[Roadster] Converting TIGER data to a MySQL database

[Andy Somerville]

Adam,

On 2/12/06, Adam Renner <arenner_dev at wowway.com> wrote:
> I have been working to convert the TIGER data into a MYSQL database that
> uses spatial indexing.

Sounds good to me.

>The advantage of this is the speed that spatial
> indexing gives you when searching. I was hoping that someone developing
> a mapping application would like to use this instead of the raw TIGER
> files.  I am just trying to gauge if there would be any interest in
> having Roadster use MySQL to store TIGER data. If so, I would be
> interested in working with you to  develop this database. If not, I am
> thinking about dropping the project to work on something that might be
> more useful, like finding a way to gather more point-of-interest data
> for use in mapping applications.

Point of interest data only becomes useful once roadster is fully
functional and the speed that a MySQL query gives, if faster, is then
more important IMHO.

> The Pros to using a MySQL database are: spatial indexing is very fast,
> MySQL is crossplatform, SQL is easy to work with and lots of developers
> have experience, MySQL can be used with many programming languages, if
> foreign country data ever becomes available, it will not be in TIGER
> format and will need converted anyhow.

All excellent arguments.

> The Cons to using a MySQL database are: Spatial Index creation is slow,

Is that an issue? Create once; use a billion times.

> Table sizes can get very large.

I think speed is more important than saving space.

I think what you are doing is great.

     Regards,
     Andy