Thanks everyone. Frank Andersen just sent me a trasnslation. Apparently
the shape files are stored as OLE Objects, which means you have to have
the software that creates these on your system to convert them back to
shape (or so I understand.) I really don't think ESRI is deliberately
trying to make their data format as hard as hell to use by outsiders --
I think it's more to do with building a more flexible system-- but I'm
sure they aren't shedding many tears that their data can be used now
only by their customers. And many of their customers (e.g. governments
who maintain public data) no longer have the ability to produce their
data in any other format than what their software offers. That's bad
news for the rest of us.
But I wonder why ESRI chose Access with all its limitations to be their
data mule? Or is the geodatabase format compatible with SQL Server? I
imagine that's the case. ESRI may be as self-centered as a tornado (what
corporation's not?) but they're not that near-sighted.
Boy, are we all going to be so dependent on ESRI and Microsoft if we
don't watch out. Me, I'm going to see if there's anyone in the open
source GIS community able and willing to write an addition to the OGR
libraries to crack this nut, and try to get them some funding to do so.
- Bill Thoen
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Thoen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 11:16 AM
To: 'Mapinfo-L'
Subject: RE: MI-L GeoDatabase convert to MapInfo?
Getting back to the original question, how does one convert one of these
abominations into MapInfo TAB format? I just received one from MoDOT,
and that's the format of choice. It appears to be an Access file with
many tables, but I can't find the spatial information in it.
I see that some have suggested you convert it to Shape format, but what
do you use for that?
If anyone wants a look at one of these files (or even better, can
translate it for me) I've posted it at
ftp://ftp.gisnet.com/pub/TDD_Boundaries_101205.mdb. It contains some
sale tax districts administered by MoDOT.
- Bill Thoen
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