Hi WanMil,
I did not see any multi-threading problems while reading from zip, so I did not code anything special for this. You mentioned such problems, did you mean updating zip files?
I remember that I read warnings that the Java zip file implementation is not multithread capable. I'll have to search for them and will let you know if I find them.
OK, I just found general comments like "it is not threadsave"
I don't think that we need a routine to write / create zip files, do we?
There will be one real improvement: The LocationHook first checks if the bounds directory contains bounds file. The time checking that has been improved much by your patch. But I still see quite high timings when using multiple threads. If using a zip file this timing should be much better because one just have to check if the on zip file is there.
A 2nd thing is that it is much easier to handle for users. That's what Klaus alias toc-rox metioned.
So decide yourself. I would vote for using zip files (and it would also be ok for me to drop the support for non zip files).
I like to use zip file as input, my question is if there is a need to write or update *.zip . I think it is sufficient to use a standalone zip program.
I think we need a utility similar to BoundaryMerger to allow creating the bnd files for planet in multiple steps, so that's what I am working on now.
Yes. Otherwise it is not possible to create boundaries for larger regions if your computer does not have tons of GB.
Well, a special program to calculate only the bnd files would be an alternative, but I don't plan to code that. Gerd