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Release
of V5.10 TNT products| "GIS software" | |||||
|
Autodesk |
17% | GeoVision | 0% | Strategic Mapping | 13% |
|
Caliper |
4% | IBM | 4% | Tydac | 4% |
|
ComGrafix |
0% | Intergraph | 8% | Strategic Mapping | 13% |
|
Caliper |
4% | IBM | 4% | Tydac | 4% |
|
ComGrafix |
0% | Intergraph | 8% | Ultimap | 0% |
|
ERDAS |
0% | MapInfo | 21% | UNISYS | 0% |
|
ESRI |
25% | MicroImages | 42% | Other |
4% |
|
Genasys |
0% | ||||
|
DB2 |
4% | INFO | 8% | Paradox | 17% |
|
DBASE |
71% | INFORMIX | 13% | SQL |
17% |
|
Clipper |
4% | INGRES | 0% | Others | 29% |
"B. What type of hardware do you currently use?"
|
Personal computer |
100% |
Mainframe computer |
21% |
|
UNIX or other W/S |
33% |
Other |
0% |
"C. What media type do you currently use to share geographic data with other users?"
|
Hard copy |
79% |
External network |
21% |
|
Portable media |
83% |
Other |
13% |
|
Internal network |
38% |
MicroImages equips all in-house PC computers with 16 Mb of memory. The TNT products will thus continue to be checked out to run properly in this amount of memory. However, Please remember that MicroImages does not perform production oriented operations.
On several occasions clients have pointed out that TNTmips operates significantly faster if 24 Mb of memory is provided in the PC. The additional memory above 16 Mb would often be used by TNTmips when a second major subprocess is started and you have a number of other utility programs running concurrently (for example, network support). This condition would frequently happen when display process and the network processes are active and another major operation is started without quitting or closing the display operation. Under these conditions, and with only 16 Mb of real memory, the additional memory for the second process is provided by the MSW3.1 virtual memory swapping process which slows down your operations. Those who have only 16 Mb of real memory soon get in the habit of closing each operation before starting another.
Overview. Prompt client support from technically knowledgeable software engineers has always been a priority at MicroImages. Hundreds of client assistance requests are received each week by voice, FAX, and email. How many companies do you know that supply detailed written responses to your inquiries for assistance? Over 90% of these inquiries are answered directly by voice or in writing by the next day, but some questions require additional research on the part of the software engineers who supply your support and those who write the code. Over 98% of these requests (not counting defects reported more than 1 time) are now for advice on how to accomplish a specific task. When defects are reported they are fixed as rapidly as possible with corrections for over 80% available by the next day. The major portion of these defects are now cured by corrected processes which clients obtain immediately via FTP over Internet.
However, some defects are elusive and take time to cure as evidenced by the following received from an international client under the banner of Pin Mapping and Bouquets.
"Thanks for sending me the latest PRINTRVC.EXE and DISP2D.EXE. They solved all of the problems which I had been experiencing recently. What should have been a simple task, but which had occupied many hours of fruitless work over 2 months, was completed in an afternoon. While I would, of course, have preferred that the problem had not arisen in the first place, it is satisfying in the end, to enjoy everything functioning in the way expected, and most importantly to achieve what I had set out to do quickly and efficiently. It wouldn't have happened without your assistance."
Software Planning System. The TNT planning and control system (a pseudo-database) instigated approximately 9 months ago continues to assist MicroImages to gradually improve the reliability of the TNT products with each successive new quarter. It provides the basis for the weekly review of the progress and assignment of staff resources for the addition of the new features and the repair of defects. During the period of active preparation for each quarterly release (several weeks prior to duplication of the CDs) it provides the basis for daily prioritization of the completion of features and the correction of known defects.
While it is impossible to eliminate all defects from any software product, especially one with as broad a scope as TNTmips, diligence can minimize them and their effects. MicroImages' approach is actually enhanced by the quarterly release concept and the new widespread use of Internet to immediately transfer corrections of defects subsequently encountered by clients.
A recent comment on Internet (30 June 95) by Ray Bentley, one of the founders of Bentley Systems which creates and markets MicroStation addresses this same issue.
"I won't bother posting Jason's message, but I would be interested in knowing if other users find MicroStation to be unstable. We have done a lot of work to improve MicroStation's stability, but like anything created by humans, MicroStation is not perfect."
"In particular, we need test cases that can help us to reproduce problems. Without them it is difficult to correct problems."
"I personally talk to hundreds of users a year and I use a lot of software packages. I think MicroStation is relatively stable and reliable."
"If Jason has a point here, please let us know. If it is just a lot of electronic hot air (my vote)., then we can get back to listening to customers with valid concerns."
Clearly all software has these base or DC levels of defects more or less proportional in number to the size and complexity of the software. However, MicroImages then adds that "it is how they get fixed that really counts in the end" !
Software Support System. Another step in MicroImages' planning, quality control, and support operations is just being designed and tested whereby all the technical support operations at MicroImages will also be recorded, tracked, and summarized by a pseudo-database system. Some of you may already have noticed that you are being supplied with a "case-code" when you report a defect. It will take a couple of quarters for this new activity to become fully operational. However, it will provide a mechanism whereby each incoming request for software support by voice, FAX, or email will be encoded, assigned a case number, tracked, completed, and then summarized for weekly and quarterly review. This is much the same as the procedure already fully in place for the tracking of defects and new feature requests from clients and internal MicroImages staff as noted above and will operate in parallel to it.
As noted above, preliminary use of this system has pinpointed that more than 98% of the voice, FAX, and email requests for technical support are now concerned with obtaining advice on how to accomplish a task. The remaining 2% are client reports of defects in the products. MicroImages' technical support engineers deal with many requests for assistance each day (some exceptionally busy days this approaches 30 requests). Knowledge of the areas in which clients consistently request advice and help (not the correction of defects) will begin to provide the necessary feedback loop to identify confusion and defects within the on-line documentation. However, many of those seeking advice have not consulted the on-line documentation. Thus, an even more valuable feedback is possible which will identify where the user interface and ease-of-use of the TNT products are counter-intuitive and can be improved. After all, the overall selfish goal of the critical review of such information is to use it as the basis to improve the ease of use of the TNT products, thus reducing the number of free software support questions to be answered!
MicroImages has always claimed that the most important thing in the management of defects in large scale software is the management of their correction at which MicroImages' staff works very hard on your behalf. However, being imperfect human beings we occasionally slip up in our support activities as well.
On-line Upgrades.
Unfortunately, due to a shortage of staff time and equipment problems, MicroImages has been as yet unable to initiate the weekly posting of all TNT versions for every platform at microimages.com. The necessary additional hard drives were purchased 8 weeks ago but MicroImages has the same problems as you trying to get "strange" drive parameters for their UNIX / workstation installation and use. However, the necessary parameters now seem to be at hand and this new support service can now be placed on line probably by the time you receive this MEMO. It is very surprising to MicroImages how fast most of our world-wide clients have gained access to Internet to immediately download (FTP) corrections and new features added during the quarter. Access to Internet seems to have become an overnight necessity for most professionals involved in high technology applications outside the United States.
The first significant change you will find in V5.10 is that a new, separate MSW3.11 point and click process is available to install TNT products for that platform. Most existing clients had no trouble reinstalling TNTmips for a subsequent quarterly upgrade. However, the first time user had difficulty with the previous installation procedures.
More V5.10 processes now automatically produce a pyramided raster object.
Another significant user interface change has been added where any process and each individual import or export format can be assigned a large 32 by 32 cell icon, title, and tooltip in one or more custom toolbars. These custom toolbars can show or hide at your request and be used as push buttons to launch that process or import/export activity in addition to whatever other process you may already have underway. Small icons on fixed toolbars have been added into many more processes effectively doubling the number in current use.
The position and scale of the image layers of the View window can now be selected in any process from the View Position window which now automatically shows a view of the entire raster object if it is pyramided.
Contrast enhancement can now be applied to 16- and 32-bit raster objects.
TNTview is now exactly the same compiled process as the TNTmips display process with groups, layouts, legends, and so on. Only the actual process of printing the resulting map is switched off and remains an exclusive feature of TNTmips. You will also find that TNTview is now automatically available from within TNTmips from the View menu since no additional software is required on a TNTmips system.
Quick sketching has been added to the display process and is available in both the TNTmips and TNTview products. It provides simple, fast drawing and annotation tools for creating, saving, and restoring a new CAD layer over the top of any View window already displaying any normal mixture of layers.
MapInfo *.MIF/MID datasets can be linked to Project Files in a fashion similar to that previously available for most stranger raster files (e.g. *.TIF, *.TGA, *.LAN, ...). It is no longer necessary to import these MapInfo files into a CAD object for TNT processes to read them.
A Tabular Database window has been introduced into the display and edit processes. It allows the setup and viewing of multiple database or attribute records in a single scrollable window and the interactive selection of associated elements in the display. Interactive controls are provided to hide fields, control field appearance, and other cosmetic parameters. This new feature is part of new and planned features related to multiple element selection and display and transfer between object using a new Region-of-Interest concept.
The new multi-object = multi-layer editor has approximately doubled in capabilities. It now allows the display, selection, editing, and saving of any vector or CAD layer in any complex normal view containing all object types (raster, vector, CAD, or TIN). A Save All option will save all layers (objects) which have been altered in the current edit session.
Appropriate edit tools are presented if a CAD or vector layer is selected as active layer or editing (many tools are common to both). The new Tabular Database window and associated functions are available. Multiple elements can be selected for simultaneous editing in the active layer (e.g. delete the polygons selected by multiple mouse clicks or from the new Tabular Database window). The line style of any CAD element can be assigned or edited. Labels and text style (font, size, angle, ...) can be created or edited. Auto label generation is available. Splines can be used in vector or CAD element types. X-Y digitizing is supported for both CAD or vector active layers.
The vector merge process converts the various projections of objects selected on the "fly" and writes the new object in any selected projection.
The vector filter process now supports the "batch" closing of undershoots by the same methods as the object editor.
A new standard linear combination process is available for raster objects. This process was previously only available in the DOS MIPS product. Its reincarnation in TNTmips provides means to edit and reapply the linear coefficients obtained from other processes to new sets of multi raster objects.
Transparency. The concept of raster and polygon fill transparency during display has been created for the introduction into the TNT products. However, this will not be released with V5.10 as its introduction affects many processes which can not be thoroughly checked at the end of a release cycle. This feature will be available within the first couple of weeks immediately after you receive V5.10 for those who have access to upgrades via Internet. It requires the introduction of a full 24-bit image memory map (called a pixmap) of your current view in place of your current 8-bit memory based pixmap. This 24-bit pixmap is then used to build-up the composite of all the layers (just as the 8-bit version) but allows overlay of new layers in transparent fashion. However, considerable separate additional software development is required to create an equivalent of this concept to allow the transparent overlay of layers or objects during printing. Transparent printing is not likely to make it even into V5.20.
TrueType. The TrueType rendering engine is now complete but was not incorporated at the last minute as it also risks breaking many features. It should be available in the processes on the Internet server by the time you read this memo.
Mac X Server. There has been significant progress and the MIX for the Mac now sort of works but was not ready for V5.10.
Other V5.20. The software engineers at MicroImages have now been at work on TNTmips 5.2 for several weeks. With a current database of over 1200 requested and planned new features (some big, some small) it's choosing the right ones to do next that counts. To quote Borland and I am sure many others (and paraphrasing) "it's not hard to think of many things to add to software, what counts is sorting out those which are important!". Looks like Borland may have guessed wrong several times in a row. Mike and I spend some time almost every day on this sorting out process taking in all inputs, assigning and adjusting priorities, and then calling it tactical and strategic planning. For the next couple of quarters (i.e. until 1996) we are most likely to choose those items from the list which help glue together and make the various parts of the TNT products more useful and easier for GIS and desktop mapping. We are not likely to choose those activities which involve the specific application of TNTmips to a particular discipline or problem area.
Several unique defects in the MicroImages X Server for Microsoft MSNT3.5 and MSNT3.51 have been cured providing improved performance. They concern operations with the vertical scroll bars and the jerky, slow response of windows being moved by the mouse.
MicroImages' code for application processes is simply recompiled for each platform. However, the source code for each X Server is unique and defects can vary between platforms and require individual attention.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: As announced in the MicroImages MEMO which accompanied the release of V5.00 of the TNT products, Microsoft NT3.1 is no longer supported by the TNT products or the software support engineers. Please invest the small amount of money needed to upgrade to Microsoft NT3.51 to eliminate the defects in version NT3.1.
V5.10 for MSW3.11 of the TNT products including the MI/X Server installed normally and operated immediately under W95 without alteration. The speed of the user interface is approximately the same as operating directly under MSW3.11. Simply install and use the MSW3.11 version of V5.10 if you are already experimenting with W95.
Most of the TNT 32-bit application processes will recompile without alteration for direct use within W95. The changes to the MIX Server for MSNT3.51 needed to make it native operational within W95 are being implemented now as minor differences do exist in the graphics functions of these two systems (not supposed to be different). When these modifications are complete, there will be a single MIX server for both systems which is simply recompiled separately for MSNT and W95. The other remaining tasks for providing a native release for W95 involve the adjustment of the support of the hardware keys and other related I/O port functions.
MicroImages is beginning to believe that W95 may actually ship in late August as scheduled unless delayed further by the U.S. Justice Department. Thus it is possible that V5.20 of the TNT products released in late September or October will also provide a native version of the TNT products for W95. Please also make a note that, as has been the case with the MSNT versions of the TNT products, the W95 version will only run with new gray hardware authorization keys or the blue or red universal serial keys. The older black keys which still may be used with the MSW3.1 systems are not useable with W95 and must be exchanged with MicroImages for $50 plus return shipping.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The recompilation of the TNT products for W95 uses the Microsoft Visual C++ V2.2 sold for use with the W95 operating system. This is the same Microsoft compiler that has been used for the previous releases of the TNT products for use with the MSNT. Those planning to use the TNTsdk will need to use this C to compile native applications for W95 platform. Watcom C V9.0, 9.5, or 10.0 will continue to be the compiler used with the MSW3.11 versions of the TNT products and is thus still required for the use of the TNTsdk. While TNTsdk lets you create portable source code for use on each platform, you must compile that code using the specific compiler required for each platform.
MI/X (MicroImages' X Server)
X Server for MSNT3.51. As noted above, several defects have been cured in the operation of this X Server.
X Server for Apple Mac. The MicroImages X Server for use with the Apple Mac and Power Mac is now working in rough form. It continues to absorb a lot of effort and it should be completed for use with V5.20 together with a simplified Mac installation program (similar to the install program being released for MSW3.1 in V5.10). MicroImages continues to postpone intensive efforts to speed up the operation of the TNT products on the Macs until this server is available. MicroImages simply is not in control of the Mac situation until the MIX server for the Mac is available.
Independent written confirmations of the sources of the significant slowdowns on the Power Mac as reported in the V5.00 MEMO are now available. Direct contact with Power Mac users running products under the IDL graphics system on the Power Mac have experienced significantly slower results than with Quadras.
Please note that the use of TNTmips® as the name of a software product is now registered by the United States Government. Applications for the official registration of the other product names in this series (TNTview, TNTatlas, ...) are pending approval.
New MSW3.1 Installation. A new, separate MSW3.1 SETUP program is available to install the TNT products on this platform. A README.TXT file is provided. Its use is also described in more detail below in the New Features section and its operation is described on an attached page.
The previous install program operated at the DOS level and is still temporarily available. Please try the new MSW3.1 based process as it will eventually replace the DOS program. Since the new process runs within MSW3.1 it allows checking of the characteristics of your MSW3.1 setup so that future versions will test your setup and recommend changes in it to optimize the performance of the TNT products. MicroImages still finds that almost every MSW3.1 system encountered has some sort of setup problem causing performance losses.
Installation for Other Platforms. This MSW3.1 SETUP program will be adapted this quarter to provide for similar installation of V5.20 for MSNT3.51. It also provides the basis for a similar installation process for use with W95. A similar Mac based installation process is nearing completion allowing easier installation and the maintenance and upgrade of authorization keys. The scripts used to install TNTmips on UNIX workstation already follow the standard installation procedures on these platforms and require only incremental changes to improve them.
General Install Procedures. If you have subscribed to TNTmips 5.1, please proceed to install it from the V5.10 TNT product CDs following the instructions provided by the INSTALL process on either disk, in the Detailed Installation and Optimization Manual, or on the attached sheet for the new alternate MSW3.1 SETUP approach.
Installed Sizes. Loading a full installation of TNTmips 5.1 onto your hard drive (exclusive of illustrations) requires the following storage space in megabytes. The illustrations will add another 18 megabytes to these values.
| PC using WFW3.11 | 89 |
| PC using MSNT3.51 (Intel) | 117 |
| DEC using MSNT3.50 (Alpha) | 129 |
| Mac using Mac OS 7.1 (680xx) | 67 |
| Power Mac using Mac OS 7.5 (Power PC) | 70 |
| Hewlett Packard workstation using HPUX | 98 |
| SGI workstation using IRIX | 123 |
| Sun workstation using Solaris 1.x | 89 |
| Sun workstation using Solaris 2.x | 74 |
| DEC workstation using OSF/1 | 137 |
| IBM RS/6000 using AIX | 144 |
Missing Platforms. There are no V5.10 TNT products on these CD-ROMs for the DEC 3000 or 5000 workstation platforms using ULTRIX or for the Data General workstation platforms using Aviion. These versions were temporarily deleted to make room on the 2 CD-ROMs for the 2 new Macintosh versions. V5.10 of the TNT products for the Aviion or ULTRIX platforms are not widely used and are being provided on individual, custom made CD-ROMs. Subsequently, to accommodate these lower use products, a reduction in the size of all the executable files may be effected or a third CD will be added, particularly if support for one more new platform is added.
If you did not order TNTmips 5.1, and wish to do so now, please contact MicroImages by FAX, phone, or email to arrange to purchase your quarterly upgrade to V5.10. MicroImages will immediately supply you with an authorization code by return FAX. Entering this code when running the installation process will allow you to complete the installation and immediately start to use TNTmips 5.1 and the other TNT products.
If you do not have an annual subscription to TNTmips, you can purchase V5.10 under the elective upgrade plan at the cost in the table below. Please remember that new features have been added to TNTmips with each quarter. Thus, the more quarters you are behind V5.10, the higher your upgrade cost, up to a fixed limit. Upgrades from all previous versions of MIPS and TNTmips 4.6 or earlier are the same, fixed cost shown below. As usual, there is no special additional charge for the upgrade of your special peripheral support features, TNTlink, or TNTsdk which you may have added to your basic TNTmips system.
Within the NAFTA reselling area (Canada, U.S., and Mexico):
| Product Code |
Price to Upgrade from TNTmips: |
MIPS: | ||||
|
V5.00 |
V4.90 |
V4.80 |
V4.70 |
V4.60 |
any version | |
| D30 to D60 (CDs) |
$250 |
450 |
600 |
700 |
750 |
750 |
| D30 to D60 (floppies) |
$300 |
560 |
750 |
875 |
940 |
940 |
| D80 |
$375 |
675 |
900 |
1050 |
1125 |
1125 |
| M50 (replaces U45) |
$250 |
450 |
600 |
700 |
750 |
750 |
| U100 |
$450 |
800 |
1000 |
1200 |
1300 |
|
| U200 |
$780 |
1400 |
1875 |
2200 |
2350 |
|
| U300 |
$1030 |
1850 |
2475 |
2900 |
3100 |
|
For all other nations:
| Product Code |
Price to Upgrade from TNTmips: |
MIPS: | ||||
|
V5.00 |
V4.90 |
V4.80 |
V4.70 |
V4.60 |
any version | |
| D30 to D60 (CDs) |
$300 |
560 |
750 |
875 |
940 |
940 |
| D30 to D60 (floppies) |
$350 |
600 |
800 |
925 |
990 |
990 |
| D80 |
$425 |
800 |
1050 |
1225 |
1300 |
1300 |
| M50 (replaces U45) |
$300 |
560 |
750 |
875 |
940 |
940 |
| U100 |
$500 |
850 |
1050 |
1250 |
1350 |
|
| U200 |
$830 |
1450 |
1925 |
2250 |
2400 |
|
| U300 |
$1080 |
1900 |
2525 |
2950 |
3150 |
|
M50 is the new product code for the Apple Macintosh Mac OS 7.x versions and replaces their older designation as U45 for the Mac using A/UX.
TNTsdk™ 5.1 for TNTmips 5.1
TNTsdk can now be easily installed on MSW3.1 based platforms using the new SETUP program described elsewhere and in the attached sheet.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The recompilation of the TNT products for W95 uses the Microsoft Visual C++ V2.2 sold for use with the W95 operating system. This is the same Microsoft compiler that has been used for the previous releases of the TNT products for use with the MSNT. Those planning to use the TNTsdk will need to use this C to compile native applications for W95 platform. Watcom C V9.0, 9.5, or 10.0 will continue to be the compiler used with the MSW3.11 versions of the TNT products and is thus still required for the use of the TNTsdk. While TNTsdk lets you create portable source code for use on each platform, you must compile that code using the specific compiler required for each platform.
TNTview™ 5.1
MicroImages is pleased to announce an increase in sales of this TNT product to clients using it as a network display tool in conjunction with TNTmips or as a portable field tool. As a result, a sketching feature is being released in V5.10 to support these clients and their applications. Other new features are planned to expand the utility of this product.
TNTview can now be easily installed in MSW3.1 using the same new installation procedure described above for use with TNTmips. See the attached instructions and simply select to install TNTview from the appropriate list. Similar simple installation procedures will be available in V5.20 for MSNT3.51 and probably W95.
All of the features in the display process within TNTmips are now in TNTview except the ability to print out hardcopy. This does not change your previous operation of this product but simply expands it to support layouts, group placement, and so on. Display layouts created in TNTmips and saved can now be opened and viewed in TNTview. All the other new display features added in V5.10 also immediately become available such as the Tabular Database window, View Position window changes, and so on.
These and future expansions of TNTmips display capabilities now automatically become available in TNTview. TNTmips display and visualization process (2D Display) has been restructured so that it is exactly the same process as TNTview with the addition that its final printing capability is enabled by the hardware authorization key. TNTview thus has the same display capabilities as a TNTmips system purchased without a printing support feature (which also can not print in color).
A simple sketching feature has now been added into the 2D Display process for use in TNTview and TNTmips. This particular feature was added specifically for use in TNTview and is designed for use in a portable field setting such as for field interpretation of airphotos or slides. Sketching does not allow the selection or alteration of any layer in the current view - this is the function of the object editor in TNTmips. However, sketching can be used to draw lines, circles, polygons and fill, add annotations, and then save these all as a simple CAD object. This CAD object created in sketching (and only there) can also be reloaded later for adding elements (not editing). Or more likely, this simple CAD object can be accessed elsewhere in the TNTmips system for clean up in the object editor, attachment of attributes, conversion into a vector object, use in a Map and Poster Layout, and so on.
A color page entitled Photointerpretation Using the Sketch Tool illustrating the use of sketching within TNTview to interpret a color-infrared airphoto for hypothetical wetland areas is attached. Sketching in TNTview is, and will continue to be kept as a simple, easy to use tool for fast and efficient capture of line data in the field. The ability to select, edit, and delete CAD elements created by previous sketching will be added in a future version of TNTview.
Many, many software packages allow a wide variety of levels of simple CAD drawing capabilities. The power and usefulness of the addition into TNTview of simple sketching as a standard feature is created by the power TNTmips to prepare the layout that is actually taken into the field. TNTview can now provide for the on-site interpretation of complex layouts of many layers of raster, vector, CAD, TIN, database and other materials from a wide variety of sources and other products. For example, sketching added to the speed and flexibility of TNTview in managing huge rasters now makes practical high-resolution field photo-interpretation possible, as well as the rapid updating of changes to existing interpretations (i.e. layers).
MicroImages is not currently aware of other low cost IPS or GIS "view" products which can easily and efficiently manage other vendors' huge map and image materials in the field or other data upgrade setting. This application is particularly useful with the rapidly expanding availability of digital orthophotos for creating or upgrading GIS layers. Similarly, the near future availability of 1 to 4 meter single band satellite images and their ortho-like derivative digital products from several sources pinpoint the need for simpler, cheaper human photointerpretation processes.
Since sketching was just added to TNTmips and TNTview its operation is outlined in draft form in the 5 page printed supplemental documentation enclosed.
Large collections of project materials from many other sources can be organized by TNTmips into Project Files. These materials can now be accessed by your LAN, Internet, CD, or other media for updating or reinterpretation for other purposes using TNTview and sketching. Subsequently these simple CAD sketches can feedback into the central operation for verification, editing, validation, and eventual addition or replacement in the on-line Project Files. This general procedure defines a process now suddenly being popularly referred to by Oracle, MapInfo, and others as data warehousing to distinguish it from other database management activities which must operate in near real time (for example, bank transactions, credit card transactions, and related operations).
The following was extracted from a document being circulated by MapInfo entitled Q&A: ORACLE DATA WAREHOUSING ANNOUNCEMENT and dated 23 June 1995
"What is Data Warehousing"
"Data Warehousing is a strategic application of database technology and analytical tools to support decision making. Generally, a data warehouse is the collection of many databases. Unlike the operational data which is on-line, business-critical and transaction-oriented, a data warehouse is off-line, is not critical to day-to-day business operations, and is query oriented. Usually, the data warehouse is a snapshot of operational data, which is refreshed hourly, daily, weekly."
"The data warehouse answers the question: how can I take scattered operational data and use it for strategic advantage? Many companies spend considerable resources to run their businesses. As part of this process, lots of data is generated. Creating a data warehouse is a key step in leveraging the resulting data."
"Data in a spatial data warehouse includes location information that can be analyzed geographically. Spatial and non-spatial data are often stored in the same data warehouse."
"The usefulness of a data warehouse can be measured by the flexibility and power of the client-side analytical tools (i.e. MapInfo) available to the end user."
[If all of the above sounds like Project Files and the TNT products, it should come as no surprise that others have the same ideas and are forming strategic alliances to meet similar objectives]
"What are the challenges in implementing a Data Warehouse"
"Throwing a lot of data into a data warehouse is easy. Getting it out is hard. In building a data warehouse there are two key considerations: warehouse design and the tools to analyze the data."
"Design considerations include:
- deciding which data sets to include
- how to restructure unrelated data sets to appear as one
- how to move the data into the warehouse
- how to refresh the data
- who needs to see which data
- how to add spatial coordinates to the data."
"Analytical considerations include:
- which tools will be used to analyze the data
- what standard reports should be printed
- how to make retrieval easy and fast
- which tools will help me drill down through the layers of information."
[Based upon your extensive communications with MicroImages, many of you are now moving into the data warehousing business with TNTmips. This ranges from setting up data warehouses over a wide range of organizations from states to mining companies. It appears to be driven by your own personal or organizational needs or those of your clients.]
Since the TNTview is now finally exactly the same process as 2D Display, the pending additions to the display process in TNTmips will simultaneously become available for use in TNTview. These can be outlined with their probable release versions as follows:
Transparency (V5.20). Transparent display of layers will allow such visualization options as transparent polygon fills to "show-through" the underlying image.
3D Displays (V5.20). The separate 3D Display will be rewritten and disappear into the 2D Display process which will become a general visualization process and the TNTview product.
Stereo Viewing (V5.20). The expansion of the stereo viewing processes being expanded in TNTmips will also become available as part of the expanded visualization capabilities needed in TNTmips.
Snapshot Printing (V5.30). Snapshot printing will be added into TNTmips, TNTview, and TNTatlas when an interface to the generic Microsoft Windows print driver is available. This will allow the contents of the display = View window to be printed in color to scale or to size on a single page up to 8.5 by 11 inches in size. It will also allow this same view to be pseudo-printed into an appropriate, external TIFF file format. This printing capability will become a feature of TNTmips, TNTview, and the TNTatlas. However, it will only be available for platforms and printers which are sold with a Postscript or Microsoft Windows printer driver (not supplied by MicroImages).
GPS Position Inputs (V5.??). Eventually you will be able to use GPS positional inputs in TNTview as it is a natural part of a product designed for field use. At present MicroImages has no priority assigned to this extension of the TNT products.
TNTatlas™ of San Francisco
It was noted above that a new installation process is available to install TNT products on MSW3.1 platforms. This is now being adapted to provide for an easy installation of the next version of the stand-alone sample TNTatlas of San Francisco. Similarly the improved installation processes will provide for easier installation of the NT and eventually for the Mac and W95 versions of TNTatlas.
MicroImages has purchased several additional volume duplications of the original prototype1 sample CD-ROMs and is about to run out again. Thus it is likely that a new prototype2 of the sample TNTatlas of San Francisco will be published "as practice" during the next quarter with this and other improvements including pyramiding. Furthermore, several clients now have TNTatlas products nearly ready for distribution as follows.
Geological Survey of Finland (a MicroImages European Reseller) has two contracts to produce TNTatlas CDs for controlled distribution of client data. They are als considering the internal publication of a sample TNTatlas.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has prepared and is nearing publication of a sample CD-ROM to illustrate the extensive GIS and image datasets assembled for use by Maryland taxpayers. It will cover a specific sample subarea of the state with a wide variety of layers and database materials. It is anticipated that the first publication of this sample disk will be for 10,000 copies and will be distributed widely to state and county agencies, engineering firms, high schools, libraries, and related sites. Copies of this sampler will be provided to all clients when it is available.
An agency in Argentina is reviewing the use of a TNTatlas to distribute educational materials.
The MicroImages' Representative in Chile is planning a TNTatlas to demonstrate the kinds project materials they have prepared in TNTmips.
The Maryland Historical and Cultural Program has a contract to prepare a TNTatlas of all heritage buildings and similar sites in the state. This atlas is being prepared as research project with the results to be distributed to other state archeological agencies.
If you are preparing a TNTatlas project please let MicroImages know about it.
As noted above in the section on TNTview, MicroImages will eventually be providing a snapshot printing capability within TNTatlas. Until it is available next year, it is important to remember that printing what is on the screen during the operation of a TNTatlas is easy for those using it on a MSW3.1 platform. The instruction on how to do this are repeated again below.
Those clients familiar with Microsoft Windows have pointed out that it is quite easy to print any of the San Francisco TNTatlas screens at any point in the operation of this HyperIndex® stack without purchasing the separate Pizzazz Plus color printing product. Simply start the clipboard (MSW3.1) or clipbook (MSNT3.5) program. At any place in TNTatlas (or any TNT product) capture the contents of the display screen to the clipboard by pressing the Print Screen key. Then suspend the TNTatlas and access the clipboard / clipbook with the other software within which you wish to use the screen and trim, annotate, insert, and print it (Paint Brush works well). Finally, simply reactivate and continue using TNTatlas from the point of its suspension. If you can use the clipbook program (in MSNT), then you can capture multiple screens at various points during the operation of a TNT product and similarly access and use all of them later.
TNTdemo™ 5.1
No changes have been made in the TNTdemo software or program for this quarter except that purchasers will not automatically receive the DEC ULTRIX or Data General Aviion versions unless they specifically request them.
As noted in the MicroImages MEMO accompanying the V5.00 products, MicroImages is short on experienced scientific writers. Furthermore, the recent radical changes in the interface of TNTmips has made extensive rewriting necessary. Initial draft documentation is available for the new processes released in V5.10 (except the DEM/ortho process) and the size of the printed version has increased to 1900 single spaced pages plus the 89 supplemental pages on new processes. However, many other sections still require upgrading to reflect the changes to the explanations and many illustrations caused by the incorporation of icons and related changes.
Five last minute documentation sections were completed for V5.10 after the master CDs were created for the reproduction process. These 89 additional pages are included in supplemental, printed form as follows.
Adding Legends (18 pages)
User-Defined Linear Combinations (7 pages)
More About the Sketch Tool (5 pages)
Custom Toolbars (6 pages)
Object Editor (53 pages)
Apple Macintosh via System 7.x.
No special effort was expended during the this quarter to enhancement the speed and performance of the TNT products for V5.10 on the Mac platforms. Performance thus remains as set forth in the MicroImages MEMO accompanying V5.00. It was decided that any effort in this direction prior to the completion of the MicroImages X Server for the Mac would not be productive. MicroImages must have control of all the code used in the TNT products for the Mac before optimization efforts can be expected to produce results.
MicroImages explanations for the poor relative performance of products on the Power Mac were recently verified from other sources. A client site has noted that any process run under the commonly used IDL shell runs slower on the Power Mac than the Mac Quadras due to its 16-bit disk I/O access carried over into Mac OS even using the new version V7.52 just released with the latest PowerPC 603 processor based Macs (e.g. the 9500 series). A recent article in InfoWorld describing the technical details of these new Macs also pinpoints this problem as significant and notes that it will not be resolved until the release of Copeland = MacOS 8.0 next year. It specifically notes that this I/O problem still exists in the new Mac OS V7.52 just released with the latest PowerPC 603 processor based Macs (e.g. the 9500 series).
The status of efforts on the completion of the X Server for the Mac and Power Mac were reviewed above. They can be summarized by stating that they have reached the testing and debugging phase.
A number of defects in processes associated to the unique file handling on the Mac and reported by users are corrected in V5.10.
At the present time MicroImages is compiling the TNT products and X
Server using a C from Metroworks called CodeWarrior 6 for $400
(works for both Mac and Power Mac). MicroImages has tried all the popular C
compilers for the Mac over the past year and find them all to be weak in one
area or another compared to those for other platforms and operating systems. As
of this time (subject to change) the TNTsdk for the Mac versions of the TNT
products will require the use of this CodeWarrior 6 compiler.
* Paragraphs or main sections preceded by this symbol "*" introduce significant new processes, or features in existing processes, which are released for the first time in TNTmips 5.1.
* The automatic creation of pyramid tiers has been added to many processes that create raster objects.
A "Preferences" option has been added to turn on "extended" menus via Support / Setup / Preferences. Some features which are of specialized use are only shown if this option is on. Consult the documentation for a list of options enabled by selecting "extended" menus!
The Maintainance File dialog boxes are now "modeless" so other main menu options can be selected while they are open.
Headers for the available styles/patterns within a style object can now be viewed via the Info button on the Project File Maintenance dialog box (via Support / Maintain / Project File). The new information provided is the names and attributes of the style elements contained in the style object you select from the Project File (i.e., style type information for point, line, polygon, and text element and pattern information for bitmap, line, and symbol patterns). This allows you to check to see if a style/pattern is available without running the style editor.
Fixed Toolbars. The fixed toolbars introduced with V5.00 with 16 by 16 pixel small push button icons and associated tooltips have been added to more processes. You will find them particularly useful for tool selection in the new object editor. There are now a total of 114 of these icons in TNTmips (increased from 64 in V5.00). A 2-page color reference chart of the V5.10 icons is attached. They can also be directly viewed with more expanded description in Appendix 2 of the on-line documentation.
Custom Toolbars. A new class of moveable toolbar has been added to allow you to customize and streamline your TNTmips. These toolbars are designed by you to contain 32 by 32 pixel large process icons used to directly start processes and directly access specific import and export processes.
Color Plate: Creating Custom Toolbars
Custom toolbars are established by selecting Toolbar / Edit. This exposes the Toolbar Editor window. It is illustrated in the color print attached entitled Creating Custom Toolbars. The icon button on this window will expose the Select Icon ... window showing all the large icons available for selection. Additional new icons not available in the TNT icon set can be added to this window for selection using a procedure described below in the section on Fill Pattern Editor. It allows you to import the 32 by 32 cell icons from the *.ICO files of other commercial MSW3.1 products (e.g. their startup icons, data file icons (for representing imports or exports), etc.).
You may not like some of the initial large icons and some are absent. Icon design is an art and a MicroImages graphics specialist has been assigned to expand and improve the collection for future releases. In the meantime, an "empty" icon can always be selected and given an appropriate descriptive label and tooltip or you alter, design, or import your own icons if you choose. Many inexpensive MSW3.1 design tools are available to create *.ICO icons and also provide large collections of icons in this format. Note that W95 varies from MSW3.1 in that it requires a 32 by 32 cell and an equivalent 16 by 16 cell startup icons for every application. This will ensure that both sizes are available and provide for much more compact toolbars usually without labels (simply replaced by tooltips).
You can establish a vertical or horizontal moveable toolbar window using the orientation button and give it an identifying name. You then select any available import, export, or main menu process and the icon you wish to use to start this process, the label text to occur below or beside it, and its tooltip text. The suggested label and tooltip text can be edited to be anything, even another language. One or several icons can be placed in a particular moveable toolbar to present direct access to those processes you frequently use for a particular project. Many named moveable toolbars can be established to support various kinds of common activities.
A moveable toolbar can be exposed by selecting its name from the list appearing on the toolbars menu is moused. When selected it will then appear and can be positioned anywhere on the desktop with the mouse. It will remain open for direct use at that position during any process and even if you restart TNTmips. It can be hidden by using the reverse procedure of closing it via the list. Multiple custom toolbars can be open at one time and positioned and used independently.
Sample uses of custom toolbars would be to set up one that contains icons for the 2 or 3 export formats which you commonly use and call it "Export". A second could be set up for "Importing". Another could be set up to provide the icons needed for a specific project and call it "Airphoto Interpretation" (this might contain four icons: Import (from TIFF), Feature Mapping, (Auto)Bounds, and Export (to *.E00). Another might be called "Multispectral Classification" and provide direct access to the needed major processes.
A more advanced use of a moveable toolbar would be for rapid communication with some other commercial product running concurrently with TNTmips. For example, suppose you are running both MapInfo and TNTmips via MSW3.1. Assume you are frequently using the new object editor to create and alter a CAD object for use in MapInfo with reference to a new orthoimage. When TNTmips is the active process you can show a moveable toolbar with a single icon representing the direct export to the MapInfo *.MIF/MID format (you will find the general MapInfo large icon in the set as imported from their MSW3.1 version). Selecting this MapInfo icon will jump you to the export control dialog and allow the creation of these files. If you now activate the concurrent MapInfo process these edited files are available for immediate use.
It will not be necessary to create the reverse MapInfo import icon to use the *.MIF/MID files as V5.10 now allows direct linking to and use of these format. This will be discussed in more detail below in the section on Hot Links. However, it is clear to all, including MicroImages that this direct toolbar export would be more efficient if the file created were in MapInfo native format (*.TAB and associated files) and thus immediately useable in the concurrent MapInfo. However, documentation for this MapInfo proprietary format is not available to MicroImages.
Since custom toolbars support was just added to TNTmips and TNTview its operation is outlined in draft form in the 6 page printed supplemental documentation enclosed and entitled Custom Toolbars.
This fancy title is now applied to an activity which is rather unique and powerful in the TNT products and has been previously available for raster data only. Linking means using some other products format without actually importing it into an internal object in the TNT Project File. However, for all TNT processes which select objects for reading (not writing), this linked file is equivalent to a native TNT CAD object. V5.10 now introduces linking to CAD objects by providing a direct link to MapInfo *.MIF/MID files. It is also likely that V5.20 will similarly link to AutoCAD *.DXF files and ESRI Shape files. At this time no commitment is being made to link to MicroStation's *.DGN files due to the complexity of the format and its many undocumented features. Yes, it is also possible that links could be established in the future from vector objects to other topological file formats with the well documented and widely used USGS *.DLG format being the most likely first candidate, followed by at some time in the future by ESRI's Coverage, and *.E00 formats.
Links can be directly established between any Project File and raster objects to *.TIF, *.TGA, *.LAN, ... files and CAD objects to *.MIF/MID files in the appropriate import process. Alterations are now underway to the object selection process so that these external or "stranger" files can be immediately linked up and used on demand and whenever object selection is provided. If you subsequently alter any linked file in any way with its parent software this will be automatically detected (using its data/time stamping) and the next time it is selection from the Project File is attempted the link will no longer exist. However, it is a simple matter to immediately relink the altered file at that point. This ensures that the TNT products know precisely what is in the linked files.
Emphasis is placed on the fact that linking is for use in processes which read objects. Any TNT process which creates an object (e.g. the object editor) will always write the object directly into the Project File. For example, you can link to a MapInfo *.MIF/MID file in the object editor and alter it, but the altered dataset must be saved into a CAD object and the toolbar icon used to export it back to the *.MIF/MID format when all alterations within the TNT products are complete. Why is this restriction imposed so that you can not write over the external linked data sets - there are several important reasons.
1) A sequence of operations upon an object within the TNT products add characteristics to the object which do not have place in the external stranger file. This reservation could be overcome by future alterations.
2) Multiple read/write process steps within TNTmips can add significant control material to an object. For example a linked *.TIF raster object can be georeferenced and then saved as a raster object. MicroImages maintains that you need to be aware of the fact that external strange file formats often have no place for many of the modifying characteristics you may laboriously added with TNTmips. By the deliberate act of selecting and exporting an object to another format you become conscious of this alteration. You are thus made aware that you may wish to perform additional operations within TNTmips, save the Project File for possible future use, and so on.
3) The format in which an object is stored internally in the Project File is optimum for the general mix of the TNT processes. For example, tiling is an efficient way to store rasters for the display oriented processes which dominate all the TNT products. It is unlikely that a linked raster file format will be tiled (*.TIF can be). [However, since the pyramid tiers created for a linked raster file are created and tiled within the "stub" object so only that processing (e.g. a 1:1 display) which reads the original 1:1 linked file will be slowed by the lack of the tile structure.] As a result it is more efficient to get external or strange datasets into the internal object structure if they will require frequent use or will be operated upon by several processes. Linking is most useful in situation where you wish to use a strange file in a display overlay without altering it, use it in just 1 or 2 processes and then immediately export it, simply forgot to import it in advance, and so on - in other words for casual and immediate use of external strange files.
4) Finally, everyone, especially you, will get unhappy when a dataset created and used in one commercial software package is suddenly changed by some other commercial software. Managing such an operation becomes a very complex issue when such external strange files are in shared use by the other products in a network situation. The safest approach is to "internalize" all changes which you make to other's data sets from within the TNT products.
So what is "hot" about it? Again we revert to the MapInfo example discussed in the user interface section above. Again assume that TNTmips and MapInfo are running concurrently on a PC. While using MapInfo you detect an update is needed in a graphical or database entry which must be interpreted from an available airphoto. You activate TNTmips and link to the appropriate *.MIF/MID data set. You then select the new object editor and select and display the airphoto and the MapInfo data set via the link. After the alterations are complete you save the new CAD object and immediate select the MapInfo export icon from the moveable toolbar. You then reactivate MapInfo and use the altered datasets.
TNTview does not support any linking or related activities. It is possible that TNTview could be altered specifically for use with MapInfo in the following fashion. Import, export and linking to the internal MapInfo *.TAB and related files will be added to both TNTview and TNTmips if MapInfo is willing to make their formats available to MicroImages. This would avoid the inconvenience of having to create intermediate *.MIF/MID files in MapInfo. Correspondingly, TNTview with, its powerful multiple layer and object type visualization and new sketching capability, would provide an even hotter link for the use of images in conjunction with MapInfo.
* Sketching. Sketching is described in detail in the earlier section describing new features added to V5.10 for use in TNTview. Its operation in TNTmips is exactly the same. Since this new feature was just added to TNTmips and TNTview its operation is outlined in the attached color illustration entitled Photointerpretation using the sketching tool and in the 5 page printed supplemental documentation enclosed.
Locator Window. For almost all 3 years since the View / Locator window (position window) was provided, there have been requests to show a snapshot of the total raster object within it to assist in locating particular features. This feature is now available so that if a pyramided raster object is selected a sampled view of the whole object is derived from the appropriate tier and almost instantly appears within View / Locator window. This provides an immediate overview of the total raster object being displayed and assists in selecting the desired subarea.
Miscellaneous.
A "Remove All" option has been added to the Layer menu.
An "Unhide All" option has been added to the Group menu.
New groups will now be added "above" the currently selected group instead of always on top.
The "Arbitrary" projection may be selected on the Group Controls dialog box. When this projection is used no projection conversion is performed. Any extents entered will be used against whatever projection the object in the group are georeferenced to.
When attempting to remove a group which has other groups attached to it, a warning will appear with the option to cancel the removal operation.
User-defined contrast enhancement may now be performed on all numeric types of raster objects. Previously only 8-bit raster objects could be used.
Vector labels can now be displayed using style "By Element". The reference to the style is stored with the vector label, unlike other vector elements. With TNTmips 5.0 you could not control text color/size/font for labels - you could only specify a color, font/size for all labels. Now each label can be set-up individually in the new object editor with its own style which can then be used in displays.
There is now an option to "Override Label Heights" on the Vector Object display controls. This option is useful if it is desirable to show the labels at a different size than what were originally created at.
An option has been added to save layouts as ASCII text files. This allows the layout to be duplicated and changed with any text editor.
The Enhance / Edit Colors dialog now allows quick selection from a standard set of color palettes via a menu. In addition, additional palettes can be easily added to this menu for immediate use. This allows custom color stretches and other color schemes to be created, stored, retrieved, and applied to enhance grayscale images.
The Vector Object Display Controls have been extensively redesigned to use drop-down panels. An option is now available to disable polygon filling for the entire object (this feature was available in DOS MIPS). There is also an option on this dialog to select the style object to use.
The "All Same" drawing style for vector elements may now use all styling options previously available when style "By Attribute" was used. This includes setting line width, patterns, symbols, and whether or not to fill polygons.
Binary rasters may now be selected in Examine / Raster Histograms.
The Examine / Extents dialog box now has an option to save its contents to a text file. The raster cell size or object scale is now shown in this dialog.
Options have been added to zoom to the "extents" of the currently selected layer or group.
While the mouse cursor is in the view window the + and - keys may be used to zoom in and out centered at the current cursor location.
Color Merge now allows all output types (8-, 16-, 24-bit composite) with all combinations of input raster types.
When a reference object is selected the output projection being used for georeferencing to will default to the projection selected from the reference object if no control points have yet been defined.
* All numeric raster types may now be used as input to this process. This has been asked for by many users. However the output raster is restricted to 8-bit signed integer. The default option will pyramid the new raster object being created and can use the Auto-Name selection for copying multiple rasters.
A new process is available called Create Raster. It allows the creation of a new raster object of any size which contains the default values for both null and initialized fill. New raster objects can be designated to be of any numeric data type as well as RGB or BGR. The process immediately displays the current value of all input parameters in the Create Raster window. The raster object you create will not be pyramided as it is not logical to attempt to display it as it will immediately be used in some other process whose results will be pyramided.
The older orientation icons have been removed and replaced with a standard toolbar, icons, and tooltips.
The subportion of this process used to create new rasters objects has been separated into another process called Create Raster as described above. As a result the majority of the user interface in the Copy Raster process was redesigned to simplify it, group operations that belonged together, and improve understanding of its operations. The clip window tool now only requires one push button to save the selected area for copying. In the past, the multiple buttons were a source of misunderstanding for many. The default option will now pyramid the new raster object(s) being created and can use the Auto-Name selection for copying multiple rasters.
The Auto-Name selection is available for to assist in selecting the collection of input raster objects for processing.
Logical "OR" and "AND" operations have added. These are very useful when designing, creating, and manipulating masks for application during other processes.
The Modified Normalized Difference function has been modified to accept 3 new input parameters. These parameters are the minimum Euclidean distance, path radiance for band A, and the path radiance for band B.
The scale and offset operations have been combined into one step.
The default option will now pyramid the raster object(s) being created and can use the Auto-Name selection to assist in selecting multiple raster objects to copy.
This new process can select, read, edit, and apply a text array file (*.ARR) containing linear interobject coefficients computed elsewhere by the Principal Components, Multiple-Linear Regression, and Progressive Transform processes for the same or a similar collection of raster objects. It provides for the quick selection and preparation of these linear combinations of raster objects whose linear interobject coefficients are already available.
The linear coefficients now saved by the three different transforms into this array file can be modified in three ways before application to the original raster objects or new, similar, but different collection of raster objects. 1) A program can be used to alter the array file. 2) A text editor can be used on the array file. 3) This new process allows the coefficients in the selected array file to be viewed in matrix form, edited, and then applied.
The user can select any output data type for the new linearly combined raster objects created by this process independent of the data type of the input raster object. The data type of the new raster objects being created will automatically be scaled to the data type specified. For example, each of the input raster objects being combined might by 1-byte integer but the combined new raster objects can be created as 32-bit real numbers.
Since this a brand new feature just added to TNTmips, its operation is outlined in draft form in the 7 page printed supplemental documentation enclosed.
The default option will pyramid the raster object(s) being created and can apply the Auto-Name selection to assist in selecting the multiple raster objects for processing.
This process has been altered to save its interobject coefficients along with input and output object names in a text array file (*.ARR) for use in the new process outlined above for preparing Linear Combinations. As a result it is no longer necessary to create SML scripts to apply the coefficients created by Principal Components to other sets of rasters objects. This evolution illustrates how SML is useful in TNTmips. Often it is used to create very specialized processes. However, it is also used to breadboard potentially useful features which are subsequently added as standard features.
The default option will now pyramid the raster object(s) being created and the Auto-Name selection is available to assist in selecting multiple raster objects for processing.
This process has been altered to save its interobject coefficients along with input and output object names in a text array file (*.ARR) for use in the new process outlined above for preparing Linear Combinations. As a result it is no longer necessary to create SML scripts to apply the coefficients created by Multi-Linear Regressions to different sets of rasters objects.
The Auto-Name selection has been added to assist in selecting multiple raster objects for processing.
This process has been altered to save its interobject coefficients along with input and output object names in a text array file (*.ARR) for use in the new process outlined above for preparing Linear Combinations. As a result it is no longer necessary to create SML scripts to apply the coefficients created by Progressive Transform to different sets of rasters objects.
The Auto-Name selection has been added to assist in selecting multiple raster objects for processing.
* Hough Line Transform. (experimental process)
A new Hough Line Transform is available strictly for the experimentalist. There are Hough Transforms defined for circles and other shapes. At present there is not inverse or other application provided for this transform. In V5.10 it can only be used at present as a means of inspecting the transform matrix for the patterns it creates related to the linear features in the input raster. Applications for this Hough Transform might eventually include line location and enhancement (such as in fault lines), connecting lines (such as dashed lines), the location of lines bounding shapes (edge finding), and so on. MicroImages would appreciate input from clients who have knowledge of written materials on the practical application of this transform. Further work on this process is of low priority unless client interest, feedback, and ideas are available.
V5.10 of the Hough Transform accepts a single raster object as input and outputs a new raster object containing the transform of theta and rho in columns and rows respectively. Theta is an angle of edges in the input raster object and rho is the distance to them from a corner of the input raster object. The theta and rho parameters describe the slopes for all significant lines in the input raster object. The output raster created by the Hough transform is unique to the input and with effort can be used to identify objects.
This Hough Transform raster object can then be viewed as a grayscale image. It contain the theta and rho angular properties of the input raster object as follows. The 181 columns in the raster are the theta (angle of line) values which vary from zero degrees in column 91 to - and + 180 degrees in columns 0 and 181 respectively. The 255 lines in the raster are the rho (distance to line) values which are scaled from zero to maximum to fit into rows 0 to 255 respectively. The raster contains cells of 16-bit integers whose value is equal to the number of "hits" or times that the Hough Transform finds that particular theta and rho combination in the input raster.
To operate the Transform, upper and lower threshold values are applied to the input raster. All the possible combinations of cells which remain after the threshold are then paired to form lines and their theta and rho properties computed and tabulated for frequency of occurrence into the Hough Transform raster object. Remember that spatial filters such as the Gradient filter can be used to sharpen up edges in the input raster object.
The "inverse" of this Hough Transform would not be a new and revised image with new properties (as in an Inverse Fourier Transform). It would more likely be some form of overlay over the original input raster or as one of the tools in other processes which extract features from a raster objects (e.g. to guide dash jumping in smart line following, raster to vector conversion, linear feature extraction as in fault maps and rosettes, and so on).
A conceptional use of the Transform might be as follows. Apply a significant threshold to the Transform Raster called A to eliminate most cells with low values giving raster object B (i.e. very few if any line segments plotted at those particular theta and rho values). Only a few positions in the theta / rho space will remain with non-zero values in B. Reprocess the input raster object exactly as before but for each theta and rho check the previously computed B transform raster object. If a non-zero value exists in B for that recomputed theta and rho, then plot a line back into the original input raster. This line plotted could be the current segment or go completely across the input raster object. Color code the line as follows: red equals highest range of non-zero, 16-bit values in B, yellow is the medium range values, and green the lowest range of non zero values. Now display the modified input raster in grayscale with color lines imbedded (call it the inverse raster) and see if new linear features and trends can be detected.
A few pages of the book William K. Pratt, Digital Image Processing,
1991, 2nd edition, Wiley and Sons are included with V5.10 to better
describe the concepts of the Hough Line Transform. Please note that this book
has been cited in previous MicroImages MEMOs and is an excellent current, modern
reference for every client interested in image processing.
SML.
The following functions have been added to the Spatial Manipulation Language.
DeleteSubobjects()
DeleteGeoref()
DeletePyramid()
DeleteHistogram()
DeleteContrast()
Each of these functions takes a raster or vector variable and deletes the subobjects under it.
FocalMedian()
FocalMode()
These functions work the same as all the other focal functions (see documentation) but return the median or mode of the area. [A focal function computes some statistic on an MxN (user specified) area of a raster at a given location].
Export to TIFF file (*.TIF) now has an option to creates ESRI's unique georeference world file (*.TFW).
The multiple file selection feature has now been added to the import of ESRI's *.BIL/BIP formats. It requires that the raster data type and the *.BIL/BIP file have matching extensions.
The old icons have been replaced by the new more intuitive tool bar, color icons, and tooltips.
A new, illustrated reference on the use of morphology tools and image process in general is available: Digital Image Processing - Principles and Applications, Gregory A. Baxes, 1994, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 452 pages. Chapter 5 pages 123 to 178 deals with morphology and related topics.
The default option will now pyramid the raster object being created.
The interface which allows you to quickly test any filter before applying it to a complete raster has been restored. A set of tools are also available to limit the extents of filtering via a clip window. Clipping can be done via a polygon or a rectangle. Thus any area of a grayscale raster object (for example a face) can be outlined by a polygon and filtered in place.
* DEM/Ortho.
The complete rewrite of all three steps in this process has been completed. The software engineer will now continue on part time to add enhancements. He is also available to immediately address the defects and shortcoming which might appear in these processes as you use them. You will no longer be put off with the explanation that these processes are being rewritten and that defects are hard to repair.
The original three separate steps are still represented by individual processes: 1) computing new epipolar images from the known image geometry, 2) producing a relative DEM by image cross-correlation, and 3) computing a restitution of the original image via the DEM to produce an orthophoto or orthoimage (from SPOT) . It is likely that the three processes will be integrated into a single process for V5.20. This will provide more efficiency in combining code and for allowing more than one step to be set up for execution in a single run.
Unfortunately these new, complex processes were completed and tested at the very last minute so that no documentation of any kind is available. The on-line manual section for these processes will be revised first and will be available sometime during August. It is likely that the original application note will be revised during this quarter.
The airphotos used to test these new processes were scans of historical, low-quality black and white airphoto prints (not transparencies) of a hilly, non-descript South American landscape covered with brush (not trees or other more distinct items). These airphotos and the inaccurate control provided with them represent about the worst conditions under which these processes might be applied. However, the new processes provided an acceptable DEM and orthoimage. Better transparent images and scanning and more accurate control will only serve to improve the expected results.
Relative Orientation (step 1 via Prepare / Raster / Stereoscopic Modeling / Stereo to DEM).
The new step 1) or epipolar geometry solution was discussed in detail in the MEMO for V5.00 and will not be repeated here.
DEM Extraction (step 2 via Prepare / Raster / Stereoscopic Modeling / DEM Extraction).
The new DEM (Digital Elevation Model) extraction process is the area-based image matching program what uses the left and right epipolar images produced in step 1. It creates a 8, 16, 32, or 64-bit DEM raster object which is georeferenced.
This process uses a multi-resolution (nested cells) image matching scheme with some heuristics that speed up image cross-correlation calculations. It has been specially designed to produce good results even with low-quality input images. Thus it contains special algorithms for noise suppression and elevation prediction in areas with weak or no cross-correlation between left and right images. The preliminary testing of this process on black and white airphotos of low quality produced reasonable correlation and elevation results in subareas where the human eye is unable to find any corresponding image match points.
The DEM extraction process can perform matching on different regular grids (sampling rates of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16) with different correlation windows (7x7, 9x9, 11x11, 13x13, 17x17, and 21x21). The time to complete this process is directly related by these options. The coarse sampling grid of 16 by 16 is reasonable for preliminary testing - it yields a good estimation of the DEM in a very short time relative to the time required for the 2 by 2 or 4 by 4 sampling options. The new DEM process also has some addtional control parameters relative to the V5.00 process which it replaces.
This process now incorporates a surface smoothing algorithm (using orthogonal polynomials) that runs over the resulting DEM to produce a locally smooth surface with reducing random surface noise. There are several smoothing levels available for selection depending upon the quality of the input images and the desired surface smoothness. This smoothing process doesn't blur the output DEM even when "heavy" smoothing levels are applied, but it has a large impact on high frequency noise and elevation artifacts (e.g., it may smooth out trees, small building, and other real local surface surface features.
The image matching algorithm in this new process applies a widely used cross-correlation technique enhanced with some heuristics that help minimize calculations. These use 4 control parameters: Minimum Cross Correlation, Minimum Difference, Reliable Point Correlation, and Minimum Texture Value. The process sets reasonable default estimates for all 4 parameters based on statistyical information extracted around the available tie points locations. Thus the impact of the tie point selection on this process is something like providing a training set for other types of raster classifications. All four parameters can also be changed, based upon past experience and results to "tune" this process for special images. The two most important parameters are: 1) Minimum Cross Correlation which defines the minimal acceptable cross-correlation level based upon the statistical distribution of the cross-correlation coefficients for all the tie points and 2) Reliable Point Correlation which defines a special subset of "reliable" or bench mark correlation points found automatically within the image by the process. This collection of bench mark points will have a large impact on the final surface quality in areas with weak correlation. The Reliable Point Correlation coefficient is always greater than the Minimum Cross Correlation coefficient and may significantly impact the speed of the process. The Minimum Texture Value assists in eliminating areas with low texture from the correlation process and has a physical meaning as the mean difference between adjusted pixels within the correlation window multiplied by 2.