Table of Contents

Only minor transparent changes have been made in the MicroImages MI/X servers in the past quarter to correct deficiencies detected in their network operations. No significant future changes are anticipated in this area.

Downloads of the MI/X servers by non-clients from microimages.com have averaged approximately 1000 per week. A total of 20,000 direct downloads have been served. Together with the many mirror sites and inclusion on the CDs of other freeware groups (for example, on the CD of MACLIFE, the top selling Mac specific magazine in Japan), MicroImages estimates that 50,000 now have acquired one of these MI/X servers.

Unfortunately, it is not apparent that a minimum of a thousand visits a week to microimages.com for access to MI/X products, or the identification window which pops in when the server starts, significantly increases the interest of these visitors in the other TNT products, including access to a free TNTlite. It is not even apparent that anyone is using MI/X to communicate with the workstation versions of ArcInfo or ERDAS.

MicroImages does get short questions daily by email on how to set up and use the MI/X products. Software support responds to all these requests, often by referring them to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list being maintained on the site for this purpose. Also, there are frequent requests for new features in the MI/X servers. These are answered to the effect that the product is free, and new features will be added only if needed by MicroImages' products and client base.

MicroImages also often gets frequent thanks for these free products. Examples of these reactions follow.

New sample geodata has been added to the V5.70 CDs of the TNT products. Most of these geodata set directories contain the Project File(s) needed for completing the exercises in the new Getting Started tutorials shipped with V5.70. If you install all the sample Project Files from the CD to your hard drive, it will require 115 MB.

IMPORT Directory. This directory contains files in the various external formats imported as examples in the Getting Started tutorial booklet entitled Importing Geodata.

MAPLO Directory. This directory contains the Project Files used for the exercises in the Getting Started booklet entitled Laying Out Maps.

PINMAP Directory. This directory contains the Project Files used for the exercises in the Getting Started booklet entitled Pin Mapping.

Loading a full installation of TNTmips 5.7 processes onto your hard drive (exclusive of any other products, data sets, illustrations, Word files, ...) requires the following storage space in megabytes:

PC using W31	74 MB
PC using W95	93 MB
PC using NT (Intel)	93 MB
PC using LINUX (Intel)	71 MB
DEC using NT (Alpha)	99 MB
Mac using MacOS 7.6 (680xx)	74 MB
Power Mac using MacOS 7.6 and 8.0 (PPC)	84 MB
Hewlett Packard workstation using HPUX	101 MB
SGI workstation via IRIX	124 MB
Sun workstation via Solaris 1.x	89 MB
Sun workstation via Solaris 2.x	85 MB
IBM workstation via AIX 4.x (PPC)	112 MB
DEC workstation via UNIX=OSF/1 (Alpha)	141 MB

V5.70 of the HTML based on-line Reference Manual including illustrations requires 31 MB. Installing all sample geodata sets for TNTlite and TNTmips requires 115 MB.

Upgrading.

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 annual maintenance and obtain the use of V5.70. 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 5.70 and the other TNT professional products.

If you do not have annual maintenance for TNTmips, you can purchase it to gain access to V5.70 under the elective upgrade plan at the cost in the tables below. Please remember--new features have been added to TNTmips each quarter. Thus, the more quarters you are behind V5.70, the higher your upgrade cost will be. 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.

Within the NAFTA point-of-use area (Canada, U.S., and Mexico) and with shipping by UPS ground: (+150/each means $150 for each additional quarterly increment.)

For a point-of-use in all other nations with shipping by air express: (+150/each means $150 for each additional quarterly increment.)

 

The following is a summary of the new features added to V5.70 of the TNT products which are now available in TNTview 5.7. Detailed descriptions of these new features can be found in the appropriate section below on New TNT Features.
 

• The new Visualization process incorporating integrated 2D, 3D, and stereo functionality is being released in a preview form.
• Any field in the related attribute tables can now be selected to show as labels for a layer.
• A spatial DataTip (like a ToolTip in appearance) will pop in to the view area showing the selected attribute field value of the nearest vector element, raster cell, ... for the active layer.
• The graphical drawing tools now draw in the color and line width you select.
• The on-line reference manual is in HTML format for use in browsers.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer V3.02 (Windows) and V3.01 (Mac) is provided and installed as a browser.
• Each data layer in an AutoCAD DXF can be imported separately into CAD and vector objects in a Project File.
• Windows BMP, MRLC, NEXRAD (weather RADAR), ERS-1 SAR, EOSAT-1c, SPOTview, DOQ/COQ (USGS orthophoto quads), and RadarSat raster formats can now be imported.

TNTview 5.8 will provide the Spatial Manipulation Language (SML) process at no additional charge. This expanding geospatial analysis language will permit you to create powerful custom display and analysis functions for your private use, for public distribution, or for commercialization in partnership with the low cost TNTview product. TNTview is gradually being positioned as a product which is similar in price but superior in capability to MapInfo and ArcView. TNTview will also eventually be able to read and use their geodata sets directly.

MicroImages is now focused on adding more between-object functionality to the SML function library. It is also necessary to add procedures to create more complex user interface components. However, SML is already the only geospatial scripting language which can deal equally well with complex raster objects in close integration with vector, CAD, TIN, and database objects. It already provides the basis to build complex but efficient geospatial applications that are essentially platform and map projection independent.

SML is an interpreted language, as are MapBasic and Avenue, but SML is progressively providing access in scripts to use more and more of the large complex functions from which the TNT products are built and which do not exist in MapInfo or ArcView. For example, the display function available in SML is compiled and efficient and provides many of the complex visualization procedures in TNTmips, such as projection independence. The Project File (RVC) read and write functions automatically manage the efficient buffering and storage of your raster, vector, CAD, TIN, and database objects. The viewshed, multilinear raster regression, principal components, linear raster combinations, vector combinations, raster and TIN conversion to vector contours, and other functions released in V5.70 are further examples of efficient compiled functions which can be used for major tasks. These functions and new functions being extracted from TNTmips can be called with a single statement in SML, and when you use the powerful RVC access functions, are as efficient in operation as if used directly in TNTmips. Can these kinds of things be done with MapBasic or Avenue?

Within the NAFTA point-of-use area (Canada, U.S., and Mexico) and with shipping by UPS ground: (+50/each means $50 for each additional quarterly increment.)

For a point-of-use in all other nations with shipping by air express: (+50/each means $50 for each additional quarterly increment.)

TNTatlas^TM 5.7

TNTatlas is now FREE for use on each and every platform supported by the TNT products. In other words, V5.70 of TNTatlas no longer checks for the hardware key and thus becomes, in effect, a free "runtime" product for your distribution of a Project File(s) containing HyperIndex links. The now free TNTatlas software can be used for making one CD at a time (via your CDR drive) or for a mass production run.

Remember that a TNTatlas requires only a single, common geodata set in a Project File(s) for direct use on any and all platforms with the appropriate version of the TNTatlas software. Furthermore, TNTatlas supports identical viewing, measurement, and printing capabilities from that single set of geodata on every platform.

A new sample TNTatlas CD entitled Maryland's Coastal Bays is enclosed. It has been developed jointly with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) with geodata from this and other Maryland state agencies. It is included with your V5.70 shipment to illustrate the flexibility of TNTatlas to make a single CD which can be used on all Microsoft Windows, Mac and PMac, LINUX, and the other UNIX platforms. It also demonstrates how a single set of color printed instructions can be used with a TNTatlas CD regardless of which platform the CD is subsequently viewed on.

The color-infrared orthophoto, SPOT, property boundary, highway, and other geodata making up this sample atlas is a mere fraction of the almost 100 gigabytes of similar geodata in Project Files covering the entire area of Maryland. Good things, especially geodata, do not come cheap! This geodata for the whole state has been built up using TNTmips by the persevering GIS staff of the MDNR over the past 10 years. It now makes up the Maryland Environmental Resources and Land Information Network (MERLIN). (The merlin is the official state bird of Maryland and is pictured on the CD and the delivery card.) The preparation of the more than 1200 color-infrared orthoimages in MERLIN was not carried out in TNTmips. This major flying, control, and compiling effort was contracted out for several million dollars to a photogrammetric engineering firm who delivered these as Project Files (RVC format) over the past seven years.

All this Project File geodata is now available via MERLIN on-line on five NT-based file servers (each PC has 20 gigabytes of storage on RAID hard drives) on the MDNR's 100 gigabyte Intranet, which reaches almost all of its 3000 personnel. MERLIN is structured into TNTatlas form with over 5000 links. It is accessed and used across the department by the general staff using TNTatlas software on their personal desktop W95 or NT machines. There is also a large PC-based TNTatlas software server available on the network for those general staff who wish to use only the MI/X server on their desktop PCs. Regular courses of three hours' duration are provided to MDNR's general staff on the operation of TNTatlas and MERLIN. As the last of the color-infrared orthophotos is being completed and added to the MERLIN system, it is beginning to be used at all functional levels within the MDNR. The contents of MERLIN are also available to the public for the cost of their reproduction in the various formats exported by TNTmips.

The structure and the layout of this sample TNTatlas were designed by the staff of the GIS program at MDNR using materials in their on-line MERLIN atlas. Starting with these completed Project Files in TNTatlas form, MicroImages' staff added the TNTatlas software for each platform, produced the CD reproduction masters, and contracted for the CD production. MicroImages also created the graphics for the CD imprint, transmittal card, and the color printed instructions. This CD and its transmittal and packaging materials are just an example of what you can now do on your own with the free TNTatlas publication software and your project materials.

General.

A total of 1500 copies of TNTlite 5.6 kits were sold directly and via Dealers during the quarter, bringing the total TNTlite CD kits shipped to 8500. Currently, completed downloads of TNTlite from microimages.com range between 15 and 25 per week.

The section below discusses the Getting Started tutorial booklets in detail. It suffices to say that all these booklets can be downloaded free as Acrobat PDF files for use with TNTlite. Those buying the physical kit version of TNTlite will find it includes printed versions of all the current booklets, and that the PDF files are on the V5.70 CD.

The following is a summary of the new features added to the TNT products to improve their usability in general and for TNTlite 5.7 in particular. Detailed descriptions of these new features can be found in the appropriate section on TNTmips.

• Files in AutoCAD's DXF format can now be imported so that each layer becomes a separate Project File. This allows a TNTlite user to select only those kinds of features to import into each object. Using this CAD layer selection, combined with the existing CAD area extraction procedure, a lot more CAD materials fit into the size limits placed on CAD objects in TNTlite.
• At least 21 Getting Starting tutorial booklets will be shipping in the TNTlite 5.70 kits.
• The additional sample data sets for these booklets are included on the V5.70 TNT product CDs. Additional TNTlite booklets will be added during the quarter as outlined below. Their sample data can be downloaded as it becomes available.

Macintosh

MacOS 8.0 arrived just as V5.70 was shipping. Preliminary testing indicates that TNTmips will operate correctly under this latest version of the Apple operating system. As yet there is no evaluation by MicroImages of the benefits of using the TNT products in MacOS 8.0. Under 8.0, the MI/X server has a minor distraction in that it does not restore the background color in the large X window after an area is used (for example, a main menu is exposed). This is purely cosmetic and in no way hinders or interferes with the operation of TNTmips. A revised MI/X will subsequently resolve this.

Progress.

Introduction.

Nine new Getting Started booklets from Ptolemy are included with V5.70 in black and white printed format. These tutorials now provide about 450 pages of colorfully illustrated materials to your desktop. This is approximately equal to a big book on Geospatial Analysis. The sample geodata used in each of these, and all other previous tutorials, is included on the V5.70 CD. The color versions of these, and all previous tutorials, are on the CD in Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files together with the Adobe Acrobat reader for your easy direct viewing or printing of them in full color.

A historic landmark is achieved with the concurrent release of a detailed Getting Started booklet to introduce you to the features and operation of the brand new Mosaic and the Database Management processes. A booklet is also provided concurrent with the new features released in the 3D display process. Perhaps this can be counted as one of the many ways in which TNTlite has influenced and contributed to the professional users of the TNT products? All of you will benefit from this approach and material. Perhaps by now you have experienced the considerable additional value that can be derived from using the color versions of these booklets on screen or printed from your computer?

Many other topics still remain which do not yet have a Getting Started tutorial booklet. These topics will also require focused efforts for the next six months or more. However, it is the long term goal that every new or significantly changed TNT process is released with a concurrent new or revised Getting Started booklet. It is possible that in some cases, revised Getting Started booklets will temporarily be provided only in Acrobat PDF files, as the second Displaying Geodata booklet on the V5.70 CD only, which has been revised to match the preview of the new visualization process. It is the DISPL58 PDF file located in the GETSTART folder or file on the CD.

Many of you are already familiar with using the Acrobat Reader to view other electronic materials provided as PDF instruction files with other commercial software. MicroImages processes each Getting Started booklet through the Adobe Acrobat Builder process (for example comes with PageMaker) to produce a PDF file. Using the free Acrobat Reader appropriate to your platform provided by MicroImages, you can view and print each PDF file in full color, preserving its original complex layout.

You will find these Acrobat PDF files on the V5.70 CD in a folder called GETSTART. You will also find your Reader in the Acrobat Reader folder or directory on the V5.70 CD. V5.80 of the TNT products will allow you to choose to install the Acrobat Reader and PDF files. But for V5.70, you will have to do this manually. Copy the Adobe Reader to any directory. Copy the individual Getting Started booklets (in other words, PDF files) to a suitable directory, or leave them on the CD for direct but slower use. Start your Adobe Reader, and open the appropriate PDF file to view the Getting Started booklet it provides. It is very useful to use the Adobe Reader concurrent with the operation of the corresponding TNT process. This will allow you to flip back and forth between stepping your way through the process with the test geodata while referencing the corresponding Getting Started tutorial. Your Reader also provides rudimentary editing capabilities so that you can cut and paste text out of these booklets into other products such as Word, PageMaker, and so on. What could be easier?

One thing that might be even easier than the on-line viewing of Adobe PDF files is to print them on your color printer for review while learning the process and for quick future reference on your bookshelf. Your version of the Reader comes equipped to automatically detect your printer and use it to produce a good quality color booklet on your small format printer. The individual pages in each Getting Started booklet are designed to fit into a 5.5" by 8.5" printed format. When printed by your Reader, they will usually come out to scale with the 5.5" by 8.5" area centered in the larger 8.5" by 11" or A4 paper area. Some Windows printer drivers produce the foregoing image size when the Print Quality print dialog option is set to High but automatically enlarge and center this image to fit the entire sheet when the Print Quality is set to Medium or Low. The attached sample color page was printed on the HP Color LaserJet 5M using the Medium print quality setting. It illustrates that this automatic enlargement provides good page sizing, and that a very good quality booklet is printed by the Reader. On a Mac or Pmac, if your printer does not automatically enlarge using the Reader (the text is small at 5.5" by 8.5"), then set the enlargement and repositioning of the margins in the system's Print Control dialog. Unfortunately, this level of control is not available via the Windows printer control and drivers.

As soon as a professional writer at MicroImages completes a DRAFT copy of a new Getting Started booklet, they immediately put it into Acrobat PDF format. The Webmaster then immediately places it on microimages.com. This all takes a couple of days and goes on periodically over the quarter with upgraded and final versions substituted as they become available. All current Getting Started booklets are now there in this PDF format, which replaces their previous cumbersome postings in the GIF screenshots. New booklets will appear as they become available. Watch for new Getting Started booklets at this location.

Netscape and Microsoft Explorer both have plug-ins which enable them to access the Acrobat Reader and view these PDF files separately or while you are running TNTmips. Use your browser to view or print them over the Internet. You can also use the downloading feature provided at this same location on microimages.com by our Webmaster to transfer any PDF file(s) to your computer for local viewing and subsequent printing.

Status.

Previously Completed Booklets. [12 units already in your possession]

New V5.70 Booklets. [9 units shipping]

Partially Completed Booklets. [3 units--mid August availability]

Scheduled for V5.80. [10 units + 1 updated]

Remaining. [15 units]

Resources Available.

The three MicroImages professional staff currently writing the Getting Started booklets (Dr. Merri Skrdla, Keith Ghormley, and Dr. Randy Smith) each have seven to eight years of full-time experience working with the TNT products. Like all the MicroImages professional staff, they are doing an excellent job at this task, but have other responsibilities at MicroImages. For example, in the process of writing these booklets, they are the first line in checking that the features in the processes are working. As a result, they can only produce between six and nine booklets per quarter.

However, as each quarter passes, they will have to spend more and more time updating the existing booklets for newly released changes in the processes covered. For example, during this quarter, time was spent in updating the already existing Getting Started Display Geospatial Data. As a result, the goal of completing the series becomes progressively harder to reach. Please consider the dates of availability presented in the above schedule as tentative and optimistic, as good things always seem to take longer than anticipated.

Current Priorities.

MicroImages' management has decided to place the most emphasis each quarter on getting booklets out that correspond to new processes. Second priority will be getting booklets out on scheduled older topics where no booklet has ever been created. For the next couple of quarters, a low priority will be given to upgrading existing booklets until the more important missing booklets are available. Limited resources always mean priorities have to be established, and these will prevail for the next six months.

Professional people with in-depth experience in the TNT products coupled with computer, writing, and illustration talent cannot be created overnight. This of course means that some of the existing booklets are going to be out of date. Some of these differences will be minor interface differences with the current software. Others will be more significant. For example, the significant changes in the naming procedures for unsupervised classification are not covered in the Getting Started Image Classification published last quarter.

All Getting Started booklets are included in black and white printed format along with the CD in each TNTlite kit shipped. The current price of an individual kit is $30, and at this time it will include 21 booklets. Additional printed Getting Started booklets will be added as they are completed during the quarter. Some time in the middle of the quarter, this will increase to 25 booklets and require that the price of printing and shipping the kit increases to $35. New TNTmips professional products also contain all the published printed booklets and the associated geodata. Existing MicroImages clients with active maintenance contracts get all new booklets published that quarter in their upgrade shipment. If you want additional printed copies of any one or all of the published booklets, please order a new TNTlite kit. You are also free to copy the published booklet, duplicate it via the PDF file, or request it in electronic format for duplication (for example, PageMaker format). MicroImages has these booklets printed from print files at Kinko's Copy Centers on large Xerox Docutek printers (they automatically produce the whole booklet including printing, cover integration, stapling, folding, and trimming). These print files can also be provided for use on your nearest Xerox Docutek printer to automatically produce the identical black and white assembled booklets.

Installation.

The TNT Reference Manual has now been fully converted to HTML format for use with Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers. The previous View Manual process has now been deleted from TNTmips. When you now select Display/Reference Manual from the TNTmips menu, it will launch the Internet Explorer browser on the Windows-based platforms. During installation you will be provided with the option to install the Reference Manual and Internet Explorer for the Windows-based platforms. If you prefer Netscape and have it installed already, you can use it and launch it via the same TNT menu choice.

Microsoft has delayed delivery of Internet Explorer for UNIX platforms, so it is not on the V5.70 CD. For the time being, on UNIX platforms this menu choice will default to launching Netscape which you will have to obtain, as Netscape does not allow its browser to be redistributed by others. If you use a different UNIX browser such as Mosaic, you can edit the TNTHOST.INI file to set a different UNIX browser command via the "HTMLBrowser" field in the "[files]" section. (This field is used by TNTmips only on UNIX systems.)

Microsoft Internet Explorer is supplied for the Macintosh platforms on the CD but cannot yet be installed by the TNT products installer for the Macintosh. To install Internet Explorer, find the "Mac Internet Explorer 3.01" folder on the TNT products CD-ROM. Double click on the "IE 3.01 PPC Minimal Installer" icon if you have a PMac, or click on the "IE 3.01 68K Minimal Installer" icon if you have a 68xxx-based older Mac. Your browser cannot be launched from the TNTmips menu on the Mac at this time. You will want to install the HTML Reference Manual using the TNT products installer and then manually double click on the "index.htm" file inside the "Reference Manual (HTML)" folder inside your TNTmips product folder.

Providing the TNTmips Reference Manual in HTML format gives you a consistent, familiar, uniform user interface across all computing platforms within each browser family. This interface follows industry standards for viewing HTML documents. Browsers are generally freely available from their developers. Using other products for viewing and printing the documentation allows MicroImages to expend its efforts working on geospatial analysis tools for TNTmips. The following HTML features have been included in the structure of the TNTmips Reference Manual in HTML format.

Hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are special blocks of text that "jump" to another location in the Reference Manual when clicked on. This feature allows you to find out more about a topic. Hyperlinks are like an automatic index that saves you from having to look up terms and topics in a list.

Embedded Images. Text and full-color illustrations are inserted into the Reference Manual with a clean layout. Illustrations are no longer displayed in a separate window. Illustrations can be viewed and printed in full color.

Searching within pages. You can search for key words or phrases in each HTML file.

Page Viewing History. Your browser will retain a list of pages that have been previously viewed and let you navigate back to earlier topics of interest.

Connection to the World Wide Web (the Internet). When combined with your local Internet service provider and a modem, the browser used for the TNTmips Reference Manual is also a tool that can provide access to error fixes, beta product updates, and other information at www.microimages.com. The Reference Manual can be directly accessed at http://www.microimages.com/refman/html. At the present time, the Reference Manual is only being updated quarterly on microimages.com concurrently with the release of the TNT product CDs.

The Reference Manual this quarter has 2692 single spaced pages and installs into 31 MB with the illustrations or into 6 MB without them. Last minute supplemental sections which do not occur in the on-line or Microsoft Word versions were created for new processes and features. These sections were completed for V5.70 after the master CDs were created for the reproduction process. These 42 additional pages are included in supplemental, printed form as follows.

Polygon Properties (4 pages)

Voronoi Polygons (6 pages)

SML Language Reference (additions to printed version of Appendix 3 shipped with V5.50--32 pages)

New TNT Features

Concept. Showing many labels in a view for a particular layer can be very cluttered and confusing. The icon ToolTip idea has thus been extended to show individual labels one at a time for the active layer in both Display processes. When this option is selected, a spatial 'DataTip' pops in (looks and behaves like a ToolTip) to show the value from a selected attribute field which can also be a computed field for the nearest element (raster cell, point, line, polygon, ...). It pops in when you pause your cursor long enough near that element in the active layer (you set the time delay). This spatial DataTip can be a totally different field from that used for the labels of the layer. In other words, a layer can be rendered with any field as its labels, and its spatial DataTip can use a totally different field.

The new prototype Display process provides a toggle button on the tab panel for each vector element type in the Object Display Control window to switch the DataTips option on and off. The DataTip... push button on this same panel is used to select the content of the DataTip as the field or computed field from the attribute tables attached to the object. The new Vector Object Display Control window and the use of the DataTips are illustrated for the new Display process in the attached color plate entitled Tabbed Panels and DataTips.

Selecting. An Object Display Control window is shown for each object type. It provides tabbed panels to set up the display characteristics of each graphical element type (points, lines, polygons, ...). See the color plate attached entitled Tabbed Panels and DataTips to illustrate these new features. For example, this plate shows the location of the toggle button which can be used to toggle the DataTip features on and off when the polygons in the particular vector object are part of the active layer. The DataTip... button on this same panel is used to select the content of the DataTip as the field or computed field from the attribute tables attached to the object.

Example Use. The fields attached as related attributes to a USDA/NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) soil map (for example in CB_Soils.RVC) can be used to solve the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to yield potential erosion. The soil loss modeled by the USLE is a linear combination of four soil map attribute values and a precipitation rate factor. Start with the soil polygon vector object in CB_Soils.RVC. Four soil attributes in the related tables for the soil polygons can be used to solve part of the USLE. Simply create a computed field which is a linear combination with scaling coefficients of four soil attributes in the related tables. This potential erosion computed field can be selected as the DataTips field for the polygons in this vector object. The coefficients of the modeled potential erosion shown in the DataTips can then be easily changed by editing the equation for the computed field. This same computed field could be used to provide a potential erosion label for every polygon using the new label field procedures outlined above.

The next step in this kind of dynamic, interactive-based GIS model would be to include the fifth precipitation rate variable to predict soil loss for use as labels or viewing via a DataTip. But, this would require a raster map of the spatial variation in precipitation rate or an actual map of precipitation rate. If the soil polygon vector object was converted to a raster object, exactly the same potential erosion computed field can be evaluated for each soil type cell. A computed field accessing both raster objects could implement the entire USLE. Currently this is not possible, as a computed field cannot yet use fields from more than one object even if they are coincident in cell size, extent, and so on. Thus, the full USLE can only be solved by computing new combined objects, which reduces flexibility in evaluating changes in the USLE (in other words, in evaluating changes in the USLE's coefficients). Please also note that a more complicated Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSEL) is now used by the NRCS.

The status bar now shows the progress of the redraw of each layer in each View window and has been moved into the lower right corner to make more room for other information in this data bar. Several views in a group may need to be updated by your single action such as deleting a layer. Watch this status bar to see which layer in which view is currently being reconstructed.

The following major features are missing from the preview version of the new Display process: printing, legend creation, HyperIndex Linker and playback, CAD overlay in 3D, TNTview setup preferences, the integration of the separate stereoscopic viewing process, and the positioning tools in the Locator window. Printing is being actively worked on now and is nearly done and will be automatically available in any revised versions from software support. The procedures for designing your legends are being improved and expanded and will not be available in this process until V5.80. Other missing features noted here and identified by you will be added as this quarter progresses and will be available through the Tuesday and Thursday posting of all of TNTmips on microimages.com.

DataTips are available for use only with vector objects in this new Display process. Since the CDs were prepared, this feature has been extended to show DataTips for all primary objects (in other words, rasters = cell values, CAD, and TIN).

Fields as Labels.

Any field in the related attribute tables for a vector object can now be selected to use as labels for that layer (labels are no longer restricted to the prepared label field). This feature has been requested by many clients and has been added to the familiar Display process and the new one as well. You may also use a query on multiple fields across related tables as the label field.

Showing many labels in a view for a particular layer can be very cluttered and confusing. The icon ToolTip idea has thus been extended to show individual labels one at a time as DataTips for the active layer in the Display processes. It can be used for vector, raster, CAD, or TIN objects. Select the database table and field to be viewed as the DataTip and which graphical elements have ToolTips under "Layer/Setup ToolTip...". When this option is selected, a spatial 'DataTip' pops in (looks and behaves like a ToolTip) to show the value from a selected attribute field which can also be a computed field for the nearest element (raster cell, point, line, polygon, ...). It pops in when you pause your cursor long enough near that element in the active layer (you set the time delay). This spatial DataTip can be a totally different field from that used for the labels of the layer. In other words, a layer can be rendered with any field as its labels and its spatial DataTip can use a totally different field.

A new label style has been added to assist in labeling water depth on international nautical charts showing isolated point depths (for example, rocks). It provides several parameters to accurately position each isolated depth value on the chart relative to the actual sea position. The decimal portion of the depth is shown as subscript. The negative depth of a point exposed at low tide is shown with an underline and so on.

Import/Export.

* DXF Extraction During Import.

Each layer in a single AutoCAD DXF file can now be imported into separate vector or CAD objects in a Project File. This has been requested by several clients. It allows you to pick which layers of information to import from all those available in the source DXF file and place these layers into separate CAD objects. This is particularly useful if you plan to edit the CAD object (for example, update it over an image) and then convert it into a vector object for GIS analysis.

Importing from a DXF into separate CAD objects creates a number of small CAD objects instead of one large composite CAD object. This separation "by data theme" is particularly useful to TNTlite users, as each separate CAD object can be more easily kept below the size limits of TNTlite but contain more of a particular graphical data type (for example, roads, hydrology, building, or ...).

Windows BMP Import.

The standard format used by Microsoft Windows for images (BMP) can now be imported into a raster object in a Project File.

MRLC Import.

Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) LANDSAT format raster files (BSQ) can be imported into raster objects in a Project File. MRLC data contains multi-resolution land cover data of the conterminous United States from local to regional scales with 38m land cover characteristics database using LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) data. The MRLC geodata is produced in a cooperative effort of six programs in four U.S. Government agencies: United States Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program and North American Landscape Characterization Program; United States Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment and Earth Resource Observation System Data Center Programs; Department of Interior National Biologic Service's Gap Analysis Program; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Change Analysis Program. Files selected for import have the file extension BSQ. Header Files with the DDA file extension, image files with the BSQ file extension, and a co-registered 16 bit DEM can also be selected for import in this MRLC import process.

NEXRAD weather radar scans can be imported into a raster object in a Project File. NEXRAD is the United States' National Weather Service's Next Generation Weather Radar Program. NEXRAD is distributed by the WSI Corporation as commissioned by the NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service Program. These images are also frequently downloaded via Internet.

European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite's synthetic aperture radar (ERS-1 SAR) images, including leader and image files, can be imported into a raster object in a Project File. ERS-1 SAR image files have the file extension .bsq. As part of the import, you select the projection used during the import process. The TNT Import process lets you select any portion of the ERS-1 SAR raster data for import by defining the range of lines and columns to be imported. The size selection option is especially useful for those creating project materials for use with TNTlite.

Earth Observation Satellite Company's EOSAT TM Fast and EOSAT TM TIPS formatted data can be imported into raster objects in Project Files. You can select the range of lines and columns to be imported from either EOSAT TM Fast or EOSAT TM TIPS formatted images.

In addition to the SPOT Image format, you can import SPOTview images into raster objects in Project Files. SPOTview files are cartographic quality SPOT images. You are allowed to select the Header (.hdr), georeference (.rep), info (.rsc), and image (.bil) files for importing.

RadarSat's CEOS radar image and leader file can be imported into raster objects in Project Files. Earth Observation Satellite products developed in Canada to monitor environmental change and support resource sustainability are created by the Canadian Space Agency and use this Commission on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) standard for formatting their Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images collected via C-band with a swath from 35 to 500 Km with a resolution from 10 to 100 meters.

Digital Ortho Quad uncompressed (DOQ) or Compressed Ortho Quad (COQ) orthophotos from the United States Geological Survey can be imported into a raster object in a Project File. Correspondingly, raster objects can be exported into the DOQ or COQ format.

Object Editor.

General.

The object edit process has been enhanced to add new features off the list built up from your requests as follows:

• cut, copy, and paste between vector objects via clipboard;
• copy all or part of an attribute table and paste in vector object via clipboard;
• spline, thin, and auto label generation have a preview mode;
• right mouse button pops in customizable list of edit functions;
• prompts for attribute changes for edits of vector and CAD elements;
• default records can now be set for vector and CAD elements;
• "connect the dots" into lines or polygons from imported GPS points;
• elastic, equal-sided polygon tool for up to 45 sides;
• island topology maintained "on the fly" in vector objects;
• nodes in TIN object can be moved;
• improvements in WYSIWYG in raster editing; and more.

Color Drawing Lines. You can now set the graphical tool color and line width for all tools in the editor. This allows better visual perception of the tool, especially against a color reference raster. This feature has been requested for years, but the machine and display speed have been too slow to make this practical until now. This feature has been discussed in more detail above in the section entitled "Graphical Tools".

More Previews. The Spline, Thin, and Auto Label Generation operations now support a preview mode. This permits you to determine if the final result is what you want before making the additions or changes permanent. The option to change the preview color and width is under "Setup/Preferences/Color".

Right Button Menus. A new method has been added for quick selection and editing of vector, CAD, and TIN elements independent of the "Element Selection Dialog". This method is invoked by placing the mouse cursor on the element and then pressing the right mouse button. The element is highlighted, and a menu pops up with a list of operations to perform on that element. If the goal is to select a node, which is hard to select due to the fact that the lines attached to the node will most of the time be closer, press the TAB key while the menu is viewable to cycle through the element types.

The capability to control which operations show up on the popup menu is located under "Setup/Right Mouse Button...". This dialog will allow control of which operations are enabled and, if the operation requires it, the capability to set the parameters for the operation.

Certain operational parameters are not capable of being set unless an editable object exists and is the current object, for example, "Auto Label Generation". If this type of operation is selected and invalid parameters are specified for the operation, a dialog is brought up to allow entry of correct parameters. Examples of operations which behave in this manner are the Auto Label and Attribute operations. The list of possible vector operations includes Attribute, Auto Label, Delete, Edit, Reverse Line, Snap, Spline, Straighten, and Thin. The list of possible CAD operations includes Attribute, Break Line, Copy Element, Delete, Edit, Move Element, Place Back, Place Front, Reverse Line, Spline, Straighten, Style, and Thin. The list of possible TIN operations includes Delete and Edit.

Mac Right Buttons. On the Mac and PMac, the "right" mouse button is simulated by MI/X using a Command Key Sequence. The sequence can be just a key or a combination of a special key and a mouse click. This sequence can be set using "File/Preferences ..." from the MI/X menu. Here are the defaults:

left (Button 1): the mouse button

middle (Button 2): the option key plus the mouse button

right (Button 3): the "Apple" or command key plus the mouse button

(#1, #2, #3 are the X names for these buttons. The X system is designed to support left handed people. For a left-hander, Button #1 is on the right and Button #3 is on the left. Under Windows products, the TNT products support the mechanisms provided for flipping the order.)

The "Apple" or Command Key plus mouse button sequence is very common in Mac and PMac graphics software. If a Mac or PMac has a mouse with two or three buttons, the extra buttons may be used directly.

Attribute Prompting. Prompting for adding attribute records is now operational in the editor for vector and CAD objects. Vector editing actions which will result in prompts for attributes include adding lines, points, and polygons; splitting lines and polygons; and joining polygons. CAD editing actions which will cause prompts include adding, splitting, and joining elements. The controls for setting up which attribute table to use in the prompt are under "Setup/Database Prompt...". One attribute table can be selected for the prompt for each element type: vector polygon, line, point and CAD elements. In defining the attribute table to set as the prompt table, you are allowed to copy a table from another object into this object.

Record Defaults. The ability to set a default record for use when adding elements has been implemented for CAD and vector objects. In the object toolbar in the "Attributes" group, press the element type for a list of operations on the attributes. Use the "Default Record..." operation to set the default record contents. The default attribute table used is the same as the attribute prompting table discussed above. For example, you can set up an attribute table prompt for the record to enter, and the initial record shown will be the default record.

GPS Editing. A "connect-the-dots" tool is now implemented for adding lines to vector or CAD objects. It is especially useful when GPS observations describing polygons are imported as individual points. The "dots" can be points in any reference or editable CAD or vector layers and reference database record pinmap layers or the current editable layer itself. The tool works by snapping the line vertices to the points in the reference layer. As with other TNT product operations, the georeferences of the two objects do not need to be the same.

DataTips. Spatial DataTips are now enabled for the object editor and are outlined in more detail above in the section on DataTips. Set up which database table and field to be viewed as the DataTip and which elements have tool tips under "Setup/Spatial Data Tips...". When active, you can place the cursor over the element and wait for the specified delay interval to see the value of the selected attribute field for that element. Spatial DataTips can be enabled for raster, vector, CAD, TIN, and database pinmap layers.

Regions. You will now be asked if you want to save regions created in the object editor when leaving the editor. This save region feature is turned on by default. It can be disabled under "Setup/Preferences/Other".

Polygon Drawing Tool. The vector and CAD editors now provide an elastic drawing tool to create geometric polygons. It allows setting the number of segments to make pentagons, hexagons, octagons, and so on. The range of segments is from three to 45 segments. The manual entry section includes controls for the circumscribed and inscribed radii along with center point and rotation controls. On-screen rotation of the tool is achieved by placing the mouse cursor on the perimeter as you would to resize it. Press and hold the shift key, and press the left mouse button and drag.

Clipboards. The Cut, Copy, and Paste clipboard approach is now supported in the object editor for vector objects. The "Cut" tool allows a piece of the vector object to be placed into the clipboard and that area removed from the editable vector object. There are two methods to define the area to remove from the object. The first is a "User-Defined" method using the "Multiple Line/Polygon Tool" to define multiple areas to cut from. The second method is by using a region tool or region object. Either can be used to specify the bounds of the irregular areas to be cut from the vector object. The standard six spatial methods to further specify the area to cut from a vector are available: "Completely Inside", "Partially Inside", "Clip Inside" (default), "Completely Outside", "Partially Outside", and "Clip Outside".

The "Copy" tool acts much like the "Cut" tool except for three ways. First, the operation doesn't alter the source object. Second, the operation works on reference layers, since they are not altered. Third, you can select the whole object to be in the clipboard.

The "Paste" tool is active if something exists in the clipboard and the editor can paste into the current editable object. A position box is presented when the paste tool is activated. This box defaults to the correct georeference position of the clipboard object in the current object. The box can be moved, rotated, and resized, and a button exists to reset the box to the default