Talk:GIS file format

Is DRG an example of GeoTIFF?
Is DRG an example of GeoTIFF? I added DRG to the section: because DRG's are popular in the USA, and thus a large subset of readers might benefit from seeing them mentioned here. However, if DRG is merely an example of GeoTIFF, then perhaps we should move the DRG list item to a subitem of the GeoTIFF item in this article. It might also make sense to mention DRG in the GeoTIFF articles (and vice versa); as of now, the DRG and GeoTIFF articles do not mention each other. &mdash; Teratornis 16:17, 20 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Most DRGs are made by scanning published paper maps on high-resolution scanners. The raster image is georeferenced and fit to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection. Colors are usually standardized to duplicate the line-drawing character of the published map. The average data set size of a 7.5-minute DRG is about 8 megabytes in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) with PackBits compression.


 * So, I think your correct. This article is to an awkward combination of datasets and file formats. I think we need two articles: "GIS file formats" and "Government GIS datasets" since both are important to the topic of GIS. I would not just delete DRG, I would split the article. --Ratberta 03:46, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Should JPEG 2000 be added to the list of popular GIS raster data formats?
JPEG 2000 has been supported by ArcGIS. I don't know anyone personally who is using it, but a Google search shows some imagery is being provided in this format. This comment left by geognerd.

Add ESRI file geodatabase
The file geodatabase was introduced with ArcGIS 9.2. It is not like the personal geodatabase in terms of how the data are stored. When viewed in Windows Explorer, the file geodatabase is a folder containing other files. I am not knowledgeable enough to provide substantive content about this format, but it should be added to the list of file formats in the article. --geognerd 21:56, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

NIMA was renamed NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)

What of ENC / S-57 formats used by NOAA?
I expected to see them mentioned. While hydrographic data may not be entirely synonymous with GIS data, I would think it's close enough for inclusion in this list, or am I missing an entry that explains a format this almost identical, but referred to by another name? S57 Format is also known as ENC -- Allanpeda (talk) 04:33, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Filename extensions
Although I am an editor, GIS is not my field, but I am interested in the subject as a user. I think that it would be very useful to have the filename extension used for each file format.--Auró (talk) 23:13, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

Advantages and disadvantages of vector and raster data
From the section comparing these two it seems that raster data are unusable obsolete format and that they are supper-seeded by vector data. This is simply not true. Both data are advantageous in their domains. Examples listed there are actually lists only different network analyses. Vector data are of course better for this but you don't want to do some temperature and elevation relates analysis in vector (you probably cannot). What examples to put there for raster data? Do you know about some references? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wenzeslaus (talk • contribs) 22:11, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Page overhaul
I have overhauled this page, renaming it to a more standard singular form, adding sections on history and format characteristics, revising a lot of language, and adding a lot of citations. One thing I didn't do was to weed through the lists of formats; some are so obsolete they should be removed or marked as such, and a lot are missing. Please review and revise further. Bplewe (talk) 05:32, 8 January 2023 (UTC)