Posts

Generating Physical Schemas From a PIM

A while back, my colleague Barry Schimpf touched upon some of the tools that we use in conjunction with the Platform Independent Model (PIM). Today, I will delve into one of the tools we use to generate physical schemas from the PIM. Before, I jump in, let’s review what a PIM is and what it […]

Getting Started With the Platform Independent Model – Tools and Applications

So nearly everything we have discussed so far is not really useful unless we can figure a way to get it to help with what we need to do with geospatial data. It’s sort of like having the world’s greatest bowling ball with no lanes. How do we make this help us with increasing productivity, […]

Managing Geospatial Data Models With a PIM API

Much of the conceptual background and structure managing a geospatial data model using a platform-independent model (PIM) has been outlined in previous posts. And while it is useful to understand how the PIM is structured in the tables and views inside the PIM database, the critical knowledge relates to the way the PIM API retrieves […]

The PIM Constraint, Improving Geospatial Database Integrity

The PIM now contains sets of features (the pimFeature) grouped into sets (the pimConfiguration) with properties and referencing sets of attributes (the pimAttribute). For may GIS solutions, this is all that is required for collecting, validating, and displaying geospatial data. But the PIM also contains the ability to constrain attribute values in a variety of […]

Introduction to PIM Attributes

A quick review of the pimConfiguration to the pimFeature shows…

The PIM Feature, Introduction and Application in GIS

In a previous post, we discussed the meaning of the pimConfiguration as a collection of elements in the Platform Independent Model (PIM). One of those elements (in fact, the most important geospatial one) is the pimFeature. The pimFeature is that table/object that defines the geometric object that gets displayed on the map, sometimes called the […]

Exploring the PIM: Versions and Users

This post will begin to introduce PIM and PIM API organization. The PIM API is coupled with the tables and views in the PIM based on the rule set discussed in the previous post. The fundamental object (and table) in the PIM API and the PIM is the pimVersion. Each element in the PIM and […]

Understanding Geospatial Data Rules in the Platform Independent Model (PIM)

This post continues a series describing our approach to using a platform-independent approach to managing data models and standards. In any situation where a geospatial data model is agreed upon and adopted by multiple participants, management of the model itself becomes a significant issue. Over time, modifications to the model are required. Such modification can […]

Applying Flexible, Yet Standard, Geospatial Conventions

Previous posts have touched the problems that traditionally face those wanting some geospatial consistency in data collection, data presentation, and data understanding. These issues drive much of the continual interest and push for increased Metadata and many of the “Use Liability” clauses that are attached to current datasets. After all, if you don’t really know […]

Expanding Usefulness of Geospatial Data Standards

Background: While many organizations see the clear advantages of establishing and using geospatial data standards, obtaining compliance from constituents continues to be a frustrating, and costly, problem. Users are frequently reluctant to adopt a new standard given the potential cost of modifying applications that use an existing, custom schema or simply having a ‘not invented […]