First, the Soap Box Stuff (SBS)
I am growing tired of having to increasingly import E00 files and their
idiot brother SHP relatives. Mostly I hate the endlessly having to
dance around doing all sorts of really dumb things to make them work.
DON'T YOU AGREE? Further, all the recent noise on free data, government
data, copy righted databases, etc., etc. that comes to us in these
brain-dead ESRI-ized formats makes me want to PUKE!
What we are really missing in our nice little "free data" debate is the
growing domination of ESRI formats for data transfer regardless of its
value. Worse, we may also soon face data starvation once Microsoft's
MapPoint starts gaining access to its TerrifiedServer data. Anyone know
how to import a MapPoint or its CE files? Heck, have you looked at
DeLorm's web lately? Scary stuff - too bad we can't read their format.
It getting worse. The entire USDA inventory of 2800+ county 1:24000
Soil Surveys are in or will soon be in SHP format including a
AkeExploiter viewer! And we all know all too well that TIGRE data is
available FREE in AkeVIEW SHP format!
Now get this, the US government's USGS attempt to share "our" National
investmets in DRG, DLG, and DEMs (Since SDTS was destroyed by the
ESRI-ites and a ever increasingly flexible ESRI-ized SDTS definition)
are slowly being replaced with ADRG, ADLG, and ADEM. (In the case you
don't understand what "A" stands for it is "AKE" like in AKEVIEW or
AKEINFO - No, it really stands for "almost-open" - an insider ESRI joke
- ha,ha!). As a result MapInfo and others go to extreme effort to
develop tools to gain access to these "almost" open formats. Bottom
line is even with Universal Translators and all of the "import"
utilities its still a real pain in the ....
Its easier to download AkeExploiter, or buy for $90 ESRI's BuisnessMap
PRO, or even spend $1000 for AkeView that to waste time importing into
MapInfo these "public" data sets.
Here is a challenge to all you MapInfo-l regulars as well as the
lurkers.
MapInfo has a really great open data format known as MID/MIF. It is so
good that it apparently is increasingly used by the ESRI camp followers
as "the" way to get their data moved around when ever SHP fails. Having
now watched the akeview-l and akeinfo-l sites for five months there is
essentially no problem reading MIF/MID by this developer and user
community. We on the other hand, constantly struggle with E00 and SHP.
This includes horrible learning curves, endless(?) updates, and
continual mapinfo-l question and help to claim that MapInfo Professional
can read a SHP or E00 file (well sort of). And even when it does
import, there remains all sorts of hidden issues and problems. Somehow
WE must drive the industry to embrace MIF/MID and get ESRI exporting
these regular files. PR and columnists to the rescue! But what is
horrible is we may all too soon have to live and breath SHP.
So to conclude in a nut shell what I know about SHP vs MID/MIF I share:
SHP is a hybrid file design with a semi-open definition. It abandons
the traditional ARC/NODE proprietary ESRI formats of yester-year-ESRI
for new and improved object data types. They are a poor carriers of
"metadata", poorly handles complex object type mixing within the layer,
and worst because it and ESRI's lock on legacy data and SUN computer
seats, it has developed a following as "the" data transfer standard.
It has both xBASE and binary features as it is a production file set and
NOT a transfer file. It is much quicker than MIF/MIF as it carries
indexization and a binary spatial object definition. It is not as
efficient as TABs(?). These files do not get erased much.
MIF/MID is a ASCII file that has good metadata qualities that can be
extended. It is slow and bulky. You tend to erase them once you have
imported them and translated them into TAB or SHP constructs. It is an
open data definition but you need to "own" a MapInfo Professional
product in order to use its openness - there is no web site where anyone
could download it's definitions.
Should we MapInfo-ites give up on MIF/MID and its TAB form for simply
depending on ESRI SHP files - sort of like the xBASE and ACCESS import
features? Or can we somehow raise the "NOISE" level that MID/MID seems
to be the very best DEFACTO standard out there?
I was just getting used to geoTIFF and now this MrSID shows up. And of
course all those poor saps with AkeView get access to him while we sit
and wait.
Bill, how many utilities are there on your site and others dealing with
MID/MIF generation and importation?
I/we need information in this debate. Is MIF/MID better than SHP? Is
TAB better than SHP. Could MIF/MID become the an "industry" standard?
Should it? Will MapInfo ever allow the posting of it's MIF/MID format on
the NET? Why or whine not?
Happy New Year
MidNight Mapper
1/2/98
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