Hey all,
This email is about the ongoing work to expand the Geotools (hereinafter
G.t.) data model to handle complex features and XML Schema. This email
is simply a bunch of questions. I've got a lot of half written
commentary on the proposal but I no longer feel like sending any of it.
It seems like there is a log we could discuss but doing it by email is
not working for me.
A. Questions about the discussion and docs:
==========================================
FeatureTypes for GML appears the oldest doc and no longer relevant:
The document:
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/FeatureTypes+for+GML
appears to be the oldest. Is this still relevant? Did it result
in what Geotools 2.1/2.2M0 is currently? When the doc talks
about GML, is this an abstract model of what GML could be, is it
specifically GML2 or is it about GML3?
The main proposal seems to build on "Comm.Schema Supp.and Compex Types":
The series of docs under:
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Community
+Schema+Support+and+Complex+Types
appear to be in chronological sequence all the way to
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Feature+Model+Proposal
so that appears understandable (once someone has grokked how
they fit into the doc hierarchy).
Two other docs may or may not be recent:
How do
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Review+of
+FeatureType+Models
and
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Meta
+Information+Infrastructure
fit in?
Which api is current?
Most critically, there are 3 proposed api:
1) bottom of
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/FeatureType
+Survey
2) under first draft of
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Feature+Model
+Discussion
and (3) in
http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Feature+Model+Proposal
Which is the current version?
B. Questions on the Proposed interfaces:
=======================================
* What's the status of the work?
The ComplexDataStore+Project page says that the Test suite, the
DataStore, and the GML Production Enhancements are currently
frozen. Is this still true?
* Is there any proposal for the input/output procedure?
I do not yet understand your working vision is of the processing
of schema/gml files during input or output. I can imagine a
series of steps for input: user accesses a gml doc, gt validates
gml, gt gets schema, validates schema, parses schema into a tree
of defined featureTypes, parses gml, first, creating and
validating each feature and, second, adding the feature to a
'catalog'(sensu uDig), gt discards the schema tree or keeps it
in a schema catalog. I can also imagine a similar vision of the
output steps.
* What are the visions you are working with?
* How do you ensure the GML does not, through its internal xlink
refs, loop? (i.e. feature A embeds feature B, B embeds A)
* How do you guarantee that a round trip, possibly with feature
modification, will produce the same doc? I imagine it must be
possible for a round trip to result in a schematically correct
but different gml than the original.
* How is GeoAPI participating?
I gather that both the pure Geotools and the pure GeoAPI efforts
were merged. Is this correct?
* What is the API stability guarantee of Geotools across version
numbers?
Is stability limited to "if we deprecate it in one minor version
(i.e. x in #.x) version, we can remove it the next"?
* What's the aim of 2.1.x and 2.2.x?
G.t. 2.1.x seems to do 'Simple Features' more or less
completely. Is the idea that it will continue to do this while
2.2 aims to support GML3? That is, is there any idea to complete
and stabilize the simple feature support separate from the
effort to support complex features?
* Do all GML files necessarily have a schema?
It appears that it would be possible to define a schema on the
fly based on the contents of a GML file. This seems useful also
for GML docs where the schema were inaccessible (internet
down/origin disappears). Does G.t. intend to support this?
That's it for now.
--adrian
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