Hi Andreas and Bernd Thank you for taking this further. I appreciate Andreas' challenge to start an initiative. I have enjoyed using QGIS but only contributed some money and would enjoy having a more active role. I tend to agree with Bernd, though, that it might not be a good idea to go ahead with a somewhat strategic development like this in such a haphazard way. It seems to me that the problem is not the lack of initiative or funding but the determination on where to go with file format options and priorities - but I am just a distant observer from the sidelines and do not know much about what has been discussed. I assume that this would require systematic evaluation of the available options and preferably a consensus in the user and developer communities. I have seen mixed opinion stated on whether the geopackage is a viable successor to the shapefile. I don't know myself, I don't think I know enough myself to be able to form an opinion. There may be other candidates.
Arni Árni Geirsson *Alta ehf* // +354 582 5000 // +354 897 9549 www.alta.is // Alta á Twitter <http://twitter.com/alta_ehf> // Alta á Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alta/161795813838691?v=wall> On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 4:20 PM, Árni Geirsson <a...@alta.is> wrote: > Thank you Alex - that answers my question completely. > > Arni > > > Árni Geirsson > *Alta ehf* // +354 582 5000 // +354 897 9549 > www.alta.is // Alta á Twitter <http://twitter.com/alta_ehf> // Alta á > Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alta/161795813838691?v=wall> > > On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 4:15 PM, Alex Mandel <tech_...@wildintellect.com> > wrote: > >> It's more elaborate than that. Not all applications in the toolbox can >> read Spatialite yet either (e.g. SAGA). So the intermediate is something >> all the tools can use. At some point the toolbox might get developed to >> were any ogr data source can be used for the intermediates, but it isn't >> there yet. I ran into this issue with Postgis a couple of years ago, and >> the whole point of using Postgis was to escape the limitations of the >> shapefile (particularly file size). >> >> In some ways if you use Spatialite or Postgis you don't actually need a >> lot of the basic tools as those can all be done with SQL via the DB >> Manager or QSpatialite. >> >> As for Geopackage, keep in mind it's an exchange format. Even with 2.8 >> I've had no issues reading GPKG files in, though I've been creating them >> with ogr2ogr on the command line to convert whole databases at a time >> between Spatialite and other formats. >> >> Shapefile still remains the lowest common denominator. I agree other >> formats should be suggested first by the save dialog since shp can cause >> data loss (date/time, field names, etc). >> >> Thanks, >> Alex >> >> >> On 07/28/2015 09:04 AM, Árni Geirsson wrote: >> > Thanks for the answer Jim. I understand that the shapefiles are lingua >> > franca but to me that would imply that they should be used when exchange >> > with other applications is needed - which is not always. But I had not >> > realized that I might be constraining the set of available tools if I >> use >> > SpatiaLite. Does this mean that if I have my date in SpatiaLite, many of >> > the tools in the Processing toolbox would not be available to me? >> > >> > Arni >> > >> > >> > Árni Geirsson >> > *Alta ehf* // +354 582 5000 // +354 897 9549 >> > www.alta.is // Alta á Twitter <http://twitter.com/alta_ehf> // Alta á >> > Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alta/161795813838691?v=wall> >> > >> > On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 3:54 PM, James Keener <j...@jimkeener.com> >> wrote: >> > >> >> More tools support it. Spatialite wasn't supported in esri until very >> >> recently and other tools may not support anything but shape files. It's >> >> become a lingual franca, and like English: it's terrible, but works >> well >> >> enough. >> >> >> >> Jim >> >> >> >> On July 28, 2015 11:38:24 AM AST, "Árni Geirsson" <a...@alta.is> >> wrote: >> >> >> >>> Hello >> >>> I find it interesting that the ancient shapefile format is (or at >> least >> >>> appears to be) the default file format for QGIS when SpatiaLite seems >> to be >> >>> a much more capable format. I have been using mostly shapefiles and >> when >> >>> using for example the tools under the vector menu, intermediate >> results are >> >>> saved as shapefiles, leading to a big pile of files after a short >> session >> >>> of vector processing. Now, I have discovered that by using the >> processing >> >>> tools the intermediates can be temporary files (still shapefiles, just >> >>> hidden away in a temporary folder). After saving a temporary file as a >> >>> SpatiaLite file, I can enter field names longer than 10 characters >> but I >> >>> can not add a text field that accommodates more than 255 characters. >> >>> So my question is: Why is the shapefile format the default? >> >>> >> >>> I have also noticed that with 2.10 I can save in Geopackage format. >> Does >> >>> that mean that support for this format has improved? >> >>> >> >>> Any insights are highly appreciated. >> >>> >> >>> Arni Geirsson >> >>> >> >>> ------------------------------ >> >>> >> >>> Qgis-user mailing list >> >>> Qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org >> >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user >> >>> >> >>> >> >> -- >> >> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. >> >> >> > >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Qgis-user mailing list >> > Qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org >> > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user >> > >> >> >
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