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1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE book
3 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
4 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"
5 [<!ENTITY imgscale "60">]>
6 <!-- $Revision$ -->
7 <book>
8 <bookinfo>
9 <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 <copyright>
22 <year>2003, 2004, 2005, 2006</year>
23 <holder>Intevation GmbH</holder>
24 </copyright>
25 <revhistory>
26 <!-- comment this first revision out when releasing a real version -->
27 <revision>
28 <revnumber>SVN version $Id$</revnumber>
29 <date></date>
30 <revremark>Under development.</revremark>
31 </revision>
32 <revision>
33 <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 <revnumber>1.0pre3</revnumber>
42 <date>04-Dec-2003</date>
43 <revremark>
44 Corresponds to Thuban 1.0rc1.
45 New: I18n, right button legend menu, EPSG projectons,
46 PostGIS support.
47 </revremark>
48 </revision>
49 <revision>
50 <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 <revnumber>1.0pre1</revnumber>
59 <date>08-Aug-2003</date>
60 <revremark>Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1.</revremark>
61 </revision>
62 </revhistory>
63
64 </bookinfo>
65
66 <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
67 <para>
68 Thuban is an interactive geographic data viewer.
69 Its development had been started because there was no simple interactive
70 viewer for geographic information available as Free Software. Thuban is
71 written mainly in Python and uses the wxWidgets (former wxWindows)
72 library allowing it to
73 run on many different platforms, including GNU/Linux and Windows.
74 </para>
75 <para>
76 Geographic data viewers are a necessary tool as they allow one to
77 get a visual
78 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 consists of layers. Each layer represents a data set. For
87 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
91 <section><title>Installation</title>
92 <para>
93 Thuban is actively supported under Debian Testing (sarge), RedHat 7.2,
94 and Windows 2000. Thuban depends on the following packages. These
95 packages can also be found on the
96 <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/download.html">
97 Thuban Download site
98 </ulink>.
99 </para>
100 <para>
101 Required:
102 <itemizedlist>
103 <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 </itemizedlist>
122 </para>
123 <para>
124 Optional:
125 <itemizedlist>
126 <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 </itemizedlist>
133 </para>
134 <para>
135 Along with the source codes, the download page also offers full
136 installation packages for Debian, Windows and RPM-based systems
137 (Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, etc).
138 </para>
139 <section><title>RPM-based GNU/Linux Systems</title>
140 <section><title>Installing Binary Packages</title>
141 <para>
142 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 </para>
149 <para>
150 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 Typical rpm commands look like:
160
161 <programlisting>
162 rpm --install Thuban-0.9.0-1.i386.rpm
163 </programlisting>
164
165 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 </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 </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 </section>
389
390 <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 <listitem><para>Portuguese (Brazilian)</para></listitem>
400 <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 allows appication specific language settings:
412 </para>
413 <programlisting>
414 LC_ALL=fr_FR thuban.py
415 </programlisting>
416
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 <section><title>The Main Window</title>
424 <para>
425 <figure>
426 <title>The Main Window</title>
427 <mediaobject>
428 <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 </mediaobject>
431 </figure>
432 </para>
433
434 <para>
435 The map window shows the current state of the map and is where
436 the user can interact with the map using the tools.
437 </para>
438
439 <para>
440 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 <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 close button. It can be attached by clicking the same button
454 again.
455 </para>
456 <para>
457 The status bar displays different information depending on the
458 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 The tool bar provides quick access to the commonly needed tools.
465 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 Out, Pan, Full Extent, Full Layer Extent, Full Shape Extent, Identify,
468 and Label. Each of the tools will be explained in further detail later
469 in the manual.
470 </para>
471 </section>
472
473 </chapter>
474
475 <chapter><title>Session Management</title>
476
477 <section><title>Starting a New Session</title>
478 <para>
479 A new session can be started from
480 <menuchoice>
481 <guimenu>File</guimenu>
482 <guimenuitem>New Session</guimenuitem>
483 </menuchoice>.
484 If a session is already loaded and has been modified without
485 being saved a prompt will ask if the current session should
486 be saved. A new session consists of an empty map with no
487 layers, no tables and no projection.
488 </para>
489 </section>
490
491 <section><title>Opening a Session</title>
492 <para>
493 A session can be opened from
494 <menuchoice>
495 <guimenu>File</guimenu>
496 <guimenuitem>Open Session</guimenuitem>
497 </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 </para>
502
503 <para>
504 If a session is already loaded and has been modified without
505 being saved a prompt will ask if the current session should
506 be saved.
507 </para>
508
509 <para>
510 Thuban provides a path recovery feature: If a (shape) file referenced
511 in a Thuban session cannot be found at the specified location, the user
512 is prompted a file dialog. Here a new location can be selected for the
513 currents layer data source. Cancelling the dialog removes the layer
514 from the session. If a new location has been selected, Thuban checks
515 this again, if further layers data sources are missing. The user is
516 informed about this and can accept or cancel the suggestion.
517 </para>
518 </section>
519
520 <section><title>Saving a Session</title>
521 <para>
522 A session can be saved from
523 <menuchoice>
524 <guimenu>File</guimenu>
525 <guimenuitem>Save Session</guimenuitem>
526 </menuchoice>.
527 In the case the session is not a new and unsaved one,
528 the corresponding file is updated with the current session
529 data.
530 In the case the current session is a new one and yet unsaved
531 a dialog box will open allowing the user to browse
532 the file system and select a place to save the session. Thuban
533 sessions should be saved under a name ending in
534 <varname>.thuban</varname>. If the file already exists the user
535 will be prompted to save under a different name or overwrite the
536 existing file.
537 </para>
538 </section>
539
540 <section><title>The Session Info-Tree</title>
541 <para>
542 <figure>
543 <title>Session Info Tree</title>
544 <mediaobject>
545 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/2_4_session_tree.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
546 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/2_4_session_tree.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
547 </mediaobject>
548 </figure>
549 </para>
550 <para>
551 The session info-tree is primarily intended for developers working
552 with Thuban. It displays many of the internal values for the session,
553 map, and layers. It can be opened from
554 <menuchoice>
555 <guimenu>File</guimenu>
556 <guimenuitem>Session Tree</guimenuitem>
557 </menuchoice>.
558 </para>
559 </section>
560 </chapter>
561
562 <chapter><title>Map Management</title>
563 <para>
564 The map consists of a number of layers where each layer represents a
565 different type of data set. By interacting with the map the user can
566 visually explore the data.
567 </para>
568 <para>
569 The map can have a name that will appear in the Thuban title bar.
570 The map name can be changed using
571 <menuchoice>
572 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
573 <guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem>
574 </menuchoice>.
575 </para>
576 <para>
577 <inlinemediaobject>
578 <imageobject>
579 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_rename_map.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
580 </imageobject>
581 <imageobject>
582 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_rename_map.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
583 </imageobject>
584 <textobject> <phrase>Rename Map</phrase> </textobject>
585 </inlinemediaobject>
586 </para>
587
588 <section><title>Adding and Removing Layers</title>
589 <para>
590 There are three types of layers that can be added to a map:
591 Shape layers, database layers
592 and image layers. Shape layers are stored in Shapefile format, a
593 widely used file format for storing geographic objects. These
594 files have the extension ``.shp''. Associated with
595 the shape file is a database file which stores attributes for
596 each shape in the Shape file. This file, in dBase format,
597 has the extension ``.dbf''. Both files must have the same base name.
598 For example, if there is a shape file named roads.shp there must
599 also be a file roads.dbf.
600 </para>
601 <itemizedlist>
602 <listitem>
603 <para>
604 Shape layers can be added to the map with
605 <menuchoice>
606 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
607 <guimenuitem>Add Layer</guimenuitem>
608 </menuchoice>.
609 Initially, only the ``.shp'' files are shown which is enough for the
610 selection. However, if you switch to display all files and select one
611 of the associated files (e.g. ``.dbf''), Thuban will recognize the base
612 name and load the corresponding Shape file.
613 </para>
614 <para>
615 The file dialog for Shape files allows to select multiple files.
616 Use the shift-button together with the left mouse button to extend
617 the selection.
618 </para>
619 </listitem>
620
621 <listitem>
622 <para>Database layers can be added to the map with
623 <menuchoice>
624 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
625 <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer</guimenuitem>
626 </menuchoice>.
627 A dialog with two lists is opened. The left list displays all
628 database connections currently open for the session. You can retrieve
629 a list of available layers from the selected database which is
630 displayed on the right hand. From this list one layer can be selected,
631 the dialog is closed afterwards.
632 </para>
633 <para>
634 See appendix ``Working with PostGIS'' for details.
635 </para>
636 </listitem>
637
638 <listitem>
639 <para>
640 Image layers can be added to the map with
641 <menuchoice>
642 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
643 <guimenuitem>Add Image Layer</guimenuitem>
644 </menuchoice>.
645 It is important to select a valid image file that has geographic
646 data associated with it. The data can be embedded in the file itself,
647 or in another file. If geographic information cannot be found, Thuban
648 will report an error.
649 </para>
650 </listitem>
651 </itemizedlist>
652 </section>
653
654 <section><title>Navigation</title>
655 <para>
656 The map can be explored by using the navigation tools available on
657 the tool bar or from the
658 <menuchoice><guimenu>Map</guimenu></menuchoice> menu.
659 </para>
660 <itemizedlist>
661 <listitem>
662 <para>
663 The ZoomIn tool
664 <inlinemediaobject>
665 <imageobject>
666 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_zoomin.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
667 </imageobject>
668 <imageobject>
669 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_zoomin.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
670 </imageobject>
671 <textobject> <phrase>ZoomIn Tool</phrase> </textobject>
672 </inlinemediaobject>
673 enlarges a region of the map. Clicking once on the map
674 will double the magnification and center the map on the point that
675 was clicked. Clicking and dragging selects a region that will be
676 enlarged to fit the window.
677 </para>
678 </listitem>
679 <listitem>
680 <para>
681 The ZoomOut tool
682 <inlinemediaobject>
683 <imageobject>
684 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_zoomout.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
685 </imageobject>
686 <imageobject>
687 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_zoomout.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
688 </imageobject>
689 <textobject> <phrase>ZoomOut Tool</phrase> </textobject>
690 </inlinemediaobject>
691 shrinks the map so that a larger region is visible. A single click
692 reduces the magnification by a factor of two. Clicking and dragging
693 selects a box such that the current contents of the window will be
694 scaled to fit into that box.
695 </para>
696 </listitem>
697 <listitem>
698 <para>
699 The Pan tool
700 <inlinemediaobject>
701 <imageobject>
702 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_pan.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
703 </imageobject>
704 <imageobject>
705 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_pan.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
706 </imageobject>
707 <textobject> <phrase>Pan Tool</phrase> </textobject>
708 </inlinemediaobject>
709 allows the user to move the map around by clicking and dragging.
710 </para>
711 </listitem>
712 <listitem>
713 <para>
714 The Full Extent tool
715 <inlinemediaobject>
716 <imageobject>
717 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fullextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
718 </imageobject>
719 <imageobject>
720 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fullextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
721 </imageobject>
722 <textobject> <phrase>Full Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
723 </inlinemediaobject>
724 rescales the viewable region so that the entire map is visible.
725 </para>
726 </listitem>
727 <listitem>
728 <para>
729 The Full Layer Extent tool
730 <inlinemediaobject>
731 <imageobject>
732 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fulllayerextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
733 </imageobject>
734 <imageobject>
735 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fulllayerextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
736 </imageobject>
737 <textobject> <phrase>Full Layer Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
738 </inlinemediaobject>
739 rescales the viewable region so that the currently selected
740 layer fits within the window. If no layer is selected this button
741 will be disabled.
742 </para>
743 </listitem>
744 <listitem>
745 <para>
746 The Full Shape Extent tool
747 <inlinemediaobject>
748 <imageobject>
749 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_2_fullshapeextent.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
750 </imageobject>
751 <imageobject>
752 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_2_fullshapeextent.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
753 </imageobject>
754 <textobject> <phrase>Full Shape Extent Tool</phrase> </textobject>
755 </inlinemediaobject>
756 rescales the viewable region so that the currently selected
757 shape fits within the window. If the shape is a point, it is
758 centered and the map is zoomed all the way in. If no shape is
759 selected this button will be disabled. This feature is especially
760 helpful when identifying an object related to a selected record
761 in a tableview (see below).
762
763 </para>
764 </listitem>
765 </itemizedlist>
766 </section>
767
768 <section><title>Object Identification</title>
769 <para>
770 Objects on the map can be identified using the Identify tool
771 <inlinemediaobject>
772 <imageobject>
773 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_3_identify.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
774 </imageobject>
775 <imageobject>
776 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_3_identify.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
777 </imageobject>
778 <textobject> <phrase>Identify Tool</phrase> </textobject>
779 </inlinemediaobject>.
780 Clicking on an object selects that object and opens a dialog which
781 shows all the table attributes for that object. Any current selection
782 is lost. Objects on the map are typically shapes and this document
783 will often refer to objects as shapes.
784 </para>
785 </section>
786
787 <section><title>Object Labeling</title>
788 <para>
789 Objects can be labeled using the Label tool
790 <inlinemediaobject>
791 <imageobject>
792 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_3_label.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
793 </imageobject>
794 <imageobject>
795 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_3_label.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
796 </imageobject>
797 <textobject> <phrase>Label Tool</phrase> </textobject>
798 </inlinemediaobject>.
799 Clicking on an object selects that object and opens a dialog which
800 displays the table attributes for that object. An attribute can
801 be selected to be the label on the map. The label will be placed
802 at the center of the shape. Clicking on an object that already has
803 a label will remove the label.
804 </para>
805 </section>
806
807 <section><title>The Legend</title>
808 <para>
809 <inlinemediaobject>
810 <imageobject>
811 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_legend.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
812 </imageobject>
813 <imageobject>
814 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_legend.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
815 </imageobject>
816 <textobject> <phrase>Legend</phrase> </textobject>
817 </inlinemediaobject>
818 </para>
819 <para>
820 The Legend provides an overview of the layers in the map. Layers
821 that appear higher in the legend will appear ``closer'' to the user.
822 If a layer supports classification (currently, only shape layers
823 have this feature) then the classification groups will be shown
824 below each layer. The properties for each group are also displayed
825 with a small graphic. Polygon layers appear as rectangles, lines
826 appear as curved lines, and points appear as circles.
827 </para>
828 <para>
829 Along the top of the legend is a toolbar which allows quick access
830 to some of the layer manipulation options under
831 <menuchoice><guimenu>Map</guimenu></menuchoice>.
832 </para>
833
834 <itemizedlist>
835 <listitem>
836 <para>
837 The Move Layer to Top tool
838 <inlinemediaobject>
839 <imageobject>
840 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_totop.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
841 </imageobject>
842 <imageobject>
843 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_totop.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
844 </imageobject>
845 <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer to Top</phrase> </textobject>
846 </inlinemediaobject> raises the selected layer to the top of the map.
847 </para>
848 </listitem>
849 <listitem>
850
851 <para>
852 The Move Layer Up tool
853 <inlinemediaobject>
854 <imageobject>
855 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_moveup.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
856 </imageobject>
857 <imageobject>
858 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_moveup.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
859 </imageobject>
860 <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer Up</phrase> </textobject>
861 </inlinemediaobject> raises the selected layer one level.
862 </para>
863 </listitem>
864 <listitem>
865
866 <para>
867 The Move Layer Down tool
868 <inlinemediaobject>
869 <imageobject>
870 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_movedown.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
871 </imageobject>
872 <imageobject>
873 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_movedown.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
874 </imageobject>
875 <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer Down</phrase> </textobject>
876 </inlinemediaobject> lowers the selected layer one level.
877 </para>
878
879 </listitem>
880 <listitem>
881 <para>
882 The Move Layer to Bottom tool
883 <inlinemediaobject>
884 <imageobject>
885 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_tobottom.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
886 </imageobject>
887 <imageobject>
888 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_tobottom.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
889 </imageobject>
890 <textobject> <phrase>Move Layer to Bottom</phrase> </textobject>
891 </inlinemediaobject> lowers the selected layer to the bottom of the map.
892 </para>
893
894 </listitem>
895 <listitem>
896 <para>
897 The Visible tool
898 <inlinemediaobject>
899 <imageobject>
900 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_visible.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
901 </imageobject>
902 <imageobject>
903 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_visible.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
904 </imageobject>
905 <textobject> <phrase>Visible</phrase> </textobject>
906 </inlinemediaobject> shows the selected layer in the map if it was
907 hidden.
908 </para>
909
910 </listitem>
911 <listitem>
912 <para>
913 The Invisible tool
914 <inlinemediaobject>
915 <imageobject>
916 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_invisible.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
917 </imageobject>
918 <imageobject>
919 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_invisible.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
920 </imageobject>
921 <textobject> <phrase>Invisible</phrase> </textobject>
922 </inlinemediaobject> hides the selected layer in the map.
923 </para>
924
925 </listitem>
926 <listitem>
927 <para>
928 The Properties tool
929 <inlinemediaobject>
930 <imageobject>
931 <imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_props.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/>
932 </imageobject>
933 <imageobject>
934 <imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_props.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/>
935 </imageobject>
936 <textobject> <phrase>Properties</phrase> </textobject>
937 </inlinemediaobject> opens the layer's properties dialog box.
938 Double-clicking on a layer or a group of a layer will open the
939 properties dialog for that layer.
940 </para>
941 </listitem>
942 </itemizedlist>
943
944 <para>
945 The most used layer related actions are also available from a
946 popup menu. It is raised when a layer is clicked with the right mouse
947 button.
948 </para>
949
950 <para>
951 <figure>
952 <title>Layer Popup Menu</title>
953 <mediaobject>
954 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_popup_menu.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
955 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_popup_menu.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
956 </mediaobject>
957 </figure>
958 </para>
959
960 <para>
961 Along the bottom of the legend is the scalebar. The scalebar
962 will be available if there are any layers and the map has a
963 projection set.
964 </para>
965 </section>
966
967 <section><title>Exporting</title>
968 <para>
969 Under Windows, maps can be exported in Enhanced Metafile format
970 (<varname>.wmf</varname>)
971 from
972 <menuchoice>
973 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
974 <guimenuitem>Export</guimenuitem>
975 </menuchoice> for use in reports, presentations, or further
976 modification. The current map view, legend, and, if available,
977 scalebar are exported. Under other platforms this option is not
978 available. Clicking this menu item open a file selection dialog
979 that lets the user select a location to export the map.
980 </para>
981 </section>
982
983 <section><title>Printing</title>
984 <para>
985 The map can be printed using
986 <menuchoice>
987 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
988 <guimenuitem>Print</guimenuitem>
989 </menuchoice>. The current map view, legend, and, if available,
990 scalebar are printed. A standard printing dialog will open allowing
991 the user to configure the printer. This dialog will differ depending
992 on which platform Thuban is running.
993 </para>
994 </section>
995
996 </chapter>
997
998 <chapter><title>Layer Management</title>
999 <para>
1000 </para>
1001
1002 <section><title>Types of Layers</title>
1003 <para>
1004 There are three types of layers supported by Thuban: shape layers,
1005 database layers and
1006 image layers. Shape layers consist of vector based shapes with
1007 geo-referenced coordinates. There are three types of supported
1008 shapes: polygons, lines (arc), and points. Database layers are similar
1009 to shape layers but loaded from a database instead of the file system.
1010 Image layers can be any image
1011 file format supported by the Geo-spatial Data Abstraction Library
1012 (GDAL). The images must have geographic
1013 coordinate data either embedded within the file or in a separate
1014 file that is in the same directory as the image file. GeoTIFF files
1015 work very well with Thuban and were designed specifically to be image
1016 layers in GIS programs.
1017 </para>
1018 <para>
1019 All actions in the
1020 <menuchoice>
1021 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1022 </menuchoice> menu act on the currently selected layer in the legend.
1023 </para>
1024 </section>
1025
1026 <section><title>Properties</title>
1027 <para>
1028 To view the properties for a layer it must first be selected in the
1029 legend. The menu option
1030 <menuchoice>
1031 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1032 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>
1033 </menuchoice> opens a dialog that displays a layer's properties.
1034 All layers have a title which can be modified in the text field
1035 provided. The type of layer is also shows. If the type is a type
1036 of shape (polygon, arc, point) the classification table will be
1037 shown. Image layers have no other properties other than title
1038 and type.
1039 </para>
1040 <para>
1041 <figure>
1042 <title>Properties Window</title>
1043 <mediaobject>
1044 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/4_2_layer_properties.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1045 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/4_2_layer_properties.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1046 </mediaobject>
1047 </figure>
1048 </para>
1049 <para>
1050 <figure>
1051 <title>Properties Window</title>
1052 <mediaobject>
1053 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/4_2_raster_layer_properties.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1054 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/4_2_raster_layer_properties.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1055 </mediaobject>
1056 </figure>
1057 </para>
1058 </section>
1059
1060 <section><title>Visibility</title>
1061 <para>
1062 Sometimes it is not desirable to view all layers at the same time.
1063 Some layers may take a long time to draw and so while navigating
1064 around the map the user may not want to wait for the map to redraw
1065 all the layers each time the map is changed. Each layer can be
1066 independently turned on or off using the
1067 <menuchoice>
1068 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1069 <guimenuitem>Show</guimenuitem>
1070 </menuchoice>
1071 or
1072 <menuchoice>
1073 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1074 <guimenuitem>Hide</guimenuitem>
1075 </menuchoice> options respectively.
1076 </para>
1077 </section>
1078
1079 <section><title>Duplication</title>
1080 <para>
1081 Layers and all their properties, including classifications, can
1082 be duplicated using
1083 <menuchoice>
1084 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1085 <guimenuitem>Duplicate</guimenuitem>
1086 </menuchoice>. Duplicating a layer is useful if the user wishes
1087 to model a layer in several different ways. Even though the layers
1088 overlap, by carefully selecting the shape properties it is possible
1089 to display several pieces of information at once. For example, one
1090 copy of a roads layer may be classified on a length property and
1091 another copy may be classified on a type property. If the length
1092 property was expressed with color and the type property expressed
1093 with line thickness then it would be possible to view both
1094 classifications by placing the type property copy over the
1095 length property copy.
1096 </para>
1097 </section>
1098
1099 </chapter>
1100
1101 <chapter><title>Layer Classifications</title>
1102 <para>
1103 A layer classification is a way of assigning drawing properties to
1104 groups of shapes based on attributes stored in the layer's table.
1105 Only layer's with shapes can have a classification; image layers
1106 cannot be classified.
1107 </para>
1108 <para>
1109 A classification consists of a number of groups, each group
1110 having a value or range of values to match against, and symbol
1111 properties which control how a shape is drawn on the map. The user
1112 selects which field in the table is used by the classification and
1113 when the map is drawn the value for that field for each shape is
1114 compared with each group's value. The properties of the first group
1115 to match are used to draw the shape. This allows the user to get a
1116 visual impression of not only how the data is laid out but also what
1117 kind of data lies where.
1118 </para>
1119 <para>
1120 A layer always has a classification. When a new layer is added to the
1121 map, a default classification is created with the DEFAULT group. This
1122 group cannot be removed but can be hidden (see below). Every shape in the
1123 layer, regardless of its attributes, will match this group if no other
1124 group matches.
1125 </para>
1126
1127 <section><title>Editing Classifications</title>
1128 <para>
1129 A layer's classification can be modified under the properties dialog
1130 (<menuchoice>
1131 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1132 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>
1133 </menuchoice>). The layer's classification field can be set to None,
1134 which simply assigns a DEFAULT group to the classification. No new
1135 groups can be added to the classification if the field is None.
1136 The user must first select a field to classify on. New groups can
1137 be added to the classification with the <guibutton>Add</guibutton>
1138 button.
1139 </para>
1140 <para>
1141 To apply the changes to the map the user can click
1142 either <guibutton>Try</guibutton> or <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1143 <guibutton>Try</guibutton> will not close the dialog box, allowing
1144 the user to see how the classification changes the map.
1145 <guibutton>Revert</guibutton> will undo the last classification applied
1146 to the map. <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will commit the changes and
1147 close the dialog. The user will be unable to undo the changes.
1148 <guibutton>Close</guibutton> simply closes the dialog box. If any
1149 changes have not been applied with <guibutton>Try</guibutton> the
1150 changes will not be applied to the map.
1151 </para>
1152 <para>
1153 <figure>
1154 <title>Properties Window</title>
1155 <mediaobject>
1156 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_classification.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1157 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_classification.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1158 </mediaobject>
1159 </figure>
1160 </para>
1161 <para>
1162 The order of the groups in the classification is significant
1163 except for the DEFAULT group, which remains at the top. When shapes
1164 are matched against groups the matching begins at the first group
1165 after the DEFAULT group so that groups higher in the list will
1166 be checked first. Matching for a
1167 given shape will stop at the first group that matches. The user can
1168 use <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton> and <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>
1169 to change the order of the groups. The DEFAULT group will always
1170 match a shape that hasn't matched another group.
1171 </para>
1172 <section><title>Visible</title>
1173 <para>
1174 The Visible column has check-boxes that determine whether a
1175 classification group will be displayed in the legend. This is
1176 useful if the user knows that the groups completely cover
1177 the data set and don't want the DEFAULT group to be displayed
1178 in the legend and on a printout.
1179 </para>
1180 </section>
1181 <section><title>Symbols</title>
1182 <para>
1183 Each type of shape has its own type of symbol. Thuban supports three
1184 types of shapes: polygons, lines, and points. Polygons and points
1185 have outline and fill color, while lines have only line color. Each
1186 group has associated symbol properties. To edit the symbol
1187 properties for a group the user can double click on the Symbol
1188 column or select a group and click the
1189 <guibutton>Edit Symbol</guibutton> button.
1190 </para>
1191 </section>
1192 <section><title>Value</title>
1193 <para>
1194 The Value column of the classification table is the value that will
1195 be matched when the map is being drawn. The type of filter that can
1196 entered into this field depends on the type of data of the
1197 classification field:
1198 </para>
1199 <para>
1200 If the field is of type Text, anything entered
1201 into the field is valid. By default the text will be compared
1202 literally to the
1203 value of the shape attribute, including case sensitivity.
1204 Alternatively the comparison can be based on regular experessions.
1205 Right-click on the row label to open a popup menu with the options
1206 <guibutton>Singleton</guibutton> (literal comparison) and
1207 <guibutton>Pattern</guibutton> (regular expressions).
1208 </para>
1209 <para>
1210 If the type is Integer, then any valid integer may be entered. In
1211 addition, with special syntax, a range of values can be entered.
1212 A range from <varname>start</varname> to <varname>end</varname>
1213 inclusive is specified like this: <literal>[start;end]</literal>.
1214 The exclusive range is specified like this:
1215 <literal>]start;end[</literal>. Ranges can include infinity like
1216 this: <literal>[-oo;oo]</literal>. Field types can also be of type
1217 Decimal. They represent any rational number and can be used in
1218 ranges as well.
1219 </para>
1220 </section>
1221 <section><title>Label</title>
1222 <para>
1223 By default, the text that is displayed for a group in the legend
1224 is the value for that group. The label can substitute a more
1225 descriptive term in the legend.
1226 </para>
1227 </section>
1228 </section>
1229
1230 <section><title>Generating Classes</title>
1231 <para>
1232 <figure>
1233 <title>Generate Class</title>
1234 <mediaobject>
1235 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_3_genclass.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1236 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_3_genclass.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1237 </mediaobject>
1238 </figure>
1239 </para>
1240 <para>
1241 Creating a classification by hand can be tedious.
1242 Thuban, therefore, provides a means of generating an entire
1243 classification at once while still giving the user control over
1244 how it appears. Clicking <guibutton>Generate Class</guibutton>
1245 opens the <varname>Generate Classification</varname> dialog.
1246 Under the <varname>Generate</varname> pull down there are at most
1247 three different ways to generate classifications:
1248 Unique Values, Uniform Distribution, and Quantiles. Some options
1249 may not be available if the data type for the field does not
1250 support them. For instance, <varname>Uniform Distribution</varname>
1251 doesn't make sense for a Text field.
1252 </para>
1253 <para>
1254 For every way of generating a classification, a color scheme must
1255 be selected. Thuban provides several different color schemes that
1256 affect how the group properties change over the classification.
1257 It may be desirable that only certain properties change over the
1258 classification. If the shape type is a polygon or a point then
1259 the <guibutton>Fix Border Color</guibutton> option will be available.
1260 This allows the user to select a border color for all classification
1261 groups.
1262 It is also possible to create a custom color scheme. Selecting
1263 this option will display two symbols: the one of the left has the
1264 properties of the first group and the one on the right has the
1265 properties of the last group. Thuban will interpolate between these
1266 two properties to generate the other groups.
1267 <figure>
1268 <title>Custom Color Scheme</title>
1269 <mediaobject>
1270 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_custom_ramp.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1271 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_custom_ramp.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1272 </mediaobject>
1273 </figure>
1274 </para>
1275 <para>
1276 The Unique Values option lets the user select specific values that
1277 appear in the table. Clicking <guibutton>Retrieve From Table</guibutton>
1278 searches the table for all unique values and displays them in the
1279 list on the left. Items can be selected and moved to the list on the
1280 right. Each list can be sorted or reversed for easier searching.
1281 The classification that is generated will be in the same order as
1282 the list on the right.
1283 <figure>
1284 <title>Unique Values</title>
1285 <mediaobject>
1286 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_unique_values.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1287 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_unique_values.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1288 </mediaobject>
1289 </figure>
1290 </para>
1291 <para>
1292 The Uniform Distribution option creates a user specified number of
1293 groups of ranges such that each range covers equal intervals. The
1294 minimum and maximum values can automatically be retrieved from the
1295 table by clicking <guibutton>Retrieve From Table</guibutton>. The
1296 stepping is how large each interval is. Adjusting this value will
1297 automatically recalculate how many groups is appropriate.
1298 <figure>
1299 <title>Uniform Distribution</title>
1300 <mediaobject>
1301 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_uniform_dist.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1302 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_uniform_dist.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1303 </mediaobject>
1304 </figure>
1305 </para>
1306 <para>
1307 The Quantiles option generates ranges based on the number of items
1308 in the table. For example, by specifying five groups Thuban will
1309 generate five groups with appropriate ranges such that 20% of the table
1310 data is in each group. If it is impossible to generate exact
1311 groupings, Thuban will issue a warning but allow the user to continue.
1312 <figure>
1313 <title>Quantiles</title>
1314 <mediaobject>
1315 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/5_2_quantiles.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1316 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/5_2_quantiles.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1317 </mediaobject>
1318 </figure>
1319 </para>
1320 </section>
1321 </chapter>
1322
1323 <chapter><title>Projection Management</title>
1324 <para>
1325 Projections control how the geographic data is displayed on the screen.
1326 If multiple layers are loaded into Thuban where the geographic data
1327 is in a different projection system, then the user must specify a
1328 projection for each layer. The user must also tell Thuban which
1329 projection the map is in. This can be the same as the layers or a different
1330 projection in which case the layers are reprojected into that space.
1331 The map projection can be set using
1332 <menuchoice>
1333 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
1334 <guimenuitem>Projection</guimenuitem>
1335 </menuchoice> and the layer projection can be set using
1336 <menuchoice>
1337 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1338 <guimenuitem>Projection</guimenuitem>
1339 </menuchoice>.
1340 <figure>
1341 <title>Projection Window</title>
1342 <mediaobject>
1343 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/6_projection.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1344 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/6_projection.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1345 </mediaobject>
1346 </figure>
1347 </para>
1348 <para>
1349 Thuban is distributed with a sample collection of projections and the
1350 set of coordinate systems as used by the EPSG
1351 (European Petroleum Survey Group). This quite large set is only displayed
1352 if activated by the according checkbox. The set falls into two parts:
1353 deprecated lists all projections which are no longer part of the
1354 EPSG data base.
1355 </para>
1356 <para>
1357 The
1358 user can create new projections and make them available to all
1359 future Thuban sessions. They may also be exported and imported so
1360 that custom projections can be distributed.
1361 </para>
1362 <section><title>Selecting a Projection</title>
1363 <para>
1364 The available projections are listed on the left. If the layer
1365 or map already has a projection it will initially be highlighted
1366 and will end with <varname>(current)</varname>. Selecting
1367 <varname>&lt;None&gt;</varname> will cause Thuban to use the data as
1368 it appears in the source file and will not use a projection.
1369 </para>
1370 </section>
1371 <section><title>Editing a Projection</title>
1372 <para>
1373 Whenever a projection is selected from the list its properties
1374 are displayed on the right. These properties can be changed
1375 and the changes saved to the selected projection using
1376 <guibutton>Update</guibutton>. Only a projection that comes
1377 from a file can be updated, so if the current layer's projection
1378 is selected, <guibutton>Update</guibutton> will be disabled.
1379 <guibutton>Add to List</guibutton> adds the projection to the
1380 list of available projections as a new entry, and thus makes it
1381 available to future Thuban sessions. Clicking <guibutton>New</guibutton>
1382 will create an entirely new, empty projection. The
1383 <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button will permanently remove a
1384 projection from the list of available projections.
1385 </para>
1386 <para>
1387 To apply the selected projection to the map the user can click
1388 either <guibutton>Try</guibutton> or <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1389 <guibutton>Try</guibutton> will not close the dialog box, allowing
1390 the user to see how the projeciton changes the map.
1391 <guibutton>Revert</guibutton> will undo the last projection applied
1392 to the map. <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will commit the changes and
1393 close the dialog. The user will be unable to undo the changes.
1394 <guibutton>Close</guibutton> simply closes the dialog box. If no
1395 selection has been applied with <guibutton>Try</guibutton> the
1396 selection will not be applied to the map.
1397 </para>
1398 </section>
1399 <section><title>Importing/Exporting Projections</title>
1400 <para>
1401 The projections that appear in the list of available projections
1402 can be exported to another file that the user chooses. By selecting
1403 one or more projections and clicking <guibutton>Export</guibutton>
1404 the user will be able to select a file in which to store those
1405 projections.
1406 The file can then be distributed to other Thuban users. To import
1407 a projection file the user can click <guibutton>Import</guibutton>.
1408 The imported projections are added to the list and are then available
1409 to the current session and any future Thuban sessions.
1410 </para>
1411 </section>
1412 </chapter>
1413
1414 <chapter><title>Table Management</title>
1415 <para>
1416 Thuban distinguishes two different types of tables: Attribute tables
1417 (which belong to a layer) and normal data tables. Both provide
1418 the same general functionality with the difference that actions on an
1419 attribute table might also effect the map display.
1420 </para>
1421
1422 <section><title>Table View</title>
1423 <para>
1424 <figure>
1425 <title>Table View</title>
1426 <mediaobject>
1427 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/7_1_table_view.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1428 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/7_1_table_view.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1429 </mediaobject>
1430 </figure>
1431 </para>
1432 <para>
1433 Thuban provides a standard dialog to display table contents, the
1434 Table View. The view has five sections: The title, selections,
1435 the table grid, export functions, and the status bar.
1436 </para>
1437 <para>
1438 The title bar identifies the table with its name.
1439 </para>
1440 <para>
1441 The selections box let the user perform simple analysis on the data
1442 based on comparisons: The first choice must be a field identifier of
1443 the table, the second choice determines the type of comparison. The
1444 third choice can be either a specific value (interpreted as numerical
1445 or string depending on the type of the first field) or a second field
1446 identifier. Thus you can perform analysis like selecting all
1447 records where <literal>population > 10000</literal> or
1448 <literal>cars_per_inhabitant < bikes_per_inhabitant</literal>
1449 (note that the field names are only explanatory, the dBase files
1450 allow only 11 character field names).
1451
1452 Selections can be combined either by applying a selection only on
1453 a previously selected set of records or by adding the results of a
1454 selection to a previous set. The default is that a selection replaces
1455 earlier results.
1456 </para>
1457 <para>
1458 The table grid shows the contents of the table (one record per row),
1459 with highlighted selection results. Columns and rows can be resized.
1460 </para>
1461 <para>
1462 The contents of a table can be exported into a file, either dBase
1463 format (DBF) or comma separated values (CSV). The
1464 <guibutton>Export</guibutton> button
1465 raises a file dialog to specify a path and file name, the export type
1466 is determined by the file extension (either .dbf or .csv).
1467
1468 The <guibutton>Export Selection</guibutton> button works similarly
1469 but exports only the selected records.
1470
1471 The <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button closes the table view window.
1472 This is different from the menu item
1473 <menuchoice>
1474 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1475 <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem>
1476 </menuchoice> which unloads the table from Thuban.
1477 </para>
1478 <para>
1479 The status bar displays some statistics about the table and optional
1480 selection results.
1481 </para>
1482 </section>
1483
1484 <section><title>General Functionality (Menu Table)</title>
1485 <para>
1486 The general functions affect all tables open in Thuban. Attribute
1487 tables are considered here as normal data tables (with the exception
1488 that they cannot be closed).
1489 </para>
1490 <section><title>Open</title>
1491 <para>
1492 The
1493 <menuchoice>
1494 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1495 <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
1496 </menuchoice>
1497 item raises a file dialog to let you select a
1498 dBase file from the file system to be loaded into Thuban read-only.
1499 On <guibutton>OK</guibutton> the selected file is loaded and a
1500 table view is opened.
1501 </para>
1502 </section>
1503
1504 <section><title>Close</title>
1505 <para>
1506 The
1507 <menuchoice>
1508 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1509 <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem>
1510 </menuchoice>
1511 item raises a dialog listing the currently open
1512 data tables
1513 (loaded via
1514 <menuchoice>
1515 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1516 <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
1517 </menuchoice>). Selected tables are dereferenced on confirmation.
1518 Since tables are opened read-only the contents of the tables are
1519 not affected.
1520
1521 Any open views of the tables are closed as well.
1522
1523 Tables used in a join cannot be closed.
1524 </para>
1525 </section>
1526
1527 <section><title>Rename</title>
1528 <para>
1529 <menuchoice>
1530 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1531 <guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem>
1532 </menuchoice> changes the table title.
1533 </para>
1534 </section>
1535
1536 <section><title>Show</title>
1537 <para>
1538 The
1539 <menuchoice>
1540 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1541 <guimenuitem>Show</guimenuitem>
1542 </menuchoice>
1543 item raises a list of available tables (explicitly
1544 loaded, attribute tables, results of a join). Selected tables are
1545 show in tables views on <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
1546 </para>
1547 </section>
1548
1549 <section><title>Join</title>
1550 <para>
1551 <figure>
1552 <title>Join Tables</title>
1553 <mediaobject>
1554 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/7_2_5_join.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1555 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/7_2_5_join.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
1556 </mediaobject>
1557 </figure>
1558 </para>
1559 <para>
1560 The
1561 <menuchoice>
1562 <guimenu>Table</guimenu>
1563 <guimenuitem>Join</guimenuitem>
1564 </menuchoice>
1565 item raises a dialog to specify the two tables to be
1566 joined. The join results in a new table named 'Join of "left table"
1567 and "right table"'.
1568
1569 The dialog lets you select the two tables to be joined and the two
1570 fields the join has to be performed on. By default, the new
1571 table contains only those records which are matched by the join.
1572
1573 If you want to preserve the records of the left table you can
1574 perform an outer join. The fields from the right table for records
1575 not matched by the join are filled with <varname>None</varname> in
1576 this case.
1577 </para>
1578 </section>
1579
1580 </section>
1581 <section><title>Attribute Tables</title>
1582 <para>
1583 To clearly separate between both types of tables (data and
1584 attribute), Thuban provides functionality regarding the attribute
1585 tables under the <menuchoice><guimenu>Layer</guimenu></menuchoice> menu.
1586 </para>
1587
1588 <section><title>Show Table</title>
1589 <para>
1590 <menuchoice>
1591 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1592 <guimenuitem>Show Table</guimenuitem>
1593 </menuchoice>
1594 opens the attribute table of the currently active layer in a table
1595 view.
1596
1597 In addition to the functionality described above selections
1598 affect also the map display: objects related to selected records
1599 are highlighted.
1600 </para>
1601 </section>
1602
1603 <section><title>Join Table</title>
1604 <para>
1605 Unlike the join described above, the join does not result in a
1606 new table. The attribute table of the currently active layer is the
1607 left table and other tables are joined to this table. The results of
1608 the join are available for classification.
1609
1610 As a consequence, the join cannot result in fewer
1611 records than the source attribute table. The user is warned if the
1612 right table does not fulfill this constraint. An outer join must be
1613 used in such cases.
1614 </para>
1615 </section>
1616
1617 <section><title>Unjoin Table</title>
1618 <para>
1619 As said above, a normal table cannot be closed while it is still
1620 used in a join. While the joined table resulting from a join of
1621 normal tables can be simply closed (and thereby dereferencing
1622 the source tables), this is not possible for attribute tables.
1623
1624 Hence joins on attribute tables must be solved explicitly. This is
1625 what the
1626 <menuchoice>
1627 <guimenu>Layer</guimenu>
1628 <guimenuitem>Unjoin Table</guimenuitem>
1629 </menuchoice>
1630 item is used for: The last join for the currently
1631 active layer is solved.
1632 </para>
1633 </section>
1634 </section>
1635 </chapter>
1636
1637 <chapter><title>Extensions</title>
1638 <para>
1639 Thuban is designed to be extensible. The term Extension is used as a
1640 general term for anything that extends Thuban.
1641 This chapter introduces into some oppportunities how to add and
1642 handle extra functionality developed by your own or third parties.
1643 </para>
1644
1645 <section><title>Add personal extensions via thubanstart.py</title>
1646 <para>
1647 After Thuban has been started for the first time, a directory
1648 .thuban is created within your home directory.
1649 There you can add a file thubanstart.py which will be imported
1650 by Thuban at start-up. It is recommended to add only import-statements
1651 to this file to keep the actual code of extensions separate.
1652 </para>
1653 <para>
1654 The modules to import must either be found through the environment
1655 variable PYTHONPATH or directly be placed into the .thuban-directory.
1656 </para>
1657 <para>
1658 As an example, copy the file examples/simple_extensions/hello_world.py
1659 of the Thuban source code into the .thuban-directory of your home
1660 directory. Now add add the statement import hello_world to the
1661 file thubanstart.py and run Thuban. You will notice an additional
1662 menu <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> where
1663 the new item for the Hello-World extension is placed - select it
1664 to see the Hello-World message.
1665 </para>
1666 </section>
1667
1668 <section><title>Extensions included in Thuban package</title>
1669 <para>
1670 The extensions described in this section are part of the
1671 Thuban package, but not activated by default.
1672 You will find them in the Thuban installation directory
1673 under <literal>Extensions/</literal>. Activate them as personal
1674 extensions via PYTHONPATH as described in the previous section.
1675 Stable extensions will appear under the menu
1676 <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> and
1677 extensions which are in experimental state and therefore
1678 not fully functional under
1679 <menuchoice><guimenu>Experimental</guimenu></menuchoice>.
1680 </para>
1681
1682 <section><title>Stable extensions</title>
1683 <para>
1684 These extensions provide extra-functionality to Thuban
1685 that has not (yet) been integrated in the main application.
1686 They are considered to be free of bugs, but may be
1687 further polished with helpful user interactions.
1688 </para>
1689 <section><title>gns2shp</title>
1690 <para>
1691 This tool converts data of the Geospatial Names Server
1692 (GNS, see <ulink url="http://www.nima.mil/gns"/>)
1693 into Shapefile format.
1694 The above web-site offer to download named places
1695 information grouped by countries for all of the world
1696 except USA for which other data are provided.
1697 </para>
1698 <para>
1699 If you download and unpack a package, you will have
1700 a text-file with suffix .txt.
1701 Selecting such a file via gns2shp will create the
1702 corresponding Shapefile with the same basename and
1703 place it in the same direcory. Afterwards it
1704 is automatically loaded into Thuban.
1705 The Shapefile will not automatically be delete afterwards.
1706 </para>
1707 <para>
1708 The gns2shp.py module can also be executed on the
1709 command line for batch processing purposes.
1710 </para>
1711 <para>
1712 A sample (<literal>ls.txt</literal> for Liechtenstein)
1713 is included in the directory
1714 <literal>Extensions/gns2shp/test</literal>.
1715 </para>
1716 </section>
1717 <section><title>SVG Export</title>
1718 <para>
1719 Map and legend can be exported separately in the
1720 Thuban-Map-SVG format.
1721 You get files that comply with
1722 the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification
1723 and can be read by many vector drawing applications.
1724 </para>
1725 <para>
1726 Goal of svgexport is to provide
1727 the start of a printing pipeline for Thuban.
1728 For this purpose the written Thuban-Map-SVG files
1729 contain information that can be used in postprocessing.
1730 Typically a general vector drawing application is
1731 more powerful then a geographic information viewer;
1732 e.g. having much fancier symbols and fonts.
1733 Also users benefit much more when learning to use a
1734 more general application they can also use for other
1735 tasks. So the charming idea is to enable
1736 the drawing application to postprocess a Thuban maps.
1737 So thee xtra information in the format will make it
1738 possible to export from Thuban and if a few geoobjects
1739 change, and keep the general layout and style
1740 of the full map in the vector drawing appplication.
1741 </para>
1742 <para>
1743 Markus Rechtien has developed a prototype of this
1744 printing pipline as his Diplom thetis, showing
1745 the feasability of Bernhard Reiter's concept.
1746 Scripts exist for the drawing application Skencil
1747 (<ulink url="http://www.skencil.org"/>).
1748 </para>
1749 <para>
1750 Technical notes: the names of the layers are used
1751 as base for ids within the SVG format.
1752 If you try to export with two layers having
1753 the same name, you will get a name clash error.
1754 Just change one of the layer names and try again.
1755 </para>
1756 </section>
1757 </section>
1758 <section><title>Experimental extensions</title>
1759 <para>
1760 All all of these functions have to be handled with care,
1761 since they are neither complete nor well tested.
1762 They are to be seen as a proof-of-concept and may
1763 additionally in some cases of practical help.
1764 </para>
1765 <para>
1766 Any interest on further improvement of these extensions
1767 should be communicated towards the developer and user
1768 community.
1769 </para>
1770
1771 <section><title>importAPR</title>
1772 <para>
1773 This command offer to load an ESRI® ArcView® project
1774 file (suffix .apr) and convert it for use within Thuban.
1775 After selecting a apr-file to load, a list
1776 will be presented that offers to select one of the views
1777 of the apr-file, provided there is more than one.
1778 Furthermore, the Session Info-Tree is extended with
1779 a complete representation of the parsed apr-file.
1780 </para>
1781 <para>
1782 The legend of Thuban does not yet cover all of the elements as
1783 supported by the legend of ArcView®. Therefore, the Thuban
1784 map will look different. Furthermore, the apr-format is
1785 a proprietary format, not openly documented.
1786 Therefore, the interpretation is
1787 partly based on reverse engeneering and good guessing.
1788 </para>
1789 <para>
1790 The file-paths within the apr-file may not fit and potentially
1791 are subject to fix in the apr-file. You can do this
1792 applying any text editor. The paths are either absolute
1793 or relative from where Thuban has been started.
1794 </para>
1795 <para>
1796 A sample for the Iceland data is included as
1797 <literal>Extensions/importAPR/samples/iceland.apr</literal>.
1798 The file-paths are relative from the Thuban main directory.
1799 </para>
1800 </section>
1801 </section>
1802 </section>
1803
1804 <section><title>Writing simple extensions</title>
1805 <para>
1806 Writing an extension for Thuban basically means to
1807 implement the extra functionality in Python with all of the
1808 Thuban classes, methods and variables available.
1809 </para>
1810 <para>
1811 All classes and their methods are documented in the source code
1812 (see their doc-strings). Here is an example from
1813 Thuban/Model/layer.py that describes some of the methods
1814 of a Layer object:
1815 </para>
1816 <programlisting>
1817 <![CDATA[
1818 class BaseLayer(TitledObject, Modifiable):
1819
1820 """Base class for the layers."""
1821
1822 def __init__(self, title, visible = True, projection = None):
1823 """Initialize the layer.
1824
1825 title -- the title
1826 visible -- boolean. If true the layer is visible.
1827 """
1828 TitledObject.__init__(self, title)
1829 Modifiable.__init__(self)
1830 self.visible = visible
1831 self.projection = projection
1832
1833 def Visible(self):
1834 """Return true if layer is visible"""
1835 return self.visible
1836
1837 def SetVisible(self, visible):
1838 """Set the layer's visibility."""
1839 self.visible = visible
1840 self.issue(LAYER_VISIBILITY_CHANGED, self)
1841
1842 def HasClassification(self):
1843 """Determine if this layer support classifications."""
1844 ...
1845 ]]>
1846 </programlisting>
1847 <para>
1848 This example intends to give you an impression of the
1849 source-code-level documentation.
1850 You have to make yourself familiar with
1851 the Python programming language to understand some special
1852 code elements.
1853 </para>
1854 <section><title>hello_world.py</title>
1855 <para>
1856 Traditionally, the first example should welcome the world.
1857 Most of the code handles the frame for integrating a menu
1858 item into Thuban while the actual raising of a message
1859 is done in a single line.
1860 </para>
1861 <programlisting>
1862 <![CDATA[
1863 # Copyright (C) 2003 by Intevation GmbH
1864 # Authors:
1865 # Jan-Oliver Wagner <[email protected]>
1866 #
1867 # This program is free software under the GPL (>=v2)
1868 # Read the file COPYING coming with Thuban for details.
1869
1870 """
1871 Extend Thuban with a sample Hello World to demonstrate simple
1872 extensions.
1873 """
1874
1875 __version__ = '$Revision$'
1876
1877 # use _() already now for all strings that may later be translated
1878 from Thuban import _
1879
1880 # Thuban has named commands which can be registered in the central
1881 # instance registry.
1882 from Thuban.UI.command import registry, Command
1883
1884 # The instance of the main menu of the Thuban application
1885 # See Thuban/UI/menu.py for the API of the Menu class
1886 from Thuban.UI.mainwindow import main_menu
1887
1888 def hello_world_dialog(context):
1889 """Just raise a simple dialog to greet the world.
1890
1891 context -- The Thuban context.
1892 """
1893 context.mainwindow.RunMessageBox(_('Hello World'), _('Hello World!'))
1894
1895
1896 # create a new command and register it
1897 registry.Add(Command('hello_world', _('Hello World'), hello_world_dialog,
1898 helptext = _('Welcome everyone on this planet')))
1899
1900 # find the extensions menu (create it anew if not found)
1901 extensions_menu = main_menu.FindOrInsertMenu('extensions', _('E&xtensions'))
1902
1903 # finally bind the new command with an entry in the extensions menu
1904 extensions_menu.InsertItem('hello_world')
1905 ]]>
1906 </programlisting>
1907 </section>
1908 <section><title>Registering a Command</title>
1909 <para>
1910 Mainly, our new function has to be registered to the Thuban
1911 framework in order to connect it to the menu. A registered
1912 command can also be connected to e.g. a toolbar button.
1913 </para>
1914 <para>
1915 The instances and classes for this are imported at the beginning.
1916 Any code not inside a method or class is directly executed when
1917 the source-code module is imported. Therefore, the second
1918 part of this example consist of the plain statements to create a new
1919 Command and to add it to the menu.
1920 </para>
1921 <para>
1922 By convention, it looks for a menu registered as ``extensions'' to
1923 insert the new command. If it does not exist yet, it gets created.
1924 It is advisable to copy this code for any of your extensions.
1925 </para>
1926 </section>
1927 <section><title>The Thuban context</title>
1928 <para>
1929 A registered command that is called, always receives the
1930 Thuban context. This instance provides our method with
1931 hook references to all important components of the Thuban
1932 application.
1933 </para>
1934 <para>
1935 In the example hello_world.py, our function uses the
1936 mainwindow component which offers a method to raise a
1937 message dialog. In total there are three hooks:
1938 <itemizedlist>
1939 <listitem>
1940 <para>application:
1941 This object is the instance of the Thuban Application class.
1942 Except maybe for loading or savinf sessions, you will not
1943 need this object for a simple extension.
1944 See Thuban/UI/application.py for the API.
1945 </para>
1946 </listitem>
1947 <listitem>
1948 <para>session:
1949 The instance of the current session. It manages the sessions'
1950 map and tables. You can set and remove the map or tables.
1951 In may also get the map object. However, you should know that
1952 internally it is already prepared to handle many maps.
1953 Therfore, currently you would always receive a list with exactlty
1954 one element. In the future, if there are more than one map,
1955 you will not know which one is the currently display one and
1956 therefore you should use the mainwindow as hook to find
1957 the currently displayed map.
1958 See Thuban/Model/session.py for the API.
1959 </para>
1960 </listitem>
1961 <listitem>
1962 <para>
1963 mainwindow: The mainwindow object is central to manage various
1964 GUI things such as the Legend sub-window. Most notably,
1965 you get access to the canvas which is the window part where
1966 the map is drawn. The canvas knows, which map it currently
1967 draws and therefore you get the current map via
1968 context.mainwindow.canvas.Map().
1969 See Thuban/UI/mainwindow.py for the API.
1970 </para>
1971 </listitem>
1972 </itemizedlist>
1973 </para>
1974 </section>
1975 </section>
1976 </chapter>
1977
1978 <chapter><title>Trouble Shooting</title>
1979 <para>
1980 Here are a few problems that users have encountered when first using Thuban.
1981 </para>
1982 <para>
1983
1984 <itemizedlist>
1985 <listitem>
1986 <para>After adding two or more layers nothing is drawn in the map window.
1987 </para>
1988 <para>
1989 This is probably because the layers have different projections. Projections
1990 must be set on all layers and on the map itself if the layers' projections
1991 are different.
1992 </para>
1993 </listitem>
1994
1995 <listitem>
1996 <para>Thuban crashes on startup with the error
1997 <literal>NameError: global name 'False' is not defined</literal>.
1998 </para>
1999 <para>
2000 <varname>True</varname> and <varname>False</varname> were only introduced
2001 in Python 2.2.1. Thuban depends on at least Python 2.2.1.
2002 </para>
2003 </listitem>
2004
2005 <listitem>
2006 <para>After compiling Thuban, Thuban crashes with an error similar to
2007 <literal>
2008 ImportError: /usr/local//lib/thuban/Thuban/../Lib/wxproj.so: undefined symbol: __gxx_personality_v0
2009 </literal>
2010 </para>
2011 <para>
2012 Thuban depends on the wxWindows library. If Thuban is compiled with an
2013 incompatible version of the compiler than wxWindows was compiled with
2014 this error may occur. Try compiling with a different version of the
2015 compiler.
2016 </para>
2017 </listitem>
2018 </itemizedlist>
2019 </para>
2020 <para>
2021 If an error occurs Thuban will display a dialog indicating the error
2022 before closing. The text should be copied and reported to the
2023 <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/bugtracker.html">
2024 Intevation bugtracker
2025 </ulink>.
2026 More information about the system is available from
2027 <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu><guimenuitem>About</guimenuitem></menuchoice> box.
2028 This should also be included in the bug report.
2029 <figure>
2030 <title>Error Dialog</title>
2031 <mediaobject>
2032 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/8_int_error.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2033 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/8_int_error.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2034 </mediaobject>
2035 </figure>
2036 </para>
2037
2038 </chapter>
2039
2040 <appendix><title>Supported Data Sources</title>
2041 <para>
2042 </para>
2043 <variablelist>
2044 <varlistentry>
2045 <term>Shapefile</term>
2046 <listitem>
2047 <para>
2048 The Shapefile format has become a standard format for saving
2049 geographic vector information. It supports polygons, lines, and
2050 points.
2051
2052 <ulink url="http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf">
2053 Technical Specification.
2054 </ulink>
2055 </para>
2056 </listitem>
2057 </varlistentry>
2058
2059 <varlistentry>
2060 <term>dBase file</term>
2061 <listitem>
2062 <para>
2063 dBase files are used to store the attributes for each layer. This
2064 is closely associated with the Shapefile format. For detailed
2065 specifications on the correct format of a dBase file used with
2066 Thuban please see the Technical Specification for the Shapefile
2067 format above.
2068 </para>
2069 </listitem>
2070 </varlistentry>
2071
2072 <varlistentry>
2073 <term>PostGIS</term>
2074 <listitem>
2075 <para>
2076 PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL
2077 object-relational database. Different layer types (as for Shapefiles)
2078 are supported. <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS
2079 Homepage</ulink>
2080 </para>
2081 </listitem>
2082 </varlistentry>
2083
2084 <varlistentry>
2085 <term>Raster files</term>
2086 <listitem>
2087 <para>
2088 Binding the GDAL library Thuban supports numerous raster file formats,
2089 see <ulink url="http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/formats_list.html">
2090 GDAL format list</ulink> for details.</para>
2091
2092 <para>Most commonly used is the <emphasis>TIFF/GeoTIFF</emphasis>
2093 format: Raster maps are provided as TIFF images, with an additional
2094 "world file" storing the geographic reference (usually with an
2095 extension ".tfw").
2096 </para>
2097 </listitem>
2098 </varlistentry>
2099
2100 </variablelist>
2101 </appendix>
2102
2103 <appendix><title>Working with PostGIS</title>
2104 <para>
2105 This section focusses on the use of PostGIS in the Thuban framework. For
2106 installation and maintenance of spatial databases we refer to the
2107 <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS Homepage</ulink>.
2108 The Thuban PostGIS support requires the
2109 <ulink url="http://initd.org/software/psycopg">psycopg module</ulink>.
2110 </para>
2111
2112 <para>
2113 Working with PostGIS Databases is seperated into two steps:
2114 <itemizedlist>
2115 <listitem><para>Opening a Database Connection</para></listitem>
2116 <listitem><para>Loading a Data Layer</para></listitem>
2117 </itemizedlist>
2118 </para>
2119 <section><title>Opening a Database Connection</title>
2120 <para>
2121 Before a data layer can be loaded from a PostGIS database a
2122 connection with the database has to be established.
2123 <menuchoice>
2124 <guimenu>Session</guimenu>
2125 <guimenuitem>Database Connections ...</guimenuitem>
2126 </menuchoice> opens a dialog for database connection
2127 management. In the dialog new connections can be added
2128 and existing ones can be removed. Removing a database
2129 connection is not possible if the map still displays a
2130 layer provided by this database connection.
2131 </para>
2132 <figure>
2133 <title>Database Management Dialog</title>
2134 <mediaobject>
2135 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_management.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2136 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_management.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2137 </mediaobject>
2138 </figure>
2139
2140 <para>
2141 To add a new database connection to the session a dialog is
2142 opened to specify the relevant connection data. Enter all
2143 data relevant for your connection. If the connection fails
2144 the dialog remains open and provides some hints on the failure.
2145 </para>
2146 <figure>
2147 <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2148 <mediaobject>
2149 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_add.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2150 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_add.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2151 </mediaobject>
2152 </figure>
2153
2154 <para>
2155 It is important to note that information on database connections are
2156 also stored with the session. Passwords are NOT stored. If you load a
2157 session with database connections you are asked to enter these
2158 passwords again where required.
2159 </para>
2160
2161 </section>
2162
2163 <section><title>Loading a Data Layer</title>
2164 <para>
2165 Data layers as part of a map are loaded with the
2166 <menuchoice>
2167 <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
2168 <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer ...</guimenuitem>
2169 </menuchoice> menu item. A dialog is raised displaying two choice
2170 lists. In the left list all connected databases are shown.
2171 Highlighting
2172 one of these and issuing a retrieval results in a list of available
2173 layer tables from that database. After selection of a
2174 layer the dialog is closed.
2175 </para>
2176 <figure>
2177 <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2178 <mediaobject>
2179 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_add_layer.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2180 <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_add_layer.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2181 </mediaobject>
2182 </figure>
2183
2184 </section>
2185
2186 </appendix>
2187
2188 <appendix><title>Supported Projections</title>
2189 <para>
2190 The following types of projections are directly support by
2191 Thuban. The specific values for each are provided by the user
2192 to create custom projections. Thuban comes with predefined
2193 projections which are available through the Projections dialog.
2194 </para>
2195 <itemizedlist>
2196 <listitem>
2197 <para>Geographic</para>
2198 <itemizedlist>
2199 <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2200 <listitem><para>
2201 <literal>Source Data</literal>: either Degrees or Radians
2202 </para></listitem>
2203 </itemizedlist>
2204 </listitem>
2205 <listitem>
2206 <para>Lambert Conic Conformal</para>
2207 <itemizedlist>
2208 <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2209 <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of 1st standard parallel</literal></para></listitem>
2210 <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of 2nd standard parallel</literal></para></listitem>
2211 <listitem><para><literal>Central Meridian</literal></para></listitem>
2212 <listitem><para><literal>Latitude of Origin</literal></para></listitem>
2213 <listitem><para><literal>False Easting</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2214 <listitem><para><literal>False Northing</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2215 </itemizedlist>
2216 </listitem>
2217 <listitem>
2218 <para>Transverse Mercator</para>
2219 <itemizedlist>
2220 <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2221 <listitem><para><literal>Latitude</literal>of origin</para></listitem>
2222 <listitem><para><literal>Longitude</literal>at central meridian</para></listitem>
2223 <listitem><para><literal>Scale Factor</literal>at central meridian</para></listitem>
2224 <listitem><para><literal>False Easting</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2225 <listitem><para><literal>False Northing</literal> (meters)</para></listitem>
2226 </itemizedlist>
2227 </listitem>
2228 <listitem>
2229 <para>Universal Transverse Mercator</para>
2230 <itemizedlist>
2231 <listitem><para><literal>Ellipsoid</literal></para></listitem>
2232 <listitem><para><literal>Zone</literal>
2233 (can be guessed appling the Propose button)</para></listitem>
2234 <listitem><para><literal>Southern Hemisphere</literal> flag</para></listitem>
2235 </itemizedlist>
2236 </listitem>
2237 </itemizedlist>
2238
2239 <para>
2240 Thuban comes with a sample set of map projections for various
2241 European countries. Apart from the basic projection they differ
2242 especially in their parameterization:
2243 </para>
2244 <itemizedlist>
2245 <listitem><para>Belgium Datum 1972 (Lambert Conic Conformal)</para>
2246 </listitem>
2247
2248 <listitem><para>Gauss-Boaga Zone 1 (Italy, Transverse Mercartor)</para>
2249 </listitem>
2250
2251 <listitem><para>Gauss-Krueger Zone 2 (Germany, Transverse Mercartor)
2252 </para>
2253 </listitem>
2254
2255 <listitem><para>Reseau Geodesique Francaise
2256 (France, Lambert Conic Conformal)</para>
2257 </listitem>
2258
2259 <listitem><para>UK National Grid (United Kingdom, Transverse Mercartor)
2260 </para>
2261 </listitem>
2262 </itemizedlist>
2263
2264 <para>
2265 Thuban uses the comprehensive PROJ library for projections. PROJ provides
2266 more than the four commonly used projections described above. If needed
2267 Thuban can be easily extended to a new projection covered by PROJ.
2268 </para>
2269 </appendix>
2270
2271 </book>
2272

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