Subject: A ftp site for NACGIS Version 2.0 (test version)!
From: nac@zap.io.org (The International NAC Society)
Date: 12 Nov 1996 12:53:34 -0500
Dear Readers:
The NACGIS Version 2.0 test version is ready for everybody to test. You
can download it from the Internet at address:
ftp://empires.stanford.edu/pub/win95/utils/nacgis2.exe
If you have problems, we can also email it to you. If you like, you can
also put it into your anonymous ftp site and post it on the net or send
email to us.
Have fun on the software!
Xinhang Shen
http://www.io.org/~nac/
Dear Readers:
Last week, we posted the following ads which included a wrong web address.
The correct address is http://www.io.org/~nac/
Many people ask what the system requirements of the software are. Since
we use dynamic linking libraries all through the code, the software
requires little RAM and hard disk space. If the computer has:
Windows 95 or Windows NT
Larger than 4 MB RAM
Larger than 4 MB Hard disk space
the software will work properly on small map files (<1 MB).
Now the test version of the software is ready for everybody to test all
functions of the software. If you want it, I can email you the software
(2.4 MB)free of charge. If you want to get 3.5" floppy disk, please
include US$5 shipping and handling fee.ÿï Once you have tested the
software, please send us your comments and suggestions and report all the
problems. You cam also post them on the net.
By the way, the software can import text files of lists of longitude/latitude
or UTM or other coordinates and character strings with coordinates and angles.
If you have these kinds of maps and would like to sell them, please drop an
email to our account and we will include them on our web. If you have map
converters which can extract map entities from other GIS file formats and
create node lists and character string lists, we will be happy to
list them on our web too.
Have fun to play on NACGIS Version 2.0.
Xinhang Shen
NAC Geographic Products Inc.
===============================================================================
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| Great News! |
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| You can buy a US$999 GIS with only US$39 before Nov. 20, 1996! |
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Contents |
| |
| Introduction |
| Major features |
| Discount information |
| Order information |
===============================================================================
Introduction
NAC Geographic Products Inc. has developed a geographic information system
called NACGIS Version 2.0 for Windows 95 and Windows NT, which has
implemented the great invention: the Natural Area Coding System. Based on
the Natural Area Coding System, NACGIS has introduced a ten-character
Universal Geographic Identity for every geographic object in the world. No
matter what size it is. Every geographic object in the world from a
continent to a parking meter can be statistically uniquely identified by its
Universal Geographic Identity (UGID).
Major features:
1. Automatic assignment of UGID's to all geographic objects.
2. Automatic links between a graphic object in the map file and its
associated document in the document database. You can use both text
searching and mouse clicking on the graphic object to retrieve the
document for reading and editing.
3 Supports transparency which allows you draw transparent graphic objects
with all pictures underneath shown in a mixed color.
4. Graphics editor's features:
a) Drawing tools:
NACGIS Version 2.0 procides two sets of drawing tools:
i) Mouse direct drafting on the screen with your specified default
line color, line type, line thickness, brush color, brush
pattern, font type, font size, font color, layer number, etc.
ii) Graphic object set-up dialog boxes to create accurate pictures.
The dialog boxs allow you input exact coordinates for polyline
nodes and polygon vertices and layer number, text escapement
angle, layer number, specify whether it is a polyline or smooth
curve and a polygon or an area, whether it is transparent, and
set up pen, brush and font parameters. You can insert or delete
nodes or vertices at any location of a polyline or a polygon.
A polyline, polygon, simple picture or a group picture can be
converted to each other by simply clicking a botton on the dialog
boxes.
NACGIS Version 2.0 can draw polylines, curves, polygons, areas, simple
pictures (ractangle, circle, ellipse, regular polygons, stars, etc.),
text objects, bitmap objects and group pictures (from an art gallery
database).
b) Manipulation tools:
NACGIS Version 2.0 provides the following graphic objects manipulation
tools:
i) Mouse and arrow keys direct draging and resizing
ii) Manipulation dialog box which allows you move an graphic object or
a group of graphic objects a specified distance or to a specified
location, exactly stretch it in x- and/or y-directions, rotate it
a specified angle arround a specified pivot, and mirror it in x-
and/or y-directions with a specified symetric center.
iii) Alignment dialog box which allows you align a group of graphic
objects to the left, center, right, top, middle, bottom.
iv) Group objects tool which allows you to create group pictures (only
one set of a group picture's data will be stored in the memory
but can be shown in as many places as you want, which will greatly
simplify your drawing and save memory). Once the group picture is
created, you can also add it to the art gallery database of the
software for later use.
v) Delete, Erase All, Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste tools
vi) Grid generator which can automatically generate the appropriate
level of the NAC grids.
5. Map viewing tools
NACGIS Version 2.0 provides the following map viewing tools:
i) Theme layers dialog box allows you select the visible layers for
the current map. It can store 120 different theme layers.
ii) Zoom In and Zoom Out tools allows you zoom in as many time as you
want and zoom back to the origanal picture.
iii) Split panes of a winow, multiple windows of a document and
multiple windows of multiple documents. NACGIS Version 2.0 allows
you to view different parts of a map in different panes or
windows, view different scales in different panes, and
compare different maps in different windows.
iv) Display of the cursor's coordinates in Longitude/Latitude, UTM and
NAC simultaneously on the status bar of the frame window.
v) Coordinate systems
NACGIS Version 2.0 supports three types of coordinate systems:
Longitude/Latitude system, UTM system and user-defined system.
You can import a map file in one coordinate system and export it
in another system (Longitude/Latitude <=> UTM).
vi) Window setting
You can set the scroll window size, window background color, the
coordinates of the top left corner of the window and suitable
scale to create the best view for the map.
6. Document editor's features
NACGIS Version 2.0 also provides a powerful document editor which allows
you to read and edit the attached document of a graphic object. The
attached document is named by the UGID of a geographic object, which can
cantain text contents with all kinds of fonts, font styles, sizes and
colors, bitmaps, and all other objects created by OLE servers such as
Excel Charts and Worksheets.
7. Help file
NACGIS Version 2.0 provides a powerful help system which has the
following features:
i) Context help
Whenever you need help for a dialog or a menu command, you can get
the help topic immediately by pressing F1. You can also press the
button with an arrow and a question mark on the toolbar and the
move the cursor to the item about which you need help and
click the left button of the mouse to get the help topic.
ii) Tooltips
NACGIS Version 2.0 provides tooltips for all menu commands and
buttons. When you move the cursor to a toolbar button, you will
see a yellow box with simple help text beside the cursor and a
bit more detail help text on the status bar of the frame window.
iii) Topics, index and word search
NACGIS Version 2.0 allows you to search help content by topics,
index and simply a word.
8. Print, print preview and printer set-up
NACGIS Version 2.0 provides you all the useful features for print, print
preview and printer set-up. It allows you print black/while or color
map, and a large map into small pieces which can be connected together
to get a large map. You can also print any part of a map if you set the
window size, the coordinates of the top left corner of the window and the
appropriate scale of the map.
9. Support of file types
NACGIS Version 2.0 mainly support its own map document files with the
extension ".nac". However, it can import and export three types of text
files: lists of polyline nodes coordinates, lists of polygon vertices
coordinates and lists of text objects (text contents, insert point
coordinates and escapement angle). In the future vertions, we will add
dxf files. NAC Geographic Products Inc. also provides you various map
documents at good prices.
Discount information
NAC Geographic Products Inc. would like to offer you a special discounted
price for the license of using NACGIS Version 2.0. The standard price for
the license for a single person using NACGIS Version 2.0 in one computer is
US$999. If you are using the software at home for non-business purposes,
you can get 50% discount. Once you have bought one license of the software,
you will get a 80% discount for the license for a future version of the same
sfotware. There is a special discount price now. If you buy the license
before November 20, 1996, you need to pay only US$39 + US$5 shipping fee
( + 7% GST if in you are in Canada). After then, the price will rise
everyday (about US$5.3 a day) until it reaches US$999.
Ordering information
You can order the license by sending us the international money order
(or a check if you are in Canada) or tell us the information of the VISA
credit card (Credit card number, holder's name, expiration date and issuing
bank name). The price is determined by the date you send out your order.
If you use credit card, you can also order it through Email, fax or phone.
Please include the exact name, company, address, phone, fax, email for each
licesee because the name and address will be embedded into the software.
Our address is
NAC Geographic Products Inc.
509-50 Stephanie Street
Toronto, ON M5T 1B3
Canada
NAC: 8CHK Q87P
Phone and fax: (416) 979 9306
Email: nac@io.org
Web: http://www.io.org
If you are doing land planning, NACGIS will be your great assistant!
If you are working on transportation, NACGIS will be your first assistant!
If you are managing natural resources, NACGIS will provide you the convenience!
If you are working on environment protection, NACGIS will be your power tool!
If you are doing marketing, NACGIS will give you extra hands, eyes and ears!
If you are managing real estate, NACGIS will let you get rid of tedious work!
If you like fishing, NACGIS will help you record the best fishing spots!
If you are a bird watcher, NACGIS will tell you where birds live and
move!
Subject: Re: Single-receiver Accuracy
From: Sam Wormley
Date: 12 Nov 1996 22:52:31 GMT
Accuracy Statistics
Trimble's Acu-Lock on ScoutMaster
MIT Lincoln Laboratory's GLONASS group provided daily scatter plots of
GPS Position Estimates. See http://satnav.atc.ll.mit.edu/. It is obvious
that one's true position can be estimated using the average of positional
data collected over a long period... in this case 24 hours. I set out to
obtain an estimate of the repeatability of obtaining "true" position by
averaging over 24 hours.
If one obtains a sample of the population of computed positions and
computes the mean value for each sample, the sample mean values will be
normally distributed around the population mean, whether or not the
original population was normally distributed.
Using the Acu-Lock feature on Trimble's ScoutMaster GPS receiver the
following sample means (in meters) were collected. Each mean was derived
from 38000 samples automatically collected over a 24-hour period.
The original data are reproduced here so that any reader may apply their
own statistical analysis to the data. My conclusion is that one has a
probability of .95 of being inside a circle of 5 meters (16.4 ft) radius
when using the Acu-Lock feature on Trimble's ScoutMaster GPS over a
24-hour period.
DATA -------Mean(meters)------
Easting Northing Alt Date Time (UT)
#,001,ACU.1.96.5.19 ,15,444912,T,4653491,00311,19-May-96,20:21:33,Acu-Lock,$
#,002,ACU.2.96.5.20 ,15,444917,T,4653488,00309,20-May-96,20:50:14,Acu-Lock,$
#,003,ACU.3.96.5.21 ,15,444915,T,4653492,00306,21-May-96,23:40:23,Acu-Lock,$
#,004,ACU.4.96.5.23 ,15,444909,T,4653493,00299,23-May-96,01:37:26,Acu-Lock,$
#,005,ACU.5.96.5.24 ,15,444919,T,4653490,00324,24-May-96,02:15:48,Acu-Lock,$
#,006,ACU.6.96.5.25 ,15,444917,T,4653493,00308,25-May-96,08:03:39,Acu-Lock,$
#,007,ACU.7.96.5.27 ,15,444915,T,4653493,00310,26-May-96,00:38:37,Acu-Lock,$
#,008,ACU.8.96.5.29 ,15,444916,T,4653491,00313,29-May-96,03:59:21,Acu-Lock,$
#,009,ACU.9.96.5.30 ,15,444917,T,4653489,00310,30-May-96,12:17:14,Acu-Lock,$
No of Sample Means 9
Range Min 444909 4653488 299
Max 444919 4653493 324
Diff 10 5 25
Population Mean 444915.3 4653491.1 309.7
SEM 3.12 1.83 22.6
95% Conf Interval 6.12 3.59 44.4
Scatter Plot
|---------- 10 meters ---------|
. . .
|
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|
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| 5 meters
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|
. |
|
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"A measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions."
__________________________________________________
Sam Wormley - http://www.cnde.iastate.edu/gps.html