Hi John7,
LandXML has the advantage that it is fully documented in the public
Domain and even if Autodesk decide to abandon it tomorrow (highly
unlikely), you can readily read the data with widely available
programming tools.
In that sense it is 'future proof'.
As to "without error" - there's no such thing, but "with out
unacceptable error", you're probably safe.
In realistic terms, going back through your old projects and converting
the Softdesk/Land Desktop 1/2 TIN files to LandXML has to be assessed
against the cost of doing it, the cost of indexing and storing the data
so you can find it, the "real value" of the data at some unquantifiable
time in the future and possible changes to topography in the interim
which make the data unusable without further field work. Remember that
the cost of field survey is still on a downward spiral and the quality
on an upward spiral.
Regards
Laurie Comerford
John7 wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have some valuable S8 TIN surfaces that I need to bring forward to C3D 2008 or 2009.
>
> I tried to import them directly but when it finished one window said "success" and the panorama window said "error".
>
> Fortunately I still have LDT2005 installed and used it to export the original TIN to xml.
>
> *Now for the question:
> I assume xml is a mature standard that C3D 2009, 2010, etc will be able to open WITHOUT ERROR. Is xml seen as the future of version compatiblity for surfaces etc? i.e. is it "future proof"?
>
> It would seem I better use that LDT2005 to export all existing TINs to xml ASAP before it disappears.
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> John