[Xastir] .shp vs poly.shp

[Hal Mueller]

The National Atlas files are free.  Most of them are in Shapefile 
format, but some are TIFF images that would need georeferencing added.  
Xastir apparently doesn't pick up GeoTIFF flags.

I think the slow redraws Keith is seeing may come from network latency. 
  Are you using local files, or are they coming over the net?

NOAA files are also free, but have much coarser resolution than the 
National Atlas layers; you could see this as either a good or a bad 
thing.  NOAA also is the only place where I've seen a freely 
distributable Canadian province layer, although again it is rather 
coarse.

Looks like several folks are independently working on dbfawk 
descriptions of some useful shapefiles.  Could one of the old hands 
suggest where and how we coordinate ourselves?

Hal