2021.10.05 13:08 "Re: [Tiff] [GeoTIFF.swg] Proposal to create a OGC BigTIFF standard", by Kemp Watson

When I see paywalls for standards, scientific papers, etc, I generally turn right off - this is pure nasty monetization of knowledge that should be open and available.

And I've run up against ISO myself before - I advise not to go in that direction considering the smaller scale of this project.

OTOH, although I can't speak for the medical community at large, and I have nothing against OGC whatsoever, I personally am uncomfortable putting responsibility for a spec that is currently quite important to my own industry in the hands of a different industry body.

When it comes down to it, BigTIFF is not a formal specification at all, and an formality (like governance) is only as good as the respect for the governing body and its processes. BigTIFF itself is a small spec (as it largely just references TIFF), and then there are all the various industry-specific tags, which probably apply just as much to TIFF as to BigTIFF. And we have the never-ending issue of the old TIFFtag registries, that Adobe seems not to want to give up, but also not to want to publish or maintain (Leonard, what is the official status of the tag registries, and Adobe's position on this? This has been going on for years - are the registries lost due to mishap or neglect at Adobe, or could you share the reason they have been taken down and no longer made available?).

BigTIFF.org is out of date, unmaintained, and Leica won't update it or give it up. LibTIFF.org is similarly out of date and unmaintained, and there are THREE other "official" libtiff home pages. What a mess, in every way.

Here is a half-baked thought - I own the following domains:

libtiff.info
bigtiff.info
geotiff.info
biotiff.info
webtiff.info
zif.info (our own BigTIFF-based zoomable format)

Any thoughts on somehow using these as a consistent venue for libtiff (not TIFF - that's Adobe), BigTIFF, and separation of industry specific extensions, specifications, references, guides, language implementations, etc? This is on my to-do list anyway as informal resources; it would be great to have assistance and more structure behind the work, and a succession plan for the domains and their content.

Kemp Watson
Objective Pathology Services
Toronto, Canada