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migurski / Dymo

Map label placer with simulated annealing.
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allow DBF input, not just TXT #15

Open nvkelso opened 12 years ago

nvkelso commented 12 years ago

If I have a SHP, it has a DBF. I want be able to point Dymo at that DBF and have it run, without intermediate steps that get out of synch.

migurski commented 12 years ago

DBF's do not have spatial information in them, IIRC.

nvkelso commented 12 years ago

DBFs that have an explicate latitude and longitude column, do. Requiring the user add those columns in the GIS is easier than requiring the user maintain a separate CSV of their SHP file grouping.

migurski commented 12 years ago

Can you provide an example?

nvkelso commented 12 years ago

From Natural Earth: http://www.naturalearthdata.com/http//www.naturalearthdata.com/download/50m/cultural/50m-populated-places-simple.zip

migurski commented 12 years ago

Is this a case where you've chosen to go in and add these columns yourself, or is it something that shapefiles do normally? If there is a discrepancy between the .dbf and the .shp, who wins?

nvkelso commented 12 years ago

I've added them, it's not normal for the DBF part of SHPs to have these.

the SHP always wins in terms of long/lat coordinates. But it's relatively trivial to update these columns in the DBF in ArcMap and QGIS.