Subject: [ANNOUNCE] GeoTIFF Revision 1.0 Format Released

From: [email-masked] (Niles D. Ritter)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 14:01:18 -0700

(Forwarded from the GeoTIFF mailing list [email-masked]):

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               GEOTIFF 1.0 Specification now Online!
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  This is the first announcement of the GeoTIFF 1.0 (final)
Revision interchange standard for georeferencing raster format data
within a standard TIFF compliant file. All archived documents, source
code and web pages have been updated (* but see remark below on
the new WWW locations *). The major changes from the beta
Revision 0.2 spec are:

  1. Replacement of the Intergraph Matrix tag with a JPL
     reserved tag to accomodate a known conflict with an internal
     Intergraph implementation. In the spec provisions are made for
     backwards compatibility with the old tag (which has also been
     implemented in the new "libgeotiff" release 1.0).

  2. Several GeoKeys have been renamed to symbols more closely
     aligned with the EPSG parameter tables, as per recommendations
     by Roger Lott. For example, the "origin" geokeys have "Natural"
     prepended to clarify that these are not "false" origins.
     The old symbols haved been moved to an "alias" symbol
     status, and remain supported by the new code. The metadata
     handling is also backward-compatible.

  3. Addition of a new section 6.4, containing the EPSG/POSC index to the
     geodesy parameter coding systems, which should facilitate
     the finding of the appropriate PCS code for your applications.
     (e.g., there are simple algorithms for generating PCS codes
     from the standard State Plane 4-digit codes and UTM/WGS84 zones).

Web Page Location: The Web server supporting the GeoTIFF web page and
HTML version of the spec is undergoing transition this coming month
and will be sporadic at best. The ultimate location of the GeoTIFF
home page will be moved out of my personal directory and promoted to:

   http://www-mipl.jpl.nasa.gov/cartlab/geotiff/geotiff.html

(with the "~ndr/" removed). Please update your own bookmarks and
FAQ's accordingly. In the interim, the 1.0 HTML spec will be
maintained for the next month or so at:

  http://mtritter.jpl.nasa.gov/geotiff/geotiff.html

where it is currently active.

The FTP archive at mtritter is active, and now has the 1.0 version
of the "libgeotiff" software, supporting the rev 1.0 spec. Text
and RTF versions of the Spec are also available there, as well as
at the USGS mirror site, located at the usual place (and referenced
in the home page).

  Thanks to everyone in the geotiff mailing list for their
support and contributions to the
development and successful release of this spec, on time and
under budget (of which there was none ;-). The coming year will
hopefully see further discussion for 1.x enhancements, as well
as proposals for the 2.0 extensions, such as bathymetry,
satellite data, radar, etc, etc. The USGS is already generating
GeoTIFF products for CD-ROM, so all we need now are some nice viewer
programs...

  Regards,

  --Niles Ritter (admin/editor, GeoTIFF spec)