>
>
> By: Ziad Saad
>
> On 1 and 2: It looks like we ought to revisit what should be done
> about non-standard
> metadata and, by extension, non-standard data arrays (with undefined
> NIFTI_INTENT)
> that might come up in surface files. We also add AFNI-specific meta-
> data into
> GIFTI files but we are not expecting them to be preserved through an
> exchange.
>

I think we should preserve unrecognized metadata and this is explained
in my recent reply to Rick.

> On 3: So are these normals defined once the surface is in xformspace
> or in dataspace?
> For the caret surfaces we have, where xform is identity, this does
> not matter.
> But in the general case, the meaning is ambiguous.
>

Do we need normals in the surface file ? We could eliminate them from
surfaces and let the data consumer calculate them.

> On 4: This is related to a previous discussion and is more of a
> stylistic issue.
> But to my mind, an empty value is like an uninitialized variable.
> So I opted
> to use 'Unknown' in my implementation and I gather this does not
> violate GIFTI
> edicts.
>

We need to decide if empty metadata values are invalid because this
could be added to the GIFTI XML Schema.

>

John Harwell