[Xastir] dbfawk complaints after installing Tiger2008 maps

[Tom Russo]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 02:50:15PM -0500, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <ka1ssr at earthlink.net> flavor, containing:
> Hi!
> 
> No DBFAWK signature for
> TIGER2008/33_NEW_HAMPSHIRE/33011_Hillsborough_County/tl_2008_33011_tabblock00.shp!  Using default.
> No DBFAWK signature for
> TIGER2008/33_NEW_HAMPSHIRE/33011_Hillsborough_County/tl_2008_33011_bg00.shp!  Using default.
> No DBFAWK signature for
> TIGER2008/33_NEW_HAMPSHIRE/33011_Hillsborough_County/tl_2008_33011_taz00.shp!  Using default.
> No DBFAWK signature for
> TIGER2008/33_NEW_HAMPSHIRE/33011_Hillsborough_County/tl_2008_33011_tract00.shp!  Using default.
> No DBFAWK signature for
> TIGER2008/33_NEW_HAMPSHIRE/33011_Hillsborough_County/tl_2008_33011_vtd00.shp!  Using default.
> 
> I have read about .dbfawk files in the MAPS.README file.  I did a little
> searching after that and found that there are no matching .dbfawk files
> for the .dbf files for the maps that I downloaded.

The "tabblock00", "bg00" "taz00" "tract00" and "vtd00" shapefiles contain 
features and information that has not been codified into dbfawk files.  
tabblock00, for example, contains Census 2000 data, where the similar "tabblock"
file contains "current" data.  "taz00" is 2000 traffic analysis zone data,
vtd00 is 2000 voting district data, and tract00 involves something about
Census tracts.

Most users of Xastir only want Census TIGER data so they can have decent 
street maps.  Because these shapefiles probably contain stuff that most Xastir 
users won't care about, only those shapefiles that are generally interesting 
have dbfawks generated.  These are:

edge.dbfawk -- linear features like streets, railroads, streams, trails, etc.
tabblock.dbfawk --- actually, the dbfawk for this merely colors urban areas
pointlm.dbfawk --- point landmarks
arealm.dbfawk  --- area landmarks
cousub.dbfawk --- The dbfawk for this merely puts an outline around those 
                  features that mark certain government boundaries
cousub00.dbfawk --- pretty much the same as cousub, but older data.  Not sure
                    why there are both
areawater.dbfawk --- area features that represent water bodies.

featnames.dbfawk --- feature names.  Not sure this is actually associated with
                     a shapefile as opposed to a dbf-only product.

Since only a small fraction of the Tiger data has associated dbfawk files
for Xastir, you might as well remove those that don't, unless they actually
contain data you care about.  If that's the case, you'll have to generate a
dbfawk for them yourself.  There's a HowTo:DBFAWK page on the Wiki that could
help you there.

areawater.dbfawk
-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
  In some cultures what I do would be considered normal. 
                                  -- Ineffective daily affirmation