Release of V5.50 TNT products

Processes and Features

Promotional Flyers

Free Precision Farming Software (2 pages)

Free Archaeological GIS and Image Analysis Software

TNTatlas Sample mailer (2 pages)

EASI Database Source

The Interface for Creating Regions from EASI Data

EASI Database files in TNTmips and TNTlite (2 pages)

Using EASI Database Files in TNTmips and TNTlite

Release of V5.50 TNT products

MicroImages is pleased to distribute V5.50 of the TNT products and the 40th "quarterly" release of the Map and Image Processing System (TNTmips). Well, it's not really a quarterly release since a full quarter has now been lost over the last few quarterly cycles. Maybe V5.50 can be thought of as slightly early for the normal December release date? This has been the most difficult release ever produced by MicroImages. The last straw in this long quarter's chain of excuses is that the JVC duplication plant is now giving three week CD reproduction service instead of the three day service provided three years ago. But, when a quarter is skipped, the clients gain in the long run.

All these gains result because the software engineers cannot go on to new topics, so they embellish those being released while waiting. The scientific writers keep writing and creating illustrations for the current release. The graphic specialists complete more planned projects, and so on. As a result, I keep personally expanding this MEMO and related MEMOs to try and keep up with all the changes and additions.

All of this is caused by some specific sequence of problems somewhere in the cycle where forward motion is effectively lost for a month or more. It is a good thing that the decision was made many months ago to move the Advanced Users' Workshop away from its traditional frozen January dates! Anyway, here it is, and MicroImages knows you will like what you are finally getting in this upgrade and in future upgrades during the coming year. So, it's a Happy New Year's version from all of us to all of you.

The client base for the TNT products has expanded broadly over the past few months via the distribution of TNTlite. With everyone's effort, about 5000 of the V5.30 and V5.40 CDs have been distributed. Every day there are also dozens of downloads and attempted downloads from www.microimages.com. Most of these are outside the United States, so it is fair to assume that professionals around the world are now becoming well-wired into the Internet.

Dozens of university programs around the world have indicated that they are, or soon will, teach geospatial analysis with TNTlite. A few of their incoming comments are included at the end of this MEMO in the Testimonials section.

Internet Download Statistics. The TNTlite downloads from www.microimages.com result in 20 to 40 Windows product downloads for each UNIX workstation download. The PMac and Mac downloads are the second most popular and are about five times greater than UNIX.

Registration Statistics. Formal registrations of TNTlite provide additional insight where six of every seven registrants are professionals and the remaining one in seven is a student. Perhaps students are not yet being directly reached. However, it seems that students do not plan ahead and take the action to register.

The following is the breakdown of registrants by operating system used: W95 is 8 in 14; W31 is 2 in 14; PMac and Mac are 2 in 14; NT is 1 in 14; and all UNIX based workstations total 1 in 14. Of note is that many of the W31 systems registered are on PC 486 computers with 8 megabytes of memory. It would be impossible to use ArcView, ARC/INFO, MapInfo, ... on these computers.

Downloading. Improved procedures have been established at MicroImages' web site for those newcomers who will be directly downloading and installing the FREE TNTlite 5.5 during this quarter. For those with fast modem communications (28.8 KB), a piece-by-piece downloading is now provided, as modem-oriented phone communications are occasionally interrupted. Under these circumstances, the probability of completing the download of a file is inversely related to its size.

The improved approach for this quarter downloads the TNT systems in component pieces. If interruptions occur, access can be reinitiated and downloading resumed to obtain the missing pieces. A more advanced installation process is also downloaded as the first step. It will assemble the required pieces on the local system and identify any missing pieces based upon a reference file.

Some parties already using the piece-by-piece download for the Windows platforms then try to unzip the components directly. Next they contact MicroImages because the installation program will not work with the unzipped files, or they do not have the proper unzip process. However, the instructions on the TNTlite web page are to download the components, and then use the install program to properly unzip and setup the TNTlite system. As a result, all the components now downloaded for V5.50 for the Windows platforms cannot be unzipped except by the corresponding installation process. Attempting to incorrectly unzip the TNT components individually will now produce a message outlining the correct procedure.

TNTtalk. This list server has been discontinued for a number of reasons. It will not be reinstated until such a time that it can be managed as a moderated list server. It was originally established as a means of assisting users of TNTlite in communicating with each other. Since it is no longer available, MicroImages has decided that for the time being, both voice and email support (no FAXes please) are available to users of TNTlite.

Each remote user of a single, but multi-user licensed TNT product can now have their own private reference file (*.INI) containing their access privileges and preferences for their TNT activities. For example, personal defaults for the operation of a TNT product will be stored in a local preferences file when a remote PC or Mac is being used as an X-terminal to operate a TNT product over a network.

Metadata can now be created, edited, and stored in any language as a subobject for each geospatial object in a Project File.

The user interface for the Spatial Data Visualization process (formerly 2-D Display) has been streamlined. The geospatial object selection window has been simplified for newcomers by the use of dropdown panels. An automatic redraw mode has been added as the default. Tab panels and popdown icon menus have been introduced in several processes. All object types can now be shown within the small Locator window (previously only raster objects). The last element sketched can be deleted in the CAD sketch tool.

The display process has been expanded. Areas can now be selected in vector objects using a new Region-of-Interest tool. This adds a powerful, interactive geospatial (GIS) analysis tool directly into this process for use in TNTmips and TNTview. The "pan-by-query" process previously available only in the Object Edit process is now available in the display process. Database forms can now be prepared and applied. The styles of the labels for vector elements can be created and edited by element. Theme maps can be created for a limited range of the selected field (i.e. a minimum and maximum value can be specified).

The 3-D Perspective Visualization process (formerly 3-D Display) has been completely rewritten. It now employs the standard TNT product user interface design. Groups, layouts, and other structural controls are provided. Creation of stereo views from direct combination of image and elevation raster objects is available for all viewing devices supported. Variations in the extent, map projections, scales, color schemas, side-to-side mosaics, and other related geospatial variations in raster objects are automatically reconciled just as in the regular display process. Multiple raster object layers can be draped over the surface and combined or separated into a vertical stack.

A new color pattern recognition procedure is introduced to automatically convert the color polygons in scans of maps into vector polygons.

New fields can now be interactively added to any database table. Fields can be interactively deleted from any database table. Computed fields can be converted to real fields and inserted into the database table.

Support for "Enterprise Databases" is now available. This has been accomplished by adding support to all the TNT products for the Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) standard. This first release allows the direct use (without import) of tables created and maintained within Microsoft Access and many other W95 and NT database systems as attributes and database objects in the TNT products. Since Microsoft Excel also has an ODBC driver, its spreadsheets can also be similarly employed.

Whenever any process validates the topology of a vector object, it will now automatically rebuild the standard attribute tables for that object.

A vector object created in the Grid process now automatically has a table attached to be used to gather the properties of the "grid" polygons it contains.

A new automatic map tracing process has been added. It is designed to reduce multiple grayscale or binary raster objects to corresponding vector objects in a batch fashion with minimum user input.

The Vector Extract process can now display reference layers. These raster or vector reference layers assist in the selection of the individual elements to be extracted.

Area selection procedures are commonly used in the Object Editor (e.g. select by circle, rectangle, query, the new Region of Interest, ...). All these area selection tools can now be set to select line or polygon elements with the following logic: completely inside, partially inside, completely outside, or partially outside.

A powerful new, interactive geospatial analysis procedure has been integrated into the display (therefore also in TNTview) and edit processes for the creation, selection, and use of a complex Region-of-Interest (ROI). This ROI can be thought of as a mask made up of multiple polygons which are scale and projection independent. It can be interactively defined in one vector layer (by polygons selected by area, query, type, sketched, ...). It can then be immediately applied to another vector layer in the same process or saved as a new region object for application in a different process. When applied, it functions just like any other area selection tool (e.g. circle, rectangle, drawn polygon, ...) to interactively select vector elements. The elements it selects can in turn be used just as if selected by any previously existing selection process to expose a table of attributes for the selected area, create another ROI, for editing, to create a new vector object, and so on.

The procedures available for surface fitting and contouring scattered in various processes are now integrated into a new process called Surface Modeling. It provides a single comprehensive framework with a new user interface and expanded features for the creation of surfaces from vector objects, contouring raster objects, elevation to TIN conversion, and similar activities.

Fifteen new spatial filters have been added in functional groups as follows--enhancement filters: Volterra\unsharp, local contrast, LUM, CS, and WMMR-MED; noise reduction filters: Olympic, Multi-Level Median, P-median, and Adaptive Mean P-median; RADAR filters: Sigma, Frost, Lee, and Kuan; and texture filters: Teager and Range.

A separate new Wallis filter process has been added. This is a local contrast enhancement filter which brings out considerable detail in the too bright or too dark areas of grayscale images.

GeoTIFF files can now be imported and exported. VPF files (Digital Chart of the World) can now be imported on most UNIX based platforms. The latest changes by ESRI in the coverage file format have been compensated for to allow their successful import.

A new procedure is available to compute a table of surface properties (area, perimeter, volume, ...) from an elevation raster object for the selected, or for all line and polygon elements in an overlapping vector object.

The quality of snapshot color printing has been improved by the support of the 24-bit color option in Windows' printer drivers. The P3 and P5 printer option categories are now free. Thus the full range of features of the color Map and Poster Layout process is now provided in all TNT products (including TNTlite and TNTatlas) without cost for up to 8.5 by 11" printers (some expensive printers are excluded).

The Navigator window in the HyperIndex process (TNTatlas) has been reduced and streamlined for lateral movements and now uses ToolTips to identify adjacent and vertical objects.

A new Prototype3 of the San Francisco TNTatlas is now available. This atlas is now completely usable on Mac platforms. It incorporates all the changes in the related TNT products including color printing.

V5.5 of the TNT products is now available on the "B" CD for the IBM PowerPC-processor based workstations and their AIX V4.10 of UNIX . To make room on the CD for this version, the version of the TNT products for the older IBM PowerRISC 6000 processor based workstations and AIX V3.x are not included. Any clients who can use V5.50 for this older platform and AIX should contact MicroImages via software support to get a copy on CD.

Since the CD duplication process is now slow, additional features have been added to some processes since V5.50 and are available for downloading or on request from the software support team. These are documented in special subsections by process in the New TNTmips Application Features section of this MEMO.

Work will continue "full time" on the new 3-D Perspective Visualization process. While the basic features and fundamental changes are complete, there are still many new features planned. For example, new fly-by and drive-by capabilities will be added which will operate in perspective and/or stereo and construct these views with any and all layers selected. Current efforts are focused on achieving significant increase in the speed of rendering (draping) of the overlaying raster object.

A major restructuring of SML is being undertaken with the objective of providing an "object" approach which will expand the "raster algebra" approach used in SML for the past five years. This older SML structure must be upgraded as clients are requesting the ability to use more aspects of vector, CAD, TIN, and database objects and associated functions in scripts (e.g. buffer zones, polygon fitting, TIN formation, ...). It is anticipated that previously created scripts will continue to function, but many more functions will be provided to create general GIS oriented scripts, rather than being restricted to the currently available image analysis oriented functionality. The new SML will be several times more powerful than in V5.50.

Another goal in modifying SML will be to let an existing script be selected and executed anywhere a layer can be selected. For example, a script can be selected as a raster layer in the display process. This script will then be executed and its resulting image displayed just as if it had been stored in a raster object.

A long list of new feature requests have accumulated for several TNT processes. Those on the list for the TNT object editor are now going to be selectively addressed. This extension of the editor is possible now that many clients are actively and successfully using it.

The value of the Region-of-Interest (ROI) object and concept will be expanded in both the display and edit processes adding more interactive GIS functionality into TNTmips and TNTview. This activity will focus in part upon additional ways in which a ROI can be defined from all object types, especially raster objects.

For example, you will be able to perform the following WYSIWYG interactive GIS vector analysis in the display process (therefore in TNTview):

A suite of indicator and selection tools will be created for use in stereo views. They will be incorporated first into the DEM/ortho process to allow the stereo-aided selection of tie and control points, drawing of ridge and drainage lines (break lines), and so on. These tools are also headed for the stereo view process to support the selection of object features (lines, cells, ...) while viewing in stereo. Ultimately, they will provide the basis for a stereo object editor.

Increasing the ease-of-use and functionality of ODBC interface between TNTmips and Microsoft Access and Oracle and other databases will continue. This will include such things as the ability to write to (edit) records in these external databases. The more direct Database Access Object (DAO) procedure for communicating with Microsoft Access is under investigation. Development kits and drivers for ODBC for all workstations and popular enterprise databases (Oracle, Ingres, Informix, and Sybase) have been located. The first set to add support for Oracle is being ordered.

TNTmips on-line documentation and illustrations will be converted to HTML format and issued so that they can be accessed from a hard drive, from the CD, or via a network using the ubiquitous browsers provided with Netscape or Explorer.

The DEM/ortho process in TNTmips is going to get a rewrite and reorganization to support the pending stereo input methods. The concepts incorporated in this process will also be componentized or functionalized for future use in other processes such as stereo and in the SML process.

Some consideration is being given to adding LINUX support to the TNT products. LINUX is a popular public domain version of UNIX first created in Finland and widely used around the world on Pentium and Pentium Pro based systems. If the availability of the TNT products for such a platform is of interest to you, please inform MicroImages (clients and students in Finland need not respond).

The MI/X Servers for the Mac, PMac, W95, NT3.5, and NT4 are being packaged for convenient downloading on www.microimages.com together with installation instructions (see Freestuff). Anyone, even ARC/INFO clients, can use these servers on their PC for remote operation.

The 'Dead Key' is now handled in MI/X for W95 and NT. This key is used for different languages that use diacritics.

TrueType fonts are now loaded correctly in Windows NT. However, the font directories for W95 and NT are different.

The following new sample geodata sets are available on the V5.50 CDs for installation and experimental use in TNTlite. These geodata sets can also be downloaded from microimages.com.

This geodata set consists of six Project Files containing the geodata used in the tutorial text entitled ABCs of Image Analysis in TNTlite. Use these objects to repeat the exercises in this text.

This is a set of six dates of registered LANDSAT multispectral MSS images of the Berea 7.5' map quadrangle in western Nebraska. Each date is represented by four spectral bands of green, red, and two of photo infrared. The six multispectral images were all collected in the period between May and October in a single year. This area is totally agricultural and supports a diverse crop mix for Nebraska. As "ground truth" a vector object of the crops is also included which was made on the ground during the same summer as the image's acquisition. This set of images is useful for experimentation in the various automated image interpretation processes.

These Project Files are for the Blackburn neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. These objects were used to create illustrations in the manualette entitled Getting Started: Displaying Geospatial Data. Newcomers should use these objects to repeat the exercises in this manualette.

This geodata set contains vector objects of the geologic hazards of San Mateo County. Included are separate maps of geology, earthquake epicenters, liquefaction susceptibility, faults, predicted seismic intensity, LANDSAT ^{^TM}coverage, and a county boundary map. Use these objects in exercises to predict geologic hazards.

This Project File contains a wide variety of photographic and satellite images; topographic, cultural and soil maps; and other geodata for the Hayward area of the San Francisco Bay. These images are all TNTlite sized extractions from Prototype3 of the San Francisco TNTatlas. A pair of NHAP images are included in two raster objects which can be viewed in stereo.

These Project Files contain a separate vector object of the county boundaries for each state in the continental United States and a state outline. A vector object of all the state boundaries is also included as well as one containing points identifying the location of each state's capital. Use these vector objects with the EASI CD of demographic data which can be purchased for $99 (see enclosed brochure).

A single vector object provides all the county boundaries in the United States while a second contains the state boundaries. Clients using the professional TNT products can use these boundaries with the EASI CD of demographic data which can be purchased for $99 (see enclosed brochure).

This Project File contains AVHRR image coverage of North America which has been resampled from much higher resolution raster objects to fit within the 512 by 512 cell limit of TNTlite. Use these images of North America as backdrops for the USA state and county vector objects supplied in USA.RVC.

The original AVHRR red and infrared monochrome images are provided. Pseudo natural color and CIR images made from the two monochrome bands are also included. To make an approximate CIR image from the two monochrome bands, use the following color assignments in the display process: assign the AVHRR red to both the blue and green display colors, assign the AVHRR infrared to the red display color, manipulate the color contrast.

MicroImages finds it necessary to frequently remind those with Macs and PMacs to make sure to set up their computers in an optimal fashion. To do this, follow the instructions in the MicroImages MEMO dated 17 January 1996 entitled Faster Macs via V5.21, the instructions in the TNTlite installation screens, or contact MicroImages' Software Support team. Pretty much everyone by now has recognized that the current MacOS has a lot of problems. However, the MacOS versions of the TNT products can perform at parity with the PC 486, Pentium, and Pentium Pro based PCs if the Mac and PMac users will follow the instructions MicroImages has researched for the optimization of the MacOS for the use of the TNT products and all their other MacOS products.

MacOS 7.5.5 is significantly faster (35% or greater) than 7.5.3 when loading large software modules! It is also more stable!

2) When actually running a TNT product, use the extension manager to boot up with the minimum number of extensions needed.

Extensions not actually needed but loaded cost at least 10% of the MacOS performance and take memory as well.

3) "Absolutely" use RAM Doubler2 to double memory from 16 real to 32 megabytes virtual, or you probably will not be able to run the TNT products.

The earlier MicroImages MEMO and the TNTlite install screens say to use RAM Doubler and OptiMem. RAM Doubler2 replaces both these processes to not only double memory but also to free up memory from processes not currently using it. MicroImages cannot trace any errors in the use of RAM Doubler2 with TNT or any other popular products.

MicroImages cannot trace any errors in the use of the latest version of Speed Doubler with TNT or any other popular products.

If you want to run the TNT products at parity on the MacOS based platforms, then you must purchase a PMac with a comparable processor. As has been stated in many articles, the fastest 68040 based Mac ever released was barely equal to a PC 486 running at 33 MHz! Any PMac built using the PPC 601 chip was only slightly faster than the Quadra or other 68040 based Mac. If you want the TNT products to run at parity with the Pentium and Pentium Pro products, then the PMac must also be at parity and not some Mac or PMac purchased two to five years ago with 5 or 8 megabytes of real memory!

PMacs are available today at cost about at parity with the Pentium and Pentium Pro machines and have PPC processors equal to or better in performance. Also it is important to watch for the tell-tale "e" after the processor identification on the PMacs currently being sold. The 603 and 604 PPC chips (without the "e") are no longer state-of-the-art. However, they are cheap and being used as the basis for a lot of cheap and underperforming PMac machines from Apple and their cloners. Buy only machines using the latest 603e and 604e PPC chips!

Following are comparisons of the latest Motorola PPC chips used in PMacs and Intel chips used in Windows PCs. All tests used chips rated and operated at 200 MHz. These Specmark ratings evaluate the processor chips' performance in system, not the chips alone (SpecINT95 is for integer computations and SpecFP95 is for floating point operations). Clearly a new PMac has equal if not increased capability over the equivalent PC with a single user.

Loading a full installation of TNTmips 5.5 onto your hard drive (exclusive of any other products, data sets, illustrations, Word files, etc.) requires the following storage space in megabytes.

V5.50 of the illustrations for the on-line documentation requires an additional 26 megabytes. Installing all the sample geodata sets for TNTlite and TNTmips requires an additional 61 megabytes.

V5.50 of the TNT products for the DEC Ultrix, IBM PowerRISC RS/6000, and the Data General Aviion platforms is available upon special request for which a special CD will be produced.

If you did not order an upgrade of your TNT professional product, and wish to do so now, please contact MicroImages by FAX, phone, or email to arrange to purchase your quarterly upgrade to V5.50. Upon receipt of your order and processing, MicroImages will supply you with an authorization code by return FAX only. Entering this code when running the installation process allows you to complete the installation and immediately start to use TNTmips 5.50 and the other TNT professional products.

If you do not have an annual subscription to TNTmips, you can purchase V5.50 under the elective upgrade plan at the cost in the tables below. Please remember that new features have been added to TNTmips each quarter. Thus, the more quarters you are behind V5.50, the higher your upgrade cost, up to a fixed limit. Upgrades from all previous versions of MIPS and TNTmips 5.0 or earlier are the same, fixed cost shown below. As usual, there is no additional charge for the upgrade of your special peripheral support features, TNTlink, or TNTsdk which you may have added to your basic TNTmips system.

The following is a summary of the new features added to the TNT products which are now available in TNTview. Detailed descriptions of these new features can be found in the appropriate section below on TNTmips.

The navigator window has been updated. It is now smaller and simpler. The attached color plate entitled HyperIndex Navigator Update illustrates these improvements. Detailed descriptions of these new features added to TNTatlas can be found in the appropriate section below on TNTmips.

Snapshot color printing using Windows printer drivers was provided in V5.40. The quality of these color prints has been improved.

P3 and P5 printer support is now included without cost in TNTmips, TNTview, and TNTlite. Thus, complex layout and color printing at 8.5 by 11" is available via the Map and Poster Layout process in these products.

The Prototype3 of the sample San Francisco Bay Area TNTatlas is finally enclosed. New features available in this version relative to those in Prototype2 are as follows.

This sample TNTatlas is no longer free. Once the information that something is "FREE" begins to circulate on the Internet, it is impossible to sort out truly interested parties from tourists. Earlier this year, information about this FREE CD was posted on the Internet on a FREE CD list. As a result, over 300 requests from tourists were received in a two day period before the posting could be removed. Additional Prototype3 CDs can be purchased for use or distribution on the same price schedule as TNTlite kits. Prototype3 will not be included within the detailed promotional packages distributed by MicroImages to prospective clients.

Approximately 5000 TNTlite kits have been distributed. A copy of the standard V5.50 of the "A" or "B" CD will be shipped to each party who has registered their copy of the V5.40 CD. These copies will be shipped when all shipments are completed to professional clients. A sampling of the testimonial letters at the end of this MEMO indicate the kind of feedback being received.

The following is a summary of the new features added to the TNT products to improve their usability in general and for TNTlite in particular. Detailed descriptions of these new features can be found in the appropriate section on TNTmips.

The size of the documentation has expanded this quarter to a total of 2546 single spaced pages. Last minute supplemental sections which do not occur in the on-line documentation or Microsoft Word versions were created for new processes and features. These sections were completed for V5.50 after the master CDs were created for the reproduction process. These 169 additional pages are included in supplemental, printed form as follows.

* Paragraphs or main sections preceded by this symbol "*" introduce significant new processes, or features in existing processes, released for the first time in TNTmips 5.5.

> Paragraphs or main sections preceded by this symbol ">" introduce modifications in the TNT professional products which have additional, special significance to the users of the TNTlite products.

The following section (Multi-user Improvements) concerns only those TNT installations where multiple clients are locally or remotely via network sharing a TNT product. Other than the transparent alterations in the *.INI reference file structure, these changes to improve the support of multi-user installations do not affect single computer, single client installations of the TNT products.

It is now possible to use MicroImages' public domain MI/X server on any Mac, PMac, W95 or NT based microcomputer as an X terminal to connect to, and remotely use, any TNT product (or other X based product such as an ARC/INFO) operating on an NT3.51, NT4, or UNIX platform). For example, the MI/X server can be used to remotely access and operate a multi-user ARC/INFO system (ESRI does not provide an X server for this purpose). To support this, each X client on a multi-user system can now have their own private preferences file for TNT products. This file is stored in the X client machine's home directory and is available for both local and remote use.

IMPORTANT: MicroImages' clients already have all the MI/X servers on the dual set of CDs distributed each quarter for all platforms. Anyone else worldwide who wishes can use MicroImages' MI/X servers without charge. These free X servers can be installed on any Windows or Mac platform to access and control ARC/INFO and other such UNIX products. To acquire these X servers, simply contact www.microimages.com, find the "FREE STUFF" page, execute the simple download procedure available, and subsequently use the installation procedure copied to your drive.

Multi-User Setup (*.INI file redesign): The functions that read and write the INI reference files used by the TNT products have been re-written to allow storage of user default preferences like map projections, XY digitizer control points, extents, and others parameters which will be added later.

The structure of the INI files has changed to facilitate the need for separate and different user preferences on multi-user platforms like NT and UNIX. Another feature of the new INI files is that they are written in UTF8 encoding, which the TNT text editor will handle. This allows storage of UNICODE strings in an ASCII file which can be used to encode these INI files in other languages.

The files tntmips.ini, tntview.ini, and tntatlas.ini are now obsolete, but tntmips.ini is still used if these new tntproc.ini, tnthost.ini, or tntserv.ini cannot be found for backward computability. The new files are as follows.

tntproc.ini (user preference file). This "proc" (process) control file contains those parameters which describe the characteristics and preferences of an individual client with access to a TNT product. The bulk of V5.40 TNTmips.ini has been moved into this new TNTproc.ini file except for those items transferred into two new files as described below. The TNTproc.ini file goes into the home directory of each client on their home platform.

tnthost.ini (platform settings file). This "host" control file will be placed into the same directory with the TNT executables and contains those parameters which define the total TNT system characteristics and preferences set in common for all clients. Anything that needs to be set only once, is platform specific, and deals with platform resource administration will go in this file. It contains the [KEY], [RVC], and [DIGITIZERS] system parameter definition groups. It also has three fields from the [Files] group: 'TNTpath', 'FontPath', and 'TempFile'. It is recommended that this file be set to be read-only for all clients by the system administrator. Under this read-only condition, any input position in TNTmips where these parameters could be changed will be grayed out, but their current settings will still be shown.

tntserv.ini (MI/X preferences file). This "serv" (X server) control file contains the parameters which record the individual client's personal characteristic and preferences on the look and feel of MI/X. It is now separated from the individual's TNT preferences as the MI/X server may be installed for use with some other UNIX software such as ARC/INFO. Most of the [XSERVER] group of parameters are in this file as well as 'WManRCFile' from the [Files] section. This file can either be placed with the executables or as a user preference in their home directory. Only this file is needed on the local machine to define the local MI/X server's parameters when it is used with other X software such as ARC/INFO.

These INI files can also be relocated in a variety of places. For example, the local client will set up the local machine and its home directory to suit themselves. MI/X and TNT will search for these files in the following order:

on the server side, tnthost goes in the directory with the executables, and tntproc.ini should be in the home directory if available.

Metadata. There is now a "Metadata..." button on the various file/object selection dialogs in the TNT products. Metadata is "data about the dataset" and geospatial data in particular to assist anyone who may acquire and attempt to use that geodata set. It can contain a wide variety of information in any text format, language, and alphabet (including 2-byte languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean ...). For example, the Metadata could describe all the steps taken in the creation of the geodata and be as formal as a log file; all positional accuracy information even relating back to field or GPS surveys; and any other kind of descriptive materials added to this file as its subsequent users modify and edit it.

Metadata files usually accompany the primary geodata file(s) as a separate descriptive file(s). There are currently no widely accepted standards or conventions as to the names or extensions of Metadata file(s), what they should contain, and how that material should be formatted. A U.S. Government committee has attempted to describe how these should be handled, but the result is still vague and not widely adopted by commercial systems. But, the Metadata idea is still useful and needed.

Most commercial geodata based systems which provide for creating Metadata keep it in a separate file. By experience, their clients learn that it is easy to delete or mislay that file along the way. For example, a subsequent user fails to "download" the Metadata file, and then several users later, its very existence is unknown. MicroImages has always promoted the idea of a Project File container into which materials are assembled and managed--as contrasted to a loose assembly of possibly related files or geodata coverages.

One Metadata subobject can now be created for each of the primary geodata objects in a Project File (raster, vector, CAD, and TIN). Each of these geodata objects has always had a short name and long descriptive title. Now each can have an imbedded metadata text description containing anything desired.

TNT Metadata for any geodata object can be created and altered by a new Metadata editor. This editor can be accessed from any file/object selection dialog via the new "Metadata..." button. This button allows viewing and editing of the metadata subobject for the selected object. It uses the TNT standard multilingual text editor already familiar from its many other uses in the TNT products.

Metadata can also be created by any other means (e.g. externally), transferred into a TNT text object, and then inserted into a new or existing Metadata subobject using the Metadata editor. Future versions of the TNT products may have the ability to generate a Metadata template based on the U.S. Government Metadata standard (SDST) depending upon the international acceptance and use of this kind of information and format.

Easy Unlock. Automatic locking of RVC files can be a nuisance for those with old, low performance desk top PCs. But, many new, modern Windows based PCs and workstations are now commonly used to run multiple versions of TNTmips or multiple processes. These platforms are also more commonly part of a shared, network operation where multiple users make Project File locking absolutely imperative. Those clients operating in this power-tool fashion clearly understand the need for such access locking. For further information on how this works, the V5.50 Grapevine MEMO presents a technical exchange between ARC/INFO users on the topic. In this exchange, they discuss in detail the difficulties and loss of coverages which can occur since access locking is not automatically provided in ARC/INFO. This inherent design flaw in ARC/INFO is also the basis for several of the "Thou Shalt Not ..." commandments presented in the special V5.50 MEMO entitled The Commandments of ARC/INFO Users.

Okay, so by now most clients are beginning to accept the need for such a lock/unlock control scheme in the multiprocessing environment of today. But, that still doesn't make it any less of a nuisance in a single user, single processor approach limited by the use of old Windows 3.1 or on a single non-networked Mac or PC. There is also the situation where a lock is left behind when any process is killed, such as by user action or interruption (e.g. by shutting off the machine, some other non-TNT process hanging the machine, and ...), or by the failure of a TNT operation.

V5.40 and earlier required that the manual unlock be accomplished by opening another process: Project File Maintenance, and then executing several other steps. This was inconvenient, especially for a newcomer who had not yet had this unpleasant experience. V5.50 provides a direct method to unlock any locked RVC file wherever it is selected. Now if a locked file/object is encountered, the Message window will automatically appear if the preference is set for it to do so (Support/Preferences, "Show Unlock in Locked File" button toggled on). It provides information with regard to what process locked the file, what machine, when it was locked, and the serial number of the TNT product which locked it. Based upon this information, a decision can be made to unlock the file using the Unlock button provided for this purpose.

If the Unlock button is presented and used, this unlock operation will have to be confirmed a further time by a Yes or No choice in a Verify window which is automatically presented. Be careful using the unlock choice in the Message window, as the lock may be due to the file being in use and about to be altered by someone else or some other local process. Under these circumstances, an unlock action and the subsequent attempt at shared use can be fatal to the integrity of that Project File! On a single user system, the information provided in the Message window can be used to make a determination as to how and where the lock was set. The time of lock, process which set the lock, and the other information displayed provide the basis for determining if the lock is legitimate and placed by some active process or simply an artifact of some previous incorrectly exited activity.

This "easy out" unlock option has required that additional system administration options be provided for the TNT systems with multiple clients. These systems' managers can determine if individual clients have the privilege of unlocking any locked Project Files. If the file is read-only, the unlock button will never occur for any client. If the file can be opened for writing, but an individual client does not have permission to write to, or delete the locked file, then the 'unlock' button is grayed out for that specific client. This preference value is stored in TNThost.ini. See the structure in this INI file for more information. This is one example of the use of the new INI reference file structure explained above. It allows control of individual user's rights and privileges where needed but is transparent on a private client system.

* Tab Panels. A new kind of user interface gadget called tab panels has been introduced. Various forms of these panels are in wide use in W31, W95, and NT products. For example, tab panels are used in Microsoft Word to present many parallel optional dialogs (e.g. see Options or Macro on Word menus). Tab panels function just like tabs on files in a file cabinet. They present all the files in the drawer one at a time for independent selection of their contents. Tab panels present and manage a selection of independent, parallel dialog and other user interface components. Their use reduces the clutter and delays of opening and moving around a number of dialog boxes to get to those providing the inputs for a particular subsection of a process.

Tab panels are being introduced in TNTmips in the Polygon Fitting, Color Binarization, Raster Spatial Filtering, and the new Surface Modeling processes. They are also used in the TNT Object Editor process in the new subsection dealing with Region of Interest generation. In these places, they appear as a rectangular panel in a dialog box that has an upper layer of one to five tabs. Each tab is connected with a different dialog panel. Only the one panel with the active tab is visible. The left mouse button can be used to select another tab and bring its contents and options forward into the active panel.

Miscellaneous. Anywhere you can specify the format for the database field containing latitude or longitude, you can now use the format DDDMMSSss. This format represents integer degrees appended with integer minutes appended with integer seconds carried out to two decimal points. For example, if the field contains 359595999 this will be translated as 359 degrees, 59 minutes, and 59.99 seconds.

The DDDdddddd format has also been added. This DDDdddddd format is how the latitude and longitude fields occur in every record in the EASI Database CD (see enclosed advertisement for its availability). This new format will allow direct attachment, pin mapping, and other TNT uses of the extensive U.S. demographic data on this CD. DDDdddddd represents degrees carried out to six decimal places. For example, if the field contains 359999999 it will be translated to 359.999999 degrees.

The Line/Polygon graphic tool now defaults to the last drawing mode used (draw or stretch mode).

Powerful Element Selection dialog is a system feature common to both the Display and Object Editor processes. The following features have been added or altered in this dialog. Additional details on the new features in this dialog can be found in the supplemental documentation section enclosed entitled: The Examine Attributes Interface.

Popdown Icon Menus. More and more icons were needed in long horizontal lines in this dialog. This required that the dialog box increase in width, thus taking up more screen space and becoming too large for the 640 by 480 pixel portables. As a result, another new type of TNT interface component called a "popdown icon menu" has been added.

A popdown icon menu is exactly what the name implies, a menu or list which pops down from an icon when it is selected. Push the Select All/Deselect All icon in the horizontal line of icons in the detailed Element Selection dialog in the Display process and immediately see a menu appear. Select one of these menu choices with the left mouse button to perform its action.

They've Moved. The 'Deselect All ', 'Invert Selected ' icons and the push button 'Deselect All Elements' for vector and TIN have been placed under the Select All/Deselect All icon. This popdown menu will appear to present these options when this new icon is selected.

The 'Make Form...' operation is in the popdown menu under the 'Make Table' icon.

Selection of elements via a database query was available in the Object Editor, but now is also in the "Element Selection" dialog. This feature, along with the Previous/Next button features described below, add into the Display process the "Pan By Query" feature previously only available in the Object Editor.

The Previous and Next icons previously in the 'Active Element Information' section have been moved to the element type row.

* Pan by Query. The Previous and Next icons operate on the set of selected elements of a specific element type and layer. In V5.40 they were in the 'Active Element Information' section and have been moved to each element type row in V5.50. Use these icons to switch which element type (line, point, polygon, or ...) is active in each layer. When the end or beginning of the selected set is reached, a dialog box will open with a notice to this effect. If the view is zoomed in, pressing a Previous or Next icon will pan the display over at that same zoom to that element which is active. This, along with the "canned" query selection feature, reintroduces into display the very powerful "Pan By Query" capability previously available only in DOS MIPS.

Database Forms. This feature was introduced in TNTmips 5.2. It is being reintroduced in V5.50 as part of the table functions available in the "Element Selection" dialog. In this new manifestation via the icon in the dialog, a database form can be viewed, created, renamed, or deleted. The rename and delete functions are accessed by pressing the left mouse button with the cursor positioned on the line that the form is on. The button to make a form has been combined into the 'make table' popdown icon menu (see section above on popdown icon menus).

Region-of-Interest (ROI). Selecting elements via a Region-of-Interest is now available for vector, CAD and TIN geodata objects. Please see the section below for detailed information on Region-of-Interest.

Inside or Outside? The area selection tools now provide the ability to test whether the element is inside or outside the area and whether or not the element is completely or partially inside or outside the area. This area of interest test applies to testing areas defined by Regions-of-Interest as well.

This process has been renamed "Display/Spatial Data..." to adjust for the incorporation of the new 3-D perspective and other planned features. The old 3-D process available in V5.40 and earlier has now been replaced by a new stand alone version of the 3-D perspective procedure incorporated into the Spatial Data Display process.

It has always been MicroImages' goal to continually simplify how the TNT products and processes are first used and make this start-up as intuitive as possible. Carefully crafted interfaces can be simple to start to use while allowing progressively more complex applications to be undertaken when and if desired. Beginning clients have occasionally had a problem understanding where to start in the Display Control window. It is not always intuitive to make the first choice (layers) from the middle of a window. However, since considerable money had been invested, professional clients quickly figure it out on their own, check the manual, or occasionally contact MicroImages.

Now feedback from some of the more than 5000 who have obtained TNTlite has resulted in improvements for all beginners. From these potential "students of geospatial analysis" we have learned that they are not as tolerant as professionals. Their TNTlite was free or nominally free. As a result, some gave up easily if they could not quickly get an "image" of some kind up on the screen. They had nothing invested which had to be justified by "working at it" more than a few minutes. Quickly creating their first view is a benchmark which helps keep them interested.

Powerful and similar display procedures are provided in all TNT products and most processes. Improving them by making them simpler to use benefits everyone. Rearranging the Layer Control window and providing for automatic layer display have been added as part of the continuing efforts toward this objective. A color plate entitled A New Look for Spatial Data Display is attached to illustrate this change. The changes are also described in more detail below and in the enclosed new manualette entitled Getting Started in Displaying Geospatial Data.

It is also becoming clear from the wide public acceptance of Windows 95 and MacOS, that the DOS or other similar cryptic drive hierarchy structures and navigation methods may no longer be widely understood. Thus a newcomer to the TNT products no longer understands this DOS kind of hierarchical approach from the use of other commercial windows products. These older file access concepts are still used in the TNT products in the selection of directories, Project Files, objects, and subobjects. Thus, another future challenge for MicroImages is an improved interface to allow easier, graphical location and selection of project files and objects.

Simplified Display Control Window. The Display Control window has been redesigned to provide a simpler and more intuitive appearance and operation. Since the "Group" and "View" panels are used less, the "Layer" panel has been moved to the top. The default order from top to bottom for these panels is now layer-group-view. This places the Quick-Add layer icon in the upper left corner of this window where it is the most easily located. Also, the default exposure of this window only shows the layer icons bar and panel. The group and view panels are now closed but can be toggled open using buttons at the bottom of the layer panel. The group and view panels will also open automatically if a group or view is created by a subsequent activity. These alterations present a simpler and smaller Display Control window for initial and simple construction of a view.

The above is the new default condition for this window and can be changed using the new View Options dialog box accessed by the "Options" item on the View menu in the Display Control window. The panels will be open or closed as left from the last use. The order of the panels can be changed to view-group-layer as in V5.40. The scrolled lists which appear in each panel will now automatically increase in size as more layers, groups, and views are added to them. This makes working with complicated layouts involving many groups and layers easier while keeping the window small until additional entries are required. The maximum number of visible lines of information in these panels is also setable. Use this option so that the total height of the Layer Control window can be forced to stay in the vertical reach of a 640 by 480 pixel portable's screen or expanded for a larger display device.

Instant Layers. The current view will be automatically updated when layers or groups are added, removed, or changed. Locating and selecting the redraw button is no longer required in the new default mode. This change is in response to numerous questions from TNTlite students about how to get the objects to draw after they are selected. Navigating to and selecting a geodata object is complicated enough for beginners to grasp and will need to be the focus of some future simplification. But at least now if the object is selected, it will automatically be displayed, providing nearly instant gratification.

However, this is an example of one of the many areas in which professional, experienced clients will not find this change efficient. Why, because when ten layers are selected to set up a group and a view, the first one selected will be updated. Selecting the second will require that the first and then the second be updated, and so on. The previous situation which required all layers be selected before any "redraw" is obviously more efficient as experience is gained. In order to please everyone, automatic or manual redraw can be selected. Automatic redraw is the default. To change to manual redraw via the Redraw icon, change the mode via View/Options which will expose a new view control Options dialog box. There is also an Auto-Redraw toggle button in the Group Controls window. The view will be automatically redrawn with this button in the default position whenever a change is made in the Group Controls window or with the Placement tool.

The automatic drawing of "hidden" layers when "unhidden" may now be turned off also in this dialog. These and several other "expert versus beginning user" options can be toggled on/off or set in the new View Options dialog box.

New View Options dialog box. The View/Options... dialog box has been added to allow reconfigurations of the View default options from beginner to expert. It can be exposed for use by selecting the "Options" item on the View menu. The default settings are those judged to be the most suitable to the first time or casual user of the TNT products. However, experienced users may find their tasks are more efficiently accomplished by using other modes of display operations.

All layer types may now be displayed in the locator window (i.e. vector, CAD, and TIN in addition to rasters). For layer types other than rasters, this snapshot view must be activated for each layer via the menu in the Layer Control window via Layer/Show In Locator. This requirement is imposed as it might take too long to display very large objects of these types into this small locator window, and its postage stamp view would be unrecognizable anyway. In cases where "select-by-scale" is used, the map scale of the locator window will automatically be used.

It is now possible to edit the styles for labels styled "by-element". This allows the designing of objects using a small number of different label styles which can easily be changed instead of having a different style for every label.

When setting the "all-same" label style, the sizes may now be set relative to the current or layout map scale. This allows exact control of label heights for viewing and/or printing.

Many clients requested a modification to this process so that a subset could be interactively selected from the total range of the variable being theme mapped. Take as an example that five classes are to be distributed over an interior range greater than the minimum and lower than the maximum in that range. This optional capability has been enabled by allowing the first or lowest class (class 1 ranging up from the minimum value) and last or highest class (class 7 ranging down from the maximum value) to be excluded from the automatic distribution displayed in the theme map. By using this option, the interior range over which the remaining five classes will be distributed can be controlled. When starting, be sure to select seven classes if the option is being used and only the five internal classes are required.

Just as in V5.40, the minimum value of the first or lowest class (1) cannot be edited, but the larger value can be. Similarly, the maximum value of the last or highest class (7) cannot be edited, but its lower limit can be changed. If the new interior range option is selected, the editable upper limit of the first class and the lower limit of the last class can be interactively moved in the statistics histogram panel. Moving them to new values will provide instant feedback as the five classes sought are redistributed in this histogram, the dialog box, and in the theme map when redrawn.

If a polygon is "closed" it will be saved and drawn as a polygon element instead of a line element.

The TNT professional products' printer setup and layout options were confusing beginning users of TNTlite and TNTatlas. They will be even more intimidated as V5.50 makes the Map and Poster Layout process and its color printing free up to 8.5 by 11 inches (i.e. P3 and P5 options are free) in all TNT products. Please note that printing controlled by levels P8, P10, P15, and P20 remain optional add-ons. To offer a simpler means of getting started, the Print icon button will now print a quick, first time snapshot in the Display process with additional special input selections. The new 24-bit color support of Windows printer drivers, discussed later, also increases the quality of the snapshot print.

In the Map and Poster Layout procedure, a dialog box is presented to determine if the current layout should be saved before a view is closed or the process is exited. In Display Layout mode, this prompt to save changes to the layout will be provided only if a layout was previously "opened". These prompt modes may be changed via the new Options dialog box.

The 3-D display process in V5.40 was the same basic design and coding as was available in DOS MIPS (a design of five to six years ago). This old process has now been removed from the menu and replaced with a totally new design which has been in gradual development for about one year. Initially, this new V5.50 process may appear to have the same general features and performance as the old 3-D process which it replaces, but with an improved interface. However, it is in the details where it greatly differs even in this initial release. A color plate entitled 3-D Perspective Visualization is attached to illustrate the results of the process. Supplemental documentation entitled 3-D Perspective is also enclosed.

It should suffice to illustrate the advances in this new process to indicate that it now has most of the advanced features already familiar from the current, state-of-the-art 2-D Display process. For example, the flexible layer management and visualization tools are directly integrated including such things as:

Internally, the new 3-D process has been completely redesigned to support the creation of many new powerful visualization features which will continue to appear in V5.60 and later. Planned features include fly-by, fly-thru, drive-thru, and related moving visualizations. Easier stereo viewing is needed to create stereo from a DEM and ortho-image or perhaps any georeferenced image using TNT's layer restitution functions. Volumetric measurement tools which operate in this perspective or stereo view are needed. Some experimental tools of this type using the elevation raster directly are available for the first time in V5.50 as an isolated prototype process (see below).

IMPORTANT: This powerful new visualization process is now available as a standard feature without cost in TNTmips, TNTview, and TNTlite. ArcView3 and MapInfo 4.1 users may never see this kind of feature released as part of their standard product!

A color plate entitled Hawaii is attached to verify the above statement and demonstrate the capabilities of this new process. This plate was created entirely in TNTmips. It shows some the interesting and attractive output views which can be created exclusi

Release of V5.50 TNT products
October 1996

Table of Contents

Introduction

MI/X (MicroImages' X Server)

Sample Geodata

Mac

Installation

TNTview^® 5.5

TNTatlas`^{^TM}` 5.5

TNTatlas`^{^TM}` sampler of San Francisco

TNTlite`^{^TM}` 5.5

On-Line Documentation

New TNTmips Application Features

SML.

MicroImages Advanced Users`'` Workshop (AUW9)

Japanese Workshop

MicroImages Authorized Dealers

New Image Printers/Plotters Supported

Computers

Promotional Activities

Prices

Reference Materials

Staff Additions

Holiday Software Support

Supplement to the Grapevine

Testimonials

Abbreviations

Color Plates

Release of V5.50 TNT products

Release of V5.50 TNT products October 1996

Table of Contents

SML.

Color Plates

Release of V5.50 TNT products
October 1996