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Goto V6.50 Feature Summary
Release
Notes in PDF format
TNT Products V6.5 Release Notes
May 2001
Table of Contents
Introduction
Installation
Dropping Product
Hardware Keys
Key Tags.
USB keys.
Parallel Keys.
Platform Specific News
Mac.
LINUX.
Editorial and Associated News [by Dr. Lee D. Miller, President]
Buyout News.
Special Academic Licenses.
New Dealers.
New Features.
Flight Simulator.
Wavelet Compression.
Avoid Conflation.
Almost .5 meter Imagery.
Soft Photogrammetry.
CIR/RGB/Multispectral Camera.
X Server
Background.
* Virtual Desktop.
* TrueType.
Font Selection Dialog.
Clipboard Support.
Dual Monitors.
Support of X11R6.
Future Plans.
TNTlite® 6.5
Special Distribution by
Dealers.
Image Analysis in Geology.
GSB kits.
TNTatlas 6.5 for X
Saving Sketches.
Protecting Atlas Contents.
Large Workspace.
HyperIndex Linker.
Inherited New Features.
Installed Sizes.
TNTatlas 6.5 for Windows (prototype of new TNT product)
Introduction.
Special Features.
Speed.
Internationalization.
Size.
Published Atlases
Poland.
Istanbul.
Turkish Highway Infrastructure.
Hiking Map.
Mining.
Arctic.
Thailand.
Nebraska.
Missouri.
Maryland’s MERLIN.
TNTsim™ (new prototype process)
Why Do It?
What Is It?
Constraints!
DirectX 8.
Basic Operations.
What Next?
TNTserver 2.1
Upgrade Pricing
Established.
HTML Printing.
Servlet.
Using Prepared Queries.
Miscellaneous.
Remote Polygon Creation.
Java-based TNTclient.
HTML-based TNTclient.
TNTview® 6.5
Inherited New
Features.
Upgrading.
Installed Sizes.
TNTedit™ 6.5
Restarting a Session.
Large Workspace.
Optimizing.
Suppress Standard Tables.
Snap to Other Layers.
Nodes to Points.
Labeling Along Curves.
Explode Elements.
Use Multi-elements.
Inspect Files.
Upgrading.
Installed Sizes.
Free Training
QuickGuides
Getting Started Booklets
New Booklets Available.
GSB Kits.
Online Reference Manual
New TNT Features
System Level Changes.
Geospatial Display.
HyperIndex Linker.
3D Views.
Vector to Raster Conversion.
Buffer Zones.
Georeferencing.
Automatic Raster Combination.
Geospatial Formula.
Viewsheds.
Import/Export.
Inspect File.
Removing Map Collars.
Vector Validation.
Network Routing.
Legend Design.
Spatial Data Editor.
Transfer Labels to Polygons.
Spatial Manipulation Language (SML).
Upgrading.
Installed Sizes.
Computers
Large Format Color
Scanner.
Hard Drives.
Internationalization and Localization
TrueType Fonts for X
Server.
Spatial Manipulation Language.
MicroImages Authorized Dealers
Manila – RPM-iT
Bogota – Infographics S.A.
Panama City – MapIntec Geotechnologies
Inc.
Cordoba – PROCON
Discontinued Dealers
Papers on Applications
Reviews
Appendix: Abbreviations
Accompanying
New Feature Illustrations
MicroImages is pleased to distribute V6.50 of the TNT
products, which is the 50th release of TNTmips. This is the longest
interval between the 50 releases, but it has produced many new major features.
A count of 163 new feature requests submitted by clients and MicroImages’
staff were implemented in V6.50 processes. A summary of many of the
new features is listed below.
•
TrueType Interface: The X server and all the TNT interface
components use any convenient TrueType font, size, and styling available in your
language.
•
Virtual Desktop: Create a large
X workspace much bigger (for example 4000 by 4000 pixels) than the monitor’s
real view. Instantly move the real view to any area of the workspace with
positioning tools provided in the new small Workspace Overview window or by
using scroll bars.
•
Large Display Windows: Open large 2D
or 3D display windows in the workspace (for example, 4000 by 3000 pixels) big
enough to hold the entire extent of a composite view at full resolution.
Open it to view at a specified scale such as 1:24,000. Instantly move real
view to see any area.
•
3D Polygons: Select polygons and
extrude them into solid shapes in 3D views. Control their height by a
field, even a computed field, in attached attributes. Control the fill of
top and sides by separate styles. Control shading by sun position.
•
3D Raised Symbols: Raise point
symbols on stalks above the surface and out of the clutter in a 3D view.
Stalk height and style are set by attached attributes.
•
Edit Large Areas: Open a large 2D
display window for detailed editing over large areas of any composite view (for
example, over an entire LANDSAT image or an orthophoto quadrangle with DLG
overlays at full resolution).
•
Save/Restart Edit Sessions: Save a
layout for an edit or display group. Load the group later to reopen the
large edit or display session with all its components and settings.
•
Snap Between Layers: When lines are
created or edited, snap them to elements in any other vector layer.
•
Redo: Reverse the last undo operation
on any layer used in the edit session.
•
Multiple Buffer Zones: Create
multiple buffer zones in a single pass with correct topology. Specify
equal increment zones or enter a list of distances. New options for
handling island buffer zones are available.
•
Automatic Raster Combination: Combine
multiple rasters into a single raster object whose cells contain a unique value
for each combination of input cells. This process is equivalent to the
Automatic Raster Combination procedure in other products.
•
Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Use
a GeoFormula Wizard to define a new raster that is a weighted combination of
several input rasters and vectors.
•
Faster Object Creation/Selection:
Selecting objects or creating new objects in Project Files with 100s or 1000s of
objects is much faster.
•
Label Along Curves: Position a label
above, on, or below a selected curved line element. The jagged line
inflections or their spline can be used as a base line.
•
Save Sketches: Save field drawings, tracings, image interpretations, GPS
routes, … made for any layer in a free TNTatlas can be saved as CAD
objects for use in other TNT products.
•
Inspect Files: Display the contents of unknown geodata files to search
for header, layout, problems, or other characteristics.
•
Protecting Atlas Content: Specify during the creation of an atlas which TNT
products can use its contents. For example, a TNTatlas can be
distributed on CD that can only be used by TNTatlas, which has no export
features, thus protecting its contents.
•
Dynamic Atlas Links: Use database records to compose links from features
in an atlas that start other non-TNT applications via file names or access a
specific web site’s content by URLs. These links can be formed by
computed fields. They can be dynamic locations since the database can be
changed by other software independently from the atlas structure and elements.
•
TNTatlas for Windows: TNTatlas/W is a new native Windows
application for distribution with and viewing of atlases. It does not use
the X server. It can be used with exactly the same atlas as TNTatlas/X.
It can be internationalized by translating the TNT resource files. It
supports some Windows features not available in X, such as docking, quick
open,...
•
Real-Time 3D Simulation: TNTsim is a native Windows application
that provides real time 3D simulations (15 to 60 frames per second). Input
is from any Project File using a raster object for relief (an elevation layer)
while draping another raster object over it for overlay (an image layer).
Flight control is by joystick or keyboard.
•
Legends: Use a new color scale range legend for rasters in LegendView or
layouts. Mix text fonts, styles, and sizes in a legend. Add tabs for
multiple column legends.
•
MGRS: Select the Military Grid Reference System for coordinates input to
reposition a display view or for readout of the cursor position.
•
Movies: Use 30 new SML functions/class methods to write scripts to
generate MPEG or AVI movies frame-by-frame with dynamic inputs and flight paths.
•
TNTserver: TNTserver can now
evaluate, grade, and return results from fuzzy queries that have no exact match.
A client request for printing the atlas’s view can now return a convenient
HTML layout that can be printed, saved, and modified.
•
HTML-based TNTclient: This client has
the same functionality as the Java-based TNTclient. It is smaller and
faster for phone modem access. Its users can select from preprogrammed
queries stored on the general web server. It uses HTML for easy
construction of the forms (web pages) for user query input.
•
TNTclient: All TNTclients now handle
the return from fuzzy queries, support printing via HTML layouts, and permit
theme selection.
•
QuickGuides: 11 new QuickGuides are
available.
•
Getting Started Booklets: 4 new
Getting Started Booklets are available.
When MicroImages produces the TNT CDs for a particular
version (for example, V6.50) they contain authorizations for the registered
upgrades for each specific key. Simply install your products using the
normal procedure and begin using them immediately. You do not need
to contact MicroImages for any kind of authorization code.
You need to obtain an authorization code only if your TNT
upgrade was ordered after the CDs were produced for the desired version.
It is also important that you install your TNT product from
the CD to insure that all the correct components, drivers, modules, browser
types and versions, … are actually installed. There are now many
variants of Microsoft Windows products, editions, and patches (in many
combinations). Thus, moving a TNT product by merely copying the TNT
product folder is not reliable, as the management of the required Microsoft
libraries during installation has become complex and critical.
From the date of this MEMO, single processor or floating
licenses will be the two types of licenses available for the TNT professional
products.
MicroImages has stopped selling multi-user, single processor
TNT licenses.
Effective immediately the multi-user, single-processor
license is no longer available for the TNT professional products. This
license was used to permit a single computer to allow more than 1 remote user to
connect to it via the X server running on any other networked computers.
Each remote user/connection was able to start an independent copy of a TNT
product on that same, single computer. For example, a 3-user license would
permit 3 remote users to start up the X server and run 3 different copies of the
TNT product on a single computer to which the key was attached.
Multi-user, single-processor software products are now
historical and only work well on the big, expensive UNIX-based platforms that
could service many simultaneous users. Unfortunately, the lower cost of
this kind of TNT license attracted people to buy it and attempt to run it on a
low-cost desktop computer with minimum memory, a single processor, and an
operating system not designed for such tasking. Floating licenses are more
expensive but are much more flexible when used for multiple users.
Since this is simply a licensing change, MicroImages can and
will continue to issue new upgrades for clients who have multi-user,
single-processor licenses.
Key
Tags.
For the last month, all new and replacement TNT product keys
have been shipped with a new key chain attached. This 10 centimeter piece
of light chain attaches a heavy duty plastic luggage identification tag to the
key. This tag identifies your product, key, ownership, and shows MicroImages’
contact information. The new, small USB and parallel keys represent your
considerable investment and can be easily misplaced or lost. If you can
leave the plastic ID tag attached, it will help you and others identify the
presence and value of your product. If you routinely move your key from
machine to machine, lend it around, or take it home, these key chains will help
you keep track of who has your product.
USB
keys.
The new USB combination keys programmed for your use with
Mac OS and Windows are quite convenient and reliable. If you wish to
upgrade your parallel key to a USB key, this can be done for a cost of US$100,
which includes return shipment by DHL.
Parallel
Keys.
New beta drivers for the parallel port key for Linux were
provided to MicroImages by their manufacturer just after V6.50 was finished.
The principle change in these new drivers is better support for their use on
LINUX computers using multiple processors and the latest kernel (V2.4).
MicroImages is working with these drivers at this time. Contact software
support for further information if you are affected.
Mac.
Mac OS
9.1.
V6.40 and V6.50 have required no alterations to run with Mac
OS 9.1. No obvious changes can be seen between 9.0 and 9.1. It
appears that 9.1 was issued primarily to fix errors and to insure its operation
in classic mode under Mac OS X.
It has just been discovered that using any version of the
TNT products under 9.1 requires that you install and select the extension for
Speech Recognition (English). If you do not use this extension, your TNT
windows will behave erratically. Please note that this must be the English
version of Speech Recognition. For example, it will not help to merely
turn on the equivalent extension provided with the Japanese Mac OS 9.1.
Important Note! You must have and turn on the
Speech Recognition extension to operate any V6.50 TNT product under Mac OS
9.1.
At this time MicroImages does not know why this odd
extension is needed for proper TNT operation. Please simply use it and/or
check with software support for any further information on this weird situation.
Mac OS
9.2.
MicroImages has experimented with the alpha version of Mac
OS 9.2 code named Moonlight (V9.2a4). The TNT products run as usual under
V9.2 but still require the English Speech Recognition extension to be turned on.
Mac OS X.
MicroImages has tested V6.50 of the TNT products running in
classic mode under Mac OS X and experienced no additional difficulties.
Classic mode is where you also install Mac OS 9.1 or 9.2 and use it from within
Mac OS X. If you are planning to run TNT products in this fashion, please
use only Mac OS 9.1 or 9.2 and V6.50 of your TNT product.
MicroImages is just beginning to experiment with Mac OS X to
determine when, how, and if it will be supported by the TNT products. If
the TNT products become available as X server-based applications under Mac OS X
before the release of V6.60, it will be announced on microimages.com.
Why couldn’t Apple simply use the number 10 instead of
Roman numeral X? Their use of X will be very confusing to everyone in
their materials promoting its UNIX core when they do not provide any X server
support. One can only surmise that they deliberately intend to confuse us
for some marketing objective. However, it will be doubling confusing to
those who use TNT or MI/X products!
Identifying
Sloppy Extensions.
Almost all special problems experienced on a specific Mac,
including those with TNTmips, can be traced back to a bad extension installed by
some 3rd party software or Apple. Typically, a software vendor will
install an extension that has been tested with a few popular programs and find
that it conflicts with an extension provided by some other 3rd party. A
recent test installation of a wireless PC card on this Mac added 4 extensions
and a control panel. The Apple extension “Sound” is currently turned
off on this 9.1 based Mac as it is known to produce erratic behavior in the
desktop in combination with some other unknown extension.
MicroImages does not patch your Mac OS by installing any
extensions. However, the TNT products do heavily utilize system resources that
can also cause conflict with sloppy 3rd party extensions. In every case
encountered at MicroImages to date, the extension at fault has subsequently been
repaired by its vendor as other applications also conflict with it.
It does take detective work and patience to track down an
extension conflict. There are now hundreds of extensions, it takes
considerable time to restart, the test illustrating the problem must be
performed, and thus isolating the bad extensions is slow. Adobe has the
same problems with their big applications and their following report is very
useful. It presents the procedures they recommend to trace down the
offending extensions so they can be removed until repaired or, if needed,
confined to a special boot up mode. See http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/497a.htm
for the report Disabling Extensions and
Isolating Extension Conflicts in Mac OS 9.x or 8.x.
HTML-based
TNTclient.
The new HTML client has been carefully tested at each
development stage with various operating systems. It functions smoothly and
almost identically on a Mac or Windows with Internet Explorer or Netscape.
LINUX.
Red Hat
Kernel 2.4.
MicroImages has installed and used V6.50 of the TNT products
on Red Hat 7.1, which was just released in late April for V2.4 of the LINUX
kernel. V6.50 also runs as before with the previous versions of the LINUX
kernel (back to at least 2.0.36).
SUSE
Kernel 2.4.
MicroImages has installed and used V6.50 of the TNT products
on SUSE 7.1, which was released several months ago for V2.4 of the LINUX kernel.
V6.50 also runs as before with the previous versions of the LINUX kernel (back
to at least 2.0.36).
Dual
Booting
You may wish to install a version of LINUX on the same
platform as Windows. Information on this procedure can be found in the
following article.
Installing Windows and Linux on a single machine is much
easier than it used to be, but it's not quite a no-brainer yet. 2 November
2000. PC Magazine. pp. 102-104.
You will find this
useful article on the web at zdnet.com/pcmag/stories/solutions/0,8224,2643483,00.html.
Once you can dual boot, you can boot into either your
Windows or LINUX operating systems. This will enable you to experiment
with the LINUX performance of your TNT product and support of your peripherals
while still completing your production work and using other software in Windows.
You can then learn LINUX and sort out any legacy issues as time permits.
You can only use this dual booting with parallel TNT product
keys. Unfortunately USB support is only unofficially and incompletely
provided at this time by LINUX and drivers for your legacy peripheral devices
are unlikely to be available. If you are using a USB key for your TNT
product you could install TNTlite on the LINUX side. Remember, TNT Project
Files are transparent and can be interchanged and used in either version of
TNTmips.
Buyout News.
ENVI and its parent, Research Systems Inc,. were purchased
by Kodak several months ago.
ERDAS was just purchased 100% at the end of April by Leica
Geosystems headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland. Leica Geosystems also
purchased the balance of LH (Leica Helava) from BAE Systems. Leica
Geosystems is one of several different Leica International companies.
Details on this purchase can be found at http://www.leica-geosystems.com/investor/news/erdas_lh.htm.
One common thread in the 2 purchases is that Leica Geosystems has a long history
of manufacturing surveying and analog photogrammetric equipment. Their
product mix can be reviewed at www.leica-geosystems.com and is strongly oriented
toward data collection. Both of these new purchases brought Leica suites
of expensive, complex soft photogrammetry products that dovetail with their
current product mix.
ENVI and ERDAS now gain access to much larger marketing and
sales organizations. In any given nation, the products of these larger
parent companies have many competing sales locations. There is a tendency
for large organizations to institutionalize the smaller companies they buy.
These purchases leave many questions to be answered by future events. For
example, what does this mean for the existing dealers for these smaller
companies that have often enjoyed at least defacto exclusive status in a nation?
What will be the future of the long term relationship between ESRI and ERDAS
under this new ownership?
Special Academic
Licenses.
MicroImages has set up a new program for institution-wide
academic use of all the TNT professional products including the TNTserver.
The details on this program for use of these products in teaching geospatial
analysis are described in a MicroImages MEMO entitled Special Academic
License for TNT Products dated 3 January 2001. This MEMO has been sent
to all MicroImages clients at institutions that might be engaged in the teaching
of geospatial analysis. These materials were also provided to Micro-
Images’ Authorized Dealers for their translation and distribution. They
can be reviewed by anyone at http://www.microimages.com/prices/sal.htm.
New Dealers.
Soon after the shipment of V6.50 is complete, MicroImages
will begin to aggressively campaign to recruit new dealers from within our
client base and elsewhere. This activity will focus on selected nations
and upon disciplines not currently well covered. We would be happy to have
your input regarding any potential dealer in your nation.
New Features.
Virtual Desktop.
Everyone has spent time with large paper maps and photo
prints. We like to use them, hate to fold them, and have lots of trouble
finding or storing them. We like to find the right map and study how we
will get from here to there and what we will see along the way. We make
good and extensive use of the spatial context in the large, complete, detailed
printed map or image. When we look at the same material in digital form
through the tiny porthole of our monitor, we lose the overall context and the
interrelationships between features. As the saying goes, “we can not
see the forest because of the trees.”
Someday, in the not too distant future, we will have
large-sized, high resolution digital displays. They may be flexible and
simply rolled out of a tube like a window shade. At that time we will
regain the ability to overview and quickly study our geospatial materials.
Alas, these devices are likely to be expensive at first unless driven by other
user demands such as digital wall pictures, digital simulated windows, or some
other wide commercial use. With the virtual desktop released in V6.50,
and earlier changes in the TNT products, the X server provides the ability to
use larger and larger displays and multiple monitors to gain back some of the
value of viewing in context. However, for the time being, we must still
pan our monitor, our real view, from area to area. Since this is
essentially instant with MicroImages’ new virtual desktop, some of the value
of the context presented in large maps and images is retrieved.
This is a feature I wish MicroImages could have brought to
you years earlier. Until recently you just didn’t have the processing
power and resources to support this approach in your desktop machine.
Now you do, and now you have it. You can use it to load whole
orthophotos, maps, LANDSAT scenes, or complex overlays into your new, large
View window and instantly scroll your real view to any area in it. You
could already conveniently and quickly move to, or zoom up on, an area of your
geodata using TNT’s pyramid and tiling schemes and optimized vectors.
But, this was not of much help in the editor when you wanted to draw a large
polygon spanning several real views at a zoom/resolution suitable for the
required spatial detail.
There is some controversy at MicroImages about whether and
how you will use this new capability. We almost installed the TNT
products with a large virtual desktop—in other words, an X server larger
than your Windows display settings. In the end we decided to wait until
V6.60 for this.
Your interaction with, and use of, large View windows
still needs some polishing and automation. At the moment we await your
reactions before improving and streamlining this new visualization concept.
For example, you may simply want to set up a display mode where every object
you select automatically enlarges the View window to fit the object’s extent
at a set scale. We already have several similar ideas, and perhaps you
have some as well.
Geospatial Visualization.
Anyone doing serious geospatial analysis is trained, or
rapidly becomes experienced with visualizing how things look and interrelate
in a 2D view. You read topographic maps, study topography, read
airphotos and recognize trees from the crown shape, view LANDSAT images and
recognize land cover types, and use many other similar geospatial skills.
However, often the people you work for have other interests and do not have
this training or experience. 3D visualization of your complex spatial
materials can help them understand your results and explanations.
You already had several different ways of visualizing
complex geospatial materials in the TNT products: 2D, static 3D, MPEG movies,
TNTatlas, and TNTclient. All these use the same Project File geodata
storage system. V6.50 introduces significant improvements in all these
approaches and adds TNTsim as a new procedure.
•
2D View windows can now be much larger and viewed to scale.
•
3D View windows can now be much larger and polygon shapes can be extruded into
these views with structure, color, and shading. 3D pinmaps can be
displayed above the surface and connected to it by stalks.
•
MPEG movies can be generated by SML scripts permitting variable geodata,
sensor inputs, and paths.
•
A faster, smaller, TNTatlas for Windows has been released.
•
TNTsim has been added to fly through sites using a joystick or the keyboard.
All of these tools will continue to receive improvements.
None of these are perfect, but they are designed specifically to work with
your geospatial materials. One of the special requirements of these
tools in geospatial analysis is going to be how well we can tie them together
in the future. Some of the important interactions are already in place.
•
2D views can be geolocked and provide tracking cursors.
•
Use a tool in a 2D view to set the viewpoint of a 3D view.
•
A 3D vector can be followed as a flight path for an MPEG movie.
Other interconnections will need to be added to provide
important synergy for the visualization of geospatial materials.
•
A common flight path could be recorded and used from a real-time TNTsim, an MPEG
movie, and elsewhere.
•
Trace the flight path of a TNTsim on a 2D view.
•
Choose a position and view in a TNTsim to spawn a much higher resolution 3D
poster view.
•
Automatically create a real time simulation for a vector path, such as the
optimal network path between 2 points.
•
Request a 3D view in an online or CD atlas.
I am sure you will get other ideas as you work with the
current visualization processes, so let us know about them.
Flight Simulator.
As you begin to introduce simulation and a joystick into
your geospatial products, you might benefit by acquiring a copy of Microsoft’s
Flight Simulator. It is a product that has been around for many years, is
very low priced, and is built upon their DirectX. Learning to fly with a
joystick does take some practice, and this is a good way to get it. What
Flight Simulator has to offer that is unique is the performance characteristics
and instrumentation of many airframes. TNTsim is not an airplane
simulation and lets you violate the rules of aerodynamics. Perhaps it
would be useful if one could use Flight Simulator to fly a particular aircraft
or other set of constraints, save the path, and then have TNTsim or an SML
MPEG script repeat the path with your geodata. Alas, as yet we have not
determined if and how Flight Simulator saves a flight path and its parameters.
Maybe some of your have?
Wavelet Compression.
Background.
Several months ago the previously reported legal contest
between LizardTech (MrSID compression) and Earth Resource Mapper (ECW
compression) was settled. The following is a portion of a report on this
topic: ERM, LizardTech – Summary Judgment as reported in Geospatial
Solutions, January 2001, page 12.
“The legal wrangling between Earth Resource Mapping (www.ermapper.com)
came to an abrupt end in December when a federal court issued a partial
summary judgment ruling that Earth Resource Mapping’s Enhanced Compression
Wavelet (ECW) technology does not infringe on LizardTech’s MrSID (multiresolution
seamless image database) patent.”
“The United States District Court for the Western
District in Seattle, Washington, granted ERM’s motion for the ruling.
The ruling follows the October issuing of a Notice of Allowance – an
indication of patent approval – for ECW technology by the United States
Patent and Trademark Office.”
JPEG
2000.
MicroImages has been waiting for a resolution of this
matter and the introduction of a public domain approach via the wavelet
compression standard JPEG 2000 (also called JP2). The JPEG 2000 specification
was adopted and issued a year ago but no viable libraries have yet emerged
that could be licensed. There are additional extensions of the initial
specifications to be approved as part of an additional level of
standardization. These have to do with television applications and have
little to do with our applications.
MrSID
and ECW.
MicroImages has decided, since the court did not, to punt
and support both existing formats. Effort has already started to add the
capability to use MrSID files. Next will come ECW. Both should be
supported in V6.60 of the TNT products.
Be very clear that these initial steps have to do with
using files in these formats in TNTmips (display, import, …), not creating
them (export)! Both companies have marketing strategies that allow you
to have and use materials in these formats, but require large per unit license
fees if you wish to write out your images in their formats. One strategy
that might work in the TNT products would be for MicroImages to provide
the interface (the API) needed to use their compression libraries. You
could then license whichever one you choose directly from them to export to
that format.
Avoid Conflation.
What Is
It?
Now a word about conflation. Conflation, like
inflation, is easy to cause and gives you lots of trouble later on.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines it as 1. The process or result
of fusing items into one entity; fusion; amalgamation. 2.a. the
combination of two variant texts into a new one. b. the text resulting from
such a combination. Conflation is what you get when you try to merge
2 vector objects from different sources that contain many common features.
Can You
Catch It?
As you create and edit more complex geodata layers you
will learn the hard way about conflation, the nemesis of vector-based GIS and
its topological requirements. It is encountered in many different
situations, all of which result from combining layers with what are supposed
to be common features. The lines making
up the elements of the same features common to both objects will each cross at
many points causing 1000s of sliver polygons. The attributes of the
identical feature in each object may not have the same fields and may change
attributes at different positions in the line.
Can It
Be Cured?
Your problems of
conflation can result from many sources and often can only be resolved with
considerable effort using a complex spatial data editor, of which there are
few. Because every serious conflation
problem is different, there is no way to devise rules to automatically resolve
the many topological issues involved.
Carefully plan out how to use the TNT tools to preprocess
your objects to avoid conflation when they are combined.
Queries on attributes can be crafted to suppress lines
from 1 of the objects. Before combination, new objects can be prepared
for each original object using a series of queries that suppress features that
will eventually result in conflation problems (for example, suppress the road
network from the older object). Of course, this can be done with a more
complex query during the combination. However, it is often easier to
think out, test, and then apply a series of queries to filter down your
objects prior to their combination. If you make a combination that
yields many conflation problems, rethink what could have been done to
preprocess the input objects to avoid them. Starting over to filter the
input objects may take less time than pushing on to resolve your new
object’s conflation issues.
Once you have done all you can in advance and made your
combination, there are filters in our Spatial Data Editor that can be applied
to resolve common cases. More can be added as repeated or generic cases
are encountered and reported. These can be used to take care of a large
number of the problems, but in the end you still have to manually check over
your results and fix the special cases with the edit tools.
What
About Serious Cases?
The pan-by-query capabilities in the Editor can be very
useful to help you find, inspect, and fix the special cases that only your
human computer can resolve. This is a very useful tool that you should
understand how to use if you are doing a lot of editing. You can find
more information on this topic in your Getting Started Booklet entitled Building
and Using Queries and the online Reference Manual. This tool will pan to
individual locations of possible problems, so that you can use the manual or
automated tools to resolve them. If the vector object is overlaid upon a
reference image, such as an orthophoto, it will provide the information that
your human computer needs to determine how to resolve the specific case.
Almost .5 meter
Imagery.
“EarthWatch
Alters QuickBird 2 Plans. Satellite Gets 61-Centimeter Resolution.
by James Bates. Space NEWS, March 26, 2001, front page story.”
[extractions from this article are provided below]
“By
lowering the planned orbit of its QuickBird 2 satellite, EarthWatch Inc.,
Longmont, Colo. aims to offer images sharp enough to distinguish objects as
small as 61 centimeters across [.6 meters], a capability its competitors will be
unable to match for at least three years, the company officials said.”
“QuickBird
2 also is equipped to take color images, and the lower orbital altitude will
improve the resolution of those pictures from 4 to 2.5 meters Satterlee said.”
“The
key to EarthWatch’s new plan is to place QuickBird 2 in a 450-kilometer rather
than a 600-kilometer orbit as previously planned, Satterlee said.”
“The
lower altitude is not expected to reduce QuickBird 2’s projected life span of
five to seven years, Satterlee said. Placing the satellite in a low enough
orbit to collect half-meter resolution data would have cut its lifetime by more
than half, he said. The atmospheric drag on satellites increases as their
altitude decreases.”
“The
U.S. government recently gave Space Imaging and EarthWatch permission to launch
satellites capable of taking pictures with half-meter resolution.”
“QuickBird
2 is now slated for launch in October aboard Boeing Co.’s highly reliable
Delta 2 rocket.”
Soft
Photogrammetry.
Updating
image and vector databases with orthoimages and 3D visualization are becoming
popular applications of geospatial systems. Unfortunately, free or
low-cost, high resolution orthoimages used in these processes are only available
“off the shelf” for limited areas of the world. As a result, many of
you are looking for a means to produce these base materials from some low-cost
input stereo images that are already available to you, or from more complex,
high-cost, specialized imaging systems (for example, hyperspectral devices).
MicroImages
is receiving questions regarding the extraction of DEMs from a wide variety of
imaging devices and the use of DEMs to correct the unique geometry of these
source images. Unfortunately, there is no inexpensive, casual approach to
your desired result hiding in TNTmips or, to the best of our knowledge, in any
other competitive general purpose, low-cost, desktop geospatial analysis
software package.
The
extraction of high quality DEMs and accurate orthoimages require:
1)
access to many technical details about the imaging system,
2)
costly special purpose software designed specifically for that sensor, and
3)
very specialized technical training for the application.
Every
single imaging device, with the possible exception of a standard calibrated
airphoto camera, has its own geometry, distortions, ephemeris characteristics,
…
Many
different sensing and analysis approaches are being experimented with and tested
for the production of DEM and orthoimages. As a result, each of you need
and request a highly technical solution tailored to fit your unique imagery.
In addition, you would like it to operate nearly automatically with a minimum of
training and effort. MicroImages has gradually learned that low-cost,
generic software approaches are not going to work well for this kind of
situation. It represents a type of software application where the
technical approach must be carefully tailored to a single or relatively unique
situation. This is why the price of professional software for this purpose
remains very high. As a result, the best solution to the extraction of
DEMs and orthophoto production is going to come from the manufacturer of that
system (aircraft or satellite). In fact, their image or other acquisition
system will be measured by how well they produce DEMs or orthoimages.
While they may not be willing or able to produce or sell these products cheaply,
the clear trend is that you will buy or contract for the best products of these
kinds directly from the manufacturer/operator of the acquisition system and
their authorized technical partners.
The
purpose of TNTmips is to perform geospatial analysis. It will not be able
to assist you in reaching your specialized photogrammetric objectives to extract
DEMs or produce orthophotos from a wide variety of images, except where your
objectives can be addressed via the SML or TNTsdk extensions. There
may be other specialized soft photogrammetry products that can assist you in
your application. However, good generalized solutions to this class of
applications are oriented toward production work and are expensive.
Low-cost products that claim to provide generic application to many sensor
systems should be carefully reviewed with skepticism. MicroImages does not
do production work or use any such products and, thus, is not in a position to
advise you as to which soft photogrammetry product to purchase.
CIR/RGB/Multispectral
Camera.
Introduction.
Personal
collection of color-infrared images has long been a goal of many MicroImages
clients. This has been especially true recently as precision farming
applications expand and use CIR images to estimate canopy biomass and detect
anomalies. Agricultural images must be collected at the right place and at
multiple times during the growing season. CIR film has proven hard to
obtain, hard to properly expose, and difficult to reliably process.
Precision farming applications can not be met by current satellite systems and
mapping camera programs. Multiband camera systems (usually with 4 cameras)
have been hard to accurately co-register, but are gradually improving and
provide a sensor for this kind of image acquisition.
New Option.
A
single lens CIR camera using internal beam splitters/filters is now available
for use in an aircraft for direct, on-board digital recording of CIR images.
This is the DuncanTech model MS3100 3-CCD Camera that has a resolution of 1392
by 1040 pixels (see www.duncantech.com/area_scan_cameras.htm). The
spectral range of the CCDs used in this camera is about 400 to 900 nm.
Filters can be swapped in and out to convert the camera’s operation to natural
color or other spectral band combinations in this interval. Its images are
captured in-flight using a small computer equipped with a frame grabber board.
For this card the PC must have a PCI bus slot, which eliminates almost all
portables from consideration. Sample CIR images taken by this camera,
including some agricultural scenes, can be viewed at www.duncantech.com/Gallery_Index.htm.
Images
can be collected by the MS3100 at a maximum rate of 7.5 frames per second.
However, practical applications acquiring these images in a continuous fashion
require that they be offloaded and stored as collected. A cost effective
method would be to use IDE hard drives installed in plug-in trays (US$20 per
tray) and swap in 80 Gb hard drives. DuncanTech has noted that using a
hard drive to record the images would produce a practical frame acquisition rate
of 1 image per second. Since an uncompressed MS3100 image would be about 4
Mb in size, each 80 Gb drive at US$250 could store 20,000 frames. Under
these circumstances, it would be practical to simply leave all original,
uncompressed frames on the removable drives in trays as an archive copy.
DuncanTech
has indicated that a complete MS3100 camera system, including their recommended
frame grabber board and capture software, would be about US$14,000. This
does not include the computer or the mounting framework on the aircraft.
Since MicroImages does not collect any primary geodata, this camera is being
brought to your attention based only upon its paper specifications and their
sample CIR images. At least one TNTmips site outside the United States has
just taken delivery on an MS3100 for use in agricultural applications and their
reactions will be reported in a future MEMO. In the meantime, their name
and contact information will be provided upon direct request for those who wish
to make earlier personal contact with them.
Significant
new features are being released in the Windows version of the X server provided
with V6.50. These include a virtual desktop using an X window bigger than
your physical display, direct support of TrueType fonts, and support of the
X11R6.4 standard (V6.40 was X11R5).
Background.
The
X server used with the TNT products has also been sold separately for general
public use under the name MI/X 2.0. Starting on 4 May 2001, MicroImages
began distributing a new MI/X 3.0 with similar features to those described here.
MI/X 3.0 can be downloaded by anyone and tried free with their applications for
15 days. For several years there have been an average of 1250 trial
downloads of MI/X 2.0 per week from microimages.com and uncounted others from
many mirror sites that also provide access to it.
Many
who download MI/X do not understand what an X server is and how, if at all, to
apply it in their situation. As a result, only a small percentage continue
on after the trial to license and purchase its continued use for US$25.
However, this worldwide, wide-scale use and experimentation with MI/X has
identified weaknesses, principally in the area of its compatibility with a few
other popular X-based application programs and its direct setup for these
applications. Based upon that input and your comments, a significant
number of advancements have been added to V6.50 of our X server for use with
Microsoft Windows.
Our
separate licensing of MI/X at such a low cost may appear to be of incidental
importance to you. However, its minor economic value to MicroImages has
provided resources and the incentive to make significant improvements in our X
server including some important changes related to its use with the TNT
products. The following introduces the significant new features for use
with V6.50 and others are planned.
*
Virtual Desktop.
What is it?
The
concept of a virtual desktop has been added in V6.50 for use with all X-based
TNT products running under Windows (for TNTmips only, this does require display
level M50). To set up a virtual desktop you can now set the size of your X
server to be much bigger than your monitor(s) real view. The attached color
plate entitled Large Workspace and View Windows introduces the basic
features of your new TNT virtual desktop. TNT windows and dialogs can be
opened in this large workspace and positioned anywhere within it. Display
windows, both 2D and 3D, can now be much larger than your real view. For
example, you can open a 2D View window to any size desired (for example, 4000 by
4000 pixels) using Options / Resize to… on its menu bar to specify its height
and width in pixels. It will then immediately resize and redisplay this large
composite view. This new size will also become the new default size for
that Display window. How much larger you can make your View window(s)
for reliable operation depends upon the available real memory of your computer.
Update! Subsequent to the duplication of the CDs
for V6.50, MicroImages has added the capability to automatically enlarge any
2D View window in your virtual desktop to present a view matching a map scale
you select.
How is it used?
You
select the size and color depth of your real view within Microsoft Windows
according to the available display hardware (single or dual monitors, screen
size, desired text and icon size,…). Now you can set the size of your
virtual desktop to be larger than this real view in a new tabular X server
preferences panel. If you do this, when you start your X-based TNT product
a small synoptic view of your workspace and its contents is provided. This
new Workspace Overview window is automatically inserted into your real
monitor’s view.
The
Workspace Overview window is the tool used to manage your interface components
in a big, virtual desktop or workspace viewed through the porthole of your real
view. It is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Workspace
Overview Window. It always stays within the area of your real view to
remain accessible. The Overview Window can also be moved to either monitor
in a dual monitor system. All your TNT windows and dialogs are represented
in thumbnail fashion in this small window in their relative positions and sizes.
The outline of your real view of your 1 or multiple monitors is also inserted as
a red rectangle in its relative position. Use your left mouse button to
move this red outline to any new position in the Overview Window. This
will move your real view to that position in your workspace and instantly show
its contents. You can also double click the left button with the mouse on
any component to center the real view on it. Scroll bars at the edges of
the real view can be used to reposition it in your workspace. You can also
scroll the real view by holding down the left mouse button or scroll lock key
and moving your mouse to the appropriate edge of the real view.
You
move TNT interface components (windows and dialogs) around in your real view
with the left button on the mouse. You can now also move them around just
as easily using the Workspace Overview window. Simply hold down the shift
key, select a thumbnail in the Workspace Overview window, and drag that
component to any new position within the workspace. In this fashion you
can even move interface components partially off the edge of your workspace to
better organize it. If you have a lot of interface components open, it may
be difficult to identify them in this small synoptic window from only their
thumbnail representations. Positioning the mouse over any thumbnail
representation will provide a DataTip to identify it. If you forget how
the Workspace Overview window works, use its “?” icon and view the help
screens.
All
of the components of your virtual desktop are built and stored in true size in
memory including the contents of your large View windows. Thus, any
movement of any of them in the workspace or movement of your real view to them
by any mechanism is nearly instantaneous. The attached color plate
entitled Large Workspace and View Windows illustrates the use of the new
virtual desktop concept.
What
resources are used?
Creating
a large X window to define your virtual desktop does not directly use any more
of your PC resources. It is how you use this workspace that determines the
memory and processor resources it will need. The large X server is merely
a graphical construct, in other words, it is merely a means of defining and
managing a work area. Dialogs and the other graphically generated TNT
interface components require no more memory in a large workspace than in V6.40,
where your monitor(s) and Microsoft Windows setting defined your workspace.
The size and number of your 2D and 3D views will be the factors that determine
the memory and processor speed required for their use in your large workspace.
Memory.
Your
workspace provides an instantaneous, real view into any portion of each 2D and
3D display window open in it. To provide this instantaneous repositioning,
the view area of each View window is constructed in real memory to the size you
select for it. If you are using the recommended 24-bit or 16-bit color
mode for Microsoft Windows, your composite view area in each View window will
utilize 7 bytes times the number of pixels it contains if any component requires
transparency effects or 4 times the number of pixels if nothing is transparent.
For example, a display window with a view area of 2000 by 2000 pixels using
transparency effects will need 28 Mb of real memory (2000 x 2000 x 7 bytes). If
you are still using an 8-bit color mode for Microsoft Windows, then the view
area in each of your View windows will use 4 times the number of pixels with or
without transparency effects. The number of layers, datatype, color,
reprojection, and other such parameters do not change the memory required for
your view. The larger collar area (frame, icons, legends, scroll bars, …) of a
large View window adds only a proportionally small requirement for additional
real memory. An attached color plate entitled Setting Up Your Workspace Size
provides conservative guidelines for sizing a workspace for platforms with 64
Mb, 128 Mb, or 256 Mb of real memory installed.
Processing.
The
time required to present a composite view in a TNT View window is shown to you
at the bottom of the window. It is related to the types of objects used,
where they are stored, processor speed, and many other factors. You
already have a good grasp of how well your system, new or old, handles your
typical TNT displays, fast or slow. You can now create a large composite
view in a display window in your virtual workspace. The time to create
this larger view will be proportional by area to the time required to create it
in a smaller view. For example, you have been displaying a real view of a
500 by 500 pixels section of an 8-bit black and white image in V6.40 in 1
second. As an initial estimate, displaying 2000 by 2000 pixels from this
same object in the virtual workspace might take 4 seconds. It might also
take less since the 1 second time reported is rounded up to 1 second and there
is some fixed time needed to create any view. Once this view has been
created, you can move around and view any portion of it as fast as you can
manipulate the controls provided.
Impact of
virtual memory?
The
above example of 28 Mb of real memory for a 2000 by 2000 pixel view will not
pose a problem on a system with 128 Mb of real memory unless you are running
many other concurrent applications. However, if you make your View
window(s) too large, they may not fit or stay in the available real memory.
This will cause slow and erratic operation and will make your virtual desktop
difficult to use. Keep in mind that your View window(s) may temporarily
capture real memory by causing Microsoft Windows to swap out other competing
activities to virtual memory. Later these other applications will be
allowed by Windows to reclaim that real memory. A View window that is
forced to use virtual memory is not likely to crash, but you will have to sit
there and wait for it to recover real memory and catch up, or to cancel the TNT
process and restart it. Micro-Images has not yet devised a method to
protect the memory used by View windows from virtualizing. If memory could
be easily protected by an executing application program, all developers would do
this and the value of virtual memory would soon disappear.
Caution! Setting your X server too large may cause
its operation to go virtual (use virtual memory) and react slowly and
erratically.
Microsoft
Windows will not report the amount of real memory available. Thus, at
present it is not possible in the creation of a View window to determine how
much real memory is always going to be available during its subsequent use.
As a result, it has not yet been possible to warn you when you set a View
window(s) too large relative to your other potential activities. For the
time being, as a rule of thumb, do not set up a View window(s) where the sum of
all the pixels in the view times 7 exceeds 50% of your real memory if you have
128 Mb of memory or less. If you have more real memory than 128 Mb, you
can experiment with using proportionally more than 50% of it for your view
pixels since the memory needed for Microsoft Windows and your other applications
may not increase as more real memory is added. As you work with the
virtual desktop and report your results, future versions of the TNT products
will incorporate improved methods to assist you in managing the allocation of
memory to it. Adding more real memory is also cheaper. PC100 and
PC133 memory used in almost all new Pentium/Windows-based PCs is currently about
US$35 per 128 Mb SIMM, US$80 for a 256 Mb SIMM, and decreasing weekly.
Expand! Adding memory to your TNTmips platform for
a virtual workspace will increase your productivity.
Setting Up
a Virtual Desktop.
The
characteristics of your X server, including its size, can be set by using the
tab panels in the new X server preferences dialog. You can open this
dialog via the new X server icon, which has been added to your system tray at
the right side of the task bar. You can also open this dialog by choosing
Preferences from the menu provided by the X server icon in the upper left corner
of the title bar in your real view or by choosing Support / Setup / X server
from the main menu. The attached color plate entitled MicroImages X
Server Preferences illustrates the setup options for the X server.
Screen
Setup.
Proportional
Desktops. The Screen panel is
used to set up the X server size and, thus, your workspace. If you want
your workspace to be some convenient multiple of your real view, use the
Workspace Size dropdown menu and select from: Double screen width, Double screen
height, or Double height and width. Screen refers here to the size in
pixels you have set for your real view of your monitor in Microsoft Windows.
Thus, if you choose “Double screen width,” your workspace will behave very
similarly with 1 monitor to what was previously achieved by dual monitors.
This choice is safe for systems with only 64 Mb of memory. If you already
have dual monitors you might want to try the choice “Double screen height,”
which will double the height on both monitors. If you no longer wish to
use a virtual desktop, select “Full screen size” and your X server size will
be set to match your real view area as in V6.40. The attached color plate
entitled Setting Up Your Workspace Size illustrates some useful
layouts of your virtual workspace for various real memory situations.
User
Defined Desktop. When “User
defined” is selected in this panel, you simply fill in the pixel height and
width required for your workspace.
Other.
The Workspace Overview window can be closed just as with any other window.
Usually, you will not do this. However, this might be occasionally
required such as when you want to take a snapshot of your real view without this
window. Selecting the option “Show Overview Window” will make it
reappear when the Preferences dialog box is closed. You can also reopen
this window with the Overview option on the menu exposed by the X server icon in
the menu bar. The color of the background area can also be set on this
panel.
Measure
Setup.
Accurate
uses of the TNT products are based upon using carefully georeferenced objects.
The Measure tab panel can be used to calibrate the pixel size on your monitor
for direct physical measurements and to display views to a selected screen
scale. A display of an entire map or composite image can now be opened to
any scale in your workspace based upon its pixel size. If you also wish it
to be presented in the real view on your monitor at that scale you will need to
calibrate your monitor. If you merely select the size of your monitor,
your real view area can be estimated and an approximate calibration applied.
If you wish to accurately calibrate your real view for “to scale” viewing,
then you will need to measure the actual height and width of the image display
area of your monitor (the maximum pixel height and width) and enter these
dimensions in this panel together with their unit of measure.
Other.
An
Other tab panel presents some operational parameters. At least 2
additional panels will appear for those using MI/X 3.0 independently from the
TNT products. These panels are used to set IP addresses, select and setup
a window manager, contact a server, and other activities related to the generic
use of X as a remote client.
Restart! You must restart the X server to apply
most changes in the Preferences dialog.
*
TrueType.
The
V6.40 X server supported BDF fonts for its interface and TrueType and the older
outline fonts were used for layouts. The V6.50 X server supports the
direct use of TrueType fonts (TT) in its user interface. Now all aspects
of the TNT products can use TT fonts: text editor, layouts, databases,
everywhere. You can still use BDF fonts for the interface, but TT fonts are much
more widely available in many languages, sizes, and styles. The revised
Interface Font List Selection dialog now permits you to select any TT font from
all those installed for use with Microsoft Windows applications on your
computer.
Multiple
language support was adopted early for use with non-English languages on
centrally managed UNIX platforms. BDF fonts were developed as part of these
activities to support the use of multiple and 2-byte languages. However,
accuracy in the representation of a specific language and its aesthetic
qualities was not considered critical for these early scientific, professional,
and big business computer uses. Applications that did result in the
preparation of public access materials in a language (for example in newspaper
layout and production) used expensive custom solutions. Under those
earlier primitive conditions special abridged computer forms of languages
evolved (for example, simplified Chinese, simplified Arabic, Indian encoding
ISCII93, …). These computer-adapted language presentations could be read
by the general public, but were tolerated as computer-related nuisances.
Widespread
worldwide use of personal computers created a demand for much better language
management. Today computer users working in any language require that the
computer-generated origin of their printed products can not be detected by the
use of abridged fonts and styles. This has resulted in the adoption of
UNICODE as the character encoding scheme for the Windows, Mac, and LINUX
operating systems. Their general integration and support of UNICODE is
just nearing completion with the introduction of their second generation
operating systems such as Mac OS X and Windows 2000, and soon Windows XP.
Earlier versions of operating systems such as Mac OS and Windows gradually
eliminated older 1-byte per character encoding schemes from your view, but still
retained their use internally (for example, by using ASCII for DOS).
Completing their conversion has resulted in better UNICODE support, improved TT
fonts for each language, better keyboard entry methods (and eventually better
voice and handwriting recognition), and so on. Soon operating systems and
application software will enter into a new 3rd digital text evolution to support
very high resolution flat displays, digital paper, ebooks, and related
technological advances.
Improved
multiple language support by your operating system has enabled continued
improvements in the language support in the X-based TNT products. MicroImages
previously introduced TT fonts for use within TNT processes such as map layouts.
As more translations of interfaces of the TNT products were prepared, it became
clear that the few older BDF fonts for the X server were not complete or
suitable for use in some languages or did not exist at all. Those that
could be found for a language were missing necessary characters, were not
commonly available, provided no choices of styles and form, were not scalable,
or were simply incorrect. For example, prior to V6.50 MicroImages had to provide
and install a large, 10 Mb Japanese outline font to ensure that one was
available. MI/X, the X server, and thus the TNT products, now provide
direct support of TrueType fonts. Now our Japanese clients who are using the
Japanese version of Windows can simply select one of the TT fonts already
installed by Microsoft Windows or any other application.
Now
you can acquire, select, and use TT fonts in your TNT products that have been
prepared in your nation for other popular computer applications.
MicroImages will continue to work with those clients using TNTmips in other
languages who wish to assist in improving its application in that language.
Our goal is to make the operation of the TNT products and the products you
prepare (for example, maps, reports, CD and web atlases, and so on) appear as if
the TNT products were actually developed in your nation in your language.
A color plate entitled Select TrueType Interface Fonts is attached to
illustrate the selection and use of TrueType fonts. To help locate
TrueType fonts in your language a color plate entitled Finding TrueType Fonts
on the Web is attached.
Font
Selection Dialog.
Auto-add
Fonts.
The
X server now finds the TrueType fonts known to your Windows system and adds them
to the list of fonts you can select for your TNT product. When you are
selecting fonts for the interface, the TT fonts are listed as having a size of
“scaleable” which means they can be used at any size. If you select
one and click “Add,” a dialog will pop-up to request the size you wish to
use. Once you’ve selected a scalable font and size, you can change its
size by editing the size field in the list at the bottom of the font selection
dialog.
Automatic
Font Selection.
If
you switch between languages (localization packages) in the TNT products, each
package will load a list of fonts it recommends. For example, the Japanese
localization automatically chooses a PCF font, which we supply, that has Kanji
characters in it. (PCF, rather than TT, is selected so that the
localization is not Windows specific.) If you do not like the defaults,
you can change them.
Switching
languages is now smoother. In V6.40 when you switched to another language, it
reset your font selections to the defaults for that language. You then had
to reset them before proceeding. In V6.50 when you switch to another
language your font selections for the language you are leaving are saved so that
when you switch back, your preferences will be restored.
Multi-Language
Windows 2000.
You
may be using your language in the multi-language version of Windows 2000 or
using the single language version issued in only your language. These
versions may have some differences in handling your language. For example,
the Japanese-only version Windows IME sends character data to programs
differently from the multi-language version used in Japanese. Changes have
been made in V6.50 to handle this case and other differences that may happen in
other languages.
Clipboard
Support.
You
can now cut and paste text between TNT processes and other Windows applications
using the Windows clipboard. An attached color plate entitled Windows
Clipboard Support illustrates this feature for both TNT X-based and TNT
Windows-based products. The “?” (help) icon in the Workspace Overview
window also provides direct access to Windows help instructions for using this
new feature. The same help information can be accessed from the X server
icon in the system tray.
Dual
Monitors.
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