[Qgis-developer] Module piping GUI [Was: analytical workflow]

[Martin Dobias]

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:
> HI
>
> If you are thinking about designing a GUI for a graphical workbench, I would
> definitely have a look at the way FME is handling it. I think it requires a
> combination of both approaches:
>
> Normally it is a graph-style (connect-the-boxes) GUI
>
> but often it requires in addition:
>
> multiple input/output, control flows, where elements from the patch-style
> GUI would come in - eg when patching an attribute from one source or
> transformer to a different attribute in a destination dataset or
> transformer.
>
> I believe in FME (Safe software) - which is the most well-known GUI modeler
> in GIS, it is a combination of both approaches with additional flow controls
> transformers (e.g. tester with branches).

Andreas,

maybe I get it wrong, but isn't the purpose of FME somewhere else? As
far as I understand, FME is an extract-transform-load (ETL) tool for
spatial data, however here we aim for a tool for automating workflow
for analyses. Surely there is some overlap between these two, but for
now it would be better to focus on the analytical part - proceeding
one step at a time ensures that we are not designing something overly
complex.

Regards
Martin