Cave survey data and XML

[Peter MATTHEWS]

After the recent postings in Cavers Digest about cave survey data and XML,
and a few further enquiries of my own, it looks like there is quite a
reasonable interest in getting something going. I have therefore formed a
separate group within the UIS Informatics Commission to provide the
international framework needed. Andreas Neumann, an experienced cave mapper
working at the ETH Dept of Cartography in Switzerland has very kindly
agreed to lead this new group. Not so easy a job - thanks Andreas! 

The group's basic aim will be to achieve a widely agreed standard format
for the transfer and archiving of cave survey and mapping data, independent
of any particular cave survey software or computer platform. 

It is proposed that the group's discussion, to start with at least, would
take place via the existing cave-surveying mailing list (Thanks Olly &
David!). And Mike Lake, who has an existing website already showing his
stage of development with cave survey and mapping data in XML, has offered
to make his site available to carry the ongoing latest work from the group
(Thanks Mike!).

In order to assist co-ordination with other aspects of cave survey and
mapping, the new group is positioned as a sub-group of the existing Cave
Survey and Mapping Working Group in the Informatics Commission, but would
predominantly run its own affairs of course. (Another sub-group is
currently preparing to debate cave/karst surface mapping symbols, having
already got international agreement on a set of basic cave mapping
symbols). Our new group would also need to co-ordinate with other groups in
the Commission soon to be working on the transfer and archiving format of
both general and specialised cave/karst data.

If you are interested in this survey and mapping data format topic please
seriously consider participating in the new group's work.  The more people
participating who are also actively working with the practice and
management of cave surveying, cave mapping, XML, SVG, etc, then the better,
more practical and more useful the results will be of course.

There are however, as previous postings have hinted, a lot of issues yet to
be worked out. Andreas and I will both shortly be posting to the
cave-surveying list a few of our thoughts on what issues need addressing,
etc, and invite others to now do the same. We should then be able to draw
together a scope, objectives, modus operandi, etc, etc for the group. 

>From here on I think it is more appropriate to move our further specialised
discussions to the cave-surveying list rather than risk boring a lot of
other Cavers Digest readers.

You can subscribe to the cave-surveying list via the web page:
http://lists.survex.com/mailman/listinfo/cave-surveying/

As Ken Grimes advised earlier, Mike Lake's existing XML web pages are at:
http://www.speleonics.com.au/cavescript/

See you on cave-surveying!

Peter Matthews
UIS Informatics Commission
matthews@melbpc.org.au