ and related tools, such as GDAL/OGR, GeoBlackLight, Geopaparazzi, GeoPython, GeoServer, GeoTools, GMT,
> GPlates, GRASS GIS, gvSIG, Java Topolgy Suite, Mapserver, leaflet, NASA WorldWind, OSGeoLive, PostGIS, QGIS and rasdaman
> – including links to conference videos and the 1987 GRASS GIS video narrated by William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) for additional content !
>
> New: Learn how to cite PROJ by its Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to give scientific credit to the PROJ developer team:
> https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5884394
>
> Kind regards,
> Peter
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