Point Data Documentation

The point data tools package is a suite of tools for accessing and converting various point data formats. They are implemented in Java so can run on any platform. First of all, download and unzip the pointtools.zip release. There is a README that describes the tools and how to add new point readers.

All of the point tools run as shell scripts that call Java programs. You need to have JAVA JDK 1.6 or higher installed.

To make the scripts executable do:

    source install.sh

If you are trying to read CSV or other text formats then you need to specify the metadata for the file. If you are trying to read some other format then you need to specify the point reader class to use (I've given up guessing with data). The scripts take the form:

  script -class <file reader class>
e.g.:
  point2csv.sh -class org.ramadda.data.point.amrc.AmrcFinalQCPointFile ...

• point2csv.sh
  Convert a point file to csv. For help do:

      point2csv.sh -help
  

• pointtiler.sh
  This takes one or more point files and a specification of a spatial grid (bounds and grid size) and tiles the points in the input point files into separate files corresponding to the grid squares. For help do:

      pointtiler.sh -help
  

• pointbounds.sh
  This takes one or more point files as arguments and prints to the stdout the spatial bounds in the form:

   
       north west south east
  

• pointchecker.sh
  Reads in a file and prints out the number of points, etc.