Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watcgl!awpaeth
From: awpaeth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Alan Wm Paeth)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: World Data Bank II (non?) Availability
Message-ID: <13850@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 90 21:45:52 GMT
References: <415@hal.CSS.GOV> <141623@felix.UUCP> <1990Mar19.124914.15319@Octopus.COM>
Reply-To: awpaeth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Alan Wm Paeth)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 62

In <1990Mar19.124914.15319@Octopus.COM> pete@octopus.COM (Pete Holzmann) writes:
>In article <141623@felix.UUCP> art@felix.UUCP (Art Dederick) writes:
>>In article <415@hal.CSS.GOV> bobowicz@hal.CSS.GOV (Tom Bobowicz) writes:
>>>
>>>...	WDB II (World Database/Data Bank) II containing about 6 million
>>>	points describing costlines, political boundaries, rivers, lakes,
>>>	etc.  Available on magnetic tape for $660.
>>
>>Since there has been many requests for map databases and this
>>particular database seems to be the most comprehensive, but expensive,
>>how about we all get together and pool our $'s to get a copy and put
>>it on a FTP & UUCP site or other easy distribution method?  I'm assuming
>>once we have a copy we can re-distribute it.  Someone please correct me
>>if I'm wrong.
>
>NTIS does not want us redistributing 'their data'. I put this in quotes
>because they have a peculiar definition of this: all they care about is
>data formatted the way they have it. If the data is reformatted, then
>nobody will mistake it as a copy of NTIS data. NTIS will therefor not
>feel obliged to handle support requests in any way; this is really what
>they want to avoid.

This is a tough one. My copy of WDBII ran $600 US in May 1980 for merely a
"basic" sales agreement allowing for internal use but little else (but
internal to PARC and Xerox I gave it very wide distribution). The agreement
was a signed gov. contract; the accompanying letter is excerpted here:

  "In case the terms of this basic Sales Agreement do not suit your
   anticipated use of the product, you should request either (1) the
   Resale Sales agreement or (2) the On-Line Service Agreement be sent
   to you for signing and returning to NTIS.

   The Resale agreement would allow you to "modify, improve, support,
   update, copy and sell" a NTIS machine-readable product under certain
   conditions, whereas the On-Line Service Agreement includes terms and
   conditions to allow you to offer your customers the use of the machine-
   readable product in an interactive (on-line) environment..."

On the other hand, NTIS/Hershey fonts are everywhere in many formats; so Pete's
point regarding previous precidents is well taken. With so many datasets now
finding their way onto CD-ROM maybe this stuff is now up for grabs??? (Hmm,
the distribution tape is before me, I'm now a permanent resident of Canada...)

Incidentally, the entire dataset compacts nicely if coordinate chains are just
(dx,dy) byte pairs in arc seconds; this gives about a 10:1 compression ratio
(from twenty byte FORTRAN records) while introducing only a small number of
fragmented vectors and leaving the dataset essentially unaltered. I've posted
the software suite to this group previously and could do it again if there is
sufficient interest *AND* if the dataset is made readily available on some
FTP site -- I won't entertain requests for the former until someone can step
forward offering the latter.

The NTIS also had available a catalogue of electronic datasets but the Xerox
"Technical Information Center" (PARC Library) was never able to secure a copy,
despite repeated requests. Aside from WDBI, WDBII and the Hershey fonts are
there any nice, comprehensive files out there useful for computer graphics?

Sign me "a lover of large cartographic (geographic and astronomical) datasets"

   /Alan Paeth
   Computer Graphics Laboratory
   University of Waterloo