minarik@stolaf.UUCP (William G. Minarik) (03/30/84)
I am looking for maps of terrain that are on electronic media and that can be transferred to UNIX and plotted. One source may be the U.S. Geological Survey --the letter has been written. Does anyone know if the USGS has their maps stored electronically? If so, can they be obtained at a reasonable cost, and what form are they stored in? I need Tektronics 4010 code, ASCII ordered points, or a program to convert to them. Is there electronic LANDSAT data available? Any other sources? I am looking for maps that contain at least the water bodies. Contours, elevations, roads, vegetation, and other information would also be useful. Thank you. Bill Minarik St. Olaf College Northfield, Mn 55057 ihnp4!stolaf!minarik
chip@dartvax.UUCP (Brig ) (03/31/84)
the latest "Cray Channels" magazine (v6, #1) has an article on work at Lawrence Livermore with detailed terrain info. They're working on a fast-resonse system in case of radioactive leaks, strangely enough. They mention 2 data bases: Defense Mapping Agency, resolution of 65 meters; and a modified version of same, resolution 500 m. They produce very pretty ray-traced 3-d views of the terrain using (naturally) a Cray machine. The authors are Patrick Weidhaas and Hoyt Walker.
petel@tekig.UUCP (Pete Lancashire) (04/17/84)
[0123456789ABCEF] I once had a 'product announcement' from the CIA (serious) that their map data base was/is available on a cost only basis. If I remember correctly it is the largest geographical database in the world. It was something like a half dozen 10.5" magtapes in size (Don't remember if that was 800 or 1600 BPI). Can anyone out there in netland confirm this, and if still available how can it be obtained. Talking about cost-only/Tax-payer paid software. How can NASA charge so much for their software ?
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/19/84)
<?> >I once had a 'product announcement' from the CIA (serious) that >their map data base was/is available on a cost only basis. If I remember >correctly it is the largest geographical database in the world... >... >Can anyone out there in netland confirm this, and if still available >how can it be obtained. The CIA data was reputed to be voluminous but people have complained that it was not accurate. I have heard allegations that it was built up from a smallish number of data points using interpolation but that the interpolation was either not well done or tried to get too much out of the data. Smaller databases for maps (continental outlines, in particular) are available and are adequate for a lot of purposes. --- ...Are you making this up as you go along? Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086 -- ...Are you making this up as you go along? Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (04/20/84)
* <- sacrifice for the line-eater
"Talking about cost-only/Tax-payer paid software. How can NASA charge
so much for their software ?"
Because the taxpayers paid for it, and the taxpayers wouldn't mind
seeing some return on their investment. Just because you paid, say,
one hundred-millionth of the cost of developing it doesn't mean you
should get to use it free. Maybe you should get a small discount,
but that's about all. (You probably do get a discount, in fact --
I believe a lot of NASA stuff costs more outside the U.S., i.e. when
the people buying it are not U.S. taxpayers.)
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry