[gdal-dev] OziExplorer (ozf2) Files with GDAL?

[Tom Kazimiers]

Hello,

one of my clients asked me if it would be possible to open OziExplorer
Files (ozf2 ending)? As I found out GDAL does not support this file
format yet. Did anyone build a own driver for this?

If not, I would try to build one. Is there the need (or the possibility)
to contribute it or is this not of interest?

thanks and bye,
Tom

[Jean-Claude REPETTO]

Post by Tom Kazimiers
Hello,
one of my clients asked me if it would be possible to open OziExplorer
Files (ozf2 ending)? As I found out GDAL does not support this file
format yet. Did anyone build a own driver for this?
If not, I would try to build one. Is there the need (or the possibility)
to contribute it or is this not of interest?

Hello,

There is a program called ozf2img that can convert ozf2 and ozf3 files.
Unfortunately, it is not open source and works only for Windows. So I
think a GDAL driver should be useful. But the ozf2 and ozf3 formats are
not documented, so it may not be easy.

Jean-Claude

[Tom Kazimiers]

Post by Tom Kazimiers

Post by Tom Kazimiers
Hello,
one of my clients asked me if it would be possible to open OziExplorer
Files (ozf2 ending)? As I found out GDAL does not support this file
format yet. Did anyone build a own driver for this?
If not, I would try to build one. Is there the need (or the possibility)
to contribute it or is this not of interest?

Hello,
There is a program called ozf2img that can convert ozf2 and ozf3
files. Unfortunately, it is not open source and works only for
Windows. So I think a GDAL driver should be useful. But the ozf2 and
ozf3 formats are not documented, so it may not be easy.
Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude,

thanks for the hint with "ozf2img" - I will take a look at it.

Post by Tom Kazimiers
From what I heard the file is something like a lightweight tiff, will

say it is organized in tiles (each 64x64 pixels). Each pixel has the
size of one byte and stores an index of a color palette. This is at
least the basis - then there come some overviews more into play which I
do not as much up to now - but I want to dig my way into it.

Tom

[Oliver Eichler]

There is another converter:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ozi2geotiff

Oliver

[Tom Kazimiers]

Post by Oliver Eichler
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ozi2geotiff
Oliver
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Thanks for that, Oliver.

[Oliver Eichler]

Post by Oliver Eichler
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ozi2geotiff

As far as I can tell this program just calls gdal_translate!
So if GDAL doesn't know how to unpack ozf files then how does it work?
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

ask the author. He wanted to integrate ozi import in QLandkarte GT, but I
rejected to keep QLandkarte GT free from possible proprietary format
lawsuits. Thus he decided to do a script. As his usual work committed to
QLandkarte GT is of a good quality, I assume this script is usable, too.
Personally I do not use ozi files at all. You have to decide yourself if the
software is good for you.

AFAIK the ozi format is just referencing information to a bitmap stored in a
known format like jpeg, png or tiff. Thus using gdal_translate is not that
obscure to me.

Oliver

[Tom Kazimiers]

Post by Oliver Eichler

Post by Oliver Eichler
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ozi2geotiff

As far as I can tell this program just calls gdal_translate!
So if GDAL doesn't know how to unpack ozf files then how does it work?
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
ask the author. He wanted to integrate ozi import in QLandkarte GT, but I
rejected to keep QLandkarte GT free from possible proprietary format
lawsuits. Thus he decided to do a script. As his usual work committed to
QLandkarte GT is of a good quality, I assume this script is usable, too.
Personally I do not use ozi files at all. You have to decide yourself if the
software is good for you.
AFAIK the ozi format is just referencing information to a bitmap stored in a
known format like jpeg, png or tiff. Thus using gdal_translate is not that
obscure to me.
Oliver
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Hi there,

I played around with the script and got at least to run and like Andrew
proposed the problem is:
GDALOpen failed - 4
`E:\\dev\\ozi2geotiff\\trunk\\test.ozf2' not recognised as a supported
file format.

The work on an ozf2 driver has already started. Oliver, as you mentioned
it, do you know if this could be a problem and if I should ask the
OziExplorer guys to allow me this?

Regards,
Tom

[Oliver Eichler]

Post by Tom Kazimiers
The work on an ozf2 driver has already started. Oliver, as you mentioned
it, do you know if this could be a problem and if I should ask the
OziExplorer guys to allow me this?

Hi,

I had problems with reengineering the GeoGrid format by EADS. They claim to
have an expired patent on this and thus a copyright on the format itself.
They closed 3 sites about their format by that. According to a German lawyer
converting their undocumented format with no encryption (!) is legal. However
the copyright holder of the content might object.

But EADS has the big money and a rather bored law department. And they want to
charge the user twice for their lousy format. Fighting their stupid claims
costs money and time. As QLandkarte GT is free open source in spirit and
beer, I won't take up the fight and so did all the others.

Ok, that is EADS. I don't know how Ozi thinks about it. And I do not want to
know it. QLandkarte GT is GeoTiff only. That's safe. For your commercial
product you might think different. And IMHO it's allways a good idea to ask.


Oliver

[Jukka Rahkonen]

Oliver Eichler <oliver.eichler <at> gmx.de> writes:>

Post by Oliver Eichler
AFAIK the ozi format is just referencing information to a bitmap stored in a
known format like jpeg, png or tiff. Thus using gdal_translate is not that
obscure to me.

Hi,

Not quite so. OziExplorer .map file it doing that, pointing out to the image
file and giving projection, datum and set of reference points for OziExplorer
moving map program. Ozf is a special file format tailored for OziExplorer and
it is the only format supported by PDA version OziExplorer. It is having tiles,
colour palette and overviews, all good things in getting speed and low memory
need. Unfortunately it is not documented, but my guess is that tiles are pngs.
This is what the author of OziExplorer writes:

What is the OZFx3 Image Format

The OZFx3 format stores the image in tiles, each tile can be manipulated as a
single unit.
Advantages
* Contains a separate image for each zoom level for 25% and below. These
zoom levels are created using a bilinear filter and look good.
* Zooms of 90, 80, 75, 70, 60, 50, and 40% are created by OziExplorer and
OziExplorerCE using a bilinear filter giving good looking smooth zooms.
* Fast Initial Loading
* Small memory requirement when loaded
* The loaded tiles can be cached in memory, this allows the OZFx3 format to
be efficiently used on slow Windows CE PDA's.

-Jukka Rahkonen-

[Tom Kazimiers]

Post by Jukka Rahkonen
Oliver Eichler <oliver.eichler <at> gmx.de> writes:>

Post by Oliver Eichler
AFAIK the ozi format is just referencing information to a bitmap stored in a
known format like jpeg, png or tiff. Thus using gdal_translate is not that
obscure to me.

Hi,
Not quite so. OziExplorer .map file it doing that, pointing out to the image
file and giving projection, datum and set of reference points for OziExplorer
moving map program. Ozf is a special file format tailored for OziExplorer and
it is the only format supported by PDA version OziExplorer. It is having tiles,
colour palette and overviews, all good things in getting speed and low memory
need. Unfortunately it is not documented, but my guess is that tiles are pngs.
What is the OZFx3 Image Format
The OZFx3 format stores the image in tiles, each tile can be manipulated as a
single unit.
Advantages
* Contains a separate image for each zoom level for 25% and below. These
zoom levels are created using a bilinear filter and look good.
* Zooms of 90, 80, 75, 70, 60, 50, and 40% are created by OziExplorer and
OziExplorerCE using a bilinear filter giving good looking smooth zooms.
* Fast Initial Loading
* Small memory requirement when loaded
* The loaded tiles can be cached in memory, this allows the OZFx3 format to
be efficiently used on slow Windows CE PDA's.
-Jukka Rahkonen-
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http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/gdal-dev

Jukka,

thank you for the hints. Like written in an earlyer post the tiles are
64x64 pixels each. Each pixel has the size of ony byte and is
referencing a color palette.

Regards,
Tom

[Oliver Eichler]

Hi Jukka,

thanks for the info. Good to know for the future. But ... sounds to me like
Geotiff and GDAL. Thus who needs ozi? ;)

Oliver

Btw GDAL and mobile devices perform very well. Such a project like QLandkarte
GT / M would never exist without GDAL. Big cudos to the project maintainers!

[Jean-Claude Repetto]

Post by Oliver Eichler
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ozi2geotiff
Oliver

No, it converts .map files.

Jean-Claude