[GRASSLIST:4498] shapefile vs SDTS : which is recommendable?

GRASS GRASS user
1

Hello,

I've been looking around, to see what map datasets are available,
across the web. I was hoping to find something "ecologically related",
namely. ("USGS saved the day", here) I found this :
  http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html

("Who needs books, in order to look at pretty maps, now?" heh)

It looks like each downloadable dataset, there, generally comes in two
formats: SDTS and Shapefile

I was just wonderng:

  Which dataset format would be recommendable, given both SDTS and
  Shapefile as possible options?

(Incidentally, I'm hoping to use GRASS and the data, ultimately,
for making some maps about such as "natural history" in the local
area -- hopefully, at least for one local science education
center. It's a marvelous thing, to even be able to do this -- "just the
data and the GRASS, voila!")

Thank you,

--
Sean Champ

2

I was just wonderng:

  Which dataset format would be recommendable, given both SDTS and
  Shapefile as possible options?

GRASS 5.7 + v.in.ogr or v.external works really well for Shape files.

5.7's v.in.ogr or v.external should work on SDTS files as well, I
couldn't tell you which format would work better, only that the shape
files are probably the better tested format.

http://gdal.org/ogr/ogr_formats.html

Again for emphasis, 5.7 is the way to go if you are working with vector
data.

Hamish