#POSTGIS IRC Log - 2008-08-15

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10:28:15 lukus78: hi
10:28:49 lukus78: can someone point me towards a good tool or app that I can use to add ESRI shapefile data to a postgis database?
10:31:22 springmeyer: are you looking for a Graphic/Desktop tool or a command line tool?
10:32:29 springmeyer: for the former I use the 'SPIT' plugin within QuantumGIS, but I more commonly use the command line tool called shp2pgsql that comes with postgis
10:50:53 lukus78: springmeyer, basically want to find the most flexible solution .. i'll try both
10:50:55 lukus78: thanks
10:51:23 springmeyer: well, you might find ogr2ogr to be the most flexible....
10:51:31 lukus78: cool
10:51:50 lukus78: i'll try it out
10:52:25 lukus78: do you think quantum is the best desktop app for gis ( open source ) at the mom?
10:52:40 pramsey: you have to try them all
10:52:43 lukus78: i really just need to browse features and maybe edit a bit
10:53:08 lukus78: pramsey .. what if i only had one week to live... which would you suggest?
10:53:46 pramsey: spend your time hugging your kids
10:53:59 lukus78: lol
10:54:04 lukus78: i asked for that
10:54:08 pramsey: this is apples and oranges and melons time
10:54:14 lukus78: okay
10:54:17 pramsey: you'll be surprised at where they differ and how
10:54:34 lukus78: just like everyone - i want arcgis on opensource
10:54:49 pramsey: and your perception of their goodness will be highly correlated to where they fail you, in "important" places or "unimportant" places.
10:55:01 lukus78: good advice
10:55:13 lukus78: grass looked the most intimidating
10:55:17 pramsey: having said that, I need to try them all again, it's been a year
10:55:20 pramsey: so much has changed
10:55:21 lukus78: when i last looked at an overview
10:55:47 pramsey: it was really really instructive to try and to the same things in all of them
10:56:10 pramsey: like, they all had tables, but some of them worked well, and some fell apart for larger files
10:56:22 pramsey: all of them had access to the database directly, but some had good edting and som ehad none
10:56:31 lukus78: i imagine hacking formats is an issue sometimes..
10:56:41 pramsey: all had "printing" but some had really only PoC level and some had usable layout tools
10:57:10 pramsey: and the "usability" of the UIs was all over the map
10:57:33 lukus78: is quantum the one that uses the eclipse format?
10:57:39 pramsey: no, that's udig
10:57:43 lukus78: ah okay
10:57:47 : * nhv mentions vim<=>emacs analogy
10:57:47 : * springmeyer was there once: 'just like everyone - i want arcgis on opensource'
10:57:50 pramsey: qgis is a QT one
10:58:13 lukus78: k
10:58:20 : * lukus78 mumbles emacs
10:58:25 : * springmeyer now thinks 'just like everyone - i want arcgis to be more like opensource'
10:58:26 : * lukus78 and hides
10:58:59 : * lukus78 thinks 'i want argis to run on linux and be free;
10:59:17 lukus78: i'm being flippant, of course
10:59:25 lukus78: i think i understand
10:59:31 springmeyer: I thought that once too.
11:00:30 springmeyer: now I'm more glad that I can express that I've 'had' to learn postgis ( everything vector in arcgis and better ) and python scripting of gdal ( everything raster in arcgis and better ) ( for me )
11:01:07 lukus78: ahh so gdal is good for raster?
11:01:08 springmeyer: just speaking from my backgound of course...
11:01:15 lukus78: i was wondering what filled the hole
11:01:32 nhv: python scripting ogr for fine grained postgis control is an option also
11:01:59 lukus78: i've heard good things about python
11:02:19 springmeyer: gdal == raster
11:02:21 lukus78: ( not least from the xkcd guy )
11:02:32 lukus78: gdal is the same as raster?
11:02:36 : * springmeyer has not touched arcgis or grass since learning python <-> gdal
11:02:50 lukus78: i'm confused
11:02:51 springmeyer: I mean loosly for me...
11:02:54 lukus78: oh
11:02:55 lukus78: okay
11:02:58 springmeyer: sorry, being 'flippant'
11:03:05 lukus78: it's catching...
11:03:11 lukus78: so gdal is a library?
11:03:31 springmeyer: using gdal as a library with python bindings is what I am being flippant about.... : )
11:03:49 lukus78: heheh
11:04:23 springmeyer: and yes, as nhv mentioned, you can script postgreSQL with python as well
11:04:43 lukus78: cool
11:05:07 springmeyer: http://postgis.refractions.net/support/wiki/index.php?PostgisAndPython
11:05:08 sigq: Title: PostGIS Wiki : Postgis And Python ( at postgis.refractions.net )
11:05:24 lukus78: the only issue i have with postgreSQL scripts at the mom.. is that ones that make use of C need SU permission on the server I use.. ( which I don't have ) ... not sure if it would be the same for python
11:05:33 lukus78: thx
11:05:36 lukus78: i'll check it out
11:06:06 springmeyer: no sudo - ya, that's tough
11:06:29 lukus78: it's a shared server .. but the admins are kind enough to run stuff on my behalf
11:06:55 lukus78: i can play around with stuff on my own pc i guess - and upload once complete
11:06:58 springmeyer: http://www.gdal.org/ogr/drv_pg.html
11:06:59 sigq: Title: PostgreSQL ( at www.gdal.org )
11:07:27 lukus78: cheers
11:07:35 springmeyer: well, I've installed ( and been slapped for ) postgreSQL/postgis on dreamhost shared server
11:07:52 lukus78: well i'm with webfaction - who helped me get it running
11:08:12 lukus78: they're truly brilliant
11:08:22 springmeyer: hmm, ya webfaction should be able to install for you.
11:08:30 lukus78: do you know them?
11:08:50 springmeyer: well, I use VPS not shared now...
11:08:59 lukus78: k
11:09:06 springmeyer: but I have colleagues that use them
11:09:18 lukus78: i like them a lot
11:09:32 lukus78: before that - i was with 1and1 for years... and stayed with them through laziness
11:09:39 springmeyer: amazon ec2 is another option for a cheap test/teardown environment
11:09:42 lukus78: god i _hate_ that company
11:09:49 lukus78: ( not amazon )
11:10:08 lukus78: yeah... i've heard a lot about their cloud stuff
11:10:14 lukus78: neat idea
11:10:17 springmeyer: http://os.umbrellaconsulting.com/wiki/AmazonEC2
11:10:18 sigq: Title: AmazonEC2 - trac_os - Trac ( at os.umbrellaconsulting.com )
11:10:26 lukus78: ... which i could pay with paypal or maestro ( uk debit )
11:10:31 springmeyer: jlivni's brilliance
11:10:59 : * springmeyer takes no credit
11:11:00 lukus78: my god
11:11:02 lukus78: that's amazing
11:11:08 lukus78: what a superb idea
11:11:10 springmeyer: he's got an instance with all the gis stuff ready to clone there....
11:11:31 springmeyer: perhaps has not been updated in a few months but could be easily
11:11:34 lukus78: they're like portable tents
11:11:42 lukus78: .. easy to erect, easy to take down
11:11:43 springmeyer: on the google lawn...
11:11:47 lukus78: yeah
11:11:48 lukus78: lol
11:12:11 lukus78: sun's server farms seem pretty nice
11:12:21 lukus78: good for blender ( rendering )
11:12:52 lukus78: anyway I need to go fiddle
11:12:55 lukus78: thanks for the tips
11:13:07 springmeyer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crschmidt/2527917957/
11:13:08 sigq: Title: Tents at Google on Flickr - Photo Sharing! ( at www.flickr.com )
11:13:09 springmeyer: me too...
11:13:15 springmeyer: thanks for the distraction
11:13:21 lukus78: : )
11:13:22 : * springmeyer gets back to work
14:19:22 githogori: Anybody ever have any luck building geos-3.0.0 using gcc-4.3.1?
14:19:36 githogori: Used the patch, but still had some failings.
14:45:01 githogori: dead zone.
15:23:53 darkblue_B: gcc 4.1.3 here
15:25:21 darkblue_B: why not use geos trunk?
15:25:41 darkblue_B: githogori: seems worth a try
15:26:41 githogori: What is geos trunk?
15:26:52 githogori: Thanks for responding by the way.
15:29:01 darkblue_B: hmm just looking now
15:29:13 darkblue_B: by coincidence they were changing the web site around I believe
15:29:29 darkblue_B: geos trunk is the development/source code repository
15:30:18 darkblue_B: yes, it shows up for me
15:30:40 darkblue_B: can you install svn on your machine?
15:31:05 darkblue_B: try svn help at the command line
15:31:25 darkblue_B: if yuo get svn .. you can check out a read only copy of the source code
15:32:29 darkblue_B: svn checkout http://svn.osgeo.org/geos/trunk geos_trunk
15:32:30 sigq: Title: Revision 2157: /trunk ( at svn.osgeo.org )
15:50:28 githogori: Sorry - I stepped away for a minute - thanks for all the info - I'll try it when I get home.
15:50:57 githogori: So, I am assuming trunk is the same as getting a working copy via cvs or some such.