Global Mapper v25.0

Global Mapper v10.02 Available - Adds Geology and Symbol Rotation Support!

global_mapper
global_mapper Administrator
edited January 2009 in Announcement and News
Global Mapper Software LLC is pleased to announce the availability of Global Mapper v10.02 at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper_setup_v1002.exe . Just download that file and run it to install v10.02. It will install over any existing Global Mapper v10.xx version.

Numerous significant enhancements and bug fixes have been made to Global Mapper for this release. The most significant changes are described below:

- Added ability to easily create strike-and-dip (geology) points by right-clicking in the Digitizer Tool. You can now place your strike-and-dip points and specify the dip value, azimuth angle, and symbol to use and get the appropriate symbology displayed on the map.
- Added support for adding custom area fill styles from image files.
- Added support for rotating point symbols by a user-specified angle.
- Added option to the Digitizer Tool to calculate the minimum, maximum, and average elevation values within selected area features.
- Added new ASSIGN_TYPE command to the scripting language to allow classifying loaded vector features based on one or more attribute/display label value queries.
- Added support for importing SOSI (a format commonly used for Norwegian data) format files.

All of the other numerous changes are listed in the What's New document that is displayed during installation.

Note that this is a free upgrade for registered users of any Global Mapper v10.xx product. Registered Global Mapper v9.xx users can purchase an upgrade for only $99 US from the Purchase page at GLOBAL MAPPER .

Please let us know if you have any problems, questions, or comments.

Thanks,

Global Mapper Support
support@globalmapper.com

Comments

  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    - Added ability to easily create strike-and-dip (geology) points by right-clicking in the Digitizer Tool. You can now place your strike-and-dip points and specify the dip value, azimuth angle, and symbol to use and get the appropriate symbology displayed on the map.

    Thanks so much for this, it looks like something I can really use. Can I use a GPS to locate the strike/dip symbol? Is a library of common geologic symbols included?

    Thanks again,
    Dave
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    Dave,

    Yes, you can mark a waypoint when tracking a GPS under the GPS menu, then edit that point and set the symbol to the appropriate symbol. All of the built-in geology symbols start with 'Geology', so they are easy to find.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    Hopefully what follows won't sound like I'm complaining. I am a geologist and I use Global Mapper for general map viewing, data overlays, measurements, etc. I love it, and think it is a great value. I have been hoping to use it on my Tablet PC for field mapping for some time. With this new feature, my dream is getting much closer to reality. Thanks so much for a great product.

    Unfortunately, by editing an existing waypoint and changing it to the type "Strike and Dip", you don't get access to the same dialog as you do with the "Create new Strike and Dip Point" using the digitizer tool. The symbol type drop down in the "Modify Feature Info" dialog box isn't wide enough to distingush the names of the various geologic symbols. I suppose the easiest way to add a new Strike and Dip point at the GPS location would be to just manually click on the GPS cursor location when creating a new point.

    Is there any plan to add more functionality for creating objects directly using the gps (i.e. "create new point feature at GPS location"). Obviously, this could be taken even further to allow creation of line and area objects using the GPS. Basically, some sort of integration of the GPS with the digitizer tool is what I am talking about.

    Regarding the Strike and Dip point type: I am unclear on how the dip value is used. The azimuth controls the rotation of the symbol as it should and it creates an attribute for "DIP" but it doesn't seem to use that value to label the symbol on the map, which would be the desired behaviour. Ideally, the label should be the dip angle, and the label location should be controlled by the azimuth so that the label is on the same side of the symbol as the dip direction indicator. Obviously the label location would not be easy to implement, but the dip angle should at least be used as the label by default for the Strike and Dip Feature Type. I am probably missing something, but I can't seem to find how to control which attribute is used for the feature label. I seem to remember being able to do this, but ...

    There is no way to directly control where the label for an individual point feature is located relative to that feature, correct?

    Dave
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    Dave,

    For editing you can bring up the strike-and-dip dialog after initially creating your point and setting it to the Strike-and-Dip type. After creating your point, then select it with the Digitizer Tool, then right click, and you should have a special strike-and-dip edit option at the top of the menu list. This will bring up the special strike-and-dip dialog.

    The dip value should be used automatically as the display label for strike-and-dip points and also added as an attribute. You might check your settings on the Vector Display tab of the Configuration dialog to make sure that you don't have label display disabled, or you might want to check the box to 'Always Display All Labels' so that some labels aren't hidden.

    You can control the location of a label relative to a point feature by editing the feature's font from the edit dialog for the feature. There is a drop-down there allowing you to place the label relative to the point. However, if it is appropriate for the label direction to always be the same direction that the dip points, I can probably make the label placement automatic based on that (it would just be in one of the 8 allowed positions around the point, but that should be close enough).

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    However, if it is appropriate for the label direction to always be the same direction that the dip points, I can probably make the label placement automatic based on that (it would just be in one of the 8 allowed positions around the point, but that should be close enough).

    Yes, that would be perfect.

    And thanks for the other info. I played with a bit during lunch with an actual GPS attached, and figured out the label thing.

    Looks like you have a new purchase coming from me!
    Thanks again,
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    I have updated the strike-and-dip label placement to be automatic as we had discussed. I also allowed for double-clicking on a strike-and-dip point with the Digitizer Tool to immediately bring up the strike-and-dip dialog for that point. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper10.zip with these changes for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v10.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    That works great, thanks.

    A minor tweak would be to have the label slightly closer to the symbol (maybe 2/3 the distance it is currently using). Also, it would be nice to be able to specify the symbol size in map units so that the size remains constant at various zoom levels, and to make printing more predictible. I am guessing your symbols are stored as bitmaps, so this probably would be difficult to implement. Any chance that vector symbols will be supported in the future (i.e. WMF files)? Or perhaps symbols could be implemented as True Type fonts.

    By the way, the USGS has produced a standard set of geologic map symbols, which is available here. If you would be interested, I would be willing to spend some time converting the more comon of these symbols from the native Postscript into whatever graphics format you could incorporate into Global Mapper.

    Thanks again for a great product, and even better support.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    I have gone ahead and tweaked the label to be slightly closer to the symbol for geology points. Based on feedback from other users I have also changed the azimuth specification to actually be the strike azimuth rather than the dip azimuth. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper10.zip with the change for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v10.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    The symbols are stored as bitmaps internally, although I may eventually add some support for vector symbols, which should improve things, especially under rotation and scaling (once support for that is added). You can also add your own custom symbols of course under the Point Styles tab of the Configuration dialog and use those for the strike-and-dip points.

    The current list of geology symbols that are available was added based on a list compiled from some students and faculty at the CO School of Mines. They listed the symbols that are most commonly used, but if you have some other commonly used ones I would be happy to add them.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    You can also add your own custom symbols of course under the Point Styles tab of the Configuration dialog and use those for the strike-and-dip points.

    In the past I have tried to use my own bitmaps for symbols. I remember not being able to make any of the pixels transparent, therefore making the symbols always be an opaque rectangular box containing my desired symbol. Is there a way to include transparency for the backround pixels in the symbols? Also, what are the approximate pixel dimension of your small and medium symbols?

    Thanks,
    Dave
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    Dave,

    You have to use icon files rather than BMP files to get transparent symbols. In our next release we plan to add support for custom symbols from more formats, like PNG, that support a full alpha channel.

    The small geology symbols are 15x10 pixels in size and the medium ones are 30x20.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DaveGoodrich
    DaveGoodrich Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited January 2009
    Thanks for the info.

    I can create icon files with CorelDraw, so that should allow me to convert the Postscript symbols from the USGS to icons. How is the icon located when it is placed at a specified map location? In other words, is the center of the icon placed at the x,y coordinates of the point it represents?

    Thanks,
    Dave
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited January 2009
    Dave,

    Yes, the center of the icon is placed at the XY location of the point that it represents.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com