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Multiple Textures.

As has been noted above, a Landscape File can now have multiple texture layers.  All these textures are still referenced to the same single terrain layer and match it in geographic extents. The technical section on TNTmips reviews how to use the Landscape Builder to add multiple textures into a Landscape File.  This is also illustrated in an attached color plate entitled Preparing Multiple Textures for TNTsim3D.  If you have already created some single texture Landscape Files using V6.60, you can now add additional textures to them. The order in which you add the textures is not critical at present to their subsequent use.  Creating and using multiple terrain layers will be introduced in a future version of the Landscape Builder and TNTsim3D.

Each simulation view you have exposed permits you to choose any combination of the textures in the current Landscape File for that view.  Be careful about selecting more than 1 texture for use in a simulation view until you have defined offsets for the textures in TNTsim3D as discussed below.  If you select more than 1 texture for draping on the terrain, each with a zero offset, you may get spurious features (triangles) popping in and out of your simulation.  This occurs because there is computational indecision for some surface elements at some view angles with regard to which of the textures should be used since they are both at the same elevation relative to the terrain.

Stacking Textures with an Offset.

During the operation of TNTsim3D you can vertically offset texture layers above or below the terrain surface. Typically these offset layers will be different texture layers each with different information about the landscape. All simulation views will show these textures in their vertically stacked arrangement and offsets if they have been selected to show in that view.  This is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Multiple Textures in TNTsim3D. You can move a viewpoint around outside the stacked texture layers or move into and through them.  For example, if you move between offset textures 1 will be seen above you and 1 below.  If the vertical offset between two different textures is small (say 1 meter), then 1 will be visible from a viewpoint above that terrain (on top) and the other can be seen from a viewpoint below the terrain (the bottom of the surface).

Using Transparency.

The layers you added as textures from Project Files in TNTmips may not have complete coverage of the terrain area in your Landscape File.  However, for this version, each texture layer covers the total terrain area.  Any holes and irregular areas are filled with nulls.  Null areas in a texture are 100% transparent in a simulation view.  Thus several texture layers can be used together for some very useful effects. 

You could use a low resolution monochrome image and DEM of a large area and a high resolution color image of a small, interior portion of this area (for example, a city, special site, …).  A Landscape File can be built for the large area of the DEM with a higher resolution color image texture and lower-resolution monochrome texture.  If the offset for the color image is set to be 1 meter higher than that of the grayscale image, your simulation will visually merge the color into the grayscale texture and permit moving over the larger area to and from the monochrome area into the higher resolution color area.  An illustration of a combination of 2 layers in this fashion can be seen in the lower right corner of the attached color plate entitled Multiple Textures in TNTsim3D. 

The current result of this strategy for virtually merging textures of varying resolutions and geographic extents is that it produces a large Landscape File.  This is why, as mentioned in the section on JPEG2000 and repeated below, JPEG2000 compressed, linked images will be tried in TNTsim3D.  Other applications of the use of merging textures would be to overlay (which means, insert) a color orthoimage onto a larger map area, a piece of a geologic map into a Landsat image.  Since you now have texture layer selection in TNTsim3D, these textures can be viewed together or separately in each view.  A shoreline image and a color coded bathymetry DEM could be combined for viewing their respective areas.  Several vector objects (for example, drainage, roads, watershed basins,…) could be converted to rasters with nulls everywhere except for their features and used as textures.  These feature texture layers can then be merged in TNTsim3D with a color image texture draped on a terrain and turned off an on as desired.

Setting Offsets.

Offsets can be set for each texture layer using Texture / Offsets from the menu in the main (pilot) view.  This will open a Texture Offsets dialog showing each texture in the Landscape File and its current vertical offset value (initially set to 0, which will drape all the textures directly onto the terrain).  Fill in the vertical offset values for each texture layer relative to the terrain.  You can use +/- and zero offsets, and these will set the order of use of all these textures in every simultaneous simulation view.  Remember that if you want to combine several layers, each must have a non-zero offset to set up their order.  These rendering order offsets can be small and will not show up in the simulations.  You can bring up the Texture Offsets dialog at any time to edit these offsets.

Readout Panels.

The Position Status bar used in TNTsim3D 6.6 has been replaced with the Readouts dialog.  This change was made because only a limited amount of quantitative data could be displayed in the bar.  This new dialog box is not dockable as was the position status bar.  It presents many different tabbed panels that can be selected to readout the current status information of the simulation. The color plate entitled Georeferenced Views in TNTsim3D contains illustrations of this dialog.  Each panel provides numerical information about some aspect of your simulation activity.  This dialog box can be kept open during a simulation. At any time during your simulation you can open the Readout dialog and/or switch to a new tabbed panel. Any tabbed panel you expose will be updated in real time throughout the operation of the simulation.

Changing Coordinate Systems and Units.

At the bottom of the Readout dialog is a Projection button.  Use it during your simulation to access and use the Coordinate System / Projection Parameters dialog. Use this dialog as in TNTmips to choose the system, zone, projection, datum and other parameters to define coordinates presented in the readout panels.  Use this same dialog to select the units for distance, elevation, angle, and velocity. These settings are applied not only to the Readouts dialog, but also where appropriate on the Options dialog, such as speeds and max / min height.  In all locations where units are needed, the symbol for the current selected unit is displayed.

The availability of this kind of option shows how some of the geospatial analysis capabilities developed over many years in TNTmips can be incorporated in TNTsim3D.  TNTsim3D uses georeferenced objects in Project Files with known coordinate system parameters.  Complete libraries (now classes) are available in the TNTsdk to perform these transformations in any TNT product (either Windows or X server based) including TNTsim3D.

Terrain Panel.

The Terrain tabbed panel reports general information about the geographical extent of the Landscape File you are using in your current simulation as follows:

• extents in the coordinate system you have designated for the east, west, north, south, E-W, N-S geographic span of the landscape,

• the vertical extents of the terrain layer as maximum and minimum elevations,

• the terrain quality as set in View / Options / Terrain, and

• your current frame rate (this and terrain quality are the only parameters in this panel that change as you move in the simulation).

Viewer Panel.

The Viewer tab panel refers to the current viewpoint and provides continuous readouts as follows:

• position for the nadir point for the current viewpoint in the coordinate system you have specified;

• altitude  above mean sea level at the nadir;

• elevation above the terrain at the nadir;

• height of the terrain at the nadir;

• pitch, roll, and heading of the viewpoint; and

• velocity of the viewpoint.

This panel is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Georeferenced Views in TNTsim3D.

Mouse Panel.

The Mouse tabbed panel provides continuous readouts of the map coordinates of the cursor at any position on the terrain surface within any open view.  It will also readout the elevation at the cursor position and the distance from the viewpoint to the surface at the cursor’s position.   It is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Georeferenced Views in TNTsim3D.

Typically you will use a joystick in your writing hand to manipulate the viewpoint of your main (pilot) view.  The other hand can, as needed, use the mouse to indicate a feature in the view.  You can also stop moving the simulation with the joystick to change to the mouse to readout a specific feature’s map position.  However, stopping the motion is not necessary, so you can track a target and readout its coordinates with the mouse in real time as you manipulate the simulation with the joystick.

The cursor position on the screen is expressed as a specific screen pixel position.  This pixel is then mapped to some point on the terrain and the distance to that point and its coordinates are estimated and displayed. This panel also shows the change in distance in the same measurement units from the center cell to each of the neighboring screen pixels in the 4 cardinal positions.  How these distances vary provides an indication of how the terrain varies at that position. For example, if the top cell’s distance is much larger than all the other 3, the cursor has selected a pixel at the top of a hill.  Thus, moving the cursor just 1 screen pixel upward would provide a much different distance for it as it passes over the hill to a more distant position.

Forward Panel.

The Forward panel reports information about the intersection of the centerline of the main (pilot) view projected to the terrain surface as follows:

• terrain position,

• elevation of the terrain above mean sea level,

• distance from viewer to projected point,

• the number of surface triangles used in rendering the view as an indication  of its 3D detail, and

• 4 adjacent pixels’ distances.

This panel is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Georeferenced Views in TNTsim3D.

Observer View Panels.

The Left, Right, Up, Rear, Down, and Vertical tabbed panels readout the same information as the Forward panel for the intersection of each of these observer views (if open) projected to the terrain surface.

Point-of-Interest Panels.

Each POI tabbed panel also reads out the same information as the Forward panel for the fixed POI. The coordinates reported are those of this fixed POI and do not change.  The elevation of the POI oscillates a tiny fraction and only appears to change as it is constantly being recomputed from differing view angles.  The distance to the POI does change as the main (pilot) view changes.  Although the POI and its coordinates are fixed, the 4 adjacent pixels’ distances will change as the POI is viewed from varying angles, thus changing the 4 pixels used. 

Map View Panel.

The Map View panel reads out the same general information as the Forward panel but for the center of the Map View.  If you are zoomed out in the Map View to view the entire extent of the terrain in your landscape, these coordinates will not change.  If you are zoomed in so the Map View roams, then its center coordinates will change.  The View-Center position gadget was just added to TNTsim3D and perhaps information about its positions may be added to this panel. If you want information now about these positions in the Map View, use the Viewer tabbed panel for information about the viewpoint of the main (pilot) view indicated by the cross in the gadget.  Use the Forward panel for information about the projected centerline of the main (pilot) view indicated by the circle and dashed line in the gadget.   

Vertical Exaggeration.

A vertical exaggeration can now be set using the Terrain panel in the Options dialog (View / Options / Terrain).  It is set by default to 1, and to increase or decrease vertical exaggeration simply edit the value.  This is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Set Vertical Exaggeration.  The value to select is a constant multiplier for all the elevations in the simulations in so far as viewing terrain relief is concerned.  This elevation multiplier will not affect any of the X-Y coordinate readouts.  However, when this value is changed, the viewpoint location is proportionally changed in all views to maintain the same position relative to the terrain.  If your viewpoint was not adjusted in this manner, increasing the exaggeration could place the viewpoint main (pilot) view below the terrain surface in 1 or more views, a disorienting effect at best.

Using TNTsim3D with TNTatlas.

TNTatlas and TNTsim3D are complementary geopublishing tools.  They can use common raster geodata when this sharing is carefully planned in advance. Each is optimized around visualizing geodata, and each has distinct but related advantages. 

The dynamic 3D views in TNTsim3D provide better insight into the 3D relationships of the available geodata and a new means to locate the areas of interest.  For example, a simulation provides a better means to orient any observer of your geospatial analysis results in an atlas to any location of your or their interest.  Using this approach, the simulation becomes a new navigation tool for a TNTatlas.  The use of several appropriate simulation viewpoints can further illustrate the 3D relationships of interest, such as any obstruction to a line of site view.

TNTatlas is more cartographic in nature and provides more quantitative means of carefully studying the 2D relationships of many complex geodata layers.  For example, TNTatlas is a more appropriate means for accurately comparing layers, such as comparing recorded property ownership with a new color image of local land use.  Accurate measurements and sketches are local GIS capabilities more appropriate for TNTatlas.

V6.70 provides the first opportunity to run both these free products together to digitally publish the results of your geospatial analysis.  While each of these free programs is unique in its own right, it is anticipated that used together they will synergistically yield new visualization, geopublishing, and local analysis opportunities.  MicroImages plans further integration of these tools in future releases, such as improved sharing of compressed rasters objects and other atlas components.  Please review the TNTatlas section of this MEMO for more details on the initial interactions that can be established now between TNTatlas and TNTsim3D.  The attached color plates entitled Launching TNTsim3D from TNTatlas and Using TNTsim3D to Launch TNTatlas illustrate these interrelated operations.

Add Points and Styles in Landscape Builder.

The prototype capability to create relational point and style tables in a Landscape File has already been incorporated into V6.70 of the Landscape Builder. This permits the building of a relational point/symbol database in any new or existing Landscape File from the points in vector objects and their attributes and styles. A relational database structure is used, as it is easily extended to add new controls as to how each point is rendered and behaves. You can create more than 1 set of points and add points to an existing table in an existing Landscape File.  Since this is a TNT relational table, all the existing TNT tools can be used on these tables in a Landscape File to create, modify, and edit its content (for example, the database table editor, the database tree view, and so on).

During the creation of this point table structure in Landscape Builder from a vector object, you can use all the TNT selection procedures including select all, by query, and so on.  You can also map how attributes will be used to control the size and color of the stalk of the pin and appearance of the billboard on top of it in TNTsim3D. You may decide to extrude the TNT style of the point up from the surface. You may choose to stack color geologic cores atop each other above or below the terrain.  Each core would be defined by multiple records in a related table for each point.  These records would define the base position above/below the terrain surface, the length of the segment, and the color.  You can define a 3D shape, such as a sphere or prohibited air space or threat dome, to be drawn in by DirectX or OpenGL.

Bill Boarded and Stalked Point Symbols.

The first iteration permitting you to use points in a vector object in your simulation is nearly complete, but the release of V6.70 of the TNT products could not be delayed for this latest TNTsim3D feature.  Watch the special TNTsim3D pages at www.microimages.com/products/tntsim.htm for information about the release of an updated TNTsim3D that can then be downloaded from that same page.

When these tables can be used in TNTsim3D, you will select them from a Landscape File and add them to your views as predetermined in the Builder.  It has not yet been determined when, if, and how pins might be added, moved, or edited during a simulation either interactively, by editing the table, or dynamically.

Sample Landscape Files.

The following sample Landscape Files are provided on the V6.70 CD to illustrate some of the new TNTsim3D features.  Landscape Files are large, so only 3 new ones would fit on this CD. Other Landscape Files showing earlier and other features are on your V6.60 CD and can be downloaded from microimages.com/products/tntsimLandscapeFiles.htm.  Additional new Landscape Files will be added at this download site as they are created to test and demonstrate new post-V6.70 features.

BigPine3.sim (38 Mb).

This landscape file covers the same area as the BigPine and BigPine2 files created previously and still available from microimages.com/products/tntsimLandscapeFiles.htm.  Its area is centered on the Owens Valley of eastern California, with the town of Big Pine at the northern edge.  This new file has three texture layers that include a satellite image, an image of the terrain data, and topographic map data.  The LandsatTM texture is identical to the single texture in the previous files—an RGBI image that uses the 15-meter Landsat 7 panchromatic band to sharpen a 30-meter natural color image (bands 3-2-1).  The ColorShade texture is a color shaded relief image created by displaying an elevation raster (with color palette and with partial transparency) over a shaded relief raster computed from the elevation raster.  The DRG texture was created from a mosaic of USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Raster Graphic (DRG) topographic map images for several quadrangles.

YM67.sim (29 Mb).

This Landscape File covers the same area as the downloadable YuccaMtn.sim file, a desert region in southwest Nevada that is the location of a proposed national high-level nuclear waste repository.  There are three texture layers in the file, including geologic map data and several types of imagery with varying levels of detail.  The SPOTpan texture is a panchromatic SPOT image with 10-meter resolution.  The GeologyShade texture is similar to the texture in YuccaMtn.sim; it combines geologic map data (rock-unit polygons with transparency fill, contacts, and faults) with a shaded relief raster.  The ColorDOQ texture shows an extract of a color Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle covering part of the landscape area with a horizontal resolution of about 2 meters.  (This image is dominated by Mars-like reddish tones due to the lack of vegetation in the area, rock, and soil color, and the processing of the original image.)  The portion of the texture outside the limits of the image (null values in the texture raster) are transparent when viewed in TNTsim3D, so that the underlying SPOTpan texture remains visible around its edge when both are selected for viewing.  This example illustrates that the same Landscape File can include low-resolution imagery for the entire landscape as well as more-detailed imagery for limited areas.

Palmyra.sim (56 Mb)

The Palmyra Landscape File shows a rural, agricultural area surrounding the town of Palmyra in southeast Nebraska.  Vertical relief in the area is only several tens of meters so you may want to increase your vertical exaggeration setting.  The file contains two texture layers.  The FSAcolor texture is a mosaic of orthorectified, natural-color aerial photographs.  The SoilDOQ texture shows a vector soil map displayed with partially transparent color polygon fills over a mosaic of grayscale Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle images.

TNTatlas 6.7 for Windows and X

Introduction.

TNTatlas and TNTsim3D are complementary geopublishing tools.  They can use common raster geodata when this sharing is carefully planned in advance.  Each is optimized around visualizing geodata, but each has distinct but related advantages. 

The dynamic 3D views in TNTsim3D provide better insight into the 3D relationships of the available geodata and a new means to locate the areas of interest.  For example, a simulation provides a better means to orient any observer of your geospatial analysis results in an atlas to any location of your or their interest.  Using this approach, the simulation becomes a new navigation tool for a TNTatlas.  The use of several appropriate simulation viewpoints can further illustrate the 3D relationships of interest, such as any obstruction to a line of site view.

TNTatlas is more cartographic in nature and provides more quantitative means of carefully studying the 2D relationships of many complex geodata layers.  For example, TNTatlas is a more appropriate means for accurately comparing layers, such as comparing recorded property ownership with a new color image of local land use.  Accurate measurements and sketches are local GIS capabilities more appropriate for TNTatlas.

V6.70 provides the first opportunity to run both these free products together to digitally publish the results of your geospatial analysis. While each of these free programs is unique in its own right, it is anticipated that used together they will synergistically yield new visualization, geopublishing, and local analysis opportunities.  MicroImages plans further integration of these tools in future releases such as improved sharing of compressed raster objects and other atlas components. 

Sharing TNTatlas and TNTsim3D objects.

Expecting TNTsim3D to resample terrain and texture layers to a new projection and cell size would significantly slow down the simulation.  Thus, a Landscape File prepared by the Landscape Builder in TNTmips for use in TNTsim3D has special fixed cell size relationships between its terrain and texture raster layers.  This is the basis for achieving a usable simulation frame rate in multiple simulation views when these standard TNT objects are read by the multi-threaded texture server incorporated in every TNTsim3D.

Raster objects produced by the Landscape Builder are valid and complete with georeference information and all their other geospatial properties.  Thus, they are completely usable in any other TNT product and process.  The Landscape File with the extension *.sim is just like any other Project File.  The designation Landscape File and *.sim extension are used merely to associate this Project File with its readiness for use in TNTsim3D.

A TNTatlas can be assembled from objects in multiple Project Files.  All the raster objects (terrain and textures) in a Landscape File can be shared as layers in a TNTatlas. Thus, they may be your base or most detailed raster layers in the atlas and may be just a bit faster to use from a Landscape File since they have a common cell size and projection. 

Remember also that you can hide layers in a TNTatlas and they will not show up in the View.  For example, the terrain layer used in a TNTatlas from a Landscape File can be hidden in an atlas to provide only an elevation DataTip.  However you assemble your atlas Project Files and Landscape Files, if they have a common geographic extent, they each can be used in interrelated TNTatlas and TNTsim3D operations.

If you plan ahead in the construction of your TNTatlas, its biggest components (for example, most detailed images) can be textures in a Landscape File for use in TNTsim3D and also used as common layers in the TNTatlas.  At the other extreme, it is even possible that you create an application whose TNTatlas Project Files and your Landscape File are completely separate, contain completely different geodata, and can be used together merely because they cover some portion of a common geographic area.

Launching TNTsim3D from TNTatlas.

Macro Script Control.

Just as in previous TNTatlas for X operations an icon will appear on its tool bar for each Macro Script added, which should be placed in the same directory as the Landscape File (*.sim) to be launched.  Selecting one these icons interprets its associated Macro Script, which can launch another program.  This approach is used in TNTatlas/X to launch TNTsim3D for Windows with a combination of predetermined and concurrent TNTatlas/X viewing parameters.  TNTsim3D will automatically load the Landscape File (which means, Project File) specified in the Macro Script and in the same directory as the Macro Script’s SML file.  Adding the capability of TNTatlas for Windows to use Macro Scripts is now a high priority for addition to TNTatlas/W (post V6.70 shipment) but will take some time to accomplish. 

A sample Macro Script is provided that places a Launch TNTsim3D icon on the tool bar of the associated TNTatlas/X when added.  The icon and its launch action are illustrated on the attached color plate entitled Launching TNTsim3D from TNTatlas.  The Macro Script is printed on the reverse side of this color plate. Your online Tutorial booklet entitled Writing Scripts with SML discusses the creation of Macro Scripts.  It is recommended that you run in Windows desktop mode so the TNTsim3D window will be visible (not behind the X server) when it opens.

Startup Parameters.

The View window in a TNTatlas/X can be zoomed in or out to any scale when an icon is used to launch TNTsim3D.  Thus, the sample Launch TNTsim3D Macro Script uses the extent of the current TNTatlas/X View window to compute the altitude above the terrain for the simulation in the main (pilot) view. The pitch of this view (up/down angle of the centerline) is set in the script (for example, –20 degrees).  The start direction of the simulation is oriented to the top or up in the current TNTatlas/X View window.  The nadir position of the main (pilot) view is determined from the coordinates of the current center of the TNTatlas/X View window.  All these combine to open TNTsim3D with a main (pilot) view that is closely related to the scale and location of the current TNTatlas/X View window. For example, if the horizontal extent of your current TNTatlas/X window is large, then the altitude of your main (pilot) view will be high to provide a wide panoramic view at the pitch set in the script.  When the TNTatlas/X window’s horizontal extent is narrower, the altitude of the main (pilot) view will be proportionally lower, providing a “close in” view.

Startup Options. 

When this icon is selected during the use of TNTatlas, the icon button presents a menu providing choices of Orbit, Pan, or Stationary.  Select one and the separate TNTsim3D program will start up and load the associated landscape.  After the landscape is loaded, TNTsim3D uses it, even if it is being used by TNTatlas as well, to create a separate main (pilot) view. This view will open at a position related to the center of the current TNTatlas/X window with the automatic movement defined by the option selected.

Stationary View.

If the Stationary startup option is selected, the main (pilot) view will open centered on the view in the TNTatlas/X window and oriented toward its top. Its pitch will be that set in the script and the altitude will be computed from the horizontal extent of the current TNTatlas/X window. 

Orbiting or Panning Views.

Using TNTatlas to start TNTsim3D may imply that the user is more familiar with its operation and is less likely to be familiar with TNTsim3D and its operation.  Thus, they may simply assume that TNTatlas has launched a static 3D view of the same area.  For this reason, the Orbit and Pan options are provided so that a moving, useful, and automatic simulation of the same area can be selected.

If Orbit is selected the main (pilot) view will open the same as if the Stationary option was selected, but will immediately begin to orbit the center of the current TNTatlas view at an angular rate set in the script and at the constant computed altitude.  If the Pan option was selected, the main (pilot) view is opened rotating looking outward at the pitch and altitude determined in the script and positioned so that its nadir [the nadir point of the main (pilot) view] is the center of the current TNTatlas window.

Seizing Control.

At any time during these preprogrammed simulations as long as the executing program focus remains with TNTsim3D, any TNTsim3D navigation action via the joystick, mouse, or keyboard will seize control of the main (pilot) view, stop the Macro Script action, and proceed onward from the then current view in the main (pilot) view.  This simulation is now operating just as if you started in TNTsim3D directly and navigated in TNTsim3D to that starting main (pilot) view.

Improvements for Startup Position.

It would be better if the position of the cursor on the TNTatlas/X View window, not its center, determined the nadir position that TNTsim3D uses to startup the main (pilot) view. For example, this would permit starting up TNTsim3D to orbit a specific point or feature such as a house, tower, forest clear-cut , …rather than a point in the general area. This is an interface procedural issue and will be part of an improved Macro Script and changes to TNTsim3D as needed. 

Launching TNTatlases from TNTsim3D.

Navigating Using TNTsim3D.

A TNTatlas can present much more complex layer combinations in 2D than TNTsim3D and provide more accurate analysis tools such as those used for measuring or sketching.  However, you may be more familiar with navigating in TNTsim3D or are geopublishing material for users who can not readily locate and orient themselves in a 2D visualization or easily understand the complex 2D relationships present.  Use TNTsim3D as a navigation tool to take these observers to an area of interest and to view it from varying viewpoints.  This will create and reinforce their understanding of where they are.  Then you can start a TNTatlas centered upon the point of interest in the simulation and proceed on to a more detailed 2D analysis while keeping the 3D view open for reference.  You can even move your focus or control back to TNTsim3D and move them around again to better explore and understand the location and 3D characteristics of the detailed area now showing in the TNTatlas.  A color plate is attached entitled Using TNTsim3D to Launch TNTatlas illustrating a main (pilot) view and the TNTatlas View window it has automatically opened.

Creating an Atlas Menu.

Launching a TNTatlas for X or for Windows from within a TNTsim3D for Windows simulation is simpler to set up than the reverse launch described in the section above.  TNTsim3D’s main (pilot) view now has an Atlas drop-down menu.  When TNTsim3D loads a Landscape File (*.sim), it also adds to this Atlas menu the name of every TNTatlas whose startup file (*.atl) is located in that same directory.  This menu item is not the cryptic name of the startup file, but the text name defined by you within the startup file.

Startup Parameters.

At any point during the simulation you can select an atlas by name from the Atlas menu in the main (pilot) view.  The next mouse click in the main (pilot) view will launch the corresponding atlas if you have set up Windows to associate the *.atl startup file with either the TNTatlas for X or TNTatlas for Windows program.  The atlas contents that first appear in the View window will center on the geographic position selected by the cursor in the main (pilot) view in TNTsim3D.  This View window will also automatically zoom in to a scale determined by the current height above the terrain of the main (pilot) view.  Using these startup parameters, the TNTatlas starts up with a reasonably representative view of the area around the point selected by the cursor.

Seizing Control.

Since the TNTatlas is now up and running, it automatically shows the same layers that would show if you had navigated in that atlas to that location and scale.  If you retain focus on the TNTatlas program, you can now proceed forward in its normal operations (hide or show layers, make measurements, navigate up or down in levels, and so on).  More than one atlas may show on the Atlas menu in the main (pilot) view; you can sequentially start up different or more than one TNTatlas in this fashion.  You can also regain focus on the TNTsim3D program and move to a new position and restart an atlas to reposition its view.

Miscellaneous.

JPEG2000.

Rasters compressed with the new JPEG2000 wavelet compression can be used as linked raster objects in a TNTatlas.  This will cause slower performance in a TNTatlas as these files are decompressed.  However, the huge savings in storage space may more than compensate for this and makes even bigger atlases feasible.  At this time if you want to use a JPEG2000 compressed raster in a TNTatlas, export it as a JP2 file, delete the RVC version from the Project File, and then link the JP2 file to that Project File (in other words, it must be external and linked).

TNTsim3D can also use JP2 files exported from the Landscape File for texture layers only and then linked back to it.  However, at this time, this will cause jerky and unacceptable frame rates.  Improving the performance in the use of JP2 files in these products is being investigated now.  

Keep in mind that as you increase your processor’s performance, reading raster data from a hard drive or CD begins to be the limiting factor controlling how fast that raster can be displayed in TNTmips or TNTatlas.  Data compressed 100:1 requires less read time and a fast processor can keep up with the decompression required. This can be of particular importance in a TNTatlas run using data directly from a CD.

Changes to ATL File.

To support communications with TNTsim3D at startup, the TNTatlas ATL startup file (*.atl) has been expanded.  Existing ATL files are still valid and can be edited to add these additional parameters.  However, now when TNTsim3D is requested to startup a TNTatlas it computes and adds the following parameters into the ATL file which in turn starts a specific TNTatlas with the view they define:

      Start Center Latitude to define a startup center latitude,

      Start Center Longitude to define a startup center longitude,

      Start Zoom Width (zoom to set width in meters).

Published Atlases  

Quito, Ecuador.

The following is from a transmittal letter accompanying a printed color atlas in Spanish entitled ATLAS de la provincia de Pichincha, April 2002.  This atlas is for the high Andean Ecuadorian province of Pichincha, which contains the city of Quito.  Its legends employ many of the latest features issued in V6.60.  Inquiries concerning the availability of this atlas should be directed to Direccion de Planificacion Y Ambiente at diplagpp@ pichincha.gov.ec.

“As per our previous contacts and as offered, please find enclosed a copy of the “ATLAS de la provincia de Picchincha,” in which as you will notice the first 30 maps were prepared with TNTmips.  With no doubt the software was of great help in getting accomplished the project, so I will thank all the people involved in the development of so good package, at the same time encourage you all to keep the high standard in the product, from which all of us will get some benefits.”

SouthEast Asia.

An attractive CD based TNTatlas is illustrated in the attached color plate entitled Geotectonic Map of East and Southeast Asia: Sheets 1, 2, 3 and 8.  The sheets in this atlas were prepared in TNTmips 6.4.  A colorful 33" by 46" poster version of this map in PDF form can be downloaded and printed on your large format printer from www.microimages.com/documentation/CP67.htm.

TNTserver 3.0

TNTserver W2000 Only.

Microsoft’s policy is to support their current operating system (XP) and the 1 prior version of their operating system (W2000).  As a result, they have scheduled the close out of support for Windows NT, which they no longer sell.  It is also widely accepted that Windows NT is not as reliable or secure as Windows 2000.  For this reason MicroImages will only sell a TNTserver product for use with Microsoft Windows 2000.  MicroImages will no longer sell new versions or produce new upgrades of TNTserver for use with Windows NT.  To further guarantee this, all new orders of TNTserver will only be delivered with a USB key.  This will insure that W2000 Server or the equivalent XP are used with TNTserver as they have support of USB.  It will also insure that a reasonably current model computer will be used.

MicroImages will continue its support of many diverse platforms for TNT data collection and analysis products.  As already covered elsewhere in this MEMO, V6.70 provides them for the Mac OS X platforms.  However, TNTserver is a totally different kind of product that is complex to setup and use.  TNTserver, as we have already tried to convey by other means, is not an application product that is simply installed and used.  There are many complex variables involved.  MicroImages can best assist current and future users of the TNTserver by limiting the number of variables to be dealt with in managing a web server and TNTserver in particular.  As a result, TNTserver is not going to be sold as a product that can be used on any platform under a wide variety of flexible circumstances.  TNTserver is and will continue to be a narrowly confined and specified product.

Future Improvements.

JPEG2000 in Served Atlases?

TNTatlases can be prepared using linked JP2 files.  It is not recommended that this approach be used at this time.  It is slower to access linked JP2 files in your atlas via a TNTserver.  Additional work underway now to speed up the display of linked JP2 files and, eventually, JPEG2000 compression may be incorporated directly into the structure of raster objects in a Project File.  Hard drive space is the cheapest thing available to your TNTserver, so use it first, and avoid linking to JP2 files for the moment.

Decompression, after the data is read, is primarily a computation.  Thus, with a fast processor, drive space access becomes the speed limiting factor.  Ultimately, as discussed elsewhere in this MEMO, the drastically small size of a JPEG2000 compressed raster means they can potentially be read much faster from a drive and, in almost all systems, reading from the drive is the limiting factor in many TNT operations.

Sending JPEG2000 to TNTclients?

Once the user is connected to and using an atlas, the primary activity determining the speed of its response is sending back a JPEG file of the image requested.  This delay is almost totally determined by the network bandwidth of that user.  TNTserver’s response in preparing this JPEG can always be increased by using faster or more computers for it.  However, as a manager of a TNTserver you can not force its end user to move from a slow modem to a faster connection with higher bandwidth.  They may not be able to do this even if they wanted and could afford it.  One way to get results to them faster is to drastically reduce the size of what is sent by switching to sending a JPEG2000 compressed raster from the TNTserver to the end user.  Another advantage of this is that the JPEG2000 raster can be streamed to the client so that it crystallizes in their view starting with a low resolution display almost immediately.  Many times the user will see that this is not the right area and can then abort and instantly backup to the prior view, which is stored locally.  This is a significant improvement but has the problem that their browser, without a special plug-in from and controlled by other companies, can not uncompress a JPEG2000 raster.  This may change at any time by the anticipated release of Internet Explorer or Netscape with built in support for JPEG2000.  It will be necessary to wait a little longer until JPEG2000 is used generically.

Serving SVG Layouts?

Other sections of this MEMO will give you the details on the W3C’s Scalable Vector Graphics format in XML.  This is clearly a way in which more complex results, layouts, and vectors and rasters can be sent from TNTserver to a requesting user of an atlas.  MicroImages is researching how TNTserver could most efficiently create an SVG layout with images and vectors to send to a TNTclient.  This would make the vector layer in TNTclient smart and interactive.  It would be easy to add DataTips in this fashion.  Again, there is another consideration that Adobe’s SVG browser plug-in would also be needed.  It could automatically be delivered with the TNTclient and TNTbrowser.  However, this would slow down their initial access.  Thus, SVG is something that is about to happen but is not quite there yet until its interpretation is included in the standard browsers. 

TNTclients.

The HTML-based TNTclient and HTML-based TNTbrowser now share the same HTML code base.  As a result, if you modify one with some of the built in customizations the changes will be reflected in both.  Furthermore, when you add your own HTML modifications to one, they will work or can be easily adjusted to work in both versions.

You may not be aware that if you have saved measurements locally in the HTML clients, these files are stored in the SVG format discussed extensively in other sections of this MEMO.

HTML-based TNTclient.

Easy Customization of Features and Size.

Your HTML setup and control page used to provide access to the TNTclient also controls which features it will provide to your users.  Virtually every component in the TNTclient or TNTbrowser can be “turned off” giving you control of not only which features are used but also the size of the TNTclient download.  If your clients are in rural areas and only have slow modem access to the Internet, the TNTclient can be stripped down to a very small viewer only.  If you do not want them to have measurement tools or remote data entry, then filter these tabbed panels out using your HTML control/access page.  If you do not want them to have the drawing tools only, then filter them out to reduce the download size.

Edit Drawn Elements.

It can be hard to outline a complex shape using a mouse.  Lines drawn in the remote data entry or measurement modes can now be adjusted in shape.  If you wish to reshape and improve the fit of lines and polygons, they now have “handles.”  Simply use the left button near the line and a node will appear in the line that can be used to drag that point in the line to any new position.

Control Startup Window Size.

The size of the browser window you wish to have the TNTclient present can now be controlled by its launch parameters.  Use this to insure that the TNTclient is started at a size you feel is appropriate for the means your client will use to gain access to it.

Can Be Localized.

You can now completely localize this TNTclient to present it to its user in their language.  This is easily done by translating the text in the resource files that contain and supply all the text used by TNTclient.  There are only about 150 short lines of text to translate.  If you want to try a translated TNTclient, MicroImages will be happy to post your translated resource files on our TNTserver test site or instruct you how to do this for your site.  A sample of a roughly translated Spanish TNTclient can be tried at http://www.microimages.com/tntserver/. 

HTML-based TNTbrowser.

Duplicates Features in TNTclient.

Since the HTML-based TNTbrowser and HTML-based TNTclient have the same HTML code base, they now have the same features.  Thus, the TNTbrowser now provides the remote data entry and several other features first introduced to the TNTclient. 

Uses Windows Install Package.

The TNTbrowser is now automatically downloaded to a Windows platform as a standard, installable, compressed package (uses the ubiquitous InstallShield).  It is no longer necessary to unzip it.  It’s now going to look and install just like any other Windows program to its users.

Locally Saves Atlas Startup Views.

The concept behind the standalone program version of the TNTbrowser is that its user is someone who makes regular and routine use of an atlas.  It is especially appropriate when these applications are not public over the Internet but internal and routine to some large organization over a private intranet or over the Internet using a Virtual Private Network.  When the atlas access is repeated and routine, the layout data and the legend images can now be locally stored at the machine using the TNTbrowser.  Thus, at startup they do not have to be downloaded, which dramatically accelerates access to the initial view.  For 2^nd and subsequent accesses, these would have automatically been available in the temporary Windows cache.  In the TNTclient this is automatically handled for 2^nd and subsequent accesses by the browser’s caching scheme.

Can be Localized.

You can now completely localize this TNTbrowser to present it to its user in their language.  This is easily done by translating the text in the resource files that contain and supply all the text used by TNTbrowser.  There are only about 150 short lines of text to translate.

TNTview®  6.7

Alas, TNTview for Windows is still only a promise.  Work on it will be restarted, but it continues to be an elusive goal.  It is not a hard goal to reach, its simply time consuming to redesign and rewrite 16 years worth of work and a million lines of code.  Your and MicroImages’ interest in adding new features of immediate interest and laying the foundation for future advanced features prevents spending the necessary, dedicated, larger blocks of time on this objective.  

For the time being, if you choose to use the new optional native Windows desktop in TNTview, its user interface is indistinguishable from a Windows program in so far as user interaction with the windows and dialogs is concerned.  However, please remember that it is still not a native Microsoft Windows application and is operating inside the same X server as if you choose the option to use the X desktop.

New Empowerments.

JPEG2000.

The support of JPEG2000 is of particular significance in TNTview 6.7 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX combined with cross platform floating license support and conversionless use of geodata on all platforms.  Now this advanced geospatial viewing and interactive analysis product can directly display and use all 3 popular wavelet compressed image formats: JPEG2000, MrSid, and ECW, as well as TIFF and GeoTIFF.  Using JPEG2000, huge image sets and mosaics can be assembled on a CD, DVD, or hard drive.  They can be directly overlaid with shapefiles and TAB files.  TNTview’s extensive import capabilities can be used to add all kinds of other overlays from Project Files.  All these geodata can be combined for direct visualization and interactive analysis without regard to map projection or cell size and used for sketching with attributes (which means, photo interpretation), measuring, GeoFormulas, region analysis, GPS positioning, SML extensions, and so on.

Large map layouts also can be assembled from these geodata and printed using the P15 option (see below).  If your map preparation does not require image analysis or any data editing, then TNTview now provides access to all of the TNT advanced map layout capabilities at a reasonable price.

Convert Map Layouts to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

You can now convert map layouts prepared in TNTview to the W3C’s Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) layout file in an XML structure.  The Editorial and TNTmips sections and several color plates in this MEMO discuss this new layout structure in considerable detail.

You can also print your map layouts to an SVG file(s) even if you do not have the P15 large format printing option for your TNTview 6.7.  Just as in other “print to” formats previously available in TNTview (for example, PDF, Illustrator, EPS, and so on), this SVG file will have reduced coordinate values that have been rescaled to preserve only that accuracy needed to print to 11" by 17" size at 300 dpi.  The rasters in the TNT layout will also be rescaled to fit into their position in the layout at the 300 dpi resolution. 

Large Format Printing Option.

The P15 Printing option can now be purchased as an option, the only option, for TNTview.  It provides for direct printing to any size greater than the basic maximum 11" by 17" printing included as standard in every TNTview.  It also permits unrestricted conversion of TNT layouts via the “print to” capabilities into TIFF, EPS, Illustrator, PDF, and the new SVG layout files.

Inherited New Features.

The following general improvements in all TNT product operations are automatically available in TNTview 6.7.  These improvements are detailed in this MEMO in the major section on New Features for TNTmips and include:

• use the new Windows desktop or the familiar X desktop,

• directly display georeferenced JP2 (JPEG2000 compressed lossy or lossless) rasters, …,

• import JP2 (JPEG2000 compressed lossy or lossless) rasters, …,

• convert a map layout to a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) XML layout,

• use transparency for 16-bit rasters (IKONOS, QuickBird, …)

• include legend samples for elements rendered via CartoScripts or other scripts in Legend Views and map layouts,

• use word wrap and justification in text blocks in map layouts,

• control advanced text features (italics angle, outline thickness, boldness, …),

• control labels by scale and pan to each label, and

• embed fonts into PDF files to improve their portability, scalability, and the rendering of tiny characters.

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