Add-on:WmsInterface

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wmsInterface
Screenshot
Screenshot
Developer noiv
Latest release 0.3 / 2005-09-14
License Creative Common
Web site ExploreOurPla.net

wmsInterface

Image:WmsInterfaceWorld.png   Discover the planet

versions

2005-??-?? - Unfinished version with 
             'Save as Addon' export, 
             better error handling, 
             working options, may support 
             wms 1.3.1 and more layers?
2005-09-16 New serverlist with 260 
             entries.
2005-09-14 Initial pre alpha binary 
             with some missing functions, 
             but works.

Contents


introduction

wmsInterface allows users to connect to OGC compatible WMS servers and view their imagery in the exciting 3D environment of World Wind. An easy structured interface leads the user through the tasks of registering, inspecting, configuring and displaying servers and maps. Currently wmsInterface gives you access to more than 200 servers with thousands of maps.

user info

wmsInterface lets you combine different maps to achieve more visual information. Example: a grey map and a low resolution map result in high resolution colored map. You will be able to use near realtime maps together with highly detailed satellite maps.

for developers

wmsInterface was developped using #Develop from icSharpnet. It is written in VB.NET and compiled to binary. Source code will be available soon under the Creative Common Licence. If you want to contact the developer choose the private message function in the World Wind Forums first, please. Or send an email to noiv11{at}gmail.com.

licence

The license allows basically educational but no commercial use or any derivs. In any case you are advised to inform yourself about intellectual properties of your map provider. This licence affects in no way these properties.

 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.

 To view a copy of this license,
 visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

 or send a letter to

   Creative Commons
   559 Nathan Abbott Way
   Stanford
   California 94305
   USA.

 noiv, cologne 2005

quickstart

 Download the zip here and extract the contents 
 into the plugins folder of World Wind. 
 
 This will create a subfolder 'wmsInterface' 
 with 5 files. Then start World Wind and 
 select load/unload.. from the Plug-ins menu. 
 
 Activate the plugin with the new wmsInterface button
 in the toolbar. Choose the server W_Customweather
 and press Register.
 
 Wait a second or two. Mark the entry that appears 
 in listbox and press -> Inspect
 
 Expand Capabilities and 
 Layer: Custom Weather Map Server,  
 scroll down. Select Layer: conture_pressure
 Press -> Edit Layer
 
 Use the scratch pad and navigate to a point of 
 interest.
 
 Press -> Add/Update Layer
 
 World Wind starts retrieving and displaying pictures from server. 
 

register server

Register Server and save capabilities
Register Server and save capabilities

All available servers are in a text file called wmsServerList.txt, You can edit it with notepad or Excel. Each line consists of a key + tab + url.

The key has to be unique in this file and the url should work in a web browser. Comments are allowed and start with '#'.

At start wmsInterface loads this list. Pressing Register will retrieve the capabilities from selected file and save it as xml file in the data folder.

Depending on internet connection and file size, it may take a while. There are some servers with 1MB files and larger. More time is needed to Register All:). Registering all servers may stop WW from rendering and other strange things may happen, but stay patient.

The listbox gives easy access to servers once registered. If a server updates and adds a new map, you can refresh it by deleting and re-register the server.

If you would like to change key used in the textbox at the top of dialog.

You can open the downloaded xml file with your prefered xml editor. Use options to define a path to executable.

inspect server

Inspect Server and select layer
Inspect Server and select layer

Here you can browse the capabilities tree and search for useful layers. wmsInterface tries to detect layers with valid attributes such as SRS = EPSG:4326 and Name = ... .

Service node offers information regarding the service of map provider. Look here to find contact addresses.

Attention: watch for Fees and Access Constraints to fulfil any licence or other legal restriction.

You have to selected a valid node to enable the -> Configure button.

configure Layer

Configure layer for usability
Configure layer for usability

layer options

definitions

  • Layer - Key composed of layer and '@' servername. Use it to reference a special layer, if you want to report bugs at the forum.
  • ServerGetMapUrl - URL of server e.g. http://maps.customweather.com/image....
  • CurImageFormat - use jpeg for small file sizes, gif and png for transparency

directories

  • LogoFilePath - e.g. D:\World\..\..\wmsInterface\wmsInterface.png
  • CacheFilePath - e.g. D:\World\..\..llite_10km@W_Customweather

visual operation

define here how your layer is displayed

  • ZeroLevelTileSizeDegrees - depends on map extend, between 0.001 and 28, defines altitude World Wind starts loading
  • NumLevels - resolution of map, good values are betweeen 4(Satellite) and 13(Orthophotos)
  • DistanceAboveSurface - use 100 for one layer, 150 for next on and so on. All standard maps of World Wind have distance of 0/Zero or less.
  • TerrainMapped - use terrainaccessor with map
  • Opacity - value between 0 and 255(opaque)
  • IsTransparent - provides transparency for gif/png formats
  • DestinationBlend - DirectX operation (not implemented yet, select from Layer properties menu instead)
  • SourceBlend - DirectX operation (not implemented yet, select from Layer properties menu instead)

spatial dimensions

max extends of requested map

  • North <= 90
  • South >= -90
  • West >= -180
  • East <= 180

world wind needs them

  • TileSize - dimension of tiles requested
  • BoundingBoxOverlap - unknown

links

  • Display - loads preview from server. You won't see maps smaller then 4 pixel.
  • Browse - opens Browser to display preview (good for error catching)
  • Navigate - navigates World Wind to the center of the map

buttons

  • Inspect Server - go back to select another layer from server
  • Add/Update Layer - to update World Wind with the new layer

second Level Tabs

manage Layer

Description
Description

Will give more options on combining maps. Still al lot of things to do here, but you can remove the cache completely for new data for now (try F5 first). It is a good idea to delete wmsInterface layers here.

What's missing:

  • DirectX options as Source and Destinationblend with custom sets
  • Correct tree with available layers, better checking
  • Save as Add-On with xml export, icons and dynamic load/unload
  • Better sync with WW

options

Some Options
Some Options

Options are not really finished, yet. Some are useful other not and some are self explaining Be careful.

  • XML-Editor - Path to your favourite xml-editor
  • Remembers last World Wind camera position at start

Why binaries?

Easy answer fo now: there are a lot of lines of code, splitting them into different files provides a better overview and less errors. Source will get released with the next version, when testing platform is bigger.

why there are errors?

  • Your computer is misconfigured.
  • Your OS is closed source.
  • Your HDD is too small for all maps.
  • Your modem is not switched on.
  • Your router does not find a DNS Server
  • Your internet provider is busy.
  • Too many viruses and worms alive.
  • Map server is busy.
  • Too many users online.
  • The programmer get distracted while coding.
  • No software without errors.
  • We are all human.

many thanks to

  • This plugin is unimaginable without Plugin-SDK and all the good plugin examples written by mashi. (http://www.mashiharu.com)
  • All the people asking 'Tell me, what's that globe on your monitor, please!'

Links

Want more maps - search here:

foolish

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