Re: ACTION-98: Look at a list/matrix of the common formats (geojson, gml, rdf, json-ld) and what you can or can't achieve with it

2015-11-25 22:42 GMT+01:00 Clemens Portele <
portele@interactive-instruments.de>:

> Hi Frans,
>
> the purpose is not entirely clear to me either. I just volunteered to
> compile the list based on the wording of the action, but the whole context
> that lead to the action is not clear to me. What we discussed today was
> that the BP editors, who will meet this Friday, see what they need in order
> to associate formats with best practices and then we move forward from
> there. I think this is inline with your proposal.
>
> Regarding your other point, I am not sure, if all formats have to have
> built-in support for URIs. Take GeoJSON as an example. Not much there in
> terms of support for URIs or linking, but quite well supported on the web
> and surely useful in use cases that do not require full linked data
> capabilities or other capabilities not in scope of GeoJSON. There is a lot
> of good practice that is not "5 star".
>

Yes, I agree. Perhaps it is better to speak of web friendliness of formats
and to use that as a criterion on which formats to include. JSON is web
friendly because it has native web browser support.

Regards,
Frans



> Best regards,
> Clemens
>
> On 25 Nov 2015, at 22:17, Frans Knibbe <frans.knibbe@geodan.nl> wrote:
>
> Hello Clemens, all,
>
> Perhaps it is good to take a step back and think about the purpose of the
> matrix. It is to serve as input for best practices for spatial data on the
> web, if I am not mistaken. So that means the formats should include formats
> for vector data that are not geographical data. That means CAD formats,
> formats for game engines, formats for drawing programs and probably much
> more all come in to scope. The matrix would explode.
>
> But the 'web' part of the scope can come to the rescue. We could limit the
> matrix to formats that supports HTTP(S) URIs for referencing data, in one
> way or the other. Wouldn't that be a reasonable filter for selecting
> formats? It is hard to see how we could ever recommend a format that can
> not work with URIs as a best practice for spatial data on the web.
>
> Greetings,
> Frans
>
>
>
> 2015-11-25 19:36 GMT+01:00 Clemens Portele <
> portele@interactive-instruments.de>:
>
>> Some comments on candidates that have been mentioned in recent emails:
>>
>> SVG: I see the rationale, although I see a risk that we make this too
>> broad. There is also a difference between formats that describe spatial
>> things / features / etc and others that are more geometries with an option
>> to attach properties to geometries. In a way we could then add a whole
>> range of CAD formats, too. But maybe SVG is appropriate here as it is a
>> standard for the web?
>>
>> WKT/WKB: I intentionally did not include it, as it is a spec for encoding
>> geometry that will be used by other formats to encode the geometry part
>> (like GeoSPARQL, GeoPackage, SF SQL). WKT/WKB is not enough in itself to
>> encode spatial data. Without having a closer look, GeoHash probably is in
>> the same category. Maybe a seaprate comparison is need how to represent
>> geometry (this overlaps with ACTION-101, I think)?
>>
>> Should we restrict ourselves to "open, non-proprietary, somewhat current
>> formats": Whatever non-prioprietary and open means… For me the format
>> should play a significant role in one or more target communities today. In
>> addition, it have the documentation published for free on the web and with
>> a license that allows and enables others to implement the format.
>> Shapefiles, Mapbox Vector Tiles, GeoJSON all fall into that category, but
>> depending on the definition of open or non-proprietary they may not fit.
>>
>> Geodatabase: This would be another candidate, but I did not include this
>> as I had Shapefiles already on the list (as I think there are more
>> Shapefiles in use compared to geodatabases) and I did want to make the list
>> too long.
>>
>> SpatialLite: Maybe someone can judge whether it adds sufficient value
>> over GeoPackage so that it should be another column (I cannot).
>>
>> Talk to you all soon,
>> Clemens
>>
>>
>>
>> > On 25 Nov 2015, at 17:59, Andrea Perego <andrea.perego@jrc.ec.europa.eu>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > +1 to including SVG.
>> >
>> > Moreover, I think we are probably missing WKT / WKB.
>> >
>> >
>> > I take this opportunity to mention that the LOCADD CG started some
>> > time ago a state-of-the-art document concerning (quoting)
>> > "vocabularies/encodings for providing a geospatial reference for
>> > resources, e.g. through coordinate geometries, addresses or
>> > geographical names".
>> >
>> > It was never finished, but it can stll provide some input. See, in
>> particular:
>> >
>> > - Existing standards
>> >  http://www.w3.org/community/locadd/wiki/SoA_Survey#Existing_standards
>> >
>> > - Comparison of syntax encoding schemes
>> >
>> http://www.w3.org/community/locadd/wiki/SoA_Survey#Comparison_of_syntax_encoding_schemes
>> >
>> > - Comparison of Vocabularies
>> >
>> http://www.w3.org/community/locadd/wiki/SoA_Survey#Comparison_of_Vocabularies
>> >
>> >
>> > Note that in those sections we included also GeoHash, the geo: URI
>> > scheme and Ian Davis's "WGS 84 Geographic Point URI Space":
>> >
>> > http://vocab.org/placetime/2003/05/geopoint-wgs84-20030516
>> >
>> > Can these be relevant here? They are examples of URI-based encodings
>> > of geometries, and two of them can be related to the "linkage"
>> > requirement. IMO, we should address them in the BPs, at least to say
>> > whether to use them or not, and when.
>> >
>> >
>> > Finally, one of the reason why the LOCADD draft was never completed,
>> > is because we realised that the job we planned to do was already
>> > carried out quite extensively by the GeoKnow project in the following
>> > deliverable:
>> >
>> >
>> http://svn.aksw.org/projects/GeoKnow/Public/D2.1.1_Market_and_Research_Overview.pdf
>> >
>> >
>> > Andrea
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 4:43 PM, Frans Knibbe <frans.knibbe@geodan.nl>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> 2015-11-25 15:49 GMT+01:00 Ed Parsons <eparsons@google.com>:
>> >>>
>> >>> I agree Spatialite is a interesting case, a database that is also a
>> file..
>> >>> esri's file geodatabase would be similar..
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Yes, geodatabase could be anotother candidate. Or do we only want to
>> >> describe open, non-proprietary, somewhat current formats? At least that
>> >> would help to keep the matrix manageable. Otherwise we would need to
>> add
>> >> more formats (take a look at the list of OGR formats for example)
>> >>
>> >> And how about adding SVG? It was discussed before, so it makes sense
>> to add
>> >> it.
>> >>
>> >> And if we add a row 'supports topology', then TopoJSON is an
>> interesting
>> >> candidate too. Well, I think the topology support criterion is good to
>> have
>> >> anyway.
>> >>
>> >> I did some quick websurfing to find out if GeoPackage and SpatiaLite
>> could
>> >> be lumped together. I'm not sure, but it could be they differ in some
>> >> respects. For example, it seems that SpatiaLite allows multiple
>> geometry
>> >> columns in a table while GeoPackage does not (I have not tested this).
>> That
>> >> would mean they would differ in the row 'supports multiple geometries
>> per
>> >> feature'.
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>> This is great work Clemens alhough I share your thoughts around
>> JSON-LD
>> >>> we are premature calling a spatial format at the moment.
>> >>
>> >> Yes, JSON-LD is an odd one in the matrix. It is not intended as a way
>> to
>> >> encode spatial data, it is someting on another level (an RDF format,
>> or a
>> >> document annotation format).
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >> Frans
>> >>
>> >>> Ed
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2015 14:06 Frans Knibbe <frans.knibbe@geodan.nl>
>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> 2015-11-25 14:30 GMT+01:00 Clemens Portele
>> >>>> <portele@interactive-instruments.de>:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Hi Frans,
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> in general I have only added formats that I have some familiarity
>> with.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> In the SpatialLite case, isn’t it more an implementation than a
>> format?
>> >>>>> The linked wikipedia page states: "SpatiaLite supports several open
>> >>>>> standards from the OGC and has been listed as a reference
>> implementation for
>> >>>>> the proposed GeoPackage standard."
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> It can be considered a vector geometry format, like it says on the
>> >>>> wikipedia page: 'Being a single binary file, SpatiaLite is also
>> being used
>> >>>> as a GIS vector format to exchange geospatial data'. It is possible
>> to see a
>> >>>> SpatiaLite file as a smart Shapefile.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On the other hand, one could say that OGC Simple Features is the
>> actual
>> >>>> format used by SpatiaLite. It depends on what we understand 'format'
>> to mean
>> >>>> exactly.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Greetings,
>> >>>> Frans
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> GeoPackage is in the list.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Best regards,
>> >>>>> Clemens
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On 25 Nov 2015, at 14:25, Frans Knibbe <frans.knibbe@geodan.nl>
>> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Hello Clemens,
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Have you considered adding SpatiaLite to the collection of formats?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Greetings,
>> >>>>> Frans
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> 2015-11-25 14:16 GMT+01:00 Andrea Perego
>> >>>>> <andrea.perego@jrc.ec.europa.eu>:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Hi, Clemens.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Just to say that an option would be to create a page in the SDW
>> wiki.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Andrea
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Clemens Portele
>> >>>>>> <portele@interactive-instruments.de> wrote:
>> >>>>>>> Looking at
>> >>>>>>>
>> https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-sdw-wg/2015Nov/0052.html the
>> >>>>>>> table structure seems to be lost after the email is processed by
>> the list
>> >>>>>>> software, so I will make the table available somewhere and send a
>> link.
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Clemens
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> On 25 Nov 2015, at 13:57, Clemens Portele
>> >>>>>>>> <portele@interactive-instruments.de> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Dear all,
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> below is a first attempt at such a matrix for vector data only.
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Beside a review (I am not sure that everything is correct or
>> >>>>>>>> adequate) this would need
>> >>>>>>>> - additional explanations in text,
>> >>>>>>>> - more work to align the terminology with the rest of the BP to
>> make
>> >>>>>>>> it understandable for the different target audiences,
>> >>>>>>>> - links to the specification for each format.
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> But before we work on this, I think we should have a discussion
>> >>>>>>>> whether
>> >>>>>>>> - this is what we were looking for in general,
>> >>>>>>>> - the list of aspects is complete, too much, or missing important
>> >>>>>>>> aspects (e.g. time support, closely coupled APIs / service
>> interfaces, etc),
>> >>>>>>>> - the list of formats is ok or whether we need to remove / add
>> some.
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> I hope the table is still readable once it passes the W3C list
>> >>>>>>>> software :)
>> >>>>>>>> …
>> >>>>>>>> Best regards,
>> >>>>>>>> Clemens
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> --
>> >>>>>> Andrea Perego, Ph.D.
>> >>>>>> Scientific / Technical Project Officer
>> >>>>>> European Commission DG JRC
>> >>>>>> Institute for Environment & Sustainability
>> >>>>>> Unit H06 - Digital Earth & Reference Data
>> >>>>>> Via E. Fermi, 2749 - TP 262
>> >>>>>> 21027 Ispra VA, Italy
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> ----
>> >>>>>> The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may
>> >>>>>> not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official
>> >>>>>> position of the European Commission.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>> --
>> >>>
>> >>> Ed Parsons
>> >>> Geospatial Technologist, Google
>> >>>
>> >>> Google Voice +44 (0)20 7881 4501
>> >>> www.edparsons.com @edparsons
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Andrea Perego, Ph.D.
>> > Scientific / Technical Project Officer
>> > European Commission DG JRC
>> > Institute for Environment & Sustainability
>> > Unit H06 - Digital Earth & Reference Data
>> > Via E. Fermi, 2749 - TP 262
>> > 21027 Ispra VA, Italy
>> >
>> > https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/
>> >
>> > ----
>> > The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may
>> > not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official
>> > position of the European Commission.
>>
>>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 26 November 2015 09:46:59 UTC