Woops. Seems that I missed sending out a VirtualGeography in July – that’d be due to my coming back from my three month gig with AusAID in the Solomons and vegetating. Better luck next month. Hey – it’s free!

VirtualGeography is a collection of interesting snippets from all over the shop, dealing with industry issues concerning the computer based visualisation of geography and a few other associated (or otherwise) interesting bits and pieces. You are receiving this either because you subscribed to VirtualGeography or you have had recent dealings with VizMAP Pty Ltd. If you do not wish to receive further instalments of VirtualGeography, just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this e-mail. 

A new VirtualGeography is pushed out about once per month, towards the end of the month, which shouldn’t be too big a drain on your mailbox if you’re not already subscribed (of course it won’t be a drain on your mailbox if you ARE subscribed, either ). If you know of anyone who might like to get VirtualGeography, feel free to forward this to them and ask them to subscribe. By the way, subscription and unsubscription details are at the bottom (click here).

So, g’day to all you enthusiasts requiring to visualise and simulate both urban and rural geographic information (GIS), cartography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, digital elevation modelling (DEM) and general mapping.

By the spelling of "Visualisation" you may have already guessed that we’re not US based – that’s a good thing, or at least not a bad thing. This comes to you from Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, where it’s beautiful one day and perfect the next. The link between visualisation and mapping may seem a little esoteric if this is your first encounter with this sort of stuff, but let me tell you, the bond is significant… but enough of that: on with the show… I hope you like it. Any feedback you might have is highly appreciated. E-mail me hereto make your comments. Enjoy… Graeme Brooke VizMAP Pty Ltd

P.S. You’ll need an active internet connection to view any images that are in the content. We’ve done it this way to keep the size of the e-mail to a minimum.

Challenges to be addressed include the use and integration of current world-wide construction practices databases with automatic building interior generation to support the rapid generation of geotypical urban environments from minimal amounts of existing cartographic or CAD source data.

Rapid visualization, particularly in urban areas, requires the ability to merge together various DEM sources derived from completely different methods, often unknown to the end user. Typically this includes the combination of multiple DEMs with varying coverages, resolutions, and accuracies to produce a product which covers a larger area with consistent resolution and improved accuracy. Therefore, any successful method for DEM fusion must take into account the derivation as well as the coordinate system and data quality for the source DEMs.

Motivated by the availability of DEMs from traditional sources, such as USGS DEMs and custom commercial compilation from aerial and satellite imagery using traditional automated methods, and elevation models compiled from newer sensors such as LIDAR and IFSAR, this prototype was successfully demonstrated using TerraTools 2.0 to automatically construct several complex DEM fusion examples.

The new Silicon Graphics Onyx4 UltimateVision family redefines the boundaries of visualization, transforming your workflow and productivity at affordable price points. With price/performance improvements of up to 40 times that of previous systems, visualization power previously only accessible to major facilities can now be routinely deployed to companies and small labs, accelerating time to market. And, finally, advanced visual computing is within the reach of individuals and small teams traditionally limited to workstation or PC solutions, delivering an affordable competitive edge. 

Unparalleled Capability–Improving Productivity

Boundaries disappear as 32 tightly coupled best-of-class graphics processors focus on a single problem. Combining the power of the unique SGI® high-bandwidth, scalable, shared-memory architecture with best-of-breed, industry-standard, graphics components, the Onyx4 UltimateVision family delivers the most powerful visualization solution on the planet. These systems will enable you to visualize larger data sets with greater complexity at higher interactivity, all with configurations to empower individuals, transform team productivity, and tackle the most extreme problems. 

Onyx4 UltimateVision solutions are based on the award-winning SGI® NUMAflexTM architecture, which provides independent scaling for all of the major system components including CPU, memory, storage, I/O, and graphics. As you add these components, Onyx4 automatically scales bandwidth, maintaining a balanced system and transparently maximizing application throughput and performance for any size problem.

Support added for OpenGL2.0 shaders, native multi-threaded Database paging, high peformance binary format reading and writing,  .dds compressed image loader and ARB_fragment_program and ARB_vertex_buffer_object extensions, improvements to the Terrex .txp and OpenFlight .flt loaders.

Sample still images from the completed dynamic visualisation database are displayed here. An active internet connection is required to be able to view these scenes.
 

Click on these small resampled images to view the full screen images on the VizMAP website. Bear in mind that these are just screen dumps from a dynamic, interactive, 3D "flythrough". 

To help meet the project objectives of improved planning and better decision making based on factual and accurate information shared amongst all categories of the population, geographical information will be available as maps and reports to all stakeholders though the Internet.

To give access to maps, a map server based on OpenSource software is currently being established as a demonstration unit in SOPAC. The use of OpenSource software reduces software costs as well as allowing the application to be tailor-made to individual country needs. It provides a system that is open to all Pacific Islander specialists to study and modify via the Internet. The OpenSource software suite is composed of GNU/Linux Mandrake for the server platform with the Mapserver from the University of Minnesota bundled inside Tikiwiki for better multi-stakeholder collaboration.

During a recently completed training workshop, held from the 28th to 30th July, stakeholders from Fiji contributed directly to the map server. Workshop participants from Mineral Resources Department, Public Works Department, Telecom Fiji and Forestry added important data layers of geographical information from each of their respective agencies. 

This information is freely accessible on the Internet at http://map.sopac.org/ and it allows individuals and professionals to analyse, from their home or office, information that was sometimes cumbersome and time consuming to acquire. 

• DirectionsMag Events
• GeoCommunity Year 2002 Events
• GISCafe Upcoming Events 
• Geoinformatics Calendar
• ISPRS Events Calendar
• National Centre for Simulation Calendar of Events
• Position Magazine Calendar of Events

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by QANTAS pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, QANTAS is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

(P = The problem logged by the pilot)
(S = The solution and action taken by the engineers)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.