Elements of Successful Translation
Parse-able syntax (DRM syntax)
Structural semantics - well-defined (or at least well-understood) grammar in the (common/foreign) language (DRM semantics)
Reasonable mapping of input language to output language possibilities (if the languages don’t match in expressive or representation power, stop, we have a problem!)
Data’s organizational semantics (e.g., Airport: point feature; areal feature; bag of polygons; spatially-organized bags of polygons; bag of “objects”; spatially-organized bags of “objects”, …)
Context & understanding, or at least knowledge of context (key)
“Translator’s” command of both languages (how good is the algorithm/logic for translation and how well it’s implemented)
Use of “translation services” (e.g., API, filters, …)
Post-translation value-adding (e.g., turn polygons for use by z-buffer; undo SRF translation)
Post-translation tailoring (e.g., tune polygons for runtime processing)