Format transformations, GIFs and Autodesk?

Thomas Sødring Thomas.Sodring at hioa.no
Mon Jun 12 09:27:41 CEST 2017


On 06/12/2017 05:54 AM, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:

Hi.

Looking at slide 28 on
<URL: http://edu.hioa.no/ark2100/current/slides/week4/day1/Measuring%20data%20quality%20within%20a%20Noark%20perspective.odp >,
it seem to list the source and archive format in use somewhere.

Thomas, what is the source of these numbers?

Pages 55-57 of the N4OK report. http://edu.hioa.no/ark2100/current/syllabus/n4ok_rapport.pdf

If I remember correctly this is an overview of converting approx 800 000 from the Halingdal project. There's more information about the process in the report. Myself and Markus are starting a paper on this. It's a shame that we never got the result of the project peer-reviewed.


Looking at the table, it occured to me that the GIF -> RA-JPEG
transformation would be loosing the animations GIFs are used for these
days.  Anyone know why GIF is not allowed into the archive?  Perhaps
someone should suggest allowing it to Arkivverket, to avoid loosing
information?  The GIF 89a spec can be found on
<URL: https://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt >.

I can only guess that the thinking behind this is that if they allow GIF, some idiot somewhere will convert all jpeg to gif with a smaller colour depth.  I never considered animated GIFs being important for long term preservation, but do agree that it should be considered by them!

Another thing that occured to me is that transforming the 3D models from
Autodesk (DWF, DWG, DXF) into PDF is a sure way to loose valuable
information.  The Autodesk formats are not open standards, and being
able to preserve them for a long time seem unlikely.  Unfortunately I do
not know the 3D format landscape enough to propose a better archive
format.  I know of VRML, but there are few programs using that format.
I found CityGML, but do not know its open standard status.  I guess
converting 3D models to VRML and keeping the original file around is way
better option than converting them to a flat rendering in PDF form.  At
least it give the people of the future a chance to get some access to
the 3D model even without proprietary software that no longer work 1000
years from now.



The report mentions this and som tools that can do conversion. My opinion is that where these models are an important part of the case handling process, then a video should be made of the 3D model showing relevant information that was part of the case-handling. So if e.g. an important issue for building an apartment block is to show that the shadow of the building is minimal, then the 3D video model must show this.
These autodesk formats have no place in an archive.


 - Tom

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