My primary interest for Commons Imaging is using it to access geo-referenced TIFF file (GeoTIFF) . So far, it's worked out pretty well.
The TIFF file format provides a flexible definition for attaching metadata to images. Back in the 1990's, the Geographic Information System (GIS) community started using a specification that allowed TIFF files to be overlaid on map displays. Nowadays, GeoTIFFs are supported by all the major GIS systems. While Imaging is useful for things like aerial photographs and satellite images, it also has the capability to carry numerical information. And there are some excellent, high-resolution elevation data sources available in TIFF format. I've been using the Commons Imaging API to access elevation grids with a 10-meter spacing from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), global elevation data sets from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) that has a 30-meter spacing, some European and Japanese sources, and high-resolution bathymetry products. Not all TIFF API's support access to that kind of data, but Commons Imaging does. And, personally, I think that Imaging is one of the easier-to-use libraries for accessing numerical data from TIFFs. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing the alpha-3 release be available via the Maven Central Repository. Bruno has introduced some significant improvements to the API. Having them available via Maven will be a boon to the Java developer community. Thanks, Gary (the other Gary) On Thu, May 12, 2022 at 12:32 AM Bruno Kinoshita <brunodepau...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > We have fixed all the issues that were raised as blockers for 1.0 some > years ago (4? maybe 5 years ago?). I'm finishing the preparations for the > 1.0-alpha3 vote for Imaging. It's the last alpha release I have planned. > > I started working on Imaging when I became curious if we could use it as an > IIIF processor in Cantaloupe [1]. I never had time to try that, and instead > ended up spending a long time working on these issues for the 1.0 release. > Hoping now to use the alpha3 release with IIIF, fix any bugs I may find, > give users 6-12 months to send their feedback, and then cut 1.0 if there > are no blockers. > > I received feedback from users of Imaging that were able to use > alpha1/alpha2 in their Android apps, GIS solutions, simple web apps, and > even in visual arts with processing.org. Having the 1.0 in Maven should > allow a few more users/devs to use it. > > Cheers > Bruno > > [1] https://cantaloupe-project.github.io/manual/3.1/processors.html >
