"Even Microsoft" is showing some interest?
Well, Microsoft has been using VML (Vector Markup Language) as the basis of
its Word 2000 "HTML" / "XML" format for some time. Although a vector
graphics markup language, VML is mainly used (in Word / web pages) to allow
bit mapped graphics to be accurately placed.
So in my opinion it's not surprising that Microsoft is involved in the "new"
SVG; nor is it surprising that ESRI and MapInfo are slow to adopt open
standards - though the OpenGIS initiative seems at last to be getting
somewhere.
What is really needed is the adoption of XML schemas for GIS (and for
document handling) that allow broadly-based data exchange. IMHO Adobe will
be forced into providing sophisticated XML data handling to supplement its
PDF format (even though that is a published data format) - or it will lose
out. And the GIS companies will be forced to provide at least XML export of
their proprietary data formats, and maybe full XML data import / export /
transformation (as a part of OpenGIS - though the published parts of the
OpenGIS spec have little reference to XML yet).
I.L. Thomas
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Edwards" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 4:31 AM
Subject: MI: Scaled Vector Graphics News
>
> The WWW community is preparing a new standard, Scalable Vector Graphics,
> that will permit creating web pages with images defined as vectors,
> rasters, or a combination of the two. The new capability allows a user to
> pan and zoom within the image, and it will offer an extensive animation
> capability. Although the standard is not completely worked out, Adobe has
> implemented much of it as a plug-in for Microsoft IE and Netscape.
etc
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