daw@cbnewsh.att.com (David Wolverton) (03/17/91)
Archive-name: sci/geo/gdd/1991-03-15 Archive: ucbarpa.berkeley.edu:/pub/gdd.shar.Z [128.32.130.11] Original-posting-by: daw@cbnewsh.att.com (David Wolverton) Original-subject: SUMMARY of responses to "contour/topo" mapping query Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) Two weeks ago, I posted a request for information on generating PostScript "contour" maps. Here is the information I received as a result of that post. I hope this is helpful to someone else. Dave Wolverton David.Wolverton@att.com or ...!att!honshu!daw ======================= SUMMARY FOLLOWS ====================== From: bauer@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Romy Bauer) I have actually co-written a set of programs that generate Postscript contour maps from digital elevation data. These are written in C and FORTRAN and run on a Sun or Vax (Unix not VMS). If you`re interested you may be able to ftp them or I can mail them to you. The programs are located in the file gdd.shar.Z in the /pub directory on arpa.berkeley.edu. You can anonymous ftp into arpa and yank the file. You'll need you use uncompress to uncompress it and then shar to unpack it. The original author of the programs is David Anderson (anderson@charming.berkeley.edu). I added the programs to convert the output to PostScript and various other things. The USGS has two series of digital elevation data. The high resolution series is based on the 7.5' quadrangle maps. The grid spacing is 30 meters. These cost $40 apiece (less if you buy more) and are not available for the entire US. You need to find the quad name and ask for it. The low resolution series is based on the 1 degree maps, and I think the grid spacing for these is 100 meters. I'm not sure where you're located, but for more info you should call one of the USGS locations (Reston, VA, Flagstaff, AZ, Menlo Park, CA, and I think there's one in Colorado). --Romy Bauer [ I ftp'ed and built Romy's programs. You'll need both C and FORTRAN to build them, but I was able to get by with the FORTRAN-to-C converter f2c, ftp-able from research.att.com, plus my machine's regular C compiler. The tools are simple to use and moderately flexible. My one (minor) gripe is that the tools don't use all of the available power of PostScript; they use the PS printer like an X-Y plotter. All in all though, a nice package, and the price is right! -- DW ] ====================================================== From: dwv@magic.ucsb.edu (Dave Valentine) Subject: contouring programs There are a few ways to do that. The simplest is to scan in the map on a flatbed scanner, and trace it in adobe illustrator. I've used MacGridzo, by Rockware, to contour maps where we've surveyed in the data, if this is what you need. Rockware also advertizes that they can get you the data to create the countour map using USGS DLG (digital land grid) data, in a format which their program can read. [ I saw the Rockware ad in MacUser, but hadn't otherwise heard anything about their products, i.e. reviews. I circled their number on a bingo card 3 months ago, but so far nothing has arrived in the mail. :-( Maybe it is time to call them directly. -- DW ] There are also several other programs which can contour data, geoveiw [sic] is one, and there is a $3000 add in to MapGraphix ($8500) that does contouring. If your map is large, and in a paper format, you can digitize it in using a dizitizing tablet and program called Digitize (again by Rockware). It doesn't save stuff in postscript, but you can create a postscript file from the printing to the laserwriter with the command-k trick. Dave Valentine ====================================================== From: Ian Turton <ian@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Experiences w/ topo. mapping software wanted Here in Edinburgh we use Uniras to achieve the sort of mapping solutions that you are asking about. But this is not a cheap or easy solution, so if you do find an easy/cheap solution I'd be interested in hearing about it. cheers Ian Ian Turton Dept of Geophysics and geology I Turton @uk.ac.edinburgh JCMB, Kings Buildings Ian@uk.ac.edinburgh.cs.tardis Mayfield Rd, Edinburgh ====================================================== From: wwedel@uswest.com (Wally Wedel) Subject: Re-Experiences w/ topo. mapping software wanted If you get any good info from your request, I'd appreciate hearing about it. I've been pursuing a very similar quest for about 6 months now without much luck. I've found a couple of fairly high-priced packages for the Mac which may do what you and I want. One is called MacGRIDZ0 from a company called Rockware in Golden, CO. I forget the name of the other, right now. Rockware will supply the USGS topo data in DEM format on Mac floppies if you tell them what quads you want. MacGRIDZ0 is in the $500 to $600 range. I saw a Civil Engineering/Surveying package at MacWorld by a Canadian company. Since what they were doing was similar in some respects to what we want, I found a knowledgable CE and asked what he knew of such packages. He pulled out info on the same two packages which I had discovered. The closest thing I have found in the PC world are two packages produced several years ago by a Professor at UNLV and the USMA who has since pretty well disappeared as near as I can tell. The packages are called MicroDEM to read and convert USGS DEM tape format data and COGSSURF which produces the surface plots. Both are written in Turbo Pascal for the PC. COGSSURF is available from the COGS Bulletin Board in Englewood, CO. Wally Wedel Internet: wwedel@uswest.com AppleLink: D5100 Voice: 303-889-6501 [COGS BB info was posted to sci.geo.geology recently.]