[Freegis-list] looking for a data format

[Tim Michelsen]

> > I would like to shift to a format which can be read quickly with many 
> > GIS programs and would be OGC conform at best.
> 
> For simple data, netcdf. If you data has a hierarchical
> format, hdf5. Lots of 3rd party tools for these.

What I thought yesterday when looking at the gdal list of formats at [1] was
using either netCDF or GMT netCDF. Buth then I read that 
"GDAL has limited support for reading general netCDF files.

NetCDF support in GDAL is optional, and not compiled in by defaut" 

That would mean that I still have the data in a format which can't bea read by
FOSSGISS programs without additional effort.

Well, at least GRASS seems to understand that format:
http://grass.gdf-hannover.de/wiki/GRASS_and_GMT

But there's no support by gvSIG and other easier to use desktop GIS that I can
recommend my collegues for viewing the results of the calculations.

I found some more links using google on that: [2], [3]. I seams that
netCDF-suppport is not yet well implemented in most GI systems. If anyone knows
more I welcom your hint!


Thanks for your input,
Tim

[1] http://www.gdal.org/formats_list.html
[2] http://en.giswiki.org/wiki/NetCDF
[3] NetCDF into GIS: the good, the bad, and the ugly -
http://ams.confex.com/ams/84Annual/techprogram/paper_72459.htm