#OSGEO IRC Log - 2009-05-29

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01:09:07 milovanderlinden: Hi here, we are getting more and more questions about "upgrading" the ogr dgn driver to support newer versions of dgn. If we would be able to raise funds for that driver, would a body within osgeo be able to turn it into a development project and fullfill?
01:27:48 gerse: #mapguide
01:33:16 gerse: hallo?
01:37:13 gerse: hello?
02:07:23 milovanderlinden: hi there
02:09:22 steko: hi milovanderlinden
02:43:15 crschmidt: milovanderlinden: You should probably ask that to the GDAL/OGR project directly.
02:43:33 milovanderlinden: ok. I wll post to the mailing list
02:43:53 crschmidt: An email to the mailing list giving a deeper outline of what 'upgrading" might mean would probably be useful ( what versions need supporting, read/write or just read, etc. )
02:44:08 crschmidt: Oh
02:44:12 crschmidt: DGN is cad
02:44:39 crschmidt: I'm assuming you're talking about the 'v8 dgn' format?
02:45:25 crschmidt: I've seen a number of emails about improving various cad read support stuff
02:45:35 crschmidt: Generally, the answer is "You'd need more money than you've got."
02:47:19 milovanderlinden: Define more money? 1k, 2k, 20k, 200k?
02:48:02 crschmidt: I really can't comment effectively. In the past, read/write support for some AutoDesk CAD format was mentioned, and the number that sticks in my mind is the mid-5-figures, nearer to 50k than anything else.
02:48:11 crschmidt: But I don't know if that has any relevance to your current question.
02:48:23 crschmidt: Because the formats may be totally different -- I pay no attention to CAD : )
02:54:51 : * milovanderlinden thinks crschmidt is in a luxurious position if he can ignore CAD ;- )
02:55:00 crschmidt: Well, I don't make maps
02:55:07 crschmidt: Or use any OSGeo software
02:55:17 crschmidt: on a regular basis
02:55:57 crschmidt: even with OpenLayers, I've only used it to create something about 4 times -- Rectifier, an internal MC app, a significant extension to the OSM websit,e and recovery-map.org
03:06:41 milovanderlinden: lucky man! :D
03:07:43 milovanderlinden: I could write articles about CAD-hell, open dng not being open and DWG's pitt of mystery..
03:08:04 : * milovanderlinden shakes hands with ticheler
03:30:45 : * ticheler shakes hands back with milovanderlinden :- )
05:25:27 zool: hello peoples
05:27:10 zool: wondering if there was any pre-board-meeting discussion to be had on irc
05:32:33 : * zool browses teh logs, not much to see there
06:20:15 TylerM: Agenda: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2009-05-29#Agenda
06:20:17 sigq: Title: Board Meeting 2009-05-29 - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
06:23:36 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [1620]: add image to education report <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/1620>
06:24:03 CIA-43: osgeo: tmitchell * r1619 /journal/volume_5/en-us/OSGeoJournal_vol5.tex: main doc reorg articles
06:24:03 CIA-43: osgeo: tmitchell * r1620 /journal/volume_5/en-us/annual_report/committees/education_inventory.png: add image to education report
06:26:12 CIA-43: osgeo: tmitchell * r1621 /journal/volume_5/en-us/annual_report/executive/finance.pdf: extract of financial report page
06:26:24 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [1621]: extract of financial report page <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/1621>
06:28:06 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [1622]: extract of financial report page <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/1622>
06:28:33 CIA-43: osgeo: tmitchell * r1622 /journal/volume_5/en-us/annual_report/executive/finance.pdf: extract of financial report page
06:29:02 : * FrankW adds agenda item for the board meeting to approve the 03-13 minutes which appear to have been missed last meeting.
06:29:13 FrankW: Do we have thoughts on who will act as CRO this year?
06:29:25 FrankW: For the charter member and board elections that is.
06:30:05 ajolma: eh, what's CRO?
06:30:14 TylerM: hi guys
06:30:18 FrankW: chief returning officer
06:30:20 TylerM: I think we should just call it the Elections Officer : )
06:30:23 FrankW: Someone to run the election.
06:30:35 FrankW: I am fine with calling them the Elections Officer.
06:30:53 TylerM: I haven't seen any discussion on it to date except for this.
06:31:15 : * FrankW is connected via dialup today and won't be able to make it into skype.
06:31:25 FrankW: It seems the poor weather has my satellite link down.
06:31:50 : * ajolma enjoys perfect weather : )
06:33:06 FrankW: I open to questions about the financial reports in advance of the meeting.
06:33:24 FrankW: But I don't have access to quickbooksonline today, so drill down questions will need to be answered by Tyler.
06:33:42 TylerM: ugh, sounds tough FrankW
06:34:01 TylerM: okay, no problem
06:34:21 TylerM: They support Safari on Mac now for quickbooks online, makes things a lot easier now : )
06:34:39 TylerM: I think it's going to be perfect weather here too
06:35:20 TylerM: zool: ping, just a reminder to join skype at some point in next 20 mins
06:35:25 FrankW: I'm still running on a very old, un-updated mac. I don't think I'll try it.
06:37:12 crschmidt: yeah, you're still on Safari 1.3
06:38:35 TylerM: FrankW: let me know if you would you like me to phone you into Skype?
06:38:53 FrankW: Yes, if you have skypeout available, you will need to do it for me.
06:39:14 FrankW: I will need to drop off dialup though.
06:39:22 FrankW: So we can pursue it when we are done the irc portion of the meeting.
06:41:28 TylerM: I'm not sure how many others will be able to join IRC - at this point Bob and Markus are only on Skype.
06:43:31 seven: And Arnulf
06:43:34 TylerM: FrankW: 2041 number?
06:43:47 TylerM: seven: sorry, I meant they are not in IRC : )
06:44:09 TylerM: I see 5 of 9 in Skype, plus I'll dial in Frank
06:44:30 FrankW: TylerM: yes
06:46:43 zool: re all
06:47:34 : * seven has updated her netbook to Ubuntu 9.04 and everything is sluggish and slow. :-(
06:47:56 TylerM: so we'll talk slower for you? ; )
06:48:01 TylerM: hi zool - around for the meeting?
06:48:09 zool: yesyes
06:48:21 TylerM: great, i see you in skype now
06:48:54 zool: sorry for dropping in the election item at last minute, more to flag it up to board than meaning to invoke long discussion of it
06:49:13 seven: zool: +1 Good to bring it up, thanks.
06:52:24 seven: Shall we discuss agenda here and only phone later?
06:53:01 zool: sure, if it's legal : ) istr bob had another commitment anyway
06:53:06 seven: Maybe we need to reorganize so that we can have the votes before Markus and Ari have to leave.
06:53:58 TylerM: zool: thanks for the reminder re: Bob
06:54:03 TylerM: markus is the only one that's not in IRC
06:54:15 TylerM: and pramsey
06:54:30 TylerM: and paul and frank are the only ones not in skype .. lol
06:54:44 zool: happy to vote on the formal points first then discuss afterwards
06:54:46 TylerM: though howard and ticheler are both sleeping in skype..
06:55:49 seven: Hi markusN
06:56:00 zool: the main issue that may drag the call out is accounts approval - are there queries?
06:56:07 zool: hey markusN
06:56:14 TylerM: thanks for moving over markusN
06:56:16 seven: We start discussion here.
06:56:39 markusN: sure, hi all
06:56:43 seven: Who is here ( for the protocol )
06:56:45 seven: Arnulf
06:56:48 zool: Jo
06:56:49 : * FrankW sounds off
06:56:52 TylerM: Tyler
06:56:52 markusN: Markus
06:56:53 ajolma: Ari
06:57:05 TylerM: Meeting started =============
06:57:19 TylerM: * Tyler volunteers to take minutes
06:57:27 seven: Thank you.
06:57:39 seven: # Review and approve Board Meeting 2009-03-13 minutes.
06:57:49 seven: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2009-03-13
06:57:50 sigq: Title: Board Meeting 2009-03-13 - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
06:57:57 seven: # Review and approve Board Meeting 2009-04-24 minutes.
06:58:09 seven: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2009-04-24
06:58:10 sigq: Title: Board Meeting 2009-04-24 - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
06:58:22 FrankW: note that this is only an unofficial premeeting ...
06:58:57 markusN: re the first minutes: was there any follow-up concerning "Ask Marketing Committee to discuss how to spread the OSGeo PayPal donation option more, track donors, etc. "?
06:59:05 seven: We will have the official vote once we are on the call.
06:59:17 seven: But if there are issues we can discuss them here beforehand.
06:59:26 TylerM: markusN: no, I didn't make any follow up on it via marketing committee
06:59:26 seven: Only the vote itself needs to be in voice.
07:00:09 TylerM: Similar question re: the 15k up front funding for foss4g2010 - did conference committee get anything back?
07:00:20 seven: We are not using Tickets in Marketing yet. Maybe we should start to do that.
07:00:26 zool: seven++
07:00:33 markusN: ( GRASS has its own Paypal button now: http://grass.osgeo.org/donation.php )
07:00:34 sigq: Title: GRASS GIS Donation page ( at grass.osgeo.org )
07:00:46 markusN: via gfoss.it
07:00:47 FrankW: With regard to 15k upfront, I floated a proposal.
07:00:56 FrankW: but there was no followup on the list from me or anyone else.
07:01:20 TylerM: yeah - i'll add a ticket for marketing
07:01:39 zool: as the barcelona organisers are the ones it will most impact i would expect to see input form them e.g. lorenzo - a draft budget for where that will be laid out
07:01:50 seven: And ideally add an agent to post new tickets to the list.
07:02:17 FrankW: zool: agreed. I'm assuming it is not a pressing issue for them given their lack of input.
07:03:10 zool: nod, it will be next year's ec-gis type workshops that they will want promotional attendance at, i guess
07:03:19 seven: Anything else on the minutes item?
07:03:30 seven: If not I'd like to go to the next point.
07:03:32 seven: # Approve OSSIM for graduation from incubation with Mark Lucas as VP, OSSIM as recommended by the incubation committee.
07:03:40 seven: Just the disuccsion here.
07:03:43 seven: Vorint is late.r
07:03:49 seven: Voting...
07:04:24 seven: If you have followed Incubation you will know the status.
07:04:31 TylerM: I'll be glad to see OSSIM graduate.
07:04:37 zool: i am glad to hear inccom is happy given the code management / governance issues ossim had in the past - very glad!
07:05:10 seven: Yes. Any queries or issues on this?
07:05:23 FrankW: OSSIM has a somewhat unconventional approach, but they do buy into our requirement for openness, and traceability.
07:05:38 zool: i trust inccoms collective judgement
07:06:42 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #377 ( task created ): Review PayPal options for all projects and tracking donors <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/377>
07:07:01 seven: Good.
07:07:08 seven: Review and approve the 2008 annual financial report recommended by the Finance committee
07:07:11 markusN: thanks TylerM
07:07:25 seven: I have followed the mails so nothing new to me.
07:07:32 seven: Any questions?
07:07:44 zool: ditto
07:08:11 TylerM: it's clear to me
07:08:40 seven: Are we All ready to vote on it?
07:08:49 : * zool nods
07:08:58 : * ajolma nods
07:09:13 seven: Good.
07:09:15 TylerM: seven: want me to dial up then?
07:09:20 seven: # Elections for Charter Members and to Board in 2009 - find a CRO, draft a timetable.
07:09:27 seven: Maybe this one, just short.
07:09:40 seven: Maybe there is someone standing up right now who wants to do this.
07:09:48 seven: Then we could vote on that motion to.
07:09:51 seven: too.
07:10:04 seven: We need an Election Officer, volunteers.
07:10:14 TylerM: CRO = elections officer.. collecting nominations, collating votes
07:10:19 zool: hehe, in theory i would like to do it this year but i will be too busy for the next couple of months
07:10:25 seven: I believe anybody could volunteer, or does it have to be an OSGeo official
07:10:26 TylerM: making announcements, etc. too
07:10:27 seven: ?
07:10:45 TylerM: hmm
07:10:49 FrankW: It should be someone who does not intend to run for the board.
07:10:56 FrankW: I'm not aware of any other restrictions.
07:10:56 seven: Obviously...
07:11:25 seven: OK, lets not wait for it to happen.
07:11:32 seven: Shall we start the phone call?
07:11:38 zool: mind that this includes the charter member expansion round as well
07:12:02 seven: And sorting out those who failed to vote last year, etc.
07:12:08 FrankW: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Chief_Returning_Officer
07:12:09 sigq: Title: Chief Returning Officer - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
07:12:26 TylerM: okay, dialing
07:12:35 : * FrankW disconnectts!
07:12:43 TylerM: we're going to lose markus and ari otherwise : )
07:13:23 : * seven absolutely hates Skype! Kicked me.
07:13:27 zool: i found it was not too much work and a nice way of connecting with the whole osgeo community
07:13:40 zool: and regretted that i stalled the process by giving birth in the middle of it
07:14:39 zool: i saw you briefly appear, seven, and then disconnect
07:15:17 seven: Problem with silent device. Worked an hour ago. Stupid thing.
07:16:21 TylerM: Five in phone call:
07:16:28 TylerM: Tyler, Frank, Arnulf, Jo, Jeroen, Ari
07:16:53 TylerM: * Arnulf, Jo motion to approve March minutes
07:17:03 TylerM: All were in favour.
07:17:25 TylerM: * Arnulf, Jo motion to approve April minutes
07:17:29 zool: in the background, a robot duck is farting
07:17:51 TylerM: * Frank motions, Jo seconds: Approve OSSIM for graduation from incubation with Mark Lucas as VP, OSSIM as recommended by the incubation committee
07:18:12 TylerM: ** all were in favour, carried
07:18:36 TylerM: * Frank motions, Arnulf seconds: Review and approve the 2008 annual financial report recommended by the Finance committee
07:19:43 TylerM: ** +1 from 4, +0 from Jeroen ( didn't have time to review ) - carries
07:21:02 TylerM: Discussion to continue in IRC as needed.
07:21:54 ajolma: TylerM: we'll meet at UK OSGIS
07:21:59 seven: This is a lot more efficient...
07:22:03 TylerM: Arnulf motions to close formal call part of meeting. Jo seconds
07:22:08 TylerM: ajolma: okay - great!
07:22:20 TylerM: Victor Olaya is going too, as well as many UK'ers of course
07:22:25 TylerM: looking forward to seeing you
07:22:44 seven: Would it be worthwhile to ping Discuss on the Elections for Charter Members and to Board in 2009 - find a CRO, draft a timetable.
07:22:53 ajolma: TylerM: me too, let's exchange some emails about it
07:24:28 TylerM: One note re: Charity status. We made the application to US IRS months ago, something like 6 months ago. I received a letter a couple months ago basically saying our applications was not so "standard" and would be referred to another group for further review.
07:25:05 TylerM: So not much to say, just that it's all in their hands now
07:25:10 seven: hehe, standards...
07:25:24 seven: as if the knew anything about that.
07:25:27 TylerM: yeah, means one answer must have given too much info ;- )
07:25:40 TylerM: normal is boring anyway
07:25:45 ticheler: TylerM: is that to be concerned about?
07:26:01 zool: okay, at least it's in train
07:26:08 TylerM: The main question will be around having to pay taxes or not
07:26:15 TylerM: which finance committee is starting to discuss.
07:26:20 ticheler: sure
07:26:25 ticheler: ?
07:26:34 TylerM: Ideally, we'd have the approval, then be able to follow up using the charitable status rules. But until then we're kind of in limbo.
07:26:38 ticheler: are they starting to discuss paying taxes
07:26:47 ticheler: or the impact in case we have to?
07:26:59 TylerM: We're just looking into the need to file some tax reports.. it's not entirely clear.
07:27:02 FrankW: we have not discussed the impact if we have to.
07:27:11 ticheler: ok
07:27:19 FrankW: I don't think there is much chance of that. At worst we would need to register as a different kind of non-profit.
07:29:32 seven: Shall we post a request for an Elections Officer on Discuss the disucss mailing list.
07:29:35 seven: ?
07:30:23 FrankW: that seems reasonable. We should note they need to already be a charter member and that they are not willing to run for the board.
07:30:31 zool: either way we must file some kind of tax return, and do that historically, so there will be accountancy expense but hopefully not signfificant
07:30:51 seven: FrankW: I will write something and ping it to you.
07:32:51 FrankW: seven: ok, though I would not mind your just doing it!
07:34:21 ticheler: TylerM: you can change my vote for the financial report to +1 if that is allowed
07:34:34 ticheler: otherwise keep it at +0 :- )
07:35:00 FrankW: I do think abstaining ( +0 ) is quite acceptable
07:35:05 TylerM: okay, I think I have to leave it : )
07:35:11 ticheler: NP
07:35:43 FrankW: I was surprised no one wanted to see our financial year compared to our budget.
07:36:37 TylerM: I thought about it at least ; )
07:37:20 TylerM: I'm curious how much travel $ I saved staying home ; )
07:37:26 TylerM: for a year
07:37:42 ticheler: I think the bottomline made most of us hapy ;- )
07:37:42 FrankW: I notice we had 7K of income from the geocamp in ottawa, but I wasn't clear were the corresponding expenses ended up.
07:37:44 ticheler: happy
07:38:01 FrankW: Did the expenses get burried in the promotional area?
07:39:13 TylerM: not sure off top of my head.. net income from it was $1k
07:39:23 : * FrankW cedes laptop to wife...
07:39:25 TylerM: just typing up minutes at the moment
07:41:07 : * seven dops off now. Will be back later.
07:41:13 zool: hm i thought the issue was more the integrity of the accounts than the financial status of the foundation
07:41:17 seven: Have a nice weekend.
07:41:40 zool: though that's an issue that will become pressing soon.
07:42:19 TylerM: i'm trying to set up a meeting with an accountant to help give some advice on several fronts.
07:42:26 zool: whether this is the right scale / of interest i don't know but i wanted to point out the open knowledge foundation's new pledgebank based supporter drive
07:43:21 zool: http://www.en-gb.pledgebank.com/support-okfn
07:43:23 sigq: Title: 'I will set up a standing order of at least £5 a month to help the Open Knowledge Foundation keep developing and promoting open knowledge' - PledgeBank ( at www.en-gb.pledgebank.com )
07:43:57 zool: as a means of allowing people to commit to support without having to commit funds right away - trying to raise 6k to cover running expenses, hosting, grantwriting
07:44:14 TylerM: hmm yeah sounds good
07:44:20 TylerM: biab
07:44:23 zool: TylerM did you ping cholmes? i think he does know some 'activist accountant'
07:44:26 TylerM: nice to see you all
07:44:32 zool: be well
07:44:58 TylerM: zool: I'm going to check this local company out first and see .. then at least I can talk to someone face to face
07:45:24 zool: nod, the US nonprofit specialisation is probably important though?
07:45:28 FrankW: I suspect we will need US assistance for filing a US return.
07:45:51 TylerM: right.. this company has an affiliate in the US they use for that stuff... apparently.. I'll find out : )
07:55:58 kees___: hey people, does anyone have a good doc on how mapserver, geoserver, degree, geonetwork os, postgis, etc relate to eachother and whic combinations provide good working SDI's?
07:58:09 ticheler: kees___: I have a graphic that shows their relationship
07:58:27 kees___: ticheler: that would be nice
07:58:33 kees___: I'll pm my email if that is ok
07:58:38 kees___: or do you have it online?
07:58:43 ticheler: and I also know there was a similar, but more comprehensive graphic made by Prodevelop if I remember well
07:58:56 ticheler: yes, it is online
07:59:01 ticheler: one sec... searching
08:03:04 ticheler: BTW, also look at this: http://gallery.osgeo.org/
08:03:06 sigq: Title: OSGeo.org | Your Open Source Compass ( at gallery.osgeo.org )
08:07:59 kees___: ticheler: that gallery is nice
08:08:04 ticheler: kees___: Look in this presentation ( sorry, it is a little old ) http://osgeo.org/files/viscom/library/ticheler_2006a.ppt
08:08:26 ticheler: groeten!
08:08:35 kees___: ticheler: 404 page not found
08:08:37 kees___: : )
08:08:40 kees___: groeten
08:08:47 ticheler: :-(
08:09:46 ticheler: structure of site must have changed...
08:09:55 kees___: I'll search
08:09:58 ticheler: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Library
08:09:59 sigq: Title: Library - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
08:10:37 ticheler: only a few of them have been moved to the library I see
08:10:51 ticheler: I can email it to you
08:11:00 kees___: would be nice
08:13:24 ticheler: is 4Mb ok in the email?
08:35:02 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #378 ( task created ): benchmarking@lists.osgeo.org <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/378>
08:43:20 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #378 ( task closed ): benchmarking@lists.osgeo.org <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/378#comment:1>
09:07:12 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #379 ( task created ): Trac/SVN/mailman for spatialindex <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/379>
09:24:03 TylerM: ticheler: you just got the file name wrong, I think meant .pdf
09:24:04 TylerM: http://www.osgeo.org/files/viscom/library/ticheler_2006a.ppt
09:26:04 TylerM: that's a really good one
12:13:14 SmokeyD: hey people. Does geonetwork only store metadata, or is there also functionality to upload and store geodata in the local filesystem or postgis or something?
12:25:29 crschmidt: I believe it's the former.
12:33:03 wildintellect: I concur, just metadata- you can link to the files though
12:33:24 wildintellect: so it would be possible to extend it to handle uploading
13:03:35 SmokeyD: wildintellect: hmm, ok. Is there any FOSS solution which allows users to upload geodata in a couple of common formats ( supported by OGR/GDAL ) and store it in a backend like postgis, and combine it with metadata recording. Like geonetwork, but extended with ogr/gdal conversion functionality and a storage backend like postigs?
13:03:55 crschmidt: I'm not aware of anything like that at this time.
13:05:53 wildintellect: I agree, it currently does not a exist as a package you just install - very buildable though with the tools out there
13:06:33 SmokeyD: yeah It is very buildable, just wanted to make sure I won't do double work
13:06:38 SmokeyD: thanks for the input
13:07:20 SmokeyD: I think I will write something that uses geonetwork for the data search and metadata storage, and uses postgis for vector data storage and maybe file storage for raster data
13:07:57 wildintellect: seems reasonable - geonetwork bundles geoserver so you could hook into that for serving the data
13:08:32 SmokeyD: build a webinterface which allows uploading
13:08:48 SmokeyD: wildintellect: does it? Hmm, that makes it more interesting
13:09:52 wildintellect: they probably have in mind what you want to do and just haven't gotten there
13:10:00 SmokeyD: wildintellect: : )
13:10:10 SmokeyD: hmm, I should contact them then and see if I can contribute
13:10:11 SmokeyD: : )
13:11:43 wildintellect: email list is the best, #geonetwork is fairly quiet
13:12:25 SmokeyD: wildintellect: ok cool
13:12:28 SmokeyD: thanks for the input
13:51:53 TylerM: SmokeyD: I am interested in similar functionality, having toyed with the upload/cataloguing idea for a couple years... but i'm no web developer ; )
13:52:58 SmokeyD: TylerM: I think I could do it just fine. It just boils down to making a nice webinterface to pre-existing stuff
13:53:32 SmokeyD: I mean storage could be done in postgis and local files, visualisation using openlayers or something, metadata using geonetwork
13:53:59 TylerM: there is a certain level of metadata that you likely want, but is not part of geonetwork by default.
13:54:13 TylerM: e.g. properties that gdal/ogr and postgis maintain.
13:54:31 SmokeyD: you mean like SRS, extent, etc?
13:54:34 TylerM: I can tell you more if you like. I have a python script to create a basic set of metadata properties for most gdal/ogr datatypes.
13:54:54 TylerM: yes and number of attribute items, types, number of features, etc.
13:55:05 SmokeyD: yeah, ok indeed
13:55:10 SmokeyD: you definately need that yea
13:55:16 SmokeyD: could I see that script?
13:55:31 TylerM: yeah one sec
13:55:40 SmokeyD: cool, thanks
13:55:47 TylerM: i blogged about it last year i think
13:55:56 SmokeyD: I finally got a project I could contribute to in the osgeo area.
13:56:02 SmokeyD: : ) yeah!
13:56:21 TylerM: oh.. if you want to work together.. ( err have one more opinion ) let me know ; )
13:56:34 TylerM: here you go... http://spatialguru.com/ideas/data_cataloguing_background
13:56:36 sigq: Title: A Case For Low-Level Metadata Collection | Spatialguru.com ( at spatialguru.com )
13:56:39 TylerM: way more than you want to know ;- )
13:56:51 TylerM: and http://spatialguru.com/code/xml_catalogue_format
13:56:53 sigq: Title: XML to describe and catalogue datasets | Spatialguru.com ( at spatialguru.com )
13:57:18 SmokeyD: there is never more than I want to know. I want to know everything ; )
13:57:21 SmokeyD: just lack the time
13:57:41 SmokeyD: : )
13:58:13 SmokeyD: TylerM: you are doing the keynote on the osgis UK conference right?
13:58:19 SmokeyD: are you sticking around afterwards?
13:58:24 SmokeyD: I am attending the conference
13:58:41 TylerM: hey yeah, that's right
13:58:59 TylerM: and yes, I'm around the following day too - looking to learn more about UNottingham scene
13:59:15 TylerM: will you be at the osgeo UK meetup?
13:59:43 SmokeyD: when is that? I am not living in the UK, I have to fly back to NL the day after the conference
13:59:54 TylerM: same night as the event
13:59:57 TylerM: i'll be there
14:00:26 SmokeyD: cool. I will have to check if I can get back to manchester the following morning then
14:00:33 SmokeyD: in time for my flight
14:00:51 TylerM: cool
14:01:00 SmokeyD: I will definately try
14:01:04 TylerM: see you there.. I'll be the one wearing the "Hello My Name is Tyler" tag
14:01:19 SmokeyD: : )
14:01:20 SmokeyD: cool
14:01:23 SmokeyD: thanks for your input
14:01:38 SmokeyD: I am still struggling to find a fgood thing to really get involved in
14:01:43 SmokeyD: seems I found something now
14:01:44 TylerM: glad to hear you are interested in similar idea. my end goal was the same as yours, but I got buried in metadata : )
14:01:57 TylerM: the idea was to also catalogue all my existing data first
14:02:14 TylerM: then lock out all end users from using the file system : ) and go through web interfaces.
14:02:22 TylerM: .. more detailed thoughts than that, but you get the picture.
14:03:25 SmokeyD: yeah, I would agree on the same approach. I was asked on my thoughts to setup a sharing portal for geodata for some nature conservation ngo's in ethiopia. Webinterface would be the way to go then to make it easy for them to use
14:15:17 wildintellect: TylerM, I might be back to talk about that python-xml script at some point, I think we could roll it into the qgis plugin I started
14:15:31 TylerM: wildintellect: sweet!
14:23:05 SmokeyD: TylerM: I read the first article. Your use cases seem to fit mine. I think it would be easy to write some webapp that provides upload functionality of some common fileformats which then get read by gdal/ogr to convert to a common storage backend, and at the same time pass it through your script and store the resulting xml file in the same backend. If desired geonetwork could then be plugged-in to store their kind of geodata and do the sharing, sea
14:23:36 SmokeyD: it is 00:30 right now over here so I am calling it a day but I'll continue on it this weekend some more
14:23:50 TylerM: Okay..
14:23:52 SmokeyD: I have a project at hand which I could write hours on for developing something like that
14:24:05 TylerM: I was planning to fold the results of scripting into geonetwork at some point
14:24:07 SmokeyD: thanks for the input! I really appreciate it
14:24:14 TylerM: cool.. good on ya! take it easy
14:24:26 SmokeyD: yeah I also thought putting it back in geonetwork would be interesting
14:24:46 TylerM: that was my ultimate goal.. too
14:25:03 SmokeyD: but we could offer both. Provide a simple webinterface to browse datasets, and only fold back into geonetwork if geonetwork is desired
14:25:22 TylerM: right-o
14:25:48 TylerM: and of course since all the low level metadata is available.. you could 'export' to a MapServer config file or into a QGIS project file, etc...
14:25:54 wildintellect: was requested that my plugin has a push to geonetwork
14:26:01 SmokeyD: TylerM: indeed
14:26:23 wildintellect: and now that I think about it I'm working on a django app that will probably incorporate at least shp, kml upload
14:26:57 wildintellect: for display on an OL map
14:27:02 SmokeyD: you could write all sorts of functionality then for downloading formats and online webmapping frameworks
14:27:03 TylerM: cool
14:27:28 TylerM: I started laying out my higher level project mgt app in django as well, though nothing spatial so far.. so I'll be keen to see what you've done : )
14:27:59 wildintellect: it's all on the drawing board right now - probably should work on it some today
14:28:32 SmokeyD: TylerM: is the consensus that Django is the best framework for python web mapping apps? I am used to use turbogears/pylons for normal webapps but I could switch to Django if most webmappers use it
14:28:45 TylerM: heh - no comment : ) I really don't know
14:28:50 SmokeyD: ok
14:28:56 SmokeyD: : ) I'll look into it
14:28:58 wildintellect: SmokeyD, I had this discussion recently
14:29:07 SmokeyD: wildintellect: ok, cool
14:29:15 SmokeyD: what are your thoughts on it?
14:29:36 wildintellect: I'm leaning towards django because I need auth per map object
14:29:58 wildintellect: meaning permission down to the level of each point in a layer
14:30:10 wildintellect: and I've been told geodjango wraps postgis well
14:30:27 TylerM: cool
14:30:29 SmokeyD: I never used Django. I can imagine this being tricky in Turbogears though.
14:30:36 wildintellect: pylons is my runner up, since mapfish server backend went along that route
14:30:36 SmokeyD: wildintellect: sounds interesting
14:30:49 wildintellect: but the django permissions management seemed more ready to use
14:31:44 TylerM: i never checkedout turbogears for some reason.. or skipped it early on and just forget
14:32:06 SmokeyD: wildintellect: yeah premissions aren't that finegrained in turbogears/pylons, although it will be possible.
14:32:14 TylerM: my test case was comparing ruby on rails with django.. by trying the 'getting started' tutorial of each and seeing which I was actually able to complete ;- )
14:32:28 TylerM: i'm so scientific :D
14:32:29 SmokeyD: :D
14:32:39 SmokeyD: I am like that as well sometimes
14:32:43 SmokeyD: often actually
14:32:44 SmokeyD: : )
14:33:01 wildintellect: fyi camptocamp is in to pylons, more of the openlayers/pythoners seem to be towards django
14:33:59 SmokeyD: wildintellect: ok. thanks for the input. I am kind of tired right now but I will write some ideas down now and get back into it tomorrow or sunday or something. I'll be back in here definately to discuss
14:34:49 wildintellect: I use the same test often
14:35:17 wildintellect: sounds good
14:35:22 TylerM: i liked not having to think MVC MVC MVC when doing Django.. unlike in RoR tutorials : ) heh
14:36:30 wildintellect: ruby while is sounds nice, is on my only if I have to list - python just seems more straight forward to read code
14:58:20 SmokeyD: TylerM, wildintellect: while I was writing stuff down so I don't forget a thought occured: why not just contribute to geoserver+geonetwork combination to add this functionality. Together those two seem to do most of what we want ( data storage and metadata storage, WFC, WMS, etc ). Why not just add upload functionality and the extra dataset properties reading and storage ( in the xml file )
14:59:12 SmokeyD: instead of develop again another webapp it might be more efficiënt to just add functionality to existing well working projects
14:59:47 TylerM: not a bad idea.. my goals were less ambitious and probably those platforms are overkill for me needs
15:00:34 TylerM: I try build in very small modular chunks so they can be reused and built on top of.. python works perfect for me in this respect.
15:00:39 SmokeyD: TylerM: ok. Maybe split it up in two. Some background stuff in python which anyone could use, and then the possibility to tie it in to geonetwork and geoserver for a frontend
15:00:51 SmokeyD: you were just ahead of me
15:00:52 SmokeyD: : )
15:01:00 TylerM: : )
15:01:17 SmokeyD: we even seem to like the same cms for websites: drupal : )
15:01:22 TylerM: I'm not really thinking in terms of frontend except to say 'web-based' : )
15:01:28 SmokeyD: ok
15:01:44 SmokeyD: yeah I definately need a frontend for users
15:01:54 TylerM: I barely program and I'm trying to stick with Python as I end up getting a bit more collaboration from other wannabe programmers
15:01:55 TylerM: ; )
15:02:14 wildintellect: I think either approach would work here
15:02:49 TylerM: unless I misunderstand geoserver, I don't think either of them are intended to be data management platforms.. which is what i really want
15:03:17 wildintellect: checking with both those projects to see where their roadmap is going in regards to data upload would be a sane idea
15:03:24 SmokeyD: hmm. I'll try to talk to them this weekend and see their views on it.
15:03:35 SmokeyD: Now I am really going to bed : )
15:03:40 TylerM: sure sure ; )
15:03:47 SmokeyD: : )
15:04:22 TylerM: I don't think I can handle requiring a java-based web backend for my use cases
15:04:33 SmokeyD: wildintellect: could I get your real name so I can also mention talking to you about it?
15:05:05 SmokeyD: TylerM: well, the project I hope to start will need it's own server anyway, so I don't mind requiring java. although I am not a java programmer really
15:05:31 SmokeyD: my name is Dolf Andringa by the way
15:05:32 SmokeyD: : )
15:05:36 TylerM: plus i really like being able to hit GDAL/OGR directly with python in ways I've been doing for years. anyway, I'm sure it could be done a hundred different ways well : )
15:05:46 TylerM: email me you contact info at tmitchell - osgeo.org
15:05:55 SmokeyD: TylerM: yeah my preference is on python as well. Real quick
15:05:58 wildintellect: lol, Alex, although most of them will know me by my moniker since my domain is also wildintellect
15:06:06 SmokeyD: ok
15:06:07 SmokeyD: cool
15:06:18 TylerM: then we can keep in touch re: UK event too
15:06:22 SmokeyD: TylerM: ok, willdo tomorrow
15:06:27 TylerM: ~yawn~
15:06:33 TylerM: have a good nigh
15:06:35 TylerM: night
15:06:35 SmokeyD: indeed
15:06:36 SmokeyD: : )
15:06:37 SmokeyD: thanks
15:06:38 SmokeyD: you to
15:06:42 SmokeyD: whenever that is
15:06:43 TylerM: cya
15:06:46 TylerM: : )
15:06:49 TylerM: not tired here yet
15:06:57 TylerM: western canada
15:09:29 TylerM: wildintellect: I see this as middleware - where the map serving platforms and cataloguing platforms don't necessarily care to spend much time. it's more an implementation of their techs than contributing to them.
15:10:00 wildintellect: I agree
15:10:32 wildintellect: from my perspective that would make it easier to implement as a desktop app too
15:10:56 TylerM: oh yeah, forgot about that side.. which is part of my goal too
15:11:19 TylerM: the web UI would only be an example of a web instance to the underlying toolset
15:11:28 wildintellect: exactly
15:11:50 wildintellect: and we can easily extend the plugin I've got to allow for easy desktop usage with a UI
15:12:28 TylerM: it's always the un-sexiest part of programming I think ; )
15:13:09 TylerM: getting hardcore developers interested is always a challenge on this stuff, so I take the power-user n00b-programmer approach :D