s_pyke@national-institute-for-medical-research.mrc.ac.uk (S. Pyke) (06/19/89)
I have been asked to come up with a solution to the following problem by a colleague. I am loathe to write something myself 1) because software development is not relly my field and 2) because I'm sure someone must have done this sort of thing already better than I could. If anyone knows of commercially available software to help or of public domain algorithms I'd be pleased to hear from you. In essence the problem is the sort of thing a draughtsman might want to deal with. Data is kept in the form of closed shapes drawn in the plane of a very large piece of paper (in the region half a metre by two metres). The idea is to trace round these shapes on a digitising block, label each shape with a unique tag and then calculate certain characteristic quanties like area and geometric centre. Finally, it ought to be possible to relate the location of all the closed shapes to one another, say by giving relative coordinates of their centres. In principal it shouldn't be too difficult. On the other hand the sheer size of these 'graphs' is a very real problem. If anyone has any ideas I'd be pleased to hear from you. Thanks, ____________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Pyke JANET: s_pyke@uk.ac.mrc.nimr Lab. Mathematical Biology UUCP: Nat. Inst. Medical Research DARPA: s_pyke%mrc.nimr@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk The Ridgeway Mill Hill LONDON NW7 1AA Tel: (+44) 01-959 3666 U.K. ext. 2297 ____________________________________________________________________________
kristoff@NET.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) (06/20/89)
There is a small company named Jandel Scientific in Sausalito, California that sells something called SigmaPlot if memory serves me correctly. I believe that this software will measure lengths and areas, but am not sure if it calculates centers of gravity or compares locations. -- Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson BIONET Resource Manager kristoff@net.bio.net or kristofferson@bionet-20.bio.net
eddy@stjude.org (Pat Eddy) (06/20/89)
In article <8906191649.AA07937@nimsn41.>, s_pyke@national-institute-for-medical-research.mrc.ac.uk (S. Pyke) writes: > I have been asked to come up with a solution to the following problem by a > colleague. I am loathe to write something myself 1) because software > development is not relly my field and 2) because I'm sure someone must > have done this sort of thing already better than I could. If anyone knows > of commercially available software to help or of public domain algorithms > I'd be pleased to hear from you. > > In essence the problem is the sort of thing a draughtsman might want to > deal with. Data is kept in the form of closed shapes drawn in the plane > of a very large piece of paper (in the region half a metre by two > metres). The idea is to trace round these shapes on a digitising block, > label each shape with a unique tag and then calculate certain > characteristic quanties like area and geometric centre. Finally, it > ought to be possible to relate the location of all the closed shapes to > one another, say by giving relative coordinates of their centres. > > In principal it shouldn't be too difficult. On the other hand the sheer > size of these 'graphs' is a very real problem. > > If anyone has any ideas I'd be pleased to hear from you. > > Thanks, > ____________________________________________________________________________ > Stephen Pyke JANET: s_pyke@uk.ac.mrc.nimr > Lab. Mathematical Biology UUCP: > Nat. Inst. Medical Research DARPA: s_pyke%mrc.nimr@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk > The Ridgeway > Mill Hill > LONDON NW7 1AA Tel: (+44) 01-959 3666 > U.K. ext. 2297 > ____________________________________________________________________________ A company named Jandel Scientific sells a product called SIGMASCAN which might do what you want. Here is their address and phone number: Jandel Scientific 65 Koch Road Corte Madera, California 94925 Phones: 415-924-8640 800-874-1888 We've been very pleased with their SIGMAPLOT program so I expect that the SIGMASCAN product is probably good also. > -- Sincerely, Patricia Eddy ============================================================================== Internet address: eddy@STJUDE.ORG From BITNET : eddy%stjude.org@net.bio.net Address : St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Molecular Biology Computer Facility 332 N. Lauderdale Memphis, TN 38101 USA Voice : 901-531-2385 ==============================================================================