New measure tool / terrain profile plugin

[withak]

Due to popular demand (I'm calling one request popular demand ), here is a beta of an updated measure tool plugin that has the ability to plot a terrain profile along the selected line.




More screenshots:
http://pneumatictu.be/subduction01.png
http://pneumatictu.be/subduction02.png
http://pneumatictu.be/trans-atlantic.png
http://pneumatictu.be/au-nz.png



From the readme:

Make sure the old (built-in) measure tool plugin is disabled because the
controls for this plugin conflict with that one.

Press "m" to toggle the layer on/off. Closing the results window will also
turn the layer off.

Left-click to draw points and right-click (or use the clear button in the
results window) to clear the existing line.

The length value in the results window should obey WW's global unit settings.

Use the line mode button in the results window to switch between single and
multi-segment line mode.

Press "t" (or the terrain graph button in the results window) to show a terrain
graph. The graph may take several seconds or more to appear if the terrain
data isn't loaded yet.

The terrain graph window can be resized and will re-scale itself on the fly. A
number of other options are also available in the context menu of the graph
window.

------------------

TODO:
Options to choose graph settings.
Options to change line properties.
Ability to have several lines drawn at once.
Ability to save lines as shp, kml, xml, etc.

To install, download this and unzip into your WW directory. Unfortunately, for it to access the ZedGraph library that it needs it had to be compiled into a dll plugin (thanks Bull). The source is available here. WW 1.4 is required.

[RedRick]

I dont really make it work...

Q: is it the plugin wich is coming with WW 1.4 ??
shall I upgrade it ?

Q: is there a way to erase the measure done before ? ( i unload it and load it again without results)

Originally Posted by withak

Unfortunately, for it to access the ZedGraph library that it needs it had to be compiled into a dll plugin (thanks Bull). The source is available here. WW 1.4 is required.

Q: How can we compile tle Dll ? (escuse my poor english...)

It look to be a very good plug in

[withak]

1. It won't come with 1.4. 1.4 will have the same measure tool built in that 1.3.5 has. This one isn't finished enough to go in 1.4.

2. Like the readme says, either right-click on the globe, or use the clear button (the red X) in the measure window to erase the current line.

3. You will have to ask Bull_[UK] how he compiled it. The easiest way to modify & build it is to add the source files to the WW project. That won't create a standalone dll, but it will make it a built-in plugin.

[patmurris]

Thanks withak - its a really nice tool

The 'old' measure tool used to display the line heading (when there is just one maybe). That was usefull imo.

Also : when close to the ground, the start and end points tend to be off the mouse clicked position. I guess it has to do with the 'picking ray' code not doing the terrain mesh but a sphere.

[woodse]

I agree great tool.
You will be seeing it In some of my labs once I get it on the school computers.
I echo the request that the bearing measerment be displayed as well as the bearing can be used for linament measerments.

[withak]

Originally Posted by patmurris

Also : when close to the ground, the start and end points tend to be off the mouse clicked position. I guess it has to do with the 'picking ray' code not doing the terrain mesh but a sphere.

Yup. You can use this as a workaround to aim your mouse clicks until someone fixes the screen coord -> lat/lon code.

Line bearing might be in the new version that I have already. This plugin is actually made from a relatively-stable point a few versions ago because someone wanted to use it; it has had a lot of changes made to it since then that aren't stable enough to commit yet. The plan is to make it more of a generall-purpose drawing tool.




Also, in case it wasn't clear, what_nick did most of the work in making this use WWs new LineFeature class instead of the old DirectX lines. I added the terrain profile and am working on the gui.

[patmurris]

Cant wait to play with it

BTW, in the above screenshot, line 2 seems to be much shorter then indicated by its length - compared to line 1. It may be an optical illusion or a projection artefact maybe

[withak]

You're probably right. That's an old screenshot from when I was still messing with how the length was reported back to the gui, so I make no guarantees about its accuracy.

It could be the projection though, the end of the shorter line is pretty far over in the corner of the screen.

[woodse]

I have been noticing a discrepancy between the distance measurement, the horizontal distance on the topographic profile, and distance on the scale. This measure distance seems to be consistently about 10% more than the other two, which seem to be in agreement.

[5of0]

Yep. That's one of the reasons this is not included in 1.4 - it is not fully tested yet.