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- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- EarthMap 0.54 --------------------------
- This program is FREEWARE
- Version date : 09 Feb 1993 --------------------------
- (but *NOT* for education,
- see end of this guide)
- ----------------
- - Introduction -
- ----------------
-
- EarthMap is an electronic globe. It enables you to wander over the earth using
- your mouse and keyboard. You can pan all around the globe, and zoom in or out,
- enabling examination of objects as large as the whole world down to every twist
- of a tiny river in some far away country.
-
- EarthMap draws on a *massive* database of coordinate data. Unlike all other
- similar applications for the Archimedes, who have a database containing only
- several hundred thousands of coordinates, EarthMap's database consists of an
- enormous 5,719,617 line segments, which describe the earth in very fine detail.
-
- Details are available on all major 'natural' features of the earth, like
- continent outlines, lakes, rivers, country boundaries, etc.. There is no data
- on cities and the like.
-
- The database was not created by myself, pen, paper, ruler and charts in hand !
- The origin of the data is the 'CIA World Data Bank II data base', which is a
- database of 130Mb of COBOL records. It was compressed from COBOL records to a
- more compact representation (around 13Mb of data) by Brian Reid. The database
- itself has been put in the public domain by the US Government.
-
- If you received !EarthMap without the coordinate data (which should be in the
- 'Maps' directory as 'africa_Map.bdy_cbd' etc.), you will have to find a way to
- obtain it. It is available by ftp from (among others) hanauma.stanford.edu
- (36.51.0.16), in pub/World_Map/Map.tar.Z.? (5 parts : glue, uncompress, untar
- and copy the _cbd files in !EarthMap.Maps). Another site that stores the data
- at the time of writing is gatekeeper.dec.com. Be prepared for a long, long
- download !
-
- EarthMap can make do with any single data file, up to the whole set (i.e. it is
- possible to have only, say Europe 'on-line'). When EarthMap finds no data files
- at all, it will complain.
-
- EarthMap enables you to look around, but it also enables you to save your
- examinations to Draw files for further processing, printing, etc..
-
-
- -------------------------
- - Using the application -
- -------------------------
-
- To start up EarthMap, double-click on the '!EarthMap' icon.
-
- It will install itself on the icon bar, and clicking MENU on EarthMap's icon
- pops up the main menu, giving the usual 'Info' and 'Quit' options, and others,
- which will be discussed further on.
-
- - Viewing
-
- Clicking on the iconbar icon will open the view window. The view window shows
- a flat projection of a selected piece of the earth.
-
- The window always contains the entire worldmap, i.e. scrolling around you may
- reach all the edges of the world.
-
- - Panning
-
- Panning may be done by dragging the view window's scroll bars, or double-
- clicking on a point within the view window with SELECT or ADJUST, which will
- re-centre on this point.
-
- - Zooming
-
- Zooming in or out may be done by (single-)clicking on a point with SELECT or
- ADJUST respectively, while holding down the CTRL (factor 1.5), SHIFT (factor 2)
- or ALT (factor 4) key. This will also re-centre on this point.
-
- Easier zooming may be accomplished by 'dragging' a box around the area of
- interest, by clicking SELECT or ADJUST on one corner, holding the button, and
- dragging the mouse to the opposite corner, then releasing the button.
-
-
- -----------------
- - The main menu -
- -----------------
-
- This menu, popped up by clicking MENU on EarthMap's iconbar icon, contains a
- number of icons (some of which lead to submenu's/windows). The functions of the
- icons will be discussed below.
-
- The main purpose of the main menu is to provide access to EarthMap's control
- window (via the 'Control' icon), which contains (in groups) most of the
- available options and controls.
-
- -----------
- | Control |
- -----------
-
- Gives access to EarthMap's control window, which contains most of EarthMap's
- options and controls, divided into groups.
-
- Clicking on this icon will make this window permanent (but it can be closed
- again by clicking on its close icon).
-
- Several types of icons appear in the control window :
-
- - Toggle icons. These are square, and clicking on them switches the
- corresponding option on (red square in its middle) or off ('closed' box).
- - Writable icons. These are square icons with a border and a white background,
- in which you may click an subsequently enter a value or text.
- - Button icons. These are round, and clicking on them executes some function.
- They do not change their appearance when clicked on.
- - 'Up/down' button icons. These are triangular, and increase or decrease some
- value in the writable icon in between them. When clicking ADJUST instead of
- SELECT or MENU, 'up' decreases and 'down' increases (i.e. reverse).
-
- The functions of the icons in the control window are discussed below. Icons are
- identified by giving their 'path', i.e. group name (name on the border
- surrounding the group), if appropiate followed by sub-category (medium grey
- heading), followed by the icon's own name, seperated by '|'s.
-
- \\\\\\\\\\\\\
- Coordinates
- /////////////
-
- This group enables you to enter longitude (-180 to +180 degrees) and latitude
- (-90 to +90 degrees) coordinates. The specified point on the earth can then
- be re-centered to.
-
- Values for degrees, minutes and seconds may be entered in the appropiate
- writable icons. The 'up/down' buttons above/below a writable icon will
- increase/decrease the value by 1, when clicked with SELECT. The direction may
- be reversed by clicking ADJUST instead.
-
- \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
- Coordinates | Go to
- /////////////////////
-
- Clicking this button will pan over to the specified coordinates (which will
- be exactly at the centre of the window).
-
- \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
- Coordinates | Get
- ///////////////////
-
- Clicking this button will calculate the longitude/latitide coordinates at the
- exact middle of the view window, and will enter them in the corresponding
- writable icons.
-
-
- ----------
- | Detail |
- ----------
-
- Gives access to a window in which details shown may be switched on or off.
-
- Clicking on this icon will make this window permanent (but it can be closed
- again by clicking on its close icon).
-
- The 'features' in the database are listed in 4 groups (actually corresponding
- to one database file each, per continent). All details within the groups may be
- switched on or off individually.
-
- Switching details off will speed up redrawing. It is recommended to switch off
- as much detail as possible while panning around the earth. Switching off whole
- groups is especially beneficial, as EarthMap can then completely skip the
- corresponding database files.
-
- The colours of the details are shown in a small box in front of the toggle
- flags.
-
-
- --------
- | Save |
- --------
-
- This icon leads to a save file window from which the Draw filetype icon may be
- dragged to a filer window, after entering the required Drawfile's leafname.
-
- This will save the contents of the current view to a Draw file, which may then
- be processed, printed, etc., by applications accepting Draw files.
-
- The resulting Draw file is fully WYSIWYG : details switched 'off' will not be
- saved to the Draw file.
-
-
- ----------------
- - Memory usage -
- ----------------
-
- WorldMap runs in a minimum amount of memory when it is not processing anything.
- Before processing, as much memory as needed is grabbed, and released again
- afterwards.
-
- Keep a few hundred K's free to enable WorldMap to run properly. When there is
- too little memory available, WorldMap will complain.
-
-
- -----------
- - The end -
- -----------
-
- Outside educational environments, this application is Freeware, which means it
- may be copied freely, as long as it is not charged for and is copied completely
- and unchanged.
-
- To be able to use it in an educational environment, registration is required.
- Contact me at the address given below for details of the costs involved, giving
- as much information about your school as possible (i.e. location, size, etc.).
- Registration includes the entire package, inclusive of the coordinate data, on
- 13 discs, and any updates to the software.
-
- If you have praise, complaints, comments, bugs(!), or anything else to offer
- me, do not hesitate to write to
-
- John Kortink
- Nutterbrink 31
- 7544 WJ Enschede
- The Netherlands
-
- or send email to kortink@cs.utwente.nl (due to disappear December 1992)
-
- New versions of the application are available from the same address : just send
- £1 to cover postage and a self-addressed envelope containing a formatted 3.5"
- disc.
-
- NOTE : I will not provide the 13Mb of coordinate database (unless persuaded
- to do so by suitable sums of money :-).
-
- Happy wandering !!!
-
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- !!! NOTE !!!
-
- You may NOT change this application or use ANY part of it in other products
- without my approval. You may spread it freely (with *ALL* files included), but
- not for any profit. This software is provided 'as is'. Using it is entirely at
- your own risk.
-
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
-