Export formats - JSON

[Graham Mullan]

Philip Schuchardt wrote

"Ideally, I could hand the computer my data / notes and it would create a final map for me. Will this ever happen, probably not, but my end goal is to make cave mapping easier."

And therein lies the rub. If you could send the computer down the cave without human interference to collect the data for you, then it could be left to its own devices to create a map.

However, not only are we still some distance from that (though getting nearer) but the vast majority of the data collection is still done by human beings. And not only that but our ideal system still needs to be backwards compatible with the vast amount of data that has already been collected by those bloody cavers.

You may not be big on "editing / creating maps with a text editor" but the vast majority of the great unwashed out there, who provide us with data, are far more likely to produce maps, any maps at all, if the data entry is done in a format (text) that they understand. After all, they collected the data as text in the first place, didn't they.

Personally, I have fond memories of 1994, but that notwithstanding, the cave surveyors I deal with, including students and recent graduates who weren't even born in 1994 still understand text better.

And don't forget that vast (fifty year) resource of archive data that you need to be compatible with.

And let me point out what compatibility means. It doesn't mean that your wizzy program can import their data, It means that they can *see* where in the data the blunders are so that they can correct them.

I enjoy a good discussion, too.

Graham