Preview of new LandSerf 2.0 Features

LandSerf 2.0 has been completely rewritten, taking advantage of the latest Java functionality. The result is an attractive, more powerful and easier to use package for analysing and visualising surfaces. Here are some of the highlights...

 
 

New Graphical User Interface

new GUI LandSerf now uses a customised Graphical User Interface with keyboard shortcuts and a consistent look and feel. Much of the common functionality can be accessed from a toolbar at the top of the screen. Thumbnail previews of stored surface models are shown at all times.

An unlimited number of spatial models can now be stored and processed. 'Active' surface models can be selected with the mouse. Many functions can be controlled graphically, such as the new colour editing facility with preset colour tables.

 

New Functionality

GML vector data LandSerf 2 contains new functionality such as rectification of non-georeferenced images, allowing scanned rasters and images to be georeferenced and combined with other spatial models. Rasters and vectors referenced with global lat/long coordinates can be projected onto UTM or OS National Grid coordinate systems. Rasters can now store 'null' values that do not get processed. This is useful for representing missing data and water/islands. Improved vector handling can now handle areas, islands and 'holes' as well as import of GML and Shapefile format vector maps.

 
 

Interaction

interactive feature query All surface models can now be interactively 'zoomed' and 'panned'. This provides a convenient tool for the exploration of scale dependencies in models. The 3d viewer has been significantly enhanced with the addition of 'collision detection' (no more tunnelling though mountains), added user-defined surface detail and improved navigation with the mouse.

Many of the surface query operations have increased dynamic interaction such as multi-scale parameter query, histogram and shaded relief calculation.

 

Performance

3d viewer With a rewriting of the LandSerf code come significant performance and efficiency gains. Spatial files are now compressed on loading and saving. The 3d viewer is faster and takes advantage of recent developments in OpenGL and graphics accelerators. Vector handling is faster and rendering higher quality.

 
 

Design

LandSerf has been re-engineered to be more object oriented. This makes it easier for users to add their own code, and should speed up the time taken to add future updates. The object-oriented spatial model design is fully documented.