[R-pkg-devel] new maintainer sought for maps packages

[Alex Deckmyn]

Martin, 

The old data set will certainly stay for a while (or indeed indefinitely, why not). To make the transition as smooth as possible (I am aware that "maps" is used in more places than I can ever check myself) I am including the possibility of switching back to "legacy" mode using an environment variable (or an extra function "world.legacy(TRUE)"), so that any code that runs into trouble can be switched to the old database without needing to edit the code itself. 

Would it be a good idea to make the new maps package (beta) available (e.g. via github) prior to submitting to CRAN? It is more or less ready. Given the many packages that call maps, this could give maintainers a chance to check things. For the moment, it's only the country borders & names that have changed. 

Alex 

From: "Martin Maechler" <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch> 

> I think R-sig-Geo is the best place to discuss future developments and will be posting there soon. 

I agree ... but the following is not about 'maps' in particular, 
but package maintenance / compatibility .... 

> As Ray mentioned, I (with his help & feedback) have been preparing an updated world map. I am going to be very cautious, but the many changes in country names (post-1990 Europe!) mean that any package or code that uses maps by calling map('world',region=...) to create a map using country names, could be affected. Maintainers of packages calling "maps" may want to contact me to make sure I don't break anything. In any case, I am currently testing a beta version that includes the old data set as a fall back. 

I know these data sets are not very small, but I would still 
strongly recommend that you 
keep the old map, say as "world198x" (and change the "x" to a 
digit if you know which one, or the "8x" to "7y" ... etc). 
Storage and bandwidth have become considerably cheaper and so 
the package could provide (almost) back compatibility ... and 
also something interesting in itself (comparison of two very 
similar maps with R; teaching, history, ...). 

Best regards, 
Martin 

> Alex 

> --- 
> Dr. Alex Deckmyn e-mail: alex.deckmyn at meteo.be 
> Royal Meteorological Institute http://www.meteo.be 
> Ringlaan 3, 1180 Ukkel, Belgium tel. (32)(2)3730646 



> I have been somewhat surprised by the number of positive responses to my 
> message. I have found a candidate for the position of maintainer of the 
> maps, mapdata and mapproj packages. I have confidence that Alex Deckmyn 
> <alex.deckmyn at meteo.be> will do at least as good a job as I have done in 
> this regard. 




> The current (recent) releases of the packages still have my name as 
> maintainer, but the address specified points to my (now) old work 
> address which will autorespond to say I have now retired. However in 
> practise, I will still be able to read and respond to such emails for 
> the foreseeable future. 

> Among other improvements, Alex is working on setting up a more accurate 
> "world" database for maps and will submit this once it has been fully 
> tested. 

> Thanks everyone for your support. 
> Ray Brownrigg 

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