EPSG Definitions and Searches Online

The EPSG has been around for what seems forever and the codes and definitions have made their way into Open Source GeoSpatial and Commercial software.

One difficulty has been the way many packages have implemented the database. Schlumberger converted the tables into CSV files for lookup with their initial implementation, then they adopted Mentor Software's approach and Mentor's C++ libraries. Different people see the data outside of the traditional MS Access approach and most often turn to some database that is not owned by Bill Gates! I think Larry Ellison was happy about this. EPSG realising this, then started releasing the data and data model in many different RDBMS formats (SQL scripts to create the tables and populate the database).

They released Version 6.14 on 2 September 2007.

There are various software providers and oil service companies that have taken the SQL and have produced web-sites that allow users to query the EPSG dataset in many different ways.

Three very useful sites are:

Petrosys - EPSG Coordinate Reference Browser

Developed by Petrosys for the oil and gas industry.

SpatialReference.org

Developed by Howard Butler and Christopher Schmidt. They had a very simple aim: "hopes assist others in their understanding, recording, and usage of spatial reference systems". And they are succeeding. The site provides various formats for the codes to implement into web-mapping and software development.

EPSG Database at Ocean

This EPSG viewer was developed by Concept Systems Ltd., division of ION Geophysical Corporation. ION was previously known as Input/Output (I/O) and on September 21, 2007 they changed their name to better represent their services.

Have fun with these sites, and if you have any questions about the EPSG database, do not hesitate to contact me at the Terra ETL Website, under About Us.

Autodesk donates CS-Map to OSGeo after Mentor Purchase

Autodesk announced today at FOSS4G2007 here in Victoria, that CS-Map is being donated to OSGeo and the Open Source community.

The Press Release shows Autodesk's commitment to Open Source and this paradigm of development and collaboration.

For anyone who has worked with Norm Olsen's libraries (CS-Map was developed by Mentor Software), you realise his work has filtered into many industries worldwide.

Schlumberger Information Solutions has used Norm's libraries for many years in the Finder Data Management software - one of the tools I used for many years while working for them.

Frank Warmerdam, OSGeo President, states in the Press Release "The latest planned contribution supports theprojections and transformations necessary to support over 3,000 coordinatesystems worldwide and has capabilities not previously available to the opensource community. I am also very excited to have Norm Olsen joining thecommunity and I look forward to increased community collaboration andinnovation-hallmarks of the open source community."

As you know Geodesy and Map Projections have been my bread and butter and passion for many years - along with good ol'databases.

I look forward to hopefully working with Autodesk and OSGeo in implementing these libraries into the community with Frank Warmerdam and his PROJ.4 libraries.

This is indeed good news for the Open Source community and OSGeo.

FOSS4G2007 - Victoria, BC

FOSS4G2007 is happening soon in the current location I've planted some roots - Victoria, B.C., Canada.

Who knows whether these roots will be permanent or not. It seems I move every two years, whether in North America or overseas. The world seems so small with Air Travel nowadays.

The opening and closing plenary speakers have all be selected and they have accepted. The keynote speakers :

Geoff Zeiss, Director of Technology, Autodesk
Tyler Mitchell, Executive Director, OSGeo
Peter Rushforth, Technology Advisor, GeoConnections

There is also a series of Lightening Talks, consisting of eight speakers, with five minutes each, that will try to being as concise an overview of open source geospatial software, community building, open geodata projects, and many demonstrations. Demonstrations always seem to grab the attention of the listeners. A picture is worth a 1000 words!

Damian Conway, will be opening the conference, with his observations of open source culture in Geek Eye for the Straight Guy.

The closing plenary will include a panel discussion featuring:

Peter Batty, Independent Consultant
Tim Bowden, Director, Mapforge Geospatial
Mark Sondheim, BC Integrated Land Management Bureau
Frank Warmerdam, President, OSGeo

And of course, I'll be presenting there, about map projections, datum's, and co-ordinate systems and how to make your way around them using Open Source Geospatial Software.

I'll be instructing this lab with Frank Warmerdam (the creator of GDAL, PROJ.4, and many other Open Source libraries).

L-03: Datums, Coordinate Systems, Map Projections & Datum Transformations

Location. Location. Location. With so many maps and datums out there, how does a person know what datum is correct? How come my GPS coordinates don't match up on my map? Why is there a shift of 100 metres? How do I transform between different datums? What is a datum? What is the EPSG? Why have GIS Vendors and Oracle adopted them? Does offshore or onshore make a difference? How come there are so many datums? This presentation looks to provide some answers to some of these questions and to point out that latitude and longitude are not absolute.

Over the decades that surveyors have been trying to map the Earth, history and politics have shaped the way we see the world. Are the borders actually there? What if one nation adopts a standard, but the other does not? Does really matter what the co-ordinate system is? Why when I draw the a UTM Projection, the lines are curved, not in a grid? Is the OGC adopting these standards? So many questions and this presentation aims to answer some of them and provide some light on a complicated and sometimes unclear topic.

Hope to see everyone there. It looks to be a great conference!