Preface to below: the main thing I want to emphasize is that we should make our GIS data public NOW. If the debate is between shapefiles NOW or something (supposedly!) more accessible LATER, than I vote for shapefiles NOW.
On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 1:03 PM, Michael Weisman <[email protected]> wrote: > While shp files are effectively a standard for us geo-types, the general > public, including nerds who are not from the geo side do not necessarily > have shp reading tools on hand. It is a bad thing (tm), but the only people who can really do anything with geo data, are, currently, somewhat nerdy, either knowing the complexities of ESRI point-and-click or being able to use a command line terminal; there are LOTS AND LOTS of tools in these environments. The problem, IMHO, is with geographic and technical education, not file formats. If you are sophisticated enough for ESRI or a terminal ( and otherwise you wouldn't be on this list), then shapefile tools are a "dime a dozen". > KML consuming applications, like google earth are fairly common among normal > people, and most nerds can make sense of JSON (or Geo-JSON). Here is a challenge -- find someone too non-technical for a shapefile, hand him or her a KML or JSON file, and have him or her do something useful with it. > Shouldn't public data be accessible to all, not just GIS people? (For one, I never said "public data should only be accessible to technically savvy people" -- you seem to implying so, and it isn't fair. I think the best way forward, though not a perfect way forward, is to assume some basic technical ability.) Yes, but it isn't formats that are getting in the way, rather it is the complexity of GIS programs (a lot has been written on this already). And I still hold that free shapefile reading tools are plentiful. I also think that the long term answer is not to make our products stupider but to make our citizen computer-users smarter.... _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
