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At the ESRI Developer Summit there was news of the File Geodatabase (FGDB) API. Based on the tweets from the summit it appears:
- The API will be C++ only
- API works on Windows and Unix/Linux (specifically RedHat, Solaris, SuSE) operating systems
- Rudimentary support only—features such as annotation, relationships, topologies, etc. are lacking
Since ESRI is releasing a targeted API and a not a specification, support for Mac OS X is out of the question.
How well open source GIS applications will be able to support the FGDB (if at all) remains to be seen.
The other question is: Will the API be made freely available or will it require an ArcGIS license?
Will the release of the FGDB API be the “Shapefile-killer”? I have my doubts…
nearly four years since the file geodatabase was introduced at arc 9.2. the file geodatabas is closed as tight as …. who cares at this point ..
I’ve never really seen the point of the file geodatabase. Either organisations have made the effort to switch to full relational geodatabases, or they can get by using shapefiles as they have been for years.
Once the ArcSDE barrier is out of the way then I’d imagine a lot more GISs moving to full databases.
And what IT department has the expertise to use a C++ API but not a relational database?
Ditch the fGDB and go with SpatiaLite.
Guys, it isn’t about you using FGDB, but about you accessing a close proprietary format that is locking up data. Sure “meh”, but don’t you think breaking data out of FGDB is important?
This reaction is why ESRI isn’t that concerned about opening it, if you guys don’t care, they won’t.