gut_fgdb_caveats

fgdb_gut_caveats.md

Refers to experimental file geodatabase conversion in gut

1. Files have to be zipped, which as far as I can tell is the norm for fgdb distribution (.gdb is just a directory)

2. This converts to kml because handling layers in geojson exceeds my time budget for this (measured in minutes today!), patches and ideas for going straight to json are welcome: https://github.com/bmount/gut I haven't even had time to read the source of the great gdbflee.

3. Files larger than 100 megabytes should access the underlying api unproxied:

curl -X POST http://conv.sfgeo.org:5984/_fgdb2kml --data-binary @yourfile.gdb.zip

4. This works only with esri file geodatabases greater than or equal to version 10.0 (last couple of years.) Many in the wild file geodatabases remain useless.

5. In general, everything to do with file geodatabase is more trouble than it's worth, use this in a pinch where you want something in a portable format and don't have time to install the esri sdk. I am delighted to report that I had trouble even finding sample gdb files to test this with -- the fewer of these files in the world, the better, at least until read-write support for them is in GDAL.

6. I don't look at these files but somebody with access to the server could -- if you are working with highly private data consider running your own instance, it is open source with no gotchas. Tweet me @brian_mount for help setting up

Great idea! I downloaded a TomTom sample FileGDB: http://www.adci.com/html/samples/tomtom.php
Size < 40 mb
Metadata says it was created with ArcGIS version 9.3
It fails by returning an empty KML
Converted to ArcGIS 10.1
It uploads but the server never returns (Gateway Timeout)
I have not yet gone command line as you suggest. That is the next logical thing.