Some time ago I said that I will post a question in EEA about "...why only shapefiles and mdb's". So I did.
It took some time but I received a reply. I posted back my feedback using some CLC tiles and I was waiting (still waiting) for a second reply (this second is of minor importance I think). Reading again my questions I realise that they could have been formulated better, from a more "correct" perspective. Anyhow, here they are (my question and the reply). If anybody is interested about contact details just give me a sign. > > Dear Madams/ Sirs, > > > > herewith I kindly request an answer to the following question: > > > > Why are the geospatial data (available in EEA's data portal) provided > > only in closed source geo-data file formats (e.g. ESRI shapefile, .mdb > > geo-data base)? > > > > Why not also in open-source file formats? > > > > As a student, trying to satisfy my "experimental" needs, I am not in > the > > financial position to pay for proprietary softare. > > > > The alternatives (Free and Open Source) for processing and analysing > > geo-spatial data exist, and allow me to state, some of them > demonstrate > > superior performance and experience a continuous development. > > > > Students and teachers and both the academic and the scientific > community > > worldwide can benefit if EEA's geo-data are available publicly (with a > > subscription) in open source file formats. > > > > > > Thank you for your time in advance. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Nikos Alexandris. and the reply: Dear Nikos Alexandris, > > Thank you for contacting the European Environment Agency. > > Based on your e-mail, I have consulted a colleague working with > geospatial data. He has responded that shape files can be seen as an > open industry format and can be read by many open source software today. > Also DBF files also both have limitations such as support on > multilingualism (UTF8, UTF16). EEA also provide, where possible, > everything in textual or XML formats. We also provide other industrial > formats to insure we have no loss of quality or information. Soon we > will be able to provide GML, WFS formats once those formats have been > better understood by us. The amount of formats provided depends on the > cost producing them. > > Please let me know if you have further questions that have not been > answered by the explanation above. > > > Kind regards, ... -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/About-.mdb-geo-data-base-file-format...-please-some-information-about-alternative-file-formats%21-tp14899928p15751329.html Sent from the Grass - Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ grass-user mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-user
