Fwd: OpenSlide library inquiry

[Benjamin Gilbert]

On 06/04/2012 08:35 AM, M. Satyanarayanan wrote:
> I would like to thank you for your efforts in developing and maintaining a
> project such as OpenSlide. It has been a real lifesaver for us and has
> allowed us to do some really cool things over the past year.

Glad to hear it!

> We were recently able to recompile the OpenSlide library in a 64-bit
> version (which was a challenge with all the dependencies). Would you be
> interested in hosting this 64-bit version of the library and perhaps
> benchmarking it for speed?

I assume this is a native Windows build?  I suspect what the list would 
find more useful than the binaries is a set of instructions for the 
build process you used.

> * Our current generation of the 3DHistech scanner generates MRXS files
> that cannot be read by OpenSlide. Examples of these files are at
> http://www.histogenex.com/agelos/mrxs/problem_mrxs.zip

This is a known problem.  The Git repository contains a patch that 
allows these slides to be opened, but the slide tile overlaps are not 
correct.  This issue is being tracked at 
<https://github.com/openslide/openslide/issues/92>.

> * Why did you choose the OpenSeadragon viewer and not some other platform
> such as e.g. Zoomify or OpenLayers?

Zoomify is a proprietary product.  As to OpenLayers, we were originally 
thinking in terms of zoomable image viewers rather than map viewers.

Although we currently use OpenSeadragon for our demo applications, 
there's nothing requiring you to use OpenSeadragon.  You should be able 
to use the OpenSlide API to implement a tiler for the image viewer of 
your choice.

(OpenSeadragon appears to be unmaintained, so an interface to other 
viewers might indeed be useful.)

> * Do you have plans to incorporate the ZVI format as well in OpenSlide?

Not at present, but contributions are welcome.

> * Do you have experience with Leica's BigTIFF format and how does it
> differ from the currently supported TIFF formats in OpenSlide?

Nope, sorry.


Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to promptly implement all of 
the features we (and our users) would like.  If there's a feature that's 
important to you, please consider developing it yourself and 
contributing it to OpenSlide; after all, that's the point of a 
community-driven project!  I would be happy to provide design advice, 
answer questions, and review code.

--Benjamin Gilbert