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1 bh 1367 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
2     <!DOCTYPE book
3     PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
4 jonathan 1490 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"
5 frank 2023 [<!ENTITY imgscale "60">]>
6 bh 1369 <!-- $Revision$ -->
7 bh 1367 <book>
8     <bookinfo>
9 jan 1570 <title>User's Manual for Thuban 1.0</title>
10     <authorgroup>
11     <author>
12     <firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Coles</surname>
13     </author>
14     <author>
15     <firstname>Jan-Oliver</firstname><surname>Wagner</surname>
16     </author>
17     <author>
18     <firstname>Frank</firstname><surname>Koormann</surname>
19     </author>
20     </authorgroup>
21 bh 1367 <copyright>
22 frank 2052 <year>2003, 2004</year>
23 bh 1367 <holder>Intevation GmbH</holder>
24     </copyright>
25 jan 1570 <revhistory>
26 jan 1624 <!-- comment this first revision out when releasing a real version -->
27 jan 1570 <revision>
28 jan 1689 <revnumber>CVS version $Id$</revnumber>
29     <date></date>
30 jan 1624 <revremark>Under development.</revremark>
31     </revision>
32     <revision>
33 frank 2052 <revnumber>1.0.0</revnumber>
34     <date>22-Jan-2004</date>
35     <revremark>
36     Corresponds to Thuban 1.0.0.
37     New: Installation instructions for Win32.
38     </revremark>
39     </revision>
40     <revision>
41 frank 2023 <revnumber>1.0pre3</revnumber>
42     <date>04-Dec-2003</date>
43     <revremark>
44 frank 2052 Corresponds to Thuban 1.0rc1.
45 frank 2023 New: I18n, right button legend menu, EPSG projectons,
46     PostGIS support.
47     </revremark>
48     </revision>
49     <revision>
50 jan 1689 <revnumber>1.0pre2</revnumber>
51     <date>29-Aug-2003</date>
52     <revremark>
53     Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1.
54     New: chapter on extensions.
55     </revremark>
56     </revision>
57     <revision>
58 jan 1570 <revnumber>1.0pre1</revnumber>
59     <date>08-Aug-2003</date>
60 jan 1689 <revremark>Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1.</revremark>
61 jan 1570 </revision>
62     </revhistory>
63    
64 bh 1367 </bookinfo>
65    
66     <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
67     <para>
68 jan 1544 Thuban is an interactive geographic data viewer.
69 jan 2311 Its development had been started because there was no simple interactive
70 jonathan 1446 viewer for geographic information available as Free Software. Thuban is
71 jan 2311 written mainly in Python and uses the wxWidgets (former wxWindows)
72     library allowing it to
73 jonathan 1446 run on many different platforms, including GNU/Linux and Windows.
74 bh 1367 </para>
75 jonathan 1446 <para>
76 jan 1544 Geographic data viewers are a necessary tool as they allow one to
77     get a visual
78 jonathan 1446 impression of the positional relationship of the information that may not
79     be apparent from simple inspection of the data values themselves.
80     Thuban allows the user to create a session that displays
81     geographic data and then explore that data through navigation and
82     manipulation of how it is drawn. The results can then be saved or printed.
83     </para>
84     <para>
85     Thuban arranges a session in a hierarchy. A session contains a map which
86 jan 2311 consists of layers. Each layer represents a data set. For
87 jonathan 1446 instance, there may be a layer for roads and another layer for buildings.
88     These layers can either be vector shapes or images.
89     </para>
90 jan 1423
91     <section><title>Installation</title>
92 jonathan 1446 <para>
93     Thuban is actively supported under Debian Testing (sarge), RedHat 7.2,
94 jonathan 1533 and Windows 2000. Thuban depends on the following packages. These
95     packages can also be found on the
96 jonathan 1446 <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/download.html">
97     Thuban Download site
98     </ulink>.
99 frank 2023 </para>
100     <para>
101     Required:
102 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
103 frank 2052 <listitem><para>Python 2.2.1
104     (<literal>http://www.python.org</literal>)
105     </para></listitem>
106     <listitem><para>wxWindows 2.4
107     (<literal>http://www.wxwindows.org</literal>)
108     </para></listitem>
109     <listitem><para>wxPython 2.4
110     (<literal>http://www.wxpython.org</literal>)
111     </para></listitem>
112     <listitem><para>proj 4.4.5 Projection Library
113     (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/</literal>)
114     </para></listitem>
115     <listitem><para>SQLite 2.8.3
116     <literal>http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/</literal>)
117     </para></listitem>
118     <listitem><para>PySQLite 0.4.3
119     (<literal>http://pysqlite.sourceforge.net</literal>)
120     </para></listitem>
121 frank 2023 </itemizedlist>
122     </para>
123     <para>
124     Optional:
125     <itemizedlist>
126 frank 2052 <listitem><para>GDAL 1.1.8
127     (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/</literal>)
128     </para></listitem>
129     <listitem><para>psycopg 1.0.8
130     (<literal>http://initd.org/software/psycopg</literal>)
131     </para></listitem>
132 jonathan 1533 </itemizedlist>
133 jonathan 1446 </para>
134 jan 1544 <para>
135 frank 2052 Along with the source codes, the download page also offers full
136     installation packages for Debian, Windows and RPM-based systems
137 jan 1544 (Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, etc).
138     </para>
139 jan 1719 <section><title>RPM-based GNU/Linux Systems</title>
140     <section><title>Installing Binary Packages</title>
141     <para>
142 frank 2052 The most wide-spread RPM-based GNU/Linux
143     Systems are RedHat, Mandrake and SuSE.
144     The documentation of these distributions
145     should contain information about how to
146     install third-party RPM packages.
147     Nonetheless, a short summary is provided here.
148 jan 1719 </para>
149     <para>
150 frank 2052 RPM packages can be installed applying several
151     tools. The most basic one is the command line
152     program "rpm". The hardware architecture is
153     identified in the name of RPM packages, eg.
154     'i386' for most Intel/AMD architectures.
155     If you have a different hardware architecture,
156     where no binary RPM packages are provided,
157     you must rebuild binary packages from the
158     RPM source packages first (see below).
159 jan 1719 Typical rpm commands look like:
160    
161     <programlisting>
162     rpm --install Thuban-0.9.0-1.i386.rpm
163     </programlisting>
164    
165 frank 2052 Depending on what you already have installed
166     on your system, you are informed that some
167     packages are required, but not installed.
168     You need to install them first. Either they
169     are provided by your GNU/Linux distributor
170     or available somewhere on the Internet.
171     The more essential and special ones are
172     provided together with the Thuban package.
173 jan 1719 </para>
174    
175     <para>
176     For rpm exist some graphical user interfaces, notably
177     kpackage, GnoRPM and xrpm.
178     </para>
179    
180     <para>
181     Make yourself familiar with one of the tools and apply it
182     to install the packages.
183     Note, that you need to be administrator (root) for the system
184     to do that.
185     </para>
186     </section>
187     <section><title>Build Binaries from Source Packages</title>
188     <para>
189     This section describes howto build RPM install-packages
190     from RPM source-packages.
191     This adapts and optimizes an install-package specifically
192     to your system.
193     This is especially helpful to resolve version conflicts of
194     dependent packages. Furthermore, install-packages for other
195     platforms (e.g. PowerPC) can be created.
196     </para>
197    
198     <para>
199     Note: rpm must be at least version 4. Execute
200     <literal>rpm --version</literal> to find out about the version.
201     </para>
202    
203     <para>
204     You need to do the following preparations to be able to
205     build the packages as a regular user. You should now
206     perform the package buling as root since this
207     might cause damage to your system.
208     <itemizedlist>
209     <listitem>
210     <para>
211     Create RPM directory structure:
212     Choose a directory (e.g. $HOME/myrpm) and create the
213     subdirectories BUILD, RPM, SOURCES, SPECS and SRPMS.
214     A possible command sequence for this is:
215     <programlisting>
216     mkdir $HOME/freegisrpm
217     cd $HOME/freegisrpm
218     mkdir BUILD RPMS SOURCES SPECS SRPMS
219     </programlisting>
220     </para>
221     </listitem>
222     <listitem>
223     <para>
224     Set environment variable RPM_DIR:
225     <programlisting>
226     export RPM_DIR=$HOME/freegisrpm
227     </programlisting>
228     </para>
229     </listitem>
230     <listitem>
231     <para>
232     Create $HOME/.rpmmacros:
233     This file sets general preferences and some
234     specific settings for signing packages.
235     If you don't have a GnuPG-key, you can skip
236     the signature settings i.e. drop the last 4 lines.
237     A signature becomes important when you want to
238     give away packages to third parties.
239     <programlisting>
240     <![CDATA[
241     %packager Name Lastname <[email protected]>
242    
243     %_topdir /home/mylogin/myrpm
244    
245     %_signature gpg
246     %_gpg_name Name Lastname
247     %_pgp_path ~/.gnupg
248     %_pgpbin /usr/bin/gpg
249     ]]>
250     </programlisting>
251     </para>
252     </listitem>
253     </itemizedlist>
254    
255     Now you can install any RPM source-package.
256     It's components are installed into the corresponding
257     subdirectories of your rpm-directory.
258     Essentially these are the sources (into directory SOURCES)
259     and the so-called spec-file which contains all build
260     instructions. The spec-file will go into the SPEC directory.
261     Example:
262     <literal>rpm --install Thuban-0.9.0-1.src.rpm</literal>
263     </para>
264    
265     <para>
266     Create install-package:
267     Go to the directory with the spec-files and rebuild the
268     package:
269     <programlisting>
270     cd $HOME/mypm/SPECS
271     rpm -bb thuban.spec
272     </programlisting>
273     Next, you will find the newly created package in
274     $HOME/myrpm/RPMS/i386.
275     If you build the package for another architecture than
276     i386, then the name of the directory has a corresponding name.
277     </para>
278     <para>
279     For documentation of RPM, either type
280     <literal>man rpm</literal> or <literal>rpm --help</literal>.
281     This will provide you with information on the various command
282     line options of RPM.
283     For more information see the
284     <ulink url="http://www.rpm.org/">homepage of RPM</ulink>.
285     </para>
286     </section>
287 frank 2052 </section> <!-- Intro - Installation - RPM-->
288    
289     <section><title>Win32 Systems</title>
290     <para>
291     A common installation package of Thuban for Win32
292     systems is available from the Thuban website download
293     section. This installation package is configured for
294     displaying file based vector data (Shapefiles). For the
295     display of raster data or the connection to spatial
296     databases additional steps are needed.
297     </para>
298     <para>
299     The required Python packages are listed and linked on
300     the download page as well. If you don't have Python
301     installed already, download the packages for Python,
302     wxPython for Python and the SQLite Python Libraries as
303     well as the Thuban package. Install all four packages
304     in the order: Python, wxPython, SQLite, Thuban. Follow
305     the installation instructions provided by the seperate
306     setups. The Thuban installation package will add an
307     entry in the menu folder you configured.
308     </para>
309     <section><title>Raster Data: Installation of GDAL</title>
310     <para>
311     Enabling the raster data features of Thuban is
312     straight forward. For the examples we assume that
313     Thuban has been installed under
314     <literal>C:\Thuban</literal>:
315     <itemizedlist>
316     <listitem>
317     <para>
318     Download the zip-archive <ulink
319     url="ftp://intevation.de/thuban/win2k/gdal-win2k.zip"
320     >gdal-win2k</ulink>.
321     </para></listitem>
322     <listitem><para>Extract the archive (e.g. with
323     <ulink
324     url="http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/WiZ.html"
325     >WiZ (InfoZip)</ulink>) into the
326     <literal>C:\Thuban\Lib</literal>
327     directory of your Thuban installation.
328     </para>
329     </listitem>
330     <listitem>
331     <para>
332     Extent the <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname>
333     environment variable (in your Windows Control Panel)
334     to make the new libraries available for Thuban.
335     <programlisting>
336     %PYTHONPATH%;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal\pymod
337     </programlisting>
338     </para>
339     </listitem>
340     <listitem>
341     <para>
342     Extent also the <varname>PATH</varname>
343     environment variable accordingly:
344     <programlisting>
345     %PATH%;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal
346     </programlisting>
347     </para>
348     </listitem>
349     </itemizedlist>
350     After this installation steps Thuban is ready to
351     display raster data (e.g. the
352     <literal>island.tif</literal> from the Iceland Demo
353     data set.
354     </para>
355     </section> <!-- Win32: GDAL-->
356    
357     <section><title>Working with PostGIS: Installation of PsycoPG</title>
358     <para>
359     To access PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial databases with
360     Thuban you have to install the PsycoPG package for
361     Windows:
362     <itemizedlist>
363     <listitem>
364     <para>
365     Download the zip-archive
366     <ulink
367     url="http://stickpeople.com/projects/python/win-psycopg/win-psycopg22.zip"
368     >win-psycopg22.zip</ulink>.
369     </para>
370     </listitem>
371     <listitem>
372     <para>
373     Extract the zip-archive into a directory either already
374     in your <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname> or extent your
375     <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname> variable to the directory
376     you have extracted the archive to.
377     </para>
378     </listitem>
379     </itemizedlist>
380     For installation and maintenance of spatial databases
381     we refer to the <ulink
382     url="http://postgis.refractions.net"
383     >PostGIS Homepage</ulink>.
384     </para>
385     </section> <!-- Win32: PsycoPG-->
386    
387     </section> <!-- Intro - Installation - Win32 -->
388 jan 1423 </section>
389    
390 frank 2023 <section><title>Internationalization</title>
391     <para>
392     Thuban is implemented with internationalization support. So far Thuban
393     is translated by volunteers to the following languages (apart from its
394     main language: English):
395     <itemizedlist>
396     <listitem><para>French</para></listitem>
397     <listitem><para>German</para></listitem>
398     <listitem><para>Italian</para></listitem>
399 jan 2311 <listitem><para>Portuguese (Brazilian)</para></listitem>
400 frank 2023 <listitem><para>Russian</para></listitem>
401     <listitem><para>Spanish</para></listitem>
402     </itemizedlist>
403     </para>
404    
405     <para>
406     To use internationalization under POSIX systems (like GNU/Linux)
407     you have to set the environment variable LC_ALL accordingly (e.g.
408     LC_ALL=fr_FR for the french language support). Please check your
409     systems documentation for details and supported settings.
410     Specifiying LC_ALL on the command line while launching thuban
411 jan 2311 allows appication specific language settings:
412 frank 2023 </para>
413 jan 2311 <programlisting>
414     LC_ALL=fr_FR thuban.py
415     </programlisting>
416 frank 2023
417     <para>
418     MS Windows users have to specify the language to be used via the control
419     bar (which effects all applications).
420     </para>
421     </section>
422    
423 jonathan 1446 <section><title>The Main Window</title>
424 jan 1423 <para>
425 frank 1532 <figure>
426     <title>The Main Window</title>
427 jonathan 1446 <mediaobject>
428 jonathan 1490 <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="../images/1_2_mainwindow.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/> </imageobject>
429     <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="./images/1_2_mainwindow.ps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/> </imageobject>
430 jonathan 1446 </mediaobject>
431 frank 1532 </figure>
432 jonathan 1446 </para>
433    
434     <para>
435 jonathan 1466 The map window shows the current state of the map and is where
436 jonathan 1446 the user can interact with the map using the tools.
437     </para>
438    
439     <para>
440 jonathan 1466 The legend on the left displays a list of the current layers and
441     any visible classification groups. In the example, each shape layer
442     has a default classification which specifies how the shapes in each
443     layer are drawn. Layers that are higher in the list appear
444     ``closer'' to the user. The legend can be closed by clicking on the
445     small X in the upper right-hand region of the legend.
446     To open it again, use
447 jonathan 1446 <menuchoice>
448     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
449     <guimenuitem>Legend</guimenuitem>
450     </menuchoice>.
451     The legend is also dockable, which means that it can be detached
452     from the main window by clicking on the small button next to the
453 jonathan 1466 close button. It can be attached by clicking the same button
454 jonathan 1446 again.
455     </para>
456     <para>
457 jonathan 1466 The status bar displays different information depending on the
458 jonathan 1446 current context. If the user is selecting an item from the menu
459     then the status bar will display a short help message indicating
460     what each menu item is for. If the user has a tool selected then
461     the position of the cursor on the map is displayed.
462     </para>
463     <para>
464 jonathan 1466 The tool bar provides quick access to the commonly needed tools.
465 jonathan 1446 By hovering over each button the user can see a short messages
466     describing what the tool does. The tools provided are Zoom In, Zoom
467 frank 1496 Out, Pan, Full Extent, Full Layer Extent, Full Shape Extent, Identify,
468 jonathan 1446 and Label. Each of the tools will be explained in further detail later
469     in the manual.
470     </para>
471 jan 1423 </section>
472    
473 bh 1367 </chapter>
474 jan 1423
475     <chapter><title>Session Management</title>
476    
477 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Starting a New Session</title>
478 jan 1423 <para>
479 jonathan 1446 A new session can be started from
480     <menuchoice>
481     <guimenu>File</guimenu>
482     <guimenuitem>New Session</guimenuitem>
483 jonathan 1490 </menuchoice>.
484 jonathan 1446 If a session is already loaded and has been modified without
485     being saved a prompt will ask if the current session should
486 jonathan 1490 be saved. A new session consists of an empty map with no
487     layers and no tables.
488 jan 1423 </para>
489     </section>
490    
491 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Opening a Session</title>
492 jan 1423 <para>
493 jonathan 1446 A session can be opened from
494     <menuchoice>
495     <guimenu>File</guimenu>
496     <guimenuitem>Open Session</guimenuitem>
497 jonathan 1490 </menuchoice>. A dialog box will open allowing the user to browse
498     for a Thuban Session file. Thuban session files end with
499     <varname>.thuban</varname>. Selecting a file a clicking
500     <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will load the session into Thuban.
501 jonathan 1446
502     If a session is already loaded and has been modified without
503     being saved a prompt will ask if the current session should
504     be saved.
505 jan 1423 </para>
506     </section>
507    
508 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Saving a Session</title>
509 jan 1423 <para>
510 jonathan 1446 A session can be saved from
511     <menuchoice>
512     <guimenu>File</guimenu>
513     <guimenuitem>Save Session</guimenuitem>
514 jonathan 1490 </menuchoice>. A dialog box will open allowing the user to browse
515 frank 1496 the file system and select a place to save the session. Thuban
516 jonathan 1490 sessions should be saved under a name ending in
517     <varname>.thuban</varname>. If the file already exists the user
518     will be prompted to save under a different name or overwrite the
519     existing file.
520 jan 1423 </para>
521     </section>
522    
523 jonathan 1446 <section><title>The Session Info-Tree</title>
524 jonathan 1490 <para>
525 frank 1532 <figure>
526     <title>Session Info Tree</title>
527 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
528     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/2_4_session_tree.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
529     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/2_4_session_tree.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
530     </mediaobject>
531 frank 1532 </figure>
532 jonathan 1490 </para>
533 jan 1423 <para>
534 jonathan 1490 The session info-tree is primarily intended for developers working
535     with Thuban. It displays many of the internal values for the session,
536     map, and layers. It can be opened from
537     <menuchoice>
538     <guimenu>File</guimenu>
539     <guimenuitem>Session Tree</guimenuitem>
540     </menuchoice>.
541 jan 1423 </para>
542     </section>
543     </chapter>
544    
545     <chapter><title>Map Management</title>
546     <para>
547 jonathan 1466 The map consists of a number of layers where each layer represents a
548     different type of data set. By interacting with the map the user can
549     visually explore the data.
550 jan 1423 </para>
551 jonathan 1490 <para>
552     The map can have a name that will appear in the Thuban title bar.
553     The map name can be changed using
554     <menuchoice>
555     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
556     <guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem>
557     </menuchoice>.
558     </para>
559     <para>
560     <inlinemediaobject>
561     <imageobject>
562     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_rename_map.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
563     </imageobject>
564     <imageobject>
565     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_rename_map.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
566     </imageobject>
567     <textobject> <phrase>Rename Map</phrase> </textobject>
568     </inlinemediaobject>
569     </para>
570 jan 1423
571 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Adding and Removing Layers</title>
572 jan 1423 <para>
573 frank 2023 There are three types of layers that can be added to a map:
574     Shape layers, database layers
575 jonathan 1466 and image layers. Shape layers are stored in Shapefile format, a
576 jan 1624 widely used file format for storing geographic objects. These
577 jonathan 1466 files have the extension ``.shp''. Associated with
578 jonathan 1491 the shape file is a database file which stores attributes for
579 jan 1624 each shape in the Shape file. This file, in dBase format,
580 jonathan 1491 has the extension ``.dbf''. Both files must have the same base name.
581     For example, if there is a shape file named roads.shp there must
582 jonathan 1466 also be a file roads.dbf.
583 jan 1423 </para>
584 frank 2023 <itemizedlist>
585     <listitem>
586     <para>
587 jonathan 1466 Shape layers can be added to the map with
588     <menuchoice>
589     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
590     <guimenuitem>Add Layer</guimenuitem>
591     </menuchoice>.
592 jan 1624 Initially, only the ``.shp'' files are shown which is enough for the
593     selection. However, if you switch to display all files and select one
594     of the associated files (e.g. ``.dbf''), Thuban will recognize the base
595     name and load the corresponding Shape file.
596 jonathan 1466 </para>
597 jan 1624 <para>
598     The file dialog for Shape files allows to select multiple files.
599     Use the shift-button together with the left mouse button to extend
600     the selection.
601     </para>
602 frank 2023 </listitem>
603 jonathan 1466
604 frank 2023 <listitem>
605     <para>Database layers can be added to the map with
606     <menuchoice>
607     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
608     <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer</guimenuitem>
609     </menuchoice>.
610     A dialog with two is list is opened. The left list displays all
611     database connections currently open for the session. You can retrieve
612     a list of available layers from the selected database which is
613     displayed on the right hand. From this list one layer can be selected,
614     the dialog is closed afterwards.
615     </para>
616     <para>
617     See appendix ``Working with PostGIS'' for details.
618     </para>
619     </listitem>
620    
621     <listitem>
622 jonathan 1466 <para>
623     Image layers can be added to the map with
624     <menuchoice>
625     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
626     <guimenuitem>Add Image Layer</guimenuitem>
627     </menuchoice>.
628     It is important to select a valid image file that has geographic
629 jonathan 1491 data associated with it. The data can be embedded in the file itself,
630 jonathan 1466 or in another file. If geographic information cannot be found, Thuban
631     will report an error.
632     </para>
633 frank 2023 </listitem>
634     </itemizedlist>
635 jan 1423 </section>
636    
637     <section><title>Navigation</title>
638     <para>
639 jonathan 1466 The map can be explored by using the navigation tools available on
640 jonathan 1491 the tool bar or from the
641 jonathan 1466 <menuchoice><guimenu>Map</guimenu></menuchoice> menu.
642 jan 1423 </para>
643 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
644     <listitem>
645 jonathan 1466 <para>
646     The ZoomIn tool
647     <inlinemediaobject>
648     <imageobject>
649 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_zoomin.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
650 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
651     <imageobject>
652 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_zoomin.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
653 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
654     <textobject> <phrase>ZoomIn Tool</phrase> </textobject>
655     </inlinemediaobject>
656 jonathan 1491 enlarges a region of the map. Clicking once on the map
657 jonathan 1466 will double the magnification and center the map on the point that
658 jonathan 1510 was clicked. Clicking and dragging selects a region that will be
659 jonathan 1491 enlarged to fit the window.
660 jonathan 1466 </para>
661 frank 1532 </listitem>
662     <listitem>
663 jonathan 1466 <para>
664     The ZoomOut tool
665     <inlinemediaobject>
666     <imageobject>
667 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_zoomout.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
668 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
669     <imageobject>
670 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_zoomout.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
671 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
672     <textobject> <phrase>ZoomOut Tool</phrase> </textobject>
673     </inlinemediaobject>
674     shrinks the map so that a larger region is visible. A single click
675     reduces the magnification by a factor of two. Clicking and dragging
676     selects a box such that the current contents of the window will be
677     scaled to fit into that box.
678     </para>
679 frank 1532 </listitem>
680     <listitem>
681 jonathan 1466 <para>
682     The Pan tool
683     <inlinemediaobject>
684     <imageobject>
685 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_pan.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
686 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
687     <imageobject>
688 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_pan.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
689 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
690     <textobject> <phrase>Pan Tool</phrase> </textobject>
691     </inlinemediaobject>
692     allows the user to move the map around by clicking and dragging.
693     </para>
694 frank 1532 </listitem>
695     <listitem>
696 jonathan 1466 <para>
697     The Full Extent tool
698     <inlinemediaobject>
699     <imageobject>
700 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fullextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
701 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
702     <imageobject>
703 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fullextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
704 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
705     <textobject> <phrase>Full Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
706     </inlinemediaobject>
707     rescales the viewable region so that the entire map is visible.
708     </para>
709 frank 1532 </listitem>
710     <listitem>
711 jonathan 1466 <para>
712     The Full Layer Extent tool
713     <inlinemediaobject>
714     <imageobject>
715 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fulllayerextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
716 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
717     <imageobject>
718 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fulllayerextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
719 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
720     <textobject> <phrase>Full Layer Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
721     </inlinemediaobject>
722     rescales the viewable region so that the currently selected
723     layer fits within the window. If no layer is selected this button
724     will be disabled.
725     </para>
726 frank 1532 </listitem>
727     <listitem>
728 jonathan 1466 <para>
729     The Full Shape Extent tool
730     <inlinemediaobject>
731     <imageobject>
732 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fullshapeextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
733 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
734     <imageobject>
735 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fullshapeextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
736 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
737     <textobject> <phrase>Full Shape Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
738     </inlinemediaobject>
739     rescales the viewable region so that the currently selected
740     shape fits within the window. If the shape is a point, it is
741     centered and the map is zoomed all the way in. If no shape is
742 jonathan 1510 selected this button will be disabled. This feature is especially
743     helpful when identifying an object related to a selected record
744     in a tableview (see below).
745    
746 jonathan 1466 </para>
747 frank 1532 </listitem>
748     </itemizedlist>
749 jan 1423 </section>
750    
751 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Object Identification</title>
752 jan 1423 <para>
753 jonathan 1466 Objects on the map can be identified using the Identify tool
754     <inlinemediaobject>
755     <imageobject>
756 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_3_identify.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
757 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
758     <imageobject>
759 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_3_identify.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
760 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
761     <textobject> <phrase>Identify Tool</phrase> </textobject>
762     </inlinemediaobject>.
763     Clicking on an object selects that object and opens a dialog which
764     shows all the table attributes for that object. Any current selection
765 jonathan 1510 is lost. Objects on the map are typically shapes and this document
766     will often refer to objects as shapes.
767 jan 1423 </para>
768     </section>
769    
770 frank 1496 <section><title>Object Labeling</title>
771 jan 1423 <para>
772 frank 1496 Objects can be labeled using the Label tool
773 jonathan 1466 <inlinemediaobject>
774     <imageobject>
775 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_3_label.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
776 jonathan 1473 </imageobject>
777     <imageobject>
778 jonathan 1490 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_3_label.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
779 jonathan 1466 </imageobject>
780     <textobject> <phrase>Label Tool</phrase> </textobject>
781     </inlinemediaobject>.
782     Clicking on an object selects that object and opens a dialog which
783     displays the table attributes for that object. An attribute can
784 jonathan 1491 be selected to be the label on the map. The label will be placed
785     at the center of the shape. Clicking on an object that already has
786     a label will remove the label.
787 jan 1423 </para>
788     </section>
789    
790 jonathan 1446 <section><title>The Legend</title>
791 jonathan 1490 <para>
792     <inlinemediaobject>
793     <imageobject>
794     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_legend.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
795     </imageobject>
796     <imageobject>
797     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_legend.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
798     </imageobject>
799     <textobject> <phrase>Legend</phrase> </textobject>
800     </inlinemediaobject>
801     </para>
802 jan 1423 <para>
803 jonathan 1466 The Legend provides an overview of the layers in the map. Layers
804     that appear higher in the legend will appear ``closer'' to the user.
805     If a layer supports classification (currently, only shape layers
806     have this feature) then the classification groups will be shown
807     below each layer. The properties for each group are also displayed
808     with a small graphic. Polygon layers appear as rectangles, lines
809     appear as curved lines, and points appear as circles.
810     </para>
811     <para>
812     Along the top of the legend is a toolbar which allows quick access
813     to some of the layer manipulation options under
814 jonathan 1491 <menuchoice><guimenu>Map</guimenu></menuchoice>.
815     </para>
816 jonathan 1466
817 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
818     <listitem>
819 jonathan 1491 <para>
820     The Move Layer to Top tool
821     <inlinemediaobject>
822     <imageobject>
823     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_totop.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
824     </imageobject>
825     <imageobject>
826     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_totop.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
827     </imageobject>
828     <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer to Top</phrase> </textobject>
829     </inlinemediaobject> raises the selected layer to the top of the map.
830     </para>
831 frank 1532 </listitem>
832     <listitem>
833 jonathan 1491
834     <para>
835     The Move Layer Up tool
836     <inlinemediaobject>
837     <imageobject>
838     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_moveup.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
839     </imageobject>
840     <imageobject>
841     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_moveup.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
842     </imageobject>
843     <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer Up</phrase> </textobject>
844     </inlinemediaobject> raises the selected layer one level.
845     </para>
846 frank 1532 </listitem>
847     <listitem>
848 jonathan 1491
849     <para>
850     The Move Layer Down tool
851     <inlinemediaobject>
852     <imageobject>
853     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_movedown.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
854     </imageobject>
855     <imageobject>
856     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_movedown.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
857     </imageobject>
858     <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer Down</phrase> </textobject>
859     </inlinemediaobject> lowers the selected layer one level.
860     </para>
861    
862 frank 1532 </listitem>
863     <listitem>
864 jonathan 1491 <para>
865     The Move Layer to Bottom tool
866     <inlinemediaobject>
867     <imageobject>
868     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_tobottom.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
869     </imageobject>
870     <imageobject>
871     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_tobottom.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
872     </imageobject>
873     <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer to Bottom</phrase> </textobject>
874     </inlinemediaobject> lowers the selected layer to the bottom of the map.
875     </para>
876    
877 frank 1532 </listitem>
878     <listitem>
879 jonathan 1491 <para>
880     The Visible tool
881     <inlinemediaobject>
882     <imageobject>
883     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_visible.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
884     </imageobject>
885     <imageobject>
886     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_visible.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
887     </imageobject>
888     <textobject> <phrase>Visible</phrase> </textobject>
889     </inlinemediaobject> shows the selected layer in the map if it was
890     hidden.
891     </para>
892    
893 frank 1532 </listitem>
894     <listitem>
895 jonathan 1491 <para>
896     The Invisible tool
897     <inlinemediaobject>
898     <imageobject>
899     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_invisible.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
900     </imageobject>
901     <imageobject>
902     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_invisible.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
903     </imageobject>
904     <textobject> <phrase>Invisible</phrase> </textobject>
905     </inlinemediaobject> hides the selected layer in the map.
906     </para>
907    
908 frank 1532 </listitem>
909     <listitem>
910 jonathan 1491 <para>
911     The Properties tool
912     <inlinemediaobject>
913     <imageobject>
914     <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_props.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
915     </imageobject>
916     <imageobject>
917     <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_props.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
918     </imageobject>
919     <textobject> <phrase>Properties</phrase> </textobject>
920     </inlinemediaobject> opens the layer's properties dialog box.
921 jonathan 1466 Double-clicking on a layer or a group of a layer will open the
922     properties dialog for that layer.
923 jan 1423 </para>
924 frank 1532 </listitem>
925     </itemizedlist>
926 frank 2023
927     <para>
928     The most used layer related actions are also available from a
929     popup menu. It is raised when a layer is clicked with the right mouse
930     button.
931     </para>
932    
933     <para>
934     <figure>
935     <title>Layer Popup Menu</title>
936     <mediaobject>
937     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_popup_menu.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
938     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_popup_menu.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
939     </mediaobject>
940     </figure>
941     </para>
942    
943 jonathan 1510 <para>
944     Along the bottom of the legend is the scalebar. The scalebar
945     will be available if there are any layers and the map has a
946     projection set.
947     </para>
948 jan 1423 </section>
949    
950 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Exporting</title>
951     <para>
952     Under Windows, maps can be exported in Enhanced Metafile format
953     (<varname>.wmf</varname>)
954     from
955     <menuchoice>
956     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
957     <guimenuitem>Export</guimenuitem>
958 jonathan 1510 </menuchoice> for use in reports, presentations, or further
959     modification. The current map view, legend, and, if available,
960     scalebar are exported. Under other platforms this option is not
961     available. Clicking this menu item open a file selection dialog
962     that lets the user select a location to export the map.
963 jonathan 1490 </para>
964     </section>
965    
966 jan 1423 <section><title>Printing</title>
967     <para>
968 jonathan 1466 The map can be printed using
969     <menuchoice>
970     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
971     <guimenuitem>Print</guimenuitem>
972 jonathan 1510 </menuchoice>. The current map view, legend, and, if available,
973     scalebar are printed. A standard printing dialog will open allowing
974     the user to configure the printer. This dialog will differ depending
975 jonathan 1490 on which platform Thuban is running.
976 jan 1423 </para>
977     </section>
978 jonathan 1490
979 jan 1423 </chapter>
980    
981     <chapter><title>Layer Management</title>
982     <para>
983     </para>
984    
985 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Types of Layers</title>
986 jan 1423 <para>
987 frank 2023 There are three types of layers supported by Thuban: shape layers,
988     database layers and
989 jonathan 1466 image layers. Shape layers consist of vector based shapes with
990     geo-referenced coordinates. There are three types of supported
991 frank 2023 shapes: polygons, lines (arc), and points. Database layers are similar
992     to shape layers but loaded from a database instead of the file system.
993     Image layers can be any image
994 frank 1496 file format supported by the Geo-spatial Data Abstraction Library
995 jonathan 1491 (GDAL). The images must have geographic
996 frank 1496 coordinate data either embedded within the file or in a separate
997 jonathan 1473 file that is in the same directory as the image file. GeoTIFF files
998     work very well with Thuban and were designed specifically to be image
999     layers in GIS programs.
1000 jan 1423 </para>
1001 jonathan 1510 <para>
1002     All actions in the
1003     <menuchoice>
1004     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1005     </menuchoice> menu act on the currently selected layer in the legend.
1006     </para>
1007 jan 1423 </section>
1008    
1009 jonathan 1466 <section><title>Properties</title>
1010     <para>
1011 jonathan 1490 To view the properties for a layer it must first be selected in the
1012     legend. The menu option
1013     <menuchoice>
1014     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1015     <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>
1016     </menuchoice> opens a dialog that displays a layer's properties.
1017 jonathan 1510 All layers have a title which can be modified in the text field
1018 jonathan 1491 provided. The type of layer is also shows. If the type is a type
1019 jonathan 1490 of shape (polygon, arc, point) the classification table will be
1020     shown. Image layers have no other properties other than title
1021     and type.
1022 jonathan 1466 </para>
1023 jonathan 1490 <para>
1024 frank 1532 <figure>
1025     <title>Properties Window</title>
1026 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1027     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/4_2_layer_properties.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1028     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/4_2_layer_properties.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1029     </mediaobject>
1030 frank 1532 </figure>
1031 jonathan 1490 </para>
1032     <para>
1033 frank 1532 <figure>
1034     <title>Properties Window</title>
1035 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1036     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/4_2_raster_layer_properties.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1037     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/4_2_raster_layer_properties.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1038     </mediaobject>
1039 frank 1532 </figure>
1040 jonathan 1490 </para>
1041 jonathan 1466 </section>
1042    
1043 jan 1423 <section><title>Visibility</title>
1044     <para>
1045 jonathan 1466 Sometimes it is not desirable to view all layers at the same time.
1046     Some layers may take a long time to draw and so while navigating
1047     around the map the user may not want to wait for the map to redraw
1048 jonathan 1491 all the layers each time the map is changed. Each layer can be
1049     independently turned on or off using the
1050 jonathan 1466 <menuchoice>
1051     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1052     <guimenuitem>Show</guimenuitem>
1053     </menuchoice>
1054     or
1055     <menuchoice>
1056     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1057     <guimenuitem>Hide</guimenuitem>
1058     </menuchoice> options respectively.
1059 jan 1423 </para>
1060     </section>
1061    
1062     <section><title>Duplication</title>
1063     <para>
1064 jonathan 1466 Layers and all their properties, including classifications, can
1065     be duplicated using
1066     <menuchoice>
1067     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1068     <guimenuitem>Duplicate</guimenuitem>
1069     </menuchoice>. Duplicating a layer is useful if the user wishes
1070     to model a layer in several different ways. Even though the layers
1071 jonathan 1491 overlap, by carefully selecting the shape properties it is possible
1072 jonathan 1466 to display several pieces of information at once. For example, one
1073     copy of a roads layer may be classified on a length property and
1074 jonathan 1491 another copy may be classified on a type property. If the length
1075 jonathan 1466 property was expressed with color and the type property expressed
1076     with line thickness then it would be possible to view both
1077     classifications by placing the type property copy over the
1078     length property copy.
1079 jan 1423 </para>
1080     </section>
1081    
1082     </chapter>
1083    
1084     <chapter><title>Layer Classifications</title>
1085     <para>
1086 jonathan 1473 A layer classification is a way of assigning drawing properties to
1087     groups of shapes based on attributes stored in the layer's table.
1088     Only layer's with shapes can have a classification; image layers
1089     cannot be classified.
1090 jan 1423 </para>
1091 jonathan 1473 <para>
1092 jonathan 1491 A classification consists of a number of groups, each group
1093 jonathan 1473 having a value or range of values to match against, and symbol
1094     properties which control how a shape is drawn on the map. The user
1095     selects which field in the table is used by the classification and
1096     when the map is drawn the value for that field for each shape is
1097     compared with each group's value. The properties of the first group
1098     to match are used to draw the shape. This allows the user to get a
1099     visual impression of not only how the data is laid out but also what
1100     kind of data lies where.
1101     </para>
1102     <para>
1103     A layer always has a classification. When a new layer is added to the
1104     map, a default classification is created with the DEFAULT group. This
1105 jonathan 1510 group cannot be removed but can be hidden (see below). Every shape in the
1106     layer, regardless of its attributes, will match this group if no other
1107     group matches.
1108 jonathan 1473 </para>
1109 jan 1423
1110 jonathan 1473 <section><title>Editing Classifications</title>
1111 jan 1423 <para>
1112 jonathan 1473 A layer's classification can be modified under the properties dialog
1113     (<menuchoice>
1114     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1115     <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>
1116     </menuchoice>). The layer's classification field can be set to None,
1117     which simply assigns a DEFAULT group to the classification. No new
1118     groups can be added to the classification if the field is None.
1119     The user must first select a field to classify on. New groups can
1120     be added to the classification with the <guibutton>Add</guibutton>
1121     button.
1122     </para>
1123     <para>
1124 jonathan 1510 To apply the changes to the map the user can click
1125     either <guibutton>Try</guibutton> or <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1126     <guibutton>Try</guibutton> will not close the dialog box, allowing
1127     the user to see how the classification changes the map.
1128     <guibutton>Revert</guibutton> will undo the last classification applied
1129     to the map. <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will commit the changes and
1130     close the dialog. The user will be unable to undo the changes.
1131     <guibutton>Close</guibutton> simply closes the dialog box. If any
1132     changes have not been applied with <guibutton>Try</guibutton> the
1133     changes will not be applied to the map.
1134     </para>
1135     <para>
1136 frank 1532 <figure>
1137     <title>Properties Window</title>
1138 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1139     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_classification.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1140     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_classification.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1141     </mediaobject>
1142 frank 1532 </figure>
1143 jonathan 1490 </para>
1144     <para>
1145 jonathan 1473 The order of the groups in the classification is significant
1146     except for the DEFAULT group, which remains at the top. When shapes
1147     are matched against groups the matching begins at the first group
1148 jonathan 1491 after the DEFAULT group so that groups higher in the list will
1149 jonathan 1473 be checked first. Matching for a
1150     given shape will stop at the first group that matches. The user can
1151     use <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton> and <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>
1152     to change the order of the groups. The DEFAULT group will always
1153     match a shape that hasn't matched another group.
1154 jan 1423 </para>
1155 jonathan 1491 <section><title>Visible</title>
1156     <para>
1157 frank 1496 The Visible column has check-boxes that determine whether a
1158 jonathan 1491 classification group will be displayed in the legend. This is
1159     useful if the user knows that the groups completely cover
1160     the data set and don't want the DEFAULT group to be displayed
1161     in the legend and on a printout.
1162     </para>
1163     </section>
1164     <section><title>Symbols</title>
1165     <para>
1166     Each type of shape has its own type of symbol. Thuban supports three
1167     types of shapes: polygons, lines, and points. Polygons and points
1168     have outline and fill color, while lines have only line color. Each
1169     group has associated symbol properties. To edit the symbol
1170     properties for a group the user can double click on the Symbol
1171     column or select a group and click the
1172     <guibutton>Edit Symbol</guibutton> button.
1173     </para>
1174     </section>
1175     <section><title>Value</title>
1176     <para>
1177     The Value column of the classification table is the value that will
1178     be matched when the map is being drawn. The type of data that can
1179     entered into this field depends on the type of data of the
1180     classification field.
1181     </para>
1182     <para>
1183     If the field is of type Text, anything entered
1184     into the field is valid. The text will be compared literally to the
1185     value of the shape attribute, including case sensitivity.
1186     If the type is Integer, then any valid integer may be entered. In
1187     addition, with special syntax, a range of values can be entered.
1188     A range from <varname>start</varname> to <varname>end</varname>
1189 frank 1496 inclusive is specified like this: <literal>[start;end]</literal>.
1190 jonathan 1491 The exclusive range is specified like this:
1191     <literal>]start;end[</literal>. Ranges can include infinity like
1192     this: <literal>[-oo;oo]</literal>. Field types can also be of type
1193     Decimal. They represent any rational number and can be used in
1194     ranges as well.
1195     </para>
1196     </section>
1197     <section><title>Label</title>
1198     <para>
1199     By default, the text that is displayed for a group in the legend
1200     is the value for that group. The label can substitute a more
1201     descriptive term in the legend.
1202     </para>
1203     </section>
1204 jan 1423 </section>
1205    
1206 jonathan 1446 <section><title>Generating Classes</title>
1207 jan 1423 <para>
1208 frank 1532 <figure>
1209     <title>Generate Class</title>
1210 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1211     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_3_genclass.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1212     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_3_genclass.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1213     </mediaobject>
1214 frank 1532 </figure>
1215 jonathan 1490 </para>
1216     <para>
1217 jonathan 1473 Creating a classification by hand can be tedious.
1218     Thuban, therefore, provides a means of generating an entire
1219     classification at once while still giving the user control over
1220     how it appears. Clicking <guibutton>Generate Class</guibutton>
1221     opens the <varname>Generate Classification</varname> dialog.
1222 frank 1496 Under the <varname>Generate</varname> pull down there are at most
1223 jonathan 1473 three different ways to generate classifications:
1224 jonathan 1510 Unique Values, Uniform Distribution, and Quantiles. Some options
1225 jonathan 1491 may not be available if the data type for the field does not
1226 jonathan 1510 support them. For instance, <varname>Uniform Distribution</varname>
1227 jonathan 1473 doesn't make sense for a Text field.
1228 jan 1423 </para>
1229 jonathan 1473 <para>
1230     For every way of generating a classification, a color scheme must
1231     be selected. Thuban provides several different color schemes that
1232     affect how the group properties change over the classification.
1233 jonathan 1530 It may be desirable that only certain properties change over the
1234     classification. If the shape type is a polygon or a point then
1235     the <guibutton>Fix Border Color</guibutton> option will be available.
1236     This allows the user to select a border color for all classification
1237     groups.
1238 jonathan 1473 It is also possible to create a custom color scheme. Selecting
1239     this option will display two symbols: the one of the left has the
1240     properties of the first group and the one on the right has the
1241     properties of the last group. Thuban will interpolate between these
1242     two properties to generate the other groups.
1243 frank 1532 <figure>
1244     <title>Custom Color Scheme</title>
1245 jonathan 1510 <mediaobject>
1246     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_custom_ramp.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1247     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_custom_ramp.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1248     </mediaobject>
1249 frank 1532 </figure>
1250 jonathan 1473 </para>
1251     <para>
1252     The Unique Values option lets the user select specific values that
1253     appear in the table. Clicking <guibutton>Retrieve From Table</guibutton>
1254     searches the table for all unique values and displays them in the
1255     list on the left. Items can be selected and moved to the list on the
1256     right. Each list can be sorted or reversed for easier searching.
1257     The classification that is generated will be in the same order as
1258     the list on the right.
1259 frank 1532 <figure>
1260     <title>Unique Values</title>
1261 jonathan 1510 <mediaobject>
1262     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_unique_values.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1263     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_unique_values.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1264     </mediaobject>
1265 frank 1532 </figure>
1266 jonathan 1473 </para>
1267     <para>
1268 jonathan 1510 The Uniform Distribution option creates a user specified number of
1269 jonathan 1473 groups of ranges such that each range covers equal intervals. The
1270     minimum and maximum values can automatically be retrieved from the
1271     table by clicking <guibutton>Retrieve From Table</guibutton>. The
1272     stepping is how large each interval is. Adjusting this value will
1273     automatically recalculate how many groups is appropriate.
1274 frank 1532 <figure>
1275     <title>Uniform Distribution</title>
1276 jonathan 1510 <mediaobject>
1277     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_uniform_dist.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1278     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_uniform_dist.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1279     </mediaobject>
1280 frank 1532 </figure>
1281 jonathan 1473 </para>
1282     <para>
1283 jonathan 1491 The Quantiles option generates ranges based on the number of items
1284 jonathan 1510 in the table. For example, by specifying five groups Thuban will
1285 jonathan 1491 generate five groups with appropriate ranges such that 20% of the table
1286 jonathan 1473 data is in each group. If it is impossible to generate exact
1287 jonathan 1491 groupings, Thuban will issue a warning but allow the user to continue.
1288 frank 1532 <figure>
1289     <title>Quantiles</title>
1290 jonathan 1510 <mediaobject>
1291     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_quantiles.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1292     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_quantiles.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1293     </mediaobject>
1294 frank 1532 </figure>
1295 jonathan 1473 </para>
1296 jan 1423 </section>
1297     </chapter>
1298    
1299     <chapter><title>Projection Management</title>
1300     <para>
1301 jonathan 1475 Projections control how the geographic data is displayed on the screen.
1302     If multiple layers are loaded into Thuban where the geographic data
1303 jonathan 1491 is in a different projection system, then the user must specify a
1304     projection for each layer. The user must also tell Thuban which
1305 jonathan 1475 projection the map is in. This can be the same as the layers or a different
1306     projection in which case the layers are reprojected into that space.
1307     The map projection can be set using
1308     <menuchoice>
1309     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
1310     <guimenuitem>Projection</guimenuitem>
1311     </menuchoice> and the layer projection can be set using
1312     <menuchoice>
1313     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1314     <guimenuitem>Projection</guimenuitem>
1315     </menuchoice>.
1316 frank 1532 <figure>
1317     <title>Projection Window</title>
1318 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1319     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/6_projection.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1320     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/6_projection.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1321     </mediaobject>
1322 frank 1532 </figure>
1323 jan 1423 </para>
1324 jonathan 1475 <para>
1325 frank 2023 Thuban is distributed with a sample collection of projections and the
1326     set of coordinate systems as used by the EPSG
1327     (European Petroleum Survey Group). This quite large set is only displayed
1328     if activated by the according checkbox. The set falls into two parts:
1329     deprecated lists all projections which are no longer part of the
1330     EPSG data base.
1331     </para>
1332     <para>
1333     The
1334 jonathan 1475 user can create new projections and make them available to all
1335     future Thuban sessions. They may also be exported and imported so
1336 jonathan 1491 that custom projections can be distributed.
1337 jonathan 1475 </para>
1338     <section><title>Selecting a Projection</title>
1339     <para>
1340     The available projections are listed on the left. If the layer
1341 jonathan 1491 or map already has a projection it will initially be highlighted
1342 jonathan 1475 and will end with <varname>(current)</varname>. Selecting
1343 jonathan 1490 <varname>&lt;None&gt;</varname> will cause Thuban to use the data as
1344 jonathan 1475 it appears in the source file and will not use a projection.
1345     </para>
1346     </section>
1347     <section><title>Editing a Projection</title>
1348     <para>
1349     Whenever a projection is selected from the list its properties
1350     are displayed on the right. These properties can be changed
1351     and the changes saved to the selected projection using
1352 jonathan 1491 <guibutton>Update</guibutton>. Only a projection that comes
1353 jonathan 1475 from a file can be updated, so if the current layer's projection
1354 jonathan 1491 is selected, <guibutton>Update</guibutton> will be disabled.
1355     <guibutton>Add to List</guibutton> adds the projection to the
1356     list of available projections as a new entry, and thus makes it
1357 jonathan 1475 available to future Thuban sessions. Clicking <guibutton>New</guibutton>
1358     will create an entirely new, empty projection. The
1359 frank 1496 <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button will permanently remove a
1360 jonathan 1475 projection from the list of available projections.
1361     </para>
1362 jonathan 1510 <para>
1363     To apply the selected projection to the map the user can click
1364     either <guibutton>Try</guibutton> or <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1365     <guibutton>Try</guibutton> will not close the dialog box, allowing
1366     the user to see how the projeciton changes the map.
1367     <guibutton>Revert</guibutton> will undo the last projection applied
1368     to the map. <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will commit the changes and
1369     close the dialog. The user will be unable to undo the changes.
1370     <guibutton>Close</guibutton> simply closes the dialog box. If no
1371     selection has been applied with <guibutton>Try</guibutton> the
1372     selection will not be applied to the map.
1373     </para>
1374 jonathan 1475 </section>
1375     <section><title>Importing/Exporting Projections</title>
1376     <para>
1377     The projections that appear in the list of available projections
1378     can be exported to another file that the user chooses. By selecting
1379     one or more projections and clicking <guibutton>Export</guibutton>
1380 jonathan 1491 the user will be able to select a file in which to store those
1381     projections.
1382 jonathan 1475 The file can then be distributed to other Thuban users. To import
1383     a projection file the user can click <guibutton>Import</guibutton>.
1384     The imported projections are added to the list and are then available
1385 jonathan 1491 to the current session and any future Thuban sessions.
1386 jonathan 1475 </para>
1387     </section>
1388 jan 1423 </chapter>
1389    
1390     <chapter><title>Table Management</title>
1391     <para>
1392 jonathan 1490 Thuban distinguishes two different types of tables: Attribute tables
1393 jonathan 1491 (which belong to a layer) and normal data tables. Both provide
1394     the same general functionality with the difference that actions on an
1395 jonathan 1490 attribute table might also effect the map display.
1396 jan 1423 </para>
1397 frank 1478
1398     <section><title>Table View</title>
1399 jonathan 1490 <para>
1400 frank 1532 <figure>
1401     <title>Table View</title>
1402 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1403     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/7_1_table_view.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1404     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/7_1_table_view.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1405     </mediaobject>
1406 frank 1532 </figure>
1407 jonathan 1490 </para>
1408     <para>
1409 frank 1478 Thuban provides a standard dialog to display table contents, the
1410 jonathan 1510 Table View. The view has five sections: The title, selections,
1411 jonathan 1491 the table grid, export functions, and the status bar.
1412 jonathan 1490 </para>
1413     <para>
1414 jonathan 1491 The title bar identifies the table with its name.
1415 jonathan 1490 </para>
1416     <para>
1417 jonathan 1491 The selections box let the user perform simple analysis on the data
1418     based on comparisons: The first choice must be a field identifier of
1419     the table, the second choice determines the type of comparison. The
1420     third choice can be either a specific value (interpreted as numerical
1421 frank 1478 or string depending on the type of the first field) or a second field
1422     identifier. Thus you can perform analysis like selecting all
1423 jonathan 1510 records where <literal>population > 10000</literal> or
1424     <literal>cars_per_inhabitant < bikes_per_inhabitant</literal>
1425     (note that the field names are only explanatory, the dBase files
1426     allow only 11 character field names).
1427 jonathan 1490
1428 jonathan 1491 Selections can be combined either by applying a selection only on
1429 frank 1478 a previously selected set of records or by adding the results of a
1430     selection to a previous set. The default is that a selection replaces
1431     earlier results.
1432 jonathan 1490 </para>
1433     <para>
1434 jonathan 1510 The table grid shows the contents of the table (one record per row),
1435 frank 1478 with highlighted selection results. Columns and rows can be resized.
1436 jonathan 1490 </para>
1437     <para>
1438 frank 1496 The contents of a table can be exported into a file, either dBase
1439     format (DBF) or comma separated values (CSV). The
1440 jonathan 1490 <guibutton>Export</guibutton> button
1441 frank 1478 raises a file dialog to specify a path and file name, the export type
1442     is determined by the file extension (either .dbf or .csv).
1443    
1444 jonathan 1490 The <guibutton>Export Selection</guibutton> button works similarly
1445     but exports only the selected records.
1446 frank 1478
1447 jonathan 1490 The <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button closes the table view window.
1448     This is different from the menu item
1449     <menuchoice>
1450     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1451     <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem>
1452     </menuchoice> which unloads the table from Thuban.
1453     </para>
1454     <para>
1455 frank 1478 The status bar displays some statistics about the table and optional
1456     selection results.
1457 jonathan 1490 </para>
1458 frank 1478 </section>
1459    
1460     <section><title>General Functionality (Menu Table)</title>
1461 jonathan 1490 <para>
1462 frank 1478 The general functions affect all tables open in Thuban. Attribute
1463 jonathan 1491 tables are considered here as normal data tables (with the exception
1464 frank 1478 that they cannot be closed).
1465     </para>
1466 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Open</title>
1467     <para>
1468     The
1469     <menuchoice>
1470     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1471     <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
1472     </menuchoice>
1473     item raises a file dialog to let you select a
1474 frank 1496 dBase file from the file system to be loaded into Thuban read-only.
1475 jonathan 1491 On <guibutton>OK</guibutton> the selected file is loaded and a
1476     table view is opened.
1477 jonathan 1490 </para>
1478     </section>
1479 frank 1478
1480 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Close</title>
1481     <para>
1482     The
1483     <menuchoice>
1484     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1485     <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem>
1486     </menuchoice>
1487     item raises a dialog listing the currently open
1488     data tables
1489     (loaded via
1490     <menuchoice>
1491     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1492     <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
1493     </menuchoice>). Selected tables are dereferenced on confirmation.
1494     Since tables are opened read-only the contents of the tables are
1495     not affected.
1496 frank 1478
1497 jonathan 1491 Any open views of the tables are closed as well.
1498 frank 1478
1499 jonathan 1490 Tables used in a join cannot be closed.
1500     </para>
1501     </section>
1502 frank 1478
1503 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Rename</title>
1504     <para>
1505     <menuchoice>
1506     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1507     <guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem>
1508     </menuchoice> changes the table title.
1509     </para>
1510     </section>
1511 frank 1478
1512 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Show</title>
1513     <para>
1514     The
1515     <menuchoice>
1516     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1517     <guimenuitem>Show</guimenuitem>
1518     </menuchoice>
1519     item raises a list of available tables (explicitly
1520     loaded, attribute tables, results of a join). Selected tables are
1521 jonathan 1491 show in tables views on <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1522 jonathan 1490 </para>
1523     </section>
1524 frank 1478
1525 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Join</title>
1526     <para>
1527 frank 1532 <figure>
1528     <title>Join Tables</title>
1529 jonathan 1490 <mediaobject>
1530     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/7_2_5_join.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1531     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/7_2_5_join.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1532     </mediaobject>
1533 frank 1532 </figure>
1534 jonathan 1490 </para>
1535     <para>
1536     The
1537     <menuchoice>
1538     <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1539     <guimenuitem>Join</guimenuitem>
1540     </menuchoice>
1541     item raises a dialog to specify the two tables to be
1542     joined. The join results in a new table named 'Join of "left table"
1543     and "right table"'.
1544 frank 1478
1545 jonathan 1491 The dialog lets you select the two tables to be joined and the two
1546     fields the join has to be performed on. By default, the new
1547     table contains only those records which are matched by the join.
1548 frank 1478
1549 jonathan 1490 If you want to preserve the records of the left table you can
1550     perform an outer join. The fields from the right table for records
1551     not matched by the join are filled with <varname>None</varname> in
1552     this case.
1553     </para>
1554     </section>
1555 frank 1478
1556     </section>
1557     <section><title>Attribute Tables</title>
1558     <para>
1559 jonathan 1510 To clearly separate between both types of tables (data and
1560     attribute), Thuban provides functionality regarding the attribute
1561     tables under the <menuchoice><guimenu>Layer</guimenu></menuchoice> menu.
1562 frank 1478 </para>
1563    
1564 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Show Table</title>
1565     <para>
1566     <menuchoice>
1567     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1568     <guimenuitem>Show Table</guimenuitem>
1569     </menuchoice>
1570     opens the attribute table of the currently active layer in a table
1571     view.
1572    
1573     In addition to the functionality described above selections
1574     affect also the map display: objects related to selected records
1575     are highlighted.
1576     </para>
1577     </section>
1578    
1579     <section><title>Join Table</title>
1580     <para>
1581 jonathan 1491 Unlike the join described above, the join does not result in a
1582 frank 1478 new table. The attribute table of the currently active layer is the
1583 jonathan 1490 left table and other tables are joined to this table. The results of
1584 jonathan 1491 the join are available for classification.
1585 frank 1478
1586 jonathan 1490 As a consequence, the join cannot result in fewer
1587     records than the source attribute table. The user is warned if the
1588     right table does not fulfill this constraint. An outer join must be
1589     used in such cases.
1590     </para>
1591     </section>
1592 frank 1478
1593 jonathan 1490 <section><title>Unjoin Table</title>
1594     <para>
1595     As said above, a normal table cannot be closed while it is still
1596     used in a join. While the joined table resulting from a join of
1597     normal tables can be simply closed (and thereby dereferencing
1598     the source tables), this is not possible for attribute tables.
1599 frank 1478
1600 frank 1496 Hence joins on attribute tables must be solved explicitly. This is
1601 jonathan 1490 what the
1602     <menuchoice>
1603     <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1604     <guimenuitem>Unjoin Table</guimenuitem>
1605     </menuchoice>
1606     item is used for: The last join for the currently
1607 frank 1478 active layer is solved.
1608 jonathan 1490 </para>
1609     </section>
1610 frank 1478 </section>
1611 jan 1423 </chapter>
1612    
1613 jan 1624 <chapter><title>Extensions</title>
1614     <para>
1615     Thuban is designed to be extensible. The term Extension is used as a
1616     general term for anything that extends Thuban.
1617     This chapter introduces into some oppportunities how to add and
1618     handle extra functionality developed by your own or third parties.
1619     </para>
1620    
1621     <section><title>Add personal extensions via thubanstart.py</title>
1622     <para>
1623     After Thuban has been started for the first time, a directory
1624     .thuban is created within your home directory.
1625     There you can add a file thubanstart.py which will be imported
1626     by Thuban at start-up. It is recommended to add only import-statements
1627     to this file to keep the actual code of extensions separate.
1628     </para>
1629     <para>
1630 jan 1719 The modules to import must either be found through the environment
1631 jan 1624 variable PYTHONPATH or directly be placed into the .thuban-directory.
1632     </para>
1633     <para>
1634     As an example, copy the file examples/simple_extensions/hello_world.py
1635     of the Thuban source code into the .thuban-directory of your home
1636     directory. Now add add the statement import hello_world to the
1637     file thubanstart.py and run Thuban. You will notice an additional
1638     menu <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> where
1639     the new item for the Hello-World extension is placed - select it
1640     to see the Hello-World message.
1641     </para>
1642     </section>
1643    
1644 jan 1744 <section><title>Extensions included in Thuban package</title>
1645     <para>
1646     The extensions described in this section are part of the
1647     Thuban package, but not activated by default.
1648     You will find them in the Thuban installation directory
1649     under <literal>Extensions/</literal>. Activate them as personal
1650     extensions via PYTHONPATH as described in the previous section.
1651     Stable extensions will appear under the menu
1652     <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> and
1653     extensions which are in experimental state and therefore
1654     not fully functional under
1655     <menuchoice><guimenu>Experimental</guimenu></menuchoice>.
1656     </para>
1657    
1658     <section><title>Stable extensions</title>
1659     <para>
1660     These extensions provide extra-functionality to Thuban
1661     that has not (yet) been integrated in the main application.
1662     They are considered to be free of bugs, but may be
1663     further polished with helpful user interactions.
1664     </para>
1665     <section><title>gns2shp</title>
1666     <para>
1667     This tool converts data of the Geospatial Names Server
1668     (GNS, see <ulink url="http://www.nima.mil/gns"/>)
1669     into Shapefile format.
1670     The above web-site offer to download named places
1671     information grouped by countries for all of the world
1672     except USA for which other data are provided.
1673     </para>
1674     <para>
1675     If you download and unpack a package, you will have
1676     a text-file with suffix .txt.
1677     Selecting such a file via gns2shp will create the
1678     corresponding Shapefile with the same basename and
1679     place it in the same direcory. Afterwards it
1680     is automatically loaded into Thuban.
1681     The Shapefile will not automatically be delete afterwards.
1682     </para>
1683     <para>
1684     The gns2shp.py module can also be executed on the
1685     command line for batch processing purposes.
1686     </para>
1687     <para>
1688     A sample (<literal>ls.txt</literal> for Liechtenstein)
1689     is included in the directory
1690     <literal>Extensions/gns2shp/test</literal>.
1691     </para>
1692     </section>
1693     </section>
1694     <section><title>Experimental extensions</title>
1695     <para>
1696     All all of these functions have to be handled with care,
1697     since they are neither complete nor well tested.
1698     They are to be seen as a proof-of-concept and may
1699     additionally in some cases of practical help.
1700     </para>
1701     <para>
1702     Any interest on further improvement of these extensions
1703     should be communicated towards the developer and user
1704     community.
1705     </para>
1706    
1707     <section><title>importAPR</title>
1708     <para>
1709     This command offer to load an ESRI® ArcView® project
1710     file (suffix .apr) and convert it for use within Thuban.
1711     After selecting a apr-file to load, a list
1712     will be presented that offers to select one of the views
1713     of the apr-file, provided there is more than one.
1714     Furthermore, the Session Info-Tree is extended with
1715     a complete representation of the parsed apr-file.
1716     </para>
1717     <para>
1718     The legend of Thuban does not yet cover all of the elements as
1719     supported by the legend of ArcView®. Therefore, the Thuban
1720     map will look different. Furthermore, the apr-format is
1721     a proprietary format, not openly documented.
1722     Therefore, the interpretation is
1723     partly based on reverse engeneering and good guessing.
1724     </para>
1725     <para>
1726     The file-paths within the apr-file may not fit and potentially
1727     are subject to fix in the apr-file. You can do this
1728     applying any text editor. The paths are either absolute
1729     or relative from where Thuban has been started.
1730     </para>
1731     <para>
1732     A sample for the Iceland data is included as
1733     <literal>Extensions/importAPR/samples/iceland.apr</literal>.
1734     The file-paths are relative from the Thuban main directory.
1735     </para>
1736     </section>
1737     </section>
1738     </section>
1739    
1740 jan 1624 <section><title>Writing simple extensions</title>
1741     <para>
1742     Writing an extension for Thuban basically means to
1743     implement the extra functionality in Python with all of the
1744     Thuban classes, methods and variables available.
1745     </para>
1746     <para>
1747     All classes and their methods are documented in the source code
1748     (see their doc-strings). Here is an example from
1749     Thuban/Model/layer.py that describes some of the methods
1750     of a Layer object:
1751     </para>
1752     <programlisting>
1753     <![CDATA[
1754     class BaseLayer(TitledObject, Modifiable):
1755    
1756     """Base class for the layers."""
1757    
1758     def __init__(self, title, visible = True, projection = None):
1759     """Initialize the layer.
1760    
1761     title -- the title
1762     visible -- boolean. If true the layer is visible.
1763     """
1764     TitledObject.__init__(self, title)
1765     Modifiable.__init__(self)
1766     self.visible = visible
1767     self.projection = projection
1768    
1769     def Visible(self):
1770     """Return true if layer is visible"""
1771     return self.visible
1772    
1773     def SetVisible(self, visible):
1774     """Set the layer's visibility."""
1775     self.visible = visible
1776     self.issue(LAYER_VISIBILITY_CHANGED, self)
1777    
1778     def HasClassification(self):
1779     """Determine if this layer support classifications."""
1780     ...
1781     ]]>
1782     </programlisting>
1783     <para>
1784     This example intends to give you an impression of the
1785     source-code-level documentation.
1786     You have to make yourself familiar with
1787     the Python programming language to understand some special
1788     code elements.
1789     </para>
1790     <section><title>hello_world.py</title>
1791     <para>
1792     Traditionally, the first example should welcome the world.
1793     Most of the code handles the frame for integrating a menu
1794     item into Thuban while the actual raising of a message
1795     is done in a single line.
1796     </para>
1797     <programlisting>
1798     <![CDATA[
1799     # Copyright (C) 2003 by Intevation GmbH
1800     # Authors:
1801     # Jan-Oliver Wagner <[email protected]>
1802     #
1803     # This program is free software under the GPL (>=v2)
1804     # Read the file COPYING coming with Thuban for details.
1805    
1806     """
1807     Extend Thuban with a sample Hello World to demonstrate simple
1808     extensions.
1809     """
1810    
1811     __version__ = '$Revision$'
1812    
1813     # use _() already now for all strings that may later be translated
1814     from Thuban import _
1815    
1816     # Thuban has named commands which can be registered in the central
1817     # instance registry.
1818     from Thuban.UI.command import registry, Command
1819    
1820     # The instance of the main menu of the Thuban application
1821     # See Thuban/UI/menu.py for the API of the Menu class
1822     from Thuban.UI.mainwindow import main_menu
1823    
1824     def hello_world_dialog(context):
1825     """Just raise a simple dialog to greet the world.
1826    
1827     context -- The Thuban context.
1828     """
1829     context.mainwindow.RunMessageBox(_('Hello World'), _('Hello World!'))
1830    
1831    
1832     # create a new command and register it
1833     registry.Add(Command('hello_world', _('Hello World'), hello_world_dialog,
1834     helptext = _('Welcome everyone on this planet')))
1835    
1836     # find the extensions menu (create it anew if not found)
1837 jan 2209 extensions_menu = main_menu.FindOrInsertMenu('extensions', _('E&xtensions'))
1838 jan 1624
1839     # finally bind the new command with an entry in the extensions menu
1840     extensions_menu.InsertItem('hello_world')
1841     ]]>
1842     </programlisting>
1843     </section>
1844     <section><title>Registering a Command</title>
1845     <para>
1846     Mainly, our new function has to be registered to the Thuban
1847     framework in order to connect it to the menu. A registered
1848     command can also be connected to e.g. a toolbar button.
1849     </para>
1850     <para>
1851     The instances and classes for this are imported at the beginning.
1852     Any code not inside a method or class is directly executed when
1853     the source-code module is imported. Therefore, the second
1854     part of this example consist of the plain statements to create a new
1855     Command and to add it to the menu.
1856     </para>
1857     <para>
1858     By convention, it looks for a menu registered as ``extensions'' to
1859     insert the new command. If it does not exist yet, it gets created.
1860     It is advisable to copy this code for any of your extensions.
1861     </para>
1862     </section>
1863     <section><title>The Thuban context</title>
1864     <para>
1865     A registered command that is called, always receives the
1866     Thuban context. This instance provides our method with
1867     hook references to all important components of the Thuban
1868     application.
1869     </para>
1870     <para>
1871     In the example hello_world.py, our function uses the
1872     mainwindow component which offers a method to raise a
1873     message dialog. In total there are three hooks:
1874     <itemizedlist>
1875     <listitem>
1876     <para>application:
1877     This object is the instance of the Thuban Application class.
1878     Except maybe for loading or savinf sessions, you will not
1879     need this object for a simple extension.
1880     See Thuban/UI/application.py for the API.
1881     </para>
1882     </listitem>
1883     <listitem>
1884     <para>session:
1885     The instance of the current session. It manages the sessions'
1886     map and tables. You can set and remove the map or tables.
1887     In may also get the map object. However, you should know that
1888     internally it is already prepared to handle many maps.
1889     Therfore, currently you would always receive a list with exactlty
1890     one element. In the future, if there are more than one map,
1891     you will not know which one is the currently display one and
1892     therefore you should use the mainwindow as hook to find
1893     the currently displayed map.
1894     See Thuban/Model/session.py for the API.
1895     </para>
1896     </listitem>
1897     <listitem>
1898     <para>
1899     mainwindow: The mainwindow object is central to manage various
1900     GUI things such as the Legend sub-window. Most notably,
1901     you get access to the canvas which is the window part where
1902     the map is drawn. The canvas knows, which map it currently
1903     draws and therefore you get the current map via
1904     context.mainwindow.canvas.Map().
1905     See Thuban/UI/mainwindow.py for the API.
1906     </para>
1907     </listitem>
1908     </itemizedlist>
1909     </para>
1910     </section>
1911     </section>
1912     </chapter>
1913    
1914 jan 1423 <chapter><title>Trouble Shooting</title>
1915     <para>
1916 jonathan 1510 Here are a few problems that users have encountered when first using Thuban.
1917 jan 1423 </para>
1918 jonathan 1510 <para>
1919 jonathan 1490
1920 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
1921 jonathan 1490 <listitem>
1922 frank 1532 <para>After adding two or more layers nothing is drawn in the map window.
1923     </para>
1924 jonathan 1490 <para>
1925     This is probably because the layers have different projections. Projections
1926 jonathan 1510 must be set on all layers and on the map itself if the layers' projections
1927 jonathan 1490 are different.
1928     </para>
1929     </listitem>
1930    
1931 frank 1532 <listitem>
1932     <para>Thuban crashes on startup with the error
1933 jonathan 1490 <literal>NameError: global name 'False' is not defined</literal>.
1934 frank 1532 </para>
1935 jonathan 1490 <para>
1936     <varname>True</varname> and <varname>False</varname> were only introduced
1937     in Python 2.2.1. Thuban depends on at least Python 2.2.1.
1938     </para>
1939     </listitem>
1940    
1941 frank 1532 <listitem>
1942     <para>After compiling Thuban, Thuban crashes with an error similar to
1943 jonathan 1490 <literal>
1944     ImportError: /usr/local//lib/thuban/Thuban/../Lib/wxproj.so: undefined symbol: __gxx_personality_v0
1945     </literal>
1946 frank 1532 </para>
1947 jonathan 1490 <para>
1948     Thuban depends on the wxWindows library. If Thuban is compiled with an
1949 jonathan 1491 incompatible version of the compiler than wxWindows was compiled with
1950 jonathan 1490 this error may occur. Try compiling with a different version of the
1951 jonathan 1491 compiler.
1952 jonathan 1490 </para>
1953     </listitem>
1954 frank 1532 </itemizedlist>
1955 jonathan 1510 </para>
1956     <para>
1957     If an error occurs Thuban will display a dialog indicating the error
1958     before closing. The text should be copied and reported to the
1959     <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/bugtracker.html">
1960     Intevation bugtracker
1961     </ulink>.
1962     More information about the system is available from
1963     <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu><guimenuitem>About</guimenuitem></menuchoice> box.
1964     This should also be included in the bug report.
1965 frank 1532 <figure>
1966     <title>Error Dialog</title>
1967 jonathan 1510 <mediaobject>
1968     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/8_int_error.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1969     <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/8_int_error.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1970     </mediaobject>
1971 frank 1532 </figure>
1972 jonathan 1510 </para>
1973 jonathan 1490
1974 jan 1423 </chapter>
1975    
1976     <appendix><title>Supported Data Sources</title>
1977     <para>
1978     </para>
1979 jonathan 1475 <variablelist>
1980     <varlistentry>
1981     <term>Shapefile</term>
1982 jonathan 1490 <listitem>
1983     <para>
1984     The Shapefile format has become a standard format for saving
1985     geographic vector information. It supports polygons, lines, and
1986     points.
1987    
1988     <ulink url="http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf">
1989     Technical Specification.
1990     </ulink>
1991     </para>
1992     </listitem>
1993 jonathan 1475 </varlistentry>
1994    
1995     <varlistentry>
1996 frank 1496 <term>dBase file</term>
1997 jonathan 1490 <listitem>
1998     <para>
1999 frank 1496 dBase files are used to store the attributes for each layer. This
2000 jonathan 1490 is closely associated with the Shapefile format. For detailed
2001 frank 1496 specifications on the correct format of a dBase file used with
2002 jonathan 1490 Thuban please see the Technical Specification for the Shapefile
2003     format above.
2004     </para>
2005     </listitem>
2006 jonathan 1475 </varlistentry>
2007    
2008 frank 1532 <varlistentry>
2009 frank 2023 <term>PostGIS</term>
2010     <listitem>
2011     <para>
2012     PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL
2013     object-relational database. Different layer types (as for Shapefiles)
2014     are supported. <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS
2015     Homepage</ulink>
2016     </para>
2017     </listitem>
2018     </varlistentry>
2019    
2020     <varlistentry>
2021 frank 1532 <term>Raster files</term>
2022     <listitem>
2023     <para>
2024     Binding the GDAL library Thuban supports numerous raster file formats,
2025     see <ulink url="http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/formats_list.html">
2026     GDAL format list</ulink> for details.</para>
2027    
2028     <para>Most commonly used is the <emphasis>TIFF/GeoTIFF</emphasis>
2029     format: Raster maps are provided as TIFF images, with an additional
2030     "world file" storing the geographic reference (usually with an
2031 jan 1544 extension ".tfw").
2032 frank 1532 </para>
2033     </listitem>
2034     </varlistentry>
2035    
2036 jonathan 1475 </variablelist>
2037 jan 1423 </appendix>
2038    
2039 frank 2023 <appendix><title>Working with PostGIS</title>
2040     <para>
2041     This section focusses on the use of PostGIS in the Thuban framework. For
2042     installation and maintenance of spatial databases we refer to the
2043     <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS Homepage</ulink>.
2044     The Thuban PostGIS support requires the
2045     <ulink url="http://initd.org/software/psycopg">psycopg module</ulink>.
2046     </para>
2047    
2048     <para>
2049     Working with PostGIS Databases is seperated into two steps:
2050     <itemizedlist>
2051     <listitem><para>Opening a Database Connection</para></listitem>
2052     <listitem><para>Loading a Data Layer</para></listitem>
2053     </itemizedlist>
2054     </para>
2055     <section><title>Opening a Database Connection</title>
2056     <para>
2057     Before a data layer can be loaded from a PostGIS database a
2058     connection with the database has to be established.
2059     <menuchoice>
2060     <guimenu>Session</guimenu>
2061     <guimenuitem>Database Connections ...</guimenuitem>
2062     </menuchoice> opens a dialog for database connection
2063     management. In the dialog new connections can be added
2064     and existing ones can be removed. Removing a database
2065     connection is not possible if the map still displays a
2066     layer provided by this database connection.
2067     </para>
2068     <figure>
2069     <title>Database Management Dialog</title>
2070     <mediaobject>
2071 frank 2052 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_management.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2072 frank 2023 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_management.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2073     </mediaobject>
2074     </figure>
2075    
2076     <para>
2077     To add a new database connection to the session a dialog is
2078     opened to specify the relevant connection data. Enter all
2079     data relevant for your connection. If the connection fails
2080     the dialog remains open and provides some hints on the failure.
2081     </para>
2082     <figure>
2083     <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2084     <mediaobject>
2085 frank 2052 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_add.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2086 frank 2023 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_add.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2087     </mediaobject>
2088     </figure>
2089    
2090     <para>
2091     It is important to note that information on database connections are
2092     also stored with the session. Passwords are NOT stored. If you load a
2093     session with database connections you are asked to enter these
2094     passwords again where required.
2095     </para>
2096    
2097     </section>
2098    
2099     <section><title>Loading a Data Layer</title>
2100     <para>
2101     Data layers as part of a map are loaded with the
2102     <menuchoice>
2103     <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
2104     <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer ...</guimenuitem>
2105     </menuchoice> menu item. A dialog is raised displaying two choice
2106     lists. In the left list all connected databases are shown.
2107     Highlighting
2108     one of these and issuing a retrieval results in a list of available
2109     layer tables from that database. After selection of a
2110     layer the dialog is closed.
2111     </para>
2112     <figure>
2113     <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2114     <mediaobject>
2115 frank 2052 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_add_layer.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2116 frank 2023 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_add_layer.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2117     </mediaobject>
2118     </figure>
2119    
2120     </section>
2121    
2122     </appendix>
2123    
2124 jan 1423 <appendix><title>Supported Projections</title>
2125     <para>
2126 jonathan 1490 The following types of projections are directly support by
2127     Thuban. The specific values for each are provided by the user
2128     to create custom projections. Thuban comes with predefined
2129 frank 1507 projections which are available through the Projections dialog.
2130 jan 1423 </para>
2131 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
2132     <listitem>
2133     <para>Geographic</para>
2134     <itemizedlist>
2135     <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2136     <listitem><para>
2137     <literal>Source Data</literal>: either Degrees or Radians
2138 frank 1507 </para></listitem>
2139 frank 1532 </itemizedlist>
2140     </listitem>
2141     <listitem>
2142     <para>Lambert Conic Conformal</para>
2143     <itemizedlist>
2144     <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2145     <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of 1st standard parallel</literal></para></listitem>
2146     <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of 2nd standard parallel</literal></para></listitem>
2147     <listitem><para><literal>Central Meridian</literal></para></listitem>
2148     <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of Origin</literal></para></listitem>
2149     <listitem><para><literal>False Easting</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2150     <listitem><para><literal>False Northing</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2151     </itemizedlist>
2152     </listitem>
2153     <listitem>
2154     <para>Transverse Mercator</para>
2155     <itemizedlist>
2156     <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2157     <listitem><para><literal>Latitude</literal>of origin</para></listitem>
2158     <listitem><para><literal>Longitude</literal>at central meridian</para></listitem>
2159     <listitem><para><literal>Scale Factor</literal>at central meridian</para></listitem>
2160     <listitem><para><literal>False Easting</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2161     <listitem><para><literal>False Northing</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2162     </itemizedlist>
2163     </listitem>
2164     <listitem>
2165     <para>Universal Transverse Mercator</para>
2166     <itemizedlist>
2167     <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2168     <listitem><para><literal>Zone</literal>
2169     (can be guessed appling the Propose button)</para></listitem>
2170     <listitem><para><literal>Southern Hemisphere</literal> flag</para></listitem>
2171     </itemizedlist>
2172     </listitem>
2173     </itemizedlist>
2174 frank 1507
2175     <para>
2176     Thuban comes with a sample set of map projections for various
2177     European countries. Apart from the basic projection they differ
2178     especially in their parameterization:
2179     </para>
2180 frank 1532 <itemizedlist>
2181     <listitem><para>Belgium Datum 1972 (Lambert Conic Conformal)</para>
2182     </listitem>
2183 frank 1507
2184 frank 1532 <listitem><para>Gauss-Boaga Zone 1 (Italy, Transverse Mercartor)</para>
2185     </listitem>
2186 frank 1507
2187 frank 1532 <listitem><para>Gauss-Krueger Zone 2 (Germany, Transverse Mercartor)
2188     </para>
2189     </listitem>
2190 frank 1507
2191 frank 1532 <listitem><para>Reseau Geodesique Francaise
2192     (France, Lambert Conic Conformal)</para>
2193     </listitem>
2194 frank 1507
2195 frank 1532 <listitem><para>UK National Grid (United Kingdom, Transverse Mercartor)
2196     </para>
2197     </listitem>
2198     </itemizedlist>
2199 frank 1507
2200     <para>
2201     Thuban uses the comprehensive PROJ library for projections. PROJ provides
2202     more than the four commonly used projections described above. If needed
2203     Thuban can be easily extended to a new projection covered by PROJ.
2204     </para>
2205 jan 1423 </appendix>
2206    
2207 bh 1367 </book>
2208 frank 1496

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