[Xastir] GNIS files

[Tom Russo]

On Mon, Mar 26, 2007 at 07:41:24PM -0500, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <r.polivka at sbcglobal.net> flavor, containing:
> If you need to dig into the .dbf file to get the headers, there are some 
> programs out there that can do it. OpenOffice Calc can parse the .dbf 
> file and show the metadata headers so the .dbfawk file can be written.

GNIS files are not shapefiles, they're just plain text with one line per
feature.

Yes, xastir uses the population size to select zoom levels for populated 
places.

I, too, noticed that the GNIS file format changed (for the worse) some time
ago when I tried to download the one for Alaska a few months ago.  But that's
all I noticed, since I didn't really need it and hadn't the time to figure it
all out.

AFAICT, there is no place to get the GNIS files in the old format with that
field available, and there is no comparable field that can be used to select
populated places by population --- we'd just have to display them all at all
zoom levels, and this would require a code change in xastir to support
the new format (without breaking old format, because if we do that then 
we'd all be forced to download the newer, less functional data).

> Troy M. Campbell wrote:
> >All,
> > 
> >For some reason I decided to start from scratch with all my maps, spent
> >a week compiling the latest tiger files, downloading dbfawks,
> >shapefiles, tweeked this and that, etc till I was pretty tired of it.
> >Then "standardized" the zoom levels to get the rendering to appear as
> >fast as possible while being generic as possible.
> > 
> >The last task was get the GNIS files for pop places, historical places
> >and some others from http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm
> >.
> >Imagine my dismay when I found out that they are in a format that xastir
> >won't read.
> > 
> >No problem, that's why perl exists.    Oooops,   not only did the format
> >change, but they dropped the "estimated population" field.   I'm pretty
> >sure that xastir uses this to pick what to show at what zoom level.
> > 
> >Does anyone know where the files can be gotten in the original format...
> >(New data, old format)?
> > 
> >Or has anyone overcome the problem already?
> > 
> >73 de Troy, KC0MIC
> >_______________________________________________
> >Xastir mailing list
> >Xastir at xastir.org
> >http://lists.xastir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xastir
> >
> >  
> _______________________________________________
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> Xastir at xastir.org
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-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236 AHTB#1 http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is
 one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
 oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick