Import GeoMedia Access Warehouse features into gvSIG

I recently installed and tried out the open source Java GIS application gvSIG OADE version 2010 from Oxford Archaeology along with a free extmdb extension to read features from a GeoMedia Access warehouse from the Google Code project site. I found the process to create a gvSIG project and import GeoMedia features to be relatively straightforward. Maybe the one thing to take note of is that the loaded GeoMedia features are temporary in nature only and must be saved permanently as gvSIG compatible formats e.g. Shape file.

In this example, I am going to import in a feature from the GeoMedia sample warehouse USSampleData.mdb file, which uses the Albers Equal Area coordinate system.

Create a new gvSIG project and assign a coordinate system

1. Select Start | All Programs | gvSIG OA Digital Edition 2010 | gvSIG OA Digital Edition 2010.
   
   The gvSIG OADE 2010:Untitled application appears.
   
   
2. In the Project manager window, click View | New.
   
   An Untitled-0 view is created and added to the View list box.
   
   
3. In the View group box, select Untitled-0. Click Properties.
   
   The View properties dialog box appears.
   
   
4. Click the Current projection button.
   
   The Spatial Reference System (SRS) dialog box appears.
   
   
5. Click the Type combo box. Choose a suitable type e.g. ESRI.
6. Toggle on By name.
   
   
   
7. In the Search criteria field, type in Albers. Click Search.
   
   A list of matching results appear.
   
   
8. Select USA_Contiguous_Albers_Equal_Area. Click OK.
   
   
   
9. Click OK again.
10. In the View group box, click Open.
    
    The View:Untitled-0 window is opened.
    

Import GeoMedia features

1. Select View | Add Layer.
   
   The Add Layer dialog box appears.
   
   
2. Click the MDB tab.
   
   
   
3. Click the Search button.
   
   The Open dialog box appears.
   
   
4. Browse and select a GeoMedia MDB file e.g. C:\Warehouses\USSampleData.mdb. Click Open.
   
   The GeoMedia feature names are displayed in the Feature Classes grid.
   
   
   
   
5. Toggle on the feature(s) to add, e.g. States. Click OK.
   
   Processing messages appear and the selected features are imported.
   
   
6. Close the message box.
   
   The imported features are displayed in the view.
   

Export GeoMedia feature(s)

1. In the View legend, click the feature name to be exported e.g. States.
   
2. Select Layer | Export To | Shapefile.
   
   The Save dialog box appears.
   
   
3. Type in the file name e.g. States. Click Save.
   
   Processing messages appear.
    
   
4. Click Yes.
   
   The exported shapefile is added as a layer to the view.

Remove the GeoMedia warehouse from the view

1. In the View legend, mouse right click on the warehouse name e.g. USSampleData.
   
   A pop up menu appears.
   
   
2. Choose Delete.
   
   A prompt appears.
   
   
3. Click Yes.
   
   The GeoMedia warehouse is removed from the view.

Save the gvSIG project

1. Select File | Save project.
   
   The Save project dialog box appears.
   
   
2. Type in a file name, e.g. geomedia.gvp. Click Save.
   
   The project is saved.