Personally, I think you are heading down the wrong road. PDF was designed as print/prepress layout format. Over the years they have continually added more and interactive and multimedia features, but it still is not a very good document format, and the additional added complexities have made it essentially a proprietary format (since the amount of effort required to fully implement the spec is enormous. It is easier to write software to create PDFs (like iText) than it is to write software to view them (Adobe Reader and then a bunch of other viewers that don't implement anywhere near the full spec).
Also many of the 'plugins' require M$ Windows, limiting with "open" nature. Adobe Reader has become a pig, because the spec has become a pig. Things like open-doc are superior formats for actually working with data. I think there are far superior open-source GIS solutions. PDF may make working with trivial maps easier but even so, but a simple SVG would probably work even better. Just my 2 cents... FYI our company uses PDF and GIS extensively. On Dec 31, 2006, at 2:42 PM, Alan wrote: > Bruno replied: >> I've just sent you a mail about this privately. > > Thanks. I have replied. > >> I had the same feeling a few years ago, but especially >> since Paulo and I went to JavaPolis, I think it's possible >> to change this. It's just a matter of finding the right >> angle. > > That is heartening. You and Paulo have done so much work it is good > that it > is "paying off". > >> I don't have access to those tools right now, but as GIS >> is my soft spot, I'm very interested in promoting such a tool. >> I have entered a contest in Belgium with the intention to >> prove that Free/Open Source Software can be used commercially >> without any problem in proprietary software. Maybe I could present >> your tool as a business case. > > This sounds appealing... > >> The first thing we need to do, is setting up a web page with >> some information about the tool (without actually providing >> the software, just a description and some samples in PDF). >> I can host this page on itext.ugent.be, just make sure you >> don't send me any files that can't be published publicly >> (don't send any copyrighted or sensitive material). > > I will construct some maps using public domain (and/or) fictitious > data and > forward them soon. > >> Then I'll contact the ESRI people I met at JavaPolis, >> I'll insist that they have a look at it, and I'll try >> to find some event where I can demonstrate the maps. > > Thanks. > >> Maybe we can ask Leonard to bring it to the attention >> of Adobe. There aren't many PDF viewers that support OCG, >> so your maps would be a good way to promote the use of >> Adobe Reader instead of Foxit, Preview, Ghostview, >> or any other PDF viewer. > > With the few IT people I've shown here a common response has been "I > honestly didn't know PDF had so much going for it." > > Cheers > AlanK > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > --- > Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT > Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to > share your > opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash > http://www.techsay.com/default.php? > page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV > _______________________________________________ > iText-questions mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/itext-questions > Buy the iText book: http://itext.ugent.be/itext-in-action/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ iText-questions mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/itext-questions Buy the iText book: http://itext.ugent.be/itext-in-action/
