FDO RFC 53 - FDO Provider for MapInfo .TAB and .MIF/.MID Files

This page contains a request for comments document (RFC) for the FDO Open Source project. More FDO RFCs can be found on the RFCs page.

Status

RFC Template Version	(1.1)
Submission Date	2010-10-26
Last Modified	Leaf Li 2010-10-26
Author	Leaf Li
RFC Status	Ready for Review
Implementation Status	Pending
Proposed Milestone	3.6.0.0
Assigned PSC guide(s)	Orest Halustchak, Greg Boone
Voting History	(vote date)
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Overview

This RFC proposes a new FDO provider for accessing MapInfo .TAB and .MIF/.MID files.

Motivation

MapInfo Professional is a powerful Microsoft Windows-based GIS application. MapInfo datasets can be saved as native (.TAB) format or interchange (.MIF/.MID) format. Currently FDO OGR provider is available in FDO open source website, which provides capability to read MapInfo .TAB and .MIF/.MID files. However, it has the following major limitations. Supports reading only.

• Not support FdoISelectAggregates command.
• Support very limited expression.
• Support limited spatial/non-spatial filter.
• Cannot handle coordinate system correctly.
• Support limited data type.
• Support limited geometric type.
• ……

FDO MapInfo provider is to create an FDO provider for MapInfo .TAB and .MIF/.MID files to eliminate the limitations above and provide reading/writing capability for .TAB and .MIF/.MID files.

Proposed Solution

FDO MapInfo provider is implemented based on MITAB library (​http://mitab.maptools.org/), which is an Open Source C++ library to read and create MapInfo .TAB and .MIF/MID files. It is based on the OGR library which is an implementation of the Open GIS Consortium Simple Feature specification. However, MITAB can’t meet all requirements of FDO MapInfo provider. For example,

• MITAB doesn’t support update and delete a feature.
• MITAB doesn’t support some of FDO data type such as boolean and decimal. But .TAB and .MIF/.MID files really support them.
• ……

So we need to extend MITAB so that it meets our requirement. Now you can find development version of this provider in Google Code. ​http://code.google.com/p/groundnut/

Test Plan

Development of a set of unit tests available for execution in a stand-alone application.

Funding/Resources

Leaf Li and Aleck Sun.