Copyright (C) $$year Laser-Scan Ltd Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, England CB4 4FY tel: +44 (0) 1223 420414 Document "CONVERT SPS" Category "SALES - Spec" Document Issue 1.0 Tony J Ibbs/ R J Hulme 19-Mar-1987 ... Document Issue 1.7 R J Hulme 28-Oct-1988 Document Issue 2.0 Paul Hardy 04-Jan-1989 Document Issue 2.1 Jon Barber 02-Aug-1989 Document Issue 2.2 Andrew Trigg 17-Oct-1989 Document Issue 2.3 R J Hulme 08-Nov-1989 Document Issue 2.4 J Barber 13-Nov-1989 Document Issue 2.5 J Cadogan 02-Jan-1990 Document Issue 2.6 J Cadogan 08-Feb-1990 Document Issue 2.7 R.W. Russell 22-Mar-1990 Document Issue 2.8 A.T. Timms 19-Jul-1990 Document Issue 2.9 V L Gilham 28-Nov-1990 Document Issue 3.0 S Townrow 12-Mar-1991 Document Issue 3.1 S Townrow 28-Jan-1992 Document Issue 3.2 S Townrow 30-Apr-1992 Document Issue 3.3 S Townrow 02-Oct-1992 Document Issue 3.4 S Townrow 16-Jun-1993 Document Issue 3.5 Paul Hardy 25-Feb-1994 Document Issue 3.6 S Townrow 14-Oct-1994 Document Issue 3.7 S Townrow 21-Feb-1995 Document Issue 3.8 Matt Wenham 06-Dec-1996
CONVERT is the Laser-Scan map data translation package. It contains modules to convert data from IFF to other formats, and/or from those formats into IFF.
IFF stands for *Internal *Feature *Format and is the Laser-Scan vector file format generated by LASERAID and other Laser-Scan digitising systems and used as the data structure throughout the Laser-Scan LAMPS system. The CONVERT package allows the user to translate data captured with LAMPS (*Laser-Scan *Automated *Map *Production *System) into another form for output, or to convert data from other systems into IFF for manipulation within LAMPS.
The CONVERT package operates on Digital Equipment VAX and Alpha AXP series computers running the VMS operating system. See below for hardware and software prerequisites.
This document briefly describes the utilities available in all of the modules in the CONVERT package. In most circumstances, however, a customer will only have purchased some of the modules within the package - those for which that site has an actual requirement. Thus the presence of a module description in this document does not mean that the module is available at a particular site.
All the utilities have common command syntax which is decoded using the Command Line Interpreter as used by the VMS utilities. CONVERT utilities all generate VMS format messages and set VMS DCL symbol $STATUS on image exit. In command files the success of a preceding CONVERT utility may be tested using $STATUS before proceeding. All CONVERT modules and utilities are comprehensively documented in the CONVERT User Guide and the documentation includes an explanation of messages output by the modules together with suggested user action.
The facilities offered by the CONVERT modules are described below in alphabetical order of module. Note that customers purchase particular modules as required, so that the presence of a module within this list does not mean that a customer will automatically receive that module.
* IFFARCINFO (Support for ESRI ARC/INFO)
IFFARCINFO provides support for the transfer of data to the ARC/INFO uncompressed ASCII version of their EXPORT format defined by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) of Redlands, California. The utilities provided are:
* IFFCEDD (Support for IHO CEDD)
IFFCEDD provides support for the production and reading of CEDD data as defined in the document Format for the Exchange of Digital Hydrographic Data, published by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), Committee on the Exchange of Digital Data (CEDD), November 1986 The utilities provided are:
* IFFDCW (Support for the Digital Chart of the World)
IFFDCW provides support for the creation of IFF files from Digital Chart of the World CD-ROM data defined in the DCW Product Specification (MIL-D-89009) available from the Defence Mapping Agency (DMA). DCW is based on the Vector Product Format (MIL-STD-600006) also available from DMA. The utilities provided are:
DCW2I has large resource requirements which should be taken into consideration before attempting to perform the conversion. Recommendations for the use of DCW2I are as follows:
* IFFDIGIT (Support for Scitex DIGIT)
IFFDIGIT provides the production of Scitex DIGIT data as supported on Scitex operating system version 6.9.2. Only DIGIT file type 310 is supported. The utilities provided are:
* IFFDLG (Support for USGS DLG)
IFFDLG provides support for the transfer of data from IFF to the U.S. Geological Survey Standard *Digital *Line *Graph (DLG) format, as described in the document National Mapping Program, Technical Instructions, Data Users Guide 1, US GeoData, Digital Line Graphs from 1:24,000-Scale Maps, of 1986 (Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division). Optional DLG is not supported by this module. The utility provided is:
* IFFDXF (Support for Auto-CAD *Digital e*Xchange *Format)
IFFDXF provides support for the transfer of data to and from ASCII DXF format, as described in Appendix C of the Auto-CAD manual. However, DXF files to be converted to IFF must contain no more than 16 levels. The graphic portrayal of symbols is not honoured by conversion of data in either direction. The utilities provided are:
* IFFGDB (Support for SICAD/GDB)
IFFGDB provides support for the transfer of data to the SICAD/GDB (Geographical Data Base) format defined by the Siemens Ltd. Data Systems of Feltham, Middlesex. The utilities provided are:
* IFFIMAP (Support for Informap)
IFFIMAP provides support for the transfer of data to and from Informap, a Mapping Information Management System produced by Synercom Technology, Inc., USA. The utilities are also provided as native versions on the AXP platform and are described thus:
* IFFKERNCAM (Support for Kern CAM)
IFFKERNCAM provides support for the transfer of data to and from the KERN CAM ASCII format used by Kern _& Co. Ltd. of Aarau, Switzerland. The utilities provided are:
* IFFMAPDATA (Support for MapData)
IFFMAPDATA provides support for the production and reading of disk based MapData data. The utilities provided are:
* IFFMGD (Support for MGD77)
IFFMGD provides support for the production and reading of MGD77 data on magnetic tape as defined in the document The Marine Geophysical Data Exchange Format - 'MGD77' (Bathymetry, Magnetics, and Gravity) written September 1977 and revised December 1981, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce as 'Key to Geophysical Records Documentation No 10 (revised)'. The utilities provided are:
* IFFMSDS (Support for reading MSDS data)
IFFMSDS provides support for the reading of data in the Military Survey Data Structure (MSDS) exchange format on magnetic tape.
The Military Survey Data Structure (MSDS) exchange format is a UK interim format for the exchange of topologically structured vector digital data. It will be replaced when the NATO Digital Geographic Information Working Group (DGIWG) standards are complete. The MSDS format is an ASCII text format and is described to Laser-Scan in the document "MIL SVY DATA STRUCTURE (MSDS) EXCHANGE FORMAT".
The IFF files produced are intended for processing directly to produce graphic output. The utilities provided are:
* IFFNTF (Support for NTF v1.1 and 2.0 (BS7567), levels 1, 2 _& 3 and CITF 1.0)
IFFNTF provides support for the production and reading of *National *Transfer *Format (NTF) data. NTF is the UK National Transfer Format for spatially referenced data. Currently, only levels 1, 2 and 3 are supported at version 1.1 but with some restrictions at version 2.0. Also supported is the conversion of Ordnance Survey CITF data version 1.0 based on NTF level 5 version 2.0.
At level 1, the only attributes (values) recognised are orientation (OR) and height (HT). At levels 2 and 3 , full attribute transfer (except for per-point attributes) is possible in both directions. The utilities provided are:
* IFFOSTF (Support for Ordnance Survey (GB) OSTF)
IFFOSTF provides support for the production and reading of OSTF data. OSTF is the *Ordnance *Survey *Transfer *Format, and is sometimes also called DMC (*Digital *Mapping *Customer format). The utilities provided are:
* IFFSIF (Support for Intergraph SIF)
IFFSIF provides support for the output of IFF data in Intergraph *Standard *Interchange *Format (SIF). The ASCII text form of SIF, version 8_.8_.2 and earlier is supported, as described in the document Standard Interchange Format (SIF) Command Language Implementation Guide (8.8.2) of 12-May-1985 (Intergraph document DIXD4110). The binary SIF format is not supported. The utilities provided are:
* IFFTDST (Support for SysScan ASCII DST)
IFFTDST provides support for the production and reading of the ASCII text form of DST, as described in the document GINIS I/O Reference Manual (4.1) of March-1988 (SysScan document RM-025). DST is the file extension used by SysScan to identify GINIS data files, their main data format. TDST is the term used by Laser-Scan to describe SysScan's otherwise unnamed ASCII version of DST. The utilities provided are:
* LSLIMI (Laser-Scan Informap Interface)
LSLIMI consists of a translation menu interface which allows the user to read data from magnetic tape or disk file into Informap, and to write from Informap to tape or file, the following formats:
The menu system allows the user to specify what is to be read or written, and then runs the appropriate programs.
Modules IFFIMAP, IFFOSTF and IFFNTF are prerequisites.
LSLIMI is intended for a system running Informap, and does not require a standard Laser-Scan LAMPS environment.
CONVERT utilities run under OpenVMS VAX Version 5.5-2, or OpenVMS AXP V1.5 (or higher, assuming upwards compatibility by DEC) concurrently with other interactive and batch processes.
Laser-Scan provides the IFF and FRT interface libraries as part of the prerequisite MAPPING support package. The IMP map processing package is usually used for preliminary map processing associated with the CONVERT package. Laser-Scan's LITES2 interactive digitising and editing software running on the same host computer is recommended for digitising vector input data. LASERAID or VTRAK automated digitising is recommended for large numbers of input documents.
It is recommended that the reader becomes familiar with the LAMPS Environment Guide which outlines in greater detail the hardware and software environment required by the LAMPS software suite as a whole (of which the CONVERT package is one part).
The minimum hardware and software requirements for any future version of this product may be different from the minimum hardware and software requirements for the current version.
All modules of the CONVERT package are fully supported Laser-Scan standard software products.