[IGS-DCWG-33] Re: Any DCs accepting .gz RINEX?

[Angelyn W. Moore]

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IGS-DCWG Mail      18 Nov 14:07:08 PST 2004      Message Number 33
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Author: Angelyn Moore

Carey Noll wrote:
> Angie,
> 
>    Can you give some reasons why gz is better than Z and why we would
> want to do this? I prefer not to have a mixed bag of compression schemes.
> As far as 3 goes, I say no way.

It's not the hugest deal in the world, but I think these are
some reasons that it comes up from time to time (and not always
brought up by me!).

.gz is typically more compact than .Z.

.Z was wracked by patent issues.  We've mainly outlived the patents,
but you never know.  http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/lzw

.gz has nice modern libraries (zlib, zlibc, Compress::Zlib,...)
which modern developers like.

My general prediction is that .Z will start seeming more and more
like a "legacy" format that people have to go to special measures
to generate as time goes by.

Angie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Angelyn W. Moore, Ph.D.            Deputy Director, IGS Central Bureau
  JPL/Caltech                               Angelyn.W.Moore at jpl.nasa.gov
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