In my last post I mentioned the use of a script for mass cataloguing of dataset assets and the production of an XML document describing them. Mateusz justifiably asked for more of the purpose behind such a project, so here is some of the background that brought me to this point.

I've picked away at a Python script over the course of a few years, that helps scan a tree of file folders and find spatial datasets. It's pretty simple and uses GDAL/OGR libraries to identify the formats and examine the contents. Now it outputs an XML structure that I'd love some constructive feedback on.

Some like reading Slashdot to get their fill of news for the day, others like CNN, but whenever I'm bored I turn to freshmeat.net. Sure, I don't get my fill of politics but it sure gives me enough food for thought. It was a great resource when I was looking for ideas or new projects to try out. The site lists recent updates to open source projects and provides all the quick links to try it, download it, see screenshots, etc. I see there are even some geospatial apps listed as well.

If you love Pragmatic Programmers books, you've now got a couple strong ones that teach a variety of open source geospatial tools and concepts.

Scott Davis' '''GIS for Web Developers''' and Gary Sherman (of QGIS fame) has '''Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet with Open Source Tools'''. It's always good to have more books that teach on the projects that I love, but it's doubly satisfying when the authors are both great guys. Each one has written in a enjoyable reading style and they both know what they are talking about. I highly recommend them.

Now in stores - the German translation of my book, including several updates:

• Updated to MapServer 5
• Desktop mapping with Quantum GIS
• Web Mapping Client introduction: OpenLayers & Mapbender
• New / updated URLs for data and services
• Forward by Arnulf Christl, with updates by Astrid Emde & Arnulf Christl

For more information see, buy, review, enjoy:

• O'Reilly.de
• Book Site

While the complexity and sophistication of online mapping applications continues to grow, there are still many end-users that simply need a little integration with other open source tools.

This group in the South Pacific Islands are an interesting example of MapServer being integrated with the Tikiwiki Content Management System.

Jeff McKenna, Perry Nacionales and I regularly lead a MapServer 101 / Getting Started workshop. We did it again this year at the FOSS4G conference. Reading through the feedback comments is always interesting. Although there are always useful criticisms, one specific positive comment stuck out at me and reminded me of the reason we do the workshop:

Not an encouraging notice, is it? Have you ever had the "Backorder Blues"? You know, when you get excited about picking up a new book only to find that it is on backorder via your favourite store, or is entirely unavailable? It's hard to be motivated to actually complete your order, isn't it. Having to "wait and see" isn't much incentive for a willing buyer.

I've had a few books like this over the years, but I never expected it to be my own book! That's a wound that cuts twice for any author.

First Issue is free.

Looks like lots of interesting articles. I've been interested in learning more about Cairo graphics library, so I'm looking forward to reading their Creating custom PyGTK widgets with Cairo article.

See http://www.pythonmagazine.com/

GeoNetwork opensource is a metadata catalogue. Like GeoServer, it uses a Java server in the backend. Since I already have Tomcat java server from my GeoServer install it should be really easy to get started with GeoNetwork. Here are my notes for installing it for Mac OS X on a Macbook.