From marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu Sat Apr 2 19:38:37 1994 X-VM-Message-Order: (2 1 3 4 5 6 7) X-VM-Summary-Format: "%n %*%a %-17.17F %-3.3m %2d %4l/%-5c %I\"%s\"\n" X-VM-Labels: nil X-VM-VHeader: ("Resent-" "From:" "Sender:" "To:" "Apparently-To:" "Cc:" "Subject:" "Date:") nil X-VM-Bookmark: 7 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1556" "" " 2" "April" "1994" "06:06:37" "" "Marc Andreessen" "marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu" "" "39" "Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994040206:06:37" "Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?" (number " " mark " Marc Andreessen Apr 2 39/1556 " thread-indent "\"Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?\"\n") "<2ni8eu$99p@ncar.ucar.edu>"] nil) Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cso.uiuc.edu!marca Newsgroups: sci.data.formats Followup-To: sci.data.formats Organization: Nat'l Center for Supercomputing Applications Lines: 39 Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <2nf8m1$mkf@hsdndev.harvard.edu> <2nfqab$4n0@ncar.ucar.edu> <2ni6uh$p34@paperboy.gsfc.nasa.gov> <2ni8eu$99p@ncar.ucar.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: wintermute.ncsa.uiuc.edu In-reply-to: ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu's message of 1 Apr 1994 22:50:06 GMT From: marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Marc Andreessen) Subject: Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW? Date: 2 Apr 94 06:06:37 > BTW, you are correct that Mosaic "understands" HDF files in that > it can read the files and produce HTML docs showing the contents > in a browse-like fashion. Yup. This includes representing hierarchical datasets through virtual (generated on the fly) hypermedia trees, displaying images and palettes contained within datasets, displaying full information about dataset structure and contents in human-readable form, and providing a facility to transfer pieces of the dataset to external programs like AVS via a data IPC mechanism called "Data Transfer Mechanism", or DTM, which is another product of NCSA. More information should be in the Mosaic docs. (This applies to the X version of Mosaic only, so far as I know.) This is really neat stuff if you're into scientific data -- even if it doesn't suit your exact needs, I think it vividly demonstrates how things can be done well in a general, flexible environment like Mosaic. (I can say that because I didn't write Mosaic's HDF support, Chris Houck of NCSA did.) > Actually, I'm pretty sure that the same is true netCDF files, > which are interpreted as if they were HDF SDSs. Yup -- completely transparently. I can think of applications (meaning uses, not programs) where this wouldn't be desirable behavior. Of course one could turn off this feature, I assume, and just save the data to a file. Yup -- just activate "Load To Local Disk". Cheers, Marc -- Marc Andreessen Enterprise Integration Technologies Palo Alto, California marca@eit.com, marca@netcom.com From ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu Sun Apr 3 15:21:10 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1787" "" " 1" "April" "1994" "00:36:27" "GMT" "Ilana Stern" "ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu" "<2nfqab$4n0@ncar.ucar.edu>" "38" "Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994040100:36:27" "Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?" (number " " mark " Ilana Stern Apr 1 38/1787 " thread-indent "\"Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW?\"\n") "<2nf8m1$mkf@hsdndev.harvard.edu>"] nil) Xref: saips.cv.nrao.edu comp.infosystems.www:11998 sci.data.formats:407 Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!kiowa.scd.ucar.edu!ilana Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www,sci.data.formats Organization: NCAR/UCAR Lines: 38 Distribution: world Message-ID: <2nfqab$4n0@ncar.ucar.edu> References: <2nf8m1$mkf@hsdndev.harvard.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: kiowa.scd.ucar.edu From: ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern) Subject: Re: Standards for exchange of scientific data via WWW? Date: 1 Apr 1994 00:36:27 GMT In article <2nf8m1$mkf@hsdndev.harvard.edu>, Jeff E Mandel writes: > I have the following questions: > > 1) Has anyone else discussed the possibility of distributing datasets via > WWW? There are two issues here: the format of the dataset, and the method of distribution. We (NCAR) distribute some datasets by ftp, and we have a quasi-WWW site (it's hypertext served by ftp, until we get a real http server), so in a sense you could say we distribute datasets via WWW. But the data format is not MIMEish or anything -- it's mostly just ascii (or occasionally packed binary) data. See ftp://ncardata.ucar.edu/catalogs/.html/README.html for examples. > 2) Are there any standards for dataset formats? I need something more > efficient than tab-delimited text. See the sci.data.formats FAQ (I've crossposted to that group) at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/HDF/SciDataFormatsFAQ.html I think HDF is understood by Mosaic. Basically, packed binary data is the way to go for most scientific datasets, because it's 1) efficient and 2) not machine-dependent. > 3) Is there a way to build a WAIS index of this, so that only the text is > indexed, and not the data? Consider the file containing the 200 word > abstract of the paper "Creatine > blood levels in 500 patients with chronic renal failure sampled at 10 > minute intervals for 3 years" followed by the gazillion values Michael Schwartz at the University of Colorado has done some work creating a Wais indexing scheme called Essence which does just this. -- /\ "This technique probably only makes the difference | dod#0009 \_][ between serious injury and total disaster." | ilana@ncar.ucar.edu \__Ilana Stern From caraher@eid.anl.gov Wed Apr 6 13:59:24 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1146" "Wed" " 6" "April" "1994" "15:11:50" "GMT" "PJ Caraher" "caraher@eid.anl.gov" "" "39" "Re: Format of Postscript files" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994040615:11:50" "Format of Postscript files" (number " " mark " PJ Caraher Apr 6 39/1146 " thread-indent "\"Re: Format of Postscript files\"\n") "<2ntlt1$8bh@werple.apana.org.au>"] nil) Newsgroups: sci.data.formats Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!milo.mcs.anl.gov!adelaide!caraher Message-ID: Reply-To: caraher@eid.anl.gov Organization: Argonne National Laboratory References: <2ntlt1$8bh@werple.apana.org.au> Lines: 39 From: caraher@eid.anl.gov (PJ Caraher) Sender: usenet@mcs.anl.gov Subject: Re: Format of Postscript files Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 15:11:50 GMT In article 8bh@werple.apana.org.au, hackcat@werple.apana.org.au (Geoff O'Callaghan) writes: > ok, so this may not be valid for sci.data.formats, > but can anyone tell me where I can find information on the postscript > language. > > please don't flame me as i'm combustible. > > e-mail to hackcat@werple.apana.org.au, or via this newsgroup. > > TIA > Geoff O'Callaghan > I can recommend two books written by Adobe Systems Incorporated (The folks who invented PostScript). PostScript Language Reference Manual Addison-Wesley ISBN 0-201-10174-2 This book gives a brief overview and provides the semantics of all of the PostScript operators. PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook Addison-Wesley ISBN 0-201-10179-3 This book offers a tutorial and explaination of how PostScript operates. There are some useful examples - I found it to be a good learning tool. Beware! PostScript programming can be quite addictive :) PJ Caraher --- | | | My name is NOT Dave Rhodes, but you can send me $1 anyway! | | | From dilg@ulabsgi Wed Apr 6 14:53:43 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1671" "" " 6" "April" "1994" "17:43:41" "GMT" "Doug Ilg" "dilg@ulabsgi" "<2nuscd$4la@paperboy.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "37" "Re: HDF: machine independent?" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994040617:43:41" "HDF: machine independent?" (number " " mark " Doug Ilg Apr 6 37/1671 " thread-indent "\"Re: HDF: machine independent?\"\n") "<2nuhod$3vj@reznor.larc.nasa.gov>"] nil) Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!ames!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!ulabsgi!dilg Newsgroups: sci.data.formats Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- InterNetNews site Lines: 37 Distribution: world Message-ID: <2nuscd$4la@paperboy.gsfc.nasa.gov> References: <2nuhod$3vj@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> NNTP-Posting-Host: ulabsgi.gsfc.nasa.gov Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] From: dilg@ulabsgi (Doug Ilg) Subject: Re: HDF: machine independent? Date: 6 Apr 1994 17:43:41 GMT Ken Stone (stone@hops.larc.nasa.gov) wrote: : Sorry to beat this thing into the ground, but ... : I found this statement on the net while browsing with Mosaic: : > The HDF design is not machine independent, but it defines the : > data completely. Where on the Web did you find this? As a former HDF developer, this is not the way I'd describe HDF, although I suppose it's not a completely inaccurate statement. : If I ship an HDF file that was created on our RS/6000 to someone : on a VMS machine, will the HDF library handle the translation of : bits/bytes/etc? It doesn't use XDR like netCDF though, right? First, yes, HDF will handle the reading/writing of the data you have tranferred from the RS6000 to the VAX. However, due to the way FTP behaves on VMS machines (in particular, the RMS attributes given to FTP'd files), you need to run the "fixatr" utility once on your newly FTP'd file to allow HDF to access the file properly. This utility is part of the HDF source code distribution and I think it will automatically get compiled when you build HDF on a VMS machine. Second, no, HDF does not use XDR, per se. The library contains its own conversion routines that are much faster than the XDR library although they produce IEEE-formatted numbers just like XDR. These routines also take advantage of special features on some systems. For example, Cray machines running UNICOS have extremely fast vectorized IEEE conversion routines built into the system. The HDF library will use calls to the Cray routines in place of its own functions to do conversions on Crays. I hope this helps clear things up, Ken. Doug Ilg Hughes STX EOSDIS From chouck@xongmao.ncsa.uiuc.edu Mon Apr 11 16:45:20 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1718" "" "11" "April" "1994" "17:33:49" "GMT" "Chris Houck" "chouck@xongmao.ncsa.uiuc.edu" "" "43" "Re: HDF: machine independent?" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994041117:33:49" "HDF: machine independent?" (number " " mark " Chris Houck Apr 11 43/1718 " thread-indent "\"Re: HDF: machine independent?\"\n") "<2o4k8f$fmr@reznor.larc.nasa.gov>"] nil) Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!xongmao!chouck Newsgroups: sci.data.formats Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 43 Message-ID: References: <2nuhod$3vj@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> <2nuscd$4la@paperboy.gsfc.nasa.gov> <2o4k8f$fmr@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> NNTP-Posting-Host: xongmao.ncsa.uiuc.edu From: chouck@xongmao.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Chris Houck) Subject: Re: HDF: machine independent? Date: 11 Apr 94 17:33:49 GMT stone@hops.larc.nasa.gov (Ken Stone) writes: >|> : I found this statement on the net while browsing with Mosaic: >|> >|> : > The HDF design is not machine independent, but it defines the >|> : > data completely. >|> > > I found the HDF information in this SDG page... > >http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Brochure/Overview/HDF.UCD.overview.html Yup, sure enough it says that. I've contacted the people in charge of that project and they will be fixing this text. I think they were trying to make a reference to HDF's support of "native" number types. If you are on, say, a VAX and know your file will be staying on VAXen you can have all of your numbers written out in native VAX format rather than being converted to IEEE format in order to save time. However, if you then move that file to a Cray you are kinda out of luck as far as HDF is concerned. The library will tell you "hey neat, there are VAX 32-bit floats here" but will have no clue about how to convert them to Cray 32-bit floats. By default, HDF builds itself with local->IEEE and IEEE->local converters (plus local->PC and PC->local since PCs need all the spare cycles they can get :-). We have debated putting in local->anything and anything->local but haven't really heard the demand. The default is to store numbers in IEEE format, so we assume that if a user makes the effort to store things in native format they realize that they may be shooting themselves in the foot as far as portability is concerned. I assume that's what the document writer was driving at. Why it was brought it up in the context of some other project and then only given a one sentence explanation is unclear. -Chris Houck HDF Group From bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Tue Apr 26 21:21:23 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["574" "" "26" "April" "1994" "09:27" "EDT" "BARRY M. SCHLESINGER" "bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<26APR199409271112@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "14" "Re: IEEE floating point standards" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994042613:27:00" "IEEE floating point standards" (number " " mark " BARRY M. SCHLESIN Apr 26 14/574 " thread-indent "\"Re: IEEE floating point standards\"\n") "<2ph375$cc3@lynx.unm.edu>"] nil) Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!convex!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger Newsgroups: sci.data.formats Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center Lines: 14 Distribution: world Message-ID: <26APR199409271112@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> References: <2ph375$cc3@lynx.unm.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41 From: bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (BARRY M. SCHLESINGER) Subject: Re: IEEE floating point standards Date: 26 Apr 1994 09:27 EDT In article <2ph375$cc3@lynx.unm.edu>, realone@chama.eece.unm.edu (realone) writes... >Can someone direct me to a copy of the IEEE standard for binary floating point >arithmetic on the net. > Our office has a printed copy of the IEEE standard for binary floating point arithmetic, which is copyright 1986 by the IEEE. On the same page as the copyright notice it states that the no part of the publication may be reproduced in an electronic retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher. Barry Schlesinger NSSDC/NOST FITS Support Office From dal@vanbc.wimsey.com Fri Apr 29 22:10:57 1994 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["12071" "" "29" "April" "1994" "17:06:09" "GMT" "Dale A. Lutz" "dal@vanbc.wimsey.com" "<2preq1$ker@wolfe.wimsey.com>" "277" "Spatial Archive and Interchange Format FAQ" "^From:" nil nil "4" "1994042917:06:09" "Spatial Archive and Interchange Format FAQ" (number " " mark " Dale A. Lutz Apr 29 277/12071 " thread-indent "\"Spatial Archive and Interchange Format FAQ\"\n") nil] nil) Xref: saips.cv.nrao.edu comp.infosystems.gis:18420 sci.data.formats:456 Path: saips.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cyber2.cyberstore.ca!vanbc.wimsey.com!vanbc!dal Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis,sci.data.formats Organization: Safe Software Inc. Lines: 277 Message-ID: <2preq1$ker@wolfe.wimsey.com> Reply-To: infosafe@safe.com NNTP-Posting-Host: vanbc.wimsey.com Summary: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about the Spatial Archive and Interchange Format (SAIF) Keywords: SAIF, FAQ X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] From: dal@vanbc.wimsey.com (Dale A. Lutz) Subject: Spatial Archive and Interchange Format FAQ Date: 29 Apr 1994 17:06:09 GMT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAIF Frequently Asked Questions List Version 1.05 April 29, 1994 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the first release of the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Spatial Archive and Interchange Format (SAIF). This FAQ will be crossposted periodically to the following newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis sci.data.formats news.answers (once the moderator's approve it!) comp.answers (ditto) If you have any suggestions for corrections, changes, expansion or further clarification of this FAQ, please send them to the SAIF FAQ author and maintainer, Dale Lutz, care of "infosafe@safe.com". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following topics are covered in this FAQ: Q1: What is SAIF? Q2: Where is SAIF being used? Q3: Who created and maintains SAIF? Q4: What is the SAIF toolkit? Q5: Where can I get more information on SAIF? Q6: Is the SAIF Specification on the Web? Q7: What FTP sites carry the SAIF Specification document? Q8: What's the easiest way to get familar with SAIF? Q9: What FTP sites carry the SQL/3 papers? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q1: What is SAIF? ----------------- Spatial Archive and Interchange Format (SAIF, pronounced safe) is a Canadian geomatics standard for the exchange of geographic data. The underlying model itself is devoid of geographic meaning; rather it deals with fundamental concepts from mathematics and computer science. SAIF uses an object oriented data model, and consists of definitions of the underlying building blocks, including tuples, sets, lists, enumerations, and primitives. It also includes the rules for defining higher level constructs, and the SAIF standard defines a base set of approximately 300 classes. These include such things as Points, Spatial Reference Systems, Map Projections, Arcs, and Polygons. By design, SAIF is intended to be extended by users through the development of their own schemas. SAIF has an object oriented data definition language, Class Syntax Notation (CSN), which is used to define new types. In addition to being useful as the means of extending SAIF, CSN is also the language employed to describe all of the types included in the SAIF base schema. Instances of objects in SAIF are expressed using Object Syntax Notation (OSN), a simple character based notation. There is also a binary exchange file format defined for SAIF data based on the 'zip' compression format called SAIF/ZIP. A toolkit is being produced which will make it easy to read and write SAIF data in this format (see Q4). A company has formed to provide tools and training for the SAIF data standard. Safe Software may be contacted by email at infosafe@safe.com or by phone at either (604) 241-4424 or (604) 583-2016. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q2: Where is SAIF being used? ----------------------------- In 1991 SAIF was accepted as a draft standard for the exchange of geographic data by the Canadian General Standards Board, Committee on Geomatics. Since that time several upgrades have been made, culminating in the current specification. SAIF has been approved (1993) through the CGSB process as a national standard in Canada. The province of British Columbia has been using SAIF for more than two years. The present document, Release 3.1, contains a number of significant changes made in response to two related efforts. The first involves the development of the ISO SQL Multimedia Spatial standard. A new release of SQL, SQL3, is being developed. SQL/MM will be a companion standard. The SQL/MM Spatial is a component of SQL/MM intended to address the management of spatial and spatiotemporal data in the context of database management systems. The second effort concerns the development of the Open Geodata Interoperability Specification (OGIS) under the auspices of the Open GIS Foundation (OGF). The OGF has been designated (1994) by the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee as the lead organization responsible for defining an interoperability specification suitable for geoprocessing activities. Harmonization of SAIF, SQL/MM Spatial and OGIS is leading to a common understanding of geomatics data. Integration with DIGEST and SDTS is also being addressed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q3: Who created and maintains SAIF? ----------------------------------- SAIF is a product of the Geomatics Unit, Surveys and Resource Mapping Branch (SRMB) of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. SRMB is involved in geographic data management, geographic analysis, and image applications. The following individuals have been involved with the SAIF initiative: Joe Carr ------ SAIF Toolkit Internet: jcarr@venus.gov.bc.ca Tel: (604) 387-1353 Peter Friesen - modelling and applications Internet: pfriesen@venus.gov.bc.ca Tel: (604) 387-9347 Henry Kucera -- databases and Canadian ISO SQL/MM Spatial contributions Internet: hkucera@venus.gov.bc.ca Tel: (604) 356-2388 Mark Sondheim - SAIF formal definition; director of the SAIF initiative Internet: msondheim@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Tel: (604) 387-9352 SRMB's fax number is (604) 356-7831. SRMB would like to extend special thanks to those in the ISO SQL, OGIS, and Sequoia communities who have contributed both directly and indirectly to SAIF. SRMB staff have also provided material for this FAQ. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q4: What is the SAIF toolkit? ----------------------------- At the moment, there are no tools available to manipulate SAIF data. However, by the fourth quarter of '94, the SAIF Toolkit will be available. This toolkit is being developed for the Surveys and Resource Mapping Branch of the BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks by Safe Software Inc. of Richmond, BC. The toolkit will contain a C library for reading and writing data in SAIF format, which will simplify the creation of SAIF translators. As well, the toolkit will contain tools to allow inspection and testing of SAIF Schemas. The Toolkit is designed to work with SAIF datasets. Four points are noteworthy: 1 Each SAIF dataset may contain a mix of data in SAIF format and other formats. (This capability may be of interest for example in multimedia applications.) 2 The Toolkit is being designed to accommodate datasets which may range in size from very large to very small. 3 Objects in a SAIF dataset may reference other objects in the dataset through object identifiers; they may also reference objects outside the dataset. 4 Geographic data in SAIF format, resident in a SAIF dataset, occupies significantly less space than typical proprietary formats associated with commercial GIS systems. Although portability is the goal, the toolkit will initially target the Windows 3.1 and Solaris platforms. It is being written in C++ and will be useable by both C and C++ developers in both Unix and Microsoft Windows environments. Safe Software will also be producing a suite of SAIFTools which will supplement those provided by the toolkit. If you are interested in more information about the SAIF Toolkit or would like to participate in its testing or design reviews, please contact Joe Carr. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q5: Where can I get more information on SAIF? --------------------------------------------- 1) Safe Software maintains a home page for SAIF at this URL: http://www.wimsey.com/~infosafe/saif/saifHome.html This home page will be continually updated to point to all known SAIF information available on the net. 2) You can join the SAIF Mailing List which will keep you up-to-date with announcements and developments pertaining to SAIF. Send an email to "infosafe@safe.com" with the subject "SAIF Request" to be added to the list. 3) You can FTP the SAIF 3.1 specification, print it out, and read it. See Q7. 4) You can use physical mail and contact: SAIF Info, Surveys and Resource Mapping Branch, B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Fourth Floor, 1802 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC CANADA V8V 1X4 Tel: (604) 387-1353 Fax: (604) 356-7831 5) You can order a hard copy of the SAIF 3.1 specification (price approx CDN$20/copy) by contacting: MAPSBC Surveys and Resource Mapping Branch B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks Third Floor, 1802 Douglas Street Victoria, BC CANADA V8V 1X4 Tel: (604) 387-1441 Fax: (604) 387-3022 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q6: Is the SAIF Specification on the Web? ----------------------------------------- Yes, a fully hypertexted version of the SAIF specification is available at: http://www.wimsey.com/~infosafe/saif/saif31spec.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q7: What FTP sites carry the SAIF Specification document? --------------------------------------------------------- The SAIF specification is available from the following two FTP sites: site: s2k-ftp.cs.berkeley.edu directory: pub/sequoia/schema/STANDARDS/SAIF site: moon.cecer.army.mil directory: ogis/related/SAIF3.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q8: What's the easiest way to get familar with SAIF? ---------------------------------------------------- You should get the SAIF 3.1 specification document (either hardcopy softcopy, or by browsing the Web). If you are looking for a very high level understanding of SAIF, read the Foreward and Section 1.1 only. This amounts to two pages. If you want a greater degree of familiarity, say something that can be digested in an hour or so, the following sections are suggested: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, and 4.7. These constitute about 29 pages. The WWW version of the document has a "quick tour" that will guide you to these parts. To come up to speed with the SAIF base set of classes, we recommend you browse them with a hypertext tool rather than by reading the document. If you have WWW access, you can do that (see Q6). For those who do not have Web access, Safe Software is considering producing a stand-alone Windows 3.1 hypertext version of the specification and distributing it for a small handling charge. Send email to "infosafe@safe.com" if you would be interested. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q9: What FTP sites carry the SQL/3 MM papers? --------------------------------------------- SAIF is the base for the SQL/3 MM Spatial extension. The documents pertaining to the SQL/3 MultiMedia extension are at: site: speckle.ncsl.nist.gov directory: isowg3/sqlmm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dale Lutz Safe Software, Inc dal@safe.com Richmond, BC, CANADA (604) 241-4424 http://www.wimsey.com/~dal ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dale Lutz Safe Software, Inc dal@safe.com Richmond, BC, CANADA (604) 241-4424 http://www.wimsey.com/~dal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------