HUMBOLDT Community

My colleague Simon Templer has been working hard to improve HALE user documentation and to make it more accessible. The result of this effort is that we now have an online HALE Infocenter available, which provides a more structured way to access help information than what is possible with a single PDF document. Note that this features is only available for the new 2.5 versions of HALE.

Enjoy browsing the Infocenter for 2.5.0.M1:

http://hale.igd.fraunhofer.de/2.5.0.M1/help/index.jsp

We are looking forward to hear your opinions on the new Infocenter!

HALE 2.5.0.M1 is now available for download in 32bit and 64bit versions for the major operating systems (Windows, Linux, MacOSX). This new version is actually a large-scale redevelopment of HALE in previous versions and makes use of new internal models, an internal document-oriented database and several new UI components to handle the major challenges in schema transformation that users encounter.

Please note that this version should be considered a BETA release and might not be suitable for production usage, as some features are still missing. The features that are integrated should work, though.

This is the list of issue and feature updates for this release:

• Feature #233: Nested properties in filters
• Feature #270: Improve concatenation function
• Feature #301: I/O refactoring
• Feature #303: Schema and instance model refactoring
• Feature #304: XML import
• Feature #307: I/O Refactoring: Create content type testers
• Feature #308: Support for CSV files as input for schema and data
• Feature #310: Refactor report view to use new Report model and service
• Feature #311: Refactor code list support to be based on IOProvider
• Feature #312: Basic Filter API
• Feature #313: Basic Filter UI and validation
• Feature #314: Improved converter framework
• Feature #318: Allow association of HALE project files with the application
• Feature #319: Support for resources moved along with project files
• Feature #320: Use Eclipse properties view for showing details on definitions, instances etc.
• Feature #321: Alignment model refactoring
• Feature #323: Check for changes in current project and offer save before cleaning or loading another project
• Feature #324: Adapt XML export to new schema and instance model
• Feature #325: I/O refatoring: Support loading schema or instance data from a WFS
• Feature #330: Allow constraint inheritance for type definitions
• Feature #331: Data views: only show types for which instances exist
• Feature #332: Add help functionality to application
• Feature #333: Add type hierarchy view
• Feature #335: First steps dialog
• Feature #336: Function view
• Feature #339: Adapt map view to model changes
• Feature #340: Validation constraints
• Feature #342: Alignment model I/O
• Feature #343: Use extension points for defining I/O providers and advisors
• Feature #344: Project(Service): use extension point for project files
• Feature #345: New combined mapping view
• Feature #346: Properties for functions
• Feature #348: Parameter configuration page for generic function wizard
• Feature #352: Generic function wizard
• Feature #353: Online help information center
• Feature #356: Undo/Redo support
• Feature #357: Exact instance representation in data views
• Feature #358: Implement transformation functions
• Feature #360: Default geometry concept
• Feature #361: SchemaExplorer: color properties that have children that are mapped
• Feature #362: Styled map view
• Feature #369: Sort project preferences
• Feature #370: Adapt alignment HTML export to new models, use improved cell graphs
• Feature #371: Merge type transformations
• Feature #374: Human readable interpretations of cells
• Feature #375: Bundle well known schemas with application
• Feature #382: Support for filter and index conditions/contexts on entities
• Feature #385: User documentation
• Feature #386: Structural rename
• Feature #387: Live help action for launching I/O wizards for actions
• Feature #388: Possibility to clear instances/alignment/source schema/target schema

Builds are available from the download page:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/list_files/hale

Please tell us what you think of this new release; don't hesitate to tell us about problems you're encountering and features you're missing. Please note that the preferred channel for communication is the HALE forum:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/boards

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the HALE Development mailing list:
dev@esdi-humboldt.eu

Furthermore, we'd really like to encourage you to also contribute something back to the project. Please contact us if you would like to become a tester or if you could even contribute patches. We are looking forward to hear from you!

From the beginning on, HALE and CST have shared large parts of their code base. The CST is the default transformation engine amployed by HALE. We have therefore decided in Summer 2011 - after the official end of the HUMBOLDT project - to fully incorporate the two projects in terms of the repository stucture, the build process, the depoyment and also the user support.

You can find current information on CST here:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/wiki/User_documentation_for_the_CST_Web_Processing_Service

The current release of CST is to be found here:
http://www.esdi-community.eu/projects/hale/files

Our roadmap for HALE development does not end with version 2.5, of course. While in 2.5, many things happen under the hood, for 3.0 we plan major updates to the user interface, which has largely been unchanged since version 1.0. By the way, for these changes we look for a few users who we could include early on into the design! so if you find the next points interesting, please drop us a note...

HALE 3.0 major updates:

• Improved UI and usability
  • main goal to simplify the creation and maintenance of mappings
  • focus on relevant information (for a task) (reduce the information overload)
  • extensive information on possible mapping problems, mapping compatibility (context-sensitive and overview)
  • guide the user through a workflow (step-by-step)
  • tight integration with dynamic help
  • provide examples to easily get started
  • transformation debugging (as far as possible with the used transformation engine)
• Improved support for big data
• XSLT as mapping export format
• Revised transformation function concept
  • allow combination of functions (pipes)
  • dissolve the difference between function inputs and function parameters
• Transformation as a service - deploy hale projects as web services
• Schema authoring - create, edit and extend schemas
• Transitive mappings
  • a->b->c mappings
  • Mapping history
  • Continuation of mappings

A release of HALE 3.0 is anticipated for late 2012.

If you would like to be involved in any of this, please drop us a note. For many of these features, we already have a concrete project in which they will be developed, but for some (such as transitive mappings) we would welcome the opportuinity to get into new research and development projects.

Until summer 2011, we made a HALE release about every eight weeks. The released HALE versions up until 2.1.2 were downloaded in total about 4.800 times at the time of this writing, and we learned a lot about user expectations and requirements. Adressing all these in the technologcal frame of HALE 2.0/2.1 would be very hard. We thus decided to invest a longer period of time in rewriting major parts of the application, with several goals:

• Simplifying contributions from the community by defining extension points and establishing a stable API for developers
• Enabling work with very large schemas and very large instance data sets
• Enabling work with a wider range of input and output formats
• Ensuring better use of distributed processing resources
• Handling more complex mapping use cases

• Support multiple source schemas in a mapping
• Advanced XML schema support (subtyping, cycles, choices, ...)
• Generic XML and CSV as data format
• Cardinality support for property transformations
• Advanced type transformations (join, merge, split)

As you can see from the roadmap, a release of HALE 2.5 is planned for March 2012.

The third installment of this "The Future of HALE and CST" series will provide information on what's coming after HALE 2.5. Meanwhile, we are looking forward to providing you with HALE 2.5 and hearing your feedback on it.

The HUMBOLDT project has ended in March 2011, and since then we have received many queries about whether development will go on, and if yes, under which organisational structures.

The most important step for the continued development was the official founding of the data harmonisation panel (dhp), a non-for-profit forum under the auspices of the german ZGDV association. The exploitation rights of the HUMBOLDT software were transferred from the HUMBOLDT consortium to the dhp, whose founding members included most of the key partners of the HUMBOLDT project. A statutory requirement of the dhp is the continued development of the framework as well as the continued provision of the solution as Open Source Software.

Additionally, we have been working on HALE in several other research projects than just HUMBOLDT, one of which is still going on (GS-SOIL). And of course, we have been actively going for new research projects, and it looks like we will have another four person-years of development effort funded. Finally, we as Fraunhofer IGD have decided to invest some strategic funds into data harmonisation. Still, we are open towards additional R&D projects where HALE/CST or other HUMBOLDT components might play a role!

As you will see from our repository, a lot of work has been going on in software development since the project has ended, and we certainly believe it's a good idea to invest additional efforts. Feedback on presentations e.g. at the INSPIRE 2011 conference in Edinburgh was very positive, and people seem to understand the value of HALE and CST. In the next installment, we will provide you with an outlook about what exactly we are currently working on in terms of HALE and CST features!

HALE 2.1.2 is now available for download in 32bit and 64bit versions for the major operating systems (Windows, Linux, MacOSX). The new version fixes a few issues with complex schemas that our users identified. However, the main new feaure is that we have redeveloped the CST-WPS from scratch and bring you a new release that you can now also download from the HALE files page.

• Bug #334: Error with Inspire AdministrativeUnits schema (2010-04) in HALE 2.1.1
• Feature #337: Server/web application offering a CST WPS
• Feature #338: Import FeatureTypes of sub-schemas
• Feature #347: Web interface for CST WPS

Installing and using the new service is easy. You will find a how-to in the wiki:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/wiki/User_documentation_for_the_CST_Web_Processing_Service

If you would like to test out the new WPS but don't want to install the service, you can also try out our demo installation:
http://hale.igd.fraunhofer.de/wps/client

Builds are available from the download page:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/list_files/hale

Please tell us what you think of this new release; don't hesitate to tell us about problems you're encountering and features you're missing. Please note that the preferred channel for communication is the HALE forum:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/boards

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the HALE Development mailing list:
dev@esdi-humboldt.eu

Furthermore, we'd really like to encourage you to also contribute something back to the project. Please contact us if you would like to become a tester or if you could even contribute patches. We are looking forward to hear from you!

HALE 2.1.1 is now available for download. As a first, there are now 32bit and 64bit versions for the major operating systems available (Windows, Linux, MacOSX). In terms of features, it brings generic XML export (instead of limitations to GML) and fixes a number of issues. In addition, HALE now comes with a cache for external files, such as schemas, so that when downloaded, the files will stay available and HALE can also work offline.

This is the complete list of issue and feature updates for this release:

• Bug #235: MappingGraphView performance issues
• Bug #236: MappingGraphView - correctly display ComposedProperties
• Bug #284: "Mapping synchronize" in Mapping Graph view produces repeating error
• Bug #296: Attributive filters not included in HTML export
• Bug #299: Map type definitions without element declarations
• Bug #300: Mapping and many other function are restricted to feature types/don't work with other types
• Bug #315: Mapping Graph: creation of infinite Thread Pools
• Bug #316: CachePreferencePage: error with preference store
• Bug #317: HALE doesn't start on Ubuntu Natty 64bit
• Feature #294: Caching of remote files
• Feature #302: XML export

Builds are available for Win32, Win64, Linux and MacOS 10.5+ from the download page:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/list_files/hale

Please tell us what you think of this new release; don't hesitate to tell us about problems you're encountering and features you're missing. Please note that the preferred channel for communication is the HALE forum:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/boards

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the HALE Development mailing list:
dev@esdi-humboldt.eu

Furthermore, we'd really like to encourage you to also contribute something back to the project. Please contact us if you would like to become a tester or if you could even contribute patches. We are looking forward to hear from you!

After a "beta" release last month we can now offer a new release of HALE for you to peruse. This release improves stability and removes several known and new bugs identified by you, and adds several smaller and bigger features. Of those bigger ones, note the new multilanguage support. This release includes a German and a Spanish translation, with an Italian one coming with the next release. What has also been added is the capability to export mappings as Comma-Separated-Value files for import into your favorite Spreadsheet application, such as Excel.

If you are interested in contributing a translation, please refer to this article:
http://www.esdi-community.eu/wiki/hale/Howto_TapiJI

This feature is the most important addition to the newest HALE release, but is only one of many:

• Bug #281: Swapped axes in map display
• Bug #289: Map aspect ratio wrong when axes have to be swapped because of the CRS used
• Bug #290: Fix CRS preference page layout
• Bug #291: Offer restart in preferences only when CRS definitions really have changed
• Bug #295: INSPIRE Identifier function: editing not working, transformation fails
• Bug #297: Replace open file dialogs with save file dialogs where applicable
• Bug #298: Changing values in the ConfigSchemaService should result in the project being marked as changed
• Feature #89: Export of a mapping to a CSV file
• Feature #249: Translation of HALE to Spanish
• Feature #250: Translation of HALE to German
• Feature #269: Increase number of zoom levels on demand
• Feature #271: Add calculation functions on geometries (area, length)
• Feature #272: Remember schema explorer configuration
• Feature #279: Descriptions for functions should be made available in HALE
• Feature #282: Report dialog/view for output validation
• Feature #285: Store default geometry information the project file
• Feature #287: Allow overriding CRS definitions
• Feature #288: Tooltip in schema explorer for types/properties that have associated documentation
• Feature #292: Allow mappings between types that are no FeatureTypes
• Feature #293: Refactor ProjectParser/ProjectGenerator
• Support #286: Prepare HALE for translation

Builds are available for Win32, Win64, Linux and MacOS 10.5+ from the download page:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/list_files/hale

Please tell us what you think of this new release; don't hesitate to tell us about problems you're encountering and features you're missing. Please note that the preferred channel for communication is the HALE forum:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/boards

Furthermore, we'd really like to encourage you to also contribute something back to the project. Please contact us if you would like to become a tester or if you could even contribute patches. We are looking forward to hear from you!

It has been the number 1 wishlist feature for quite some time: Direct export of GML 3.2.1, GML 3.1 and GML 2.1.2 from HALE. While we have used an extensive testing suite in the development of the GML exporter, it should still be considered "beta" - that is why this release has received a "Milestone" designation.

This feature is the most important addition to the newest HALE release, but is only one of many:

• Feature #251: Feedback on CodeList configuration
• Feature #253: Integration of GMLHandler in HALE
• Feature #257: Allow default value augmenation and classification mapping on nilreason attributes
• Feature #262: Reimplement GML writing
• Feature #265: Integrate possibility to validate generated GML in HALE
• Feature #274: Improve support for code lists
• Bug #252: Empty default value breaks transformation
• Bug #254: Improve output of GMLHandler
• Bug #255: Only offer NilReason augmentation for elements with nilreason attribute
• Bug #256: GeographicalNameFunction creates wrong structured properties
• Bug #261: Resolve attribute groups and references to attributes/attribute groups
• Bug #263: Correctly identify required attributes
• Bug #267: Populate GML ID properties
• Bug #268: Fix layout of network settings dialog
• Bug #275: Correct values for nil reason function
• Bug #276: Provide view on geometry properties that is consistent with parsed data

Builds are available for Win32, Win64, Linux and MacOS 10.5+ from the download page:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/list_files/hale

Please tell us what you think of this new release; don't hesitate to tell us about problems you're encountering and features you're missing. Please note that the preferred channel for communication is the HALE forum:
http://community.esdi-humboldt.eu/projects/hale/boards

Furthermore, we'd really like to encourage you to also contribute something back to the project. Please contact us if you would like to become a tester or if you could even contribute patches. We are looking forward to hear from you!