Howard, I didn't realize that GDAL could work with MrSID. Nor did I realize that LizardTech had an SDK available.
Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. Landon -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Howard Butler Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 3:23 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Cc: Mark Dennehy Subject: Re: [Geowanking] MrSID and the USDA FSA I'm also not too happy about the MrSID-only distribution of the USDA NAIP imagery. I suppose they'll move toward JPEG2000 someday, but for now we'll have to live with it. Also, if you can stomach the website, you can download many of the NAIP images (and other data) from the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway <http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/>. Grab the imagery from the data gateway, grab the SDK from LizardTech's website, compile GDAL with it, and clip, mash, and chop to your heart's content with gdal_translate. Howard At 04:36 PM 12/6/2006, Landon Blake wrote: >Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message >Content-Type: multipart/alternative; > boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C71987.0851FCFE" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >The USDA makes aerial photography available for many counties in >United States. You can acquire a natural color mosaic for most of >these counties for $50.00. > >We recently discovered that these mosaics are only made available in >MrSID format. The mosaics are very large files and you need to >purchase LizardTech's GeoExpress or other commercial software to >"cut" up the MrSID images into more manageable chunks. (A license of >GeoExpress runs about $300.00.) The full-county mosaics run about >$50.00. If you want to purchase the individual tiles in GeoTiff >format you are going to pay a lot more. (The price for our county >was quoted at $2100.00) > >I am curious what other wankers think about the USDA's decision to >offer this imagery acquired with public funds in a format that has >no published specification and for which you need to purchase >commercial software to manipulate. I realize that there some >compression advantages to MrSID, but why not use a more common image >format? Why not use a format with an open specification? > >When I consider the price difference between the mosaics and the >individual tiles, it sure seems like this system is set up in >LizardTech's favor. Is someone from LizardTech paying for the >tropical vacations of some USDA officials, or am I completely >missing something? > >Landon > > > > >Warning: >Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against >defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader >is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any >dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is >strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in >error, please notify the sender immediately. >_______________________________________________ >Geowanking mailing list >[email protected] >http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
