Hi All! I see the ESRIelites are closing ranks. Please, before you venture further, try and see the point we were trying to make. The question was not about the morality of software vendors using proprietary formats. Neither are we talking about which is the better, or more useful of tab, shape, geodatabase or whatever.
The thing is the demand from ESRI that you license some of their software only for the reason that another software should be able to use their file format. Normally, the other software, for instance FME would have licensed the use of a proprietary format, and has obviously been able to do so for many other proprietary formats. ESRIs unwillingness to license their format in the same way is only disobliging and greedy. Hälsning / Best regards Mats.E ________________________ FB Engineering AB Södra Förstadsgatan 26 211 43 Malmö Tel: 040-660 25 50 Mobil: 0705-27 60 27 Fax: 040-660 25 99 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.fbe.se "Warren Vick, Europa Technologies Ltd." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2005-10-13 16:26 Till "'Mapinfo-L'" <mapinfo-l@lists.directionsmag.com> Kopia Ärende RE: MI-L Ang. RE: MI-L GeoDatabase convert to MapInfo? I don't think this problem is specifically an ESRI issue. As far as I am aware, MapInfo never published the format for TAB file sets - it was reversed engineered by someone. ESRI have published the Shapefile spec' for some time. Also, since I work with both technologies, I can say that ESRI is doing more on interoperability products and services than MapInfo is. Both ESRI and MapInfo are commercial companies and I can't blame them for trying to make some money out of the data formats that they develop. I think it's unrealistic to expect that moving data between formats is done free of charge. Until a full function open spatial data format exists, vendors will no doubt continue to develop their own. I've noticed a few messages here recently that vilify ESRI but often the same issues are closer to home too. Regards, Warren Vick Europa Technologies Ltd. http://www.europa-tech.com -----Original Message----- From: Mats Elfström [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 13 October 2005 15:04 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: 'Mapinfo-L' Subject: MI-L Ang. RE: MI-L GeoDatabase convert to MapInfo? Hear, hear! Rant or not, Jim is right. I have seen this before, and ESRI was involved then as well (What I am about to describe may have changed now but was a fact when the question evolved) Some time ago, Bentley announced a collaboration with ESRI so that the MicroStation GIS add-on Geographics would be able to use ESRI data without external conversion. This seemed like a good idea until it turned out that this functionality required a valid ArcGis license on the machine. I spite of much agitated debate on the relevant Bentley newsgroups, I don't recall seeing any change to this policy. And as someone pointed out back then, if he wanted to do GIS on a workstation that has ArcGis, why use Geographics? Best regards Mats.E ________________________ FB Engineering AB Södra Förstadsgatan 26 211 43 Malmö Tel: 040-660 25 50 Mobil: 0705-27 60 27 Fax: 040-660 25 99 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.fbe.se "Jim Henry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2005-02-13 15:44 Sänd svar till <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Till "'Mapinfo-L'" <mapinfo-l@lists.directionsmag.com> Kopia Ärende RE: MI-L GeoDatabase convert to MapInfo? Flavio et al, I think you have hit on the crux of ESRI's plan for ultimate domination. To use a product like FME to translate an ESRI GeoDataBase, ESRI requires that you have a legal Arc license on the machine. So much for Open GIS. Non compatibility has always been ESRI's underlying plan for ultimate product success. No need for technological excellence or user friendliness. I am amazed at how far so many major government agencies have been led down the path of creating all their mapping assets in proprietary, non-open data formats. Open information is a thing of the past in so many ways today. Sorry for the rant. Jim James C. Henry JCH GeoInfo Solutions 2726 Croasdaile Drive Suite 207 Durham, NC 27705 (919)493-9339 v. (waiting for transfer) (919)321-1515 temporary virtual number (919)321-4903 f. (919)819-8307 m. [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.jchgis.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Flavio Hendry [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 2:18 AM > To: Neil Havermale; Mike Smith; Bagwell, Ross; Mapinfo-L > Subject: RE: MI-L GeoDatabase convert to MapInfo? > > Hi Neil > > Newer Shape files come along with Projection in a PRJ file (I > think from ArcGIS 8 on); don't know if MapInfo supports it > directly, FME (and therefore the UT, which is an FME subset > should). There is no metadata and especially there is no > lines types, colors or even text in the file (all handled > through project files, in MapInfo slang = Workspaces). > Shape is extremely limited: only points, multipoints, lines > and areas and the column titles all uppercase limited to ten > characters (dBASE III or so). However shape can be 3D. > Geodatabase can handle a lot more, such as text, network > topology and more. Best to translate is the FME ESRI Suite > (www.safe.com), however for Geodatabases you need as well > ArcGIS installed. > > Mit freundlichem Gruss / Best Regards > Flavio Hendry > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > TYDAC NEWS http://www.tydac.ch/german/index.php?menu=News_actual > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > ############ Mit freundlichen Gruessen / Kind Regards > ############ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ############ > TYDAC AG - http://www.tydac.ch #### #### > Geographic Information Solutions #### #### > Luternauweg 12 -- CH-3006 Bern ############ Tel +41 (0)31 > 368 0180 - Fax +41 (0)31 368 1860 > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | > www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message number: 18248 > --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 18258 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 18261
