GISCIAMapII

Synopsis

inputs a portion of the compressed version of the CIA World Databank II database of coastal, political, and geographic information for the world

Input Port

ciaDirectory	string
precision	int
westLongitude	double
eastLongitude	double
southLatitude	double
northLatitude	double
geographicFeatures	string
coastalFeatures	string
politicalFeatures	string
riverFeatures	string
read_data	int

Output Port

polPolylines	Mesh
coastalPolylines	Mesh
geoPolylines	Mesh
riverPolylines	Mesh

Description

The compressed CIA World Databank II database consists of the boundaries of five different geographic areas--North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. These areas are represented in the CIA world databank as data files that can be used in the production of computer maps.

Note: Because of the way the data is stored in these files, you cannot request information on specific boundaries for a region. for example, Minnesota. For this reason, use of the CIA world databank should be limited to computer mapping. For region data to use, for example, in demographic data mapping, a different map reader module should be employed.

Each of the five areas is encoded in three distinct files containing information on coastlines, islands, lakes, rivers, and international boundaries. The United States and Canada contain additional files for national, political boundaries.

Input

ciaDirectory

This is the top level directory for the cmpressed CIA World Databank file hierarchy. This string must point to the top level directory that contains the map information (Default location: $EXP_ROOT/data/Maps). The standard hierarchy as found on internet sites for the location of the CIA database looks as follows:

...<ciaDirectory>/africa
...<ciaDirectory>/asia
...<ciaDirectory>/cities
...<ciaDirectory>/europe
...<ciaDirectory>/namer
...<ciaDirectory>/samer

AVS/Express follows this hierarchy example for easy insertion of additional CIA databases.

precision

The CIA World Databank II files are high resolution (1:4 million mapping), compressed data sets that must be decompressed as the information is ingested. By specifying a precision required in arc-seconds, you can degrade the information as it is read in from the databank. The default setting is 3600 arc-seconds, or 1 degree of resolution.

westLongitude

The western most longitude of data to ingest from the databank. (See GISLatLon for information on restrictions for longitude values.)

eastLongitude

The eastern most longitude of data to ingest from the databank. (See GISLatLon for information on restrictions for longitude values.)

southLatitude

The southern most latitude of data to ingest from the databank. (See GISLatLon for information on restrictions for latitude values.)

northLatitude

The northern most latitude of data to ingest from the databank. (See GISLatLon for information on restrictions for latitude values.)

geographicFeatures

An ASCII string for the type of geographic features (not including coastlines) to retrieve from the datafiles. Acceptable values are:

ALL	All available geographic polylines are retrieved.
NONE	No geographic polylines are retrieved.
DEFINITE	All definite, established geographic boundaries are retrieved.
INDEFINITE	All boundaries in question or subject to change are retrieved.

politcalFeatures

An ASCII string for the type of pollical features to retrieve from the datafiles. Acceptable values are:

ALL	All available political boundaries are retrieved.
NONE	No political boundaries are retrieved.
DEFINITE	All definite, established, and stable political boundaries are retrieved.
INDEFINITE	All boundaries in question or subject to change are retrieved.

coastalFeatures

An ASCII string for the type of coastal features to retrieve from the datafiles. Acceptable values are:

ALL	All coastal features for the region are retrieved
NONE	No coastal features for the region are retrieved
MINOR	All minor coastal regions (minor islands, and so on) are retrieved
MAJOR	All major coastal regions (continents, major islands) are retrieved
REEFS	All reef systems forming coastal boundaries are retrieved
GLACIERS	All glacial systems on mapped land masses are retrieved
CONTINENTAL SHELVES	All major continental shelves are retrieved

riverFeatures

An ASCII string for rivers, river basins, irrigation systems and deltas to retrieve from the datafiles. Acceptable values are:

ALL	All available geographic polylines are retrieved.
ALL	All rivers, river basins, irrigation systems and deltas contained in the region are retrieved.
NONE	No river systems are retrieved.
MINOR	Minor rivers and tributaries are retrieved.
MAJOR	Major rivers and deltas are retrieved.
MINOR CANALS	Minor human-made canals are retrieved.
MAJOR CANALS	Major human-made canals are retrieved.

geographicFeatures

An ASCII string for the type of geographic features (not including coastlines) to retrieve from the datafiles. Acceptable values are:

ALL	All rivers, river basins, irrigation systems and deltas contained in the region are retrieved.
NONE	No river systems are retrieved.
MINOR	Minor rivers and tributaries are retrieved.
MAJOR	Major rivers and deltas are retrieved.
MINOR CANALS	Minor human-made canals are retrieved.
MAJOR CANALS	Major human-made canals are retrieved.
RECORDED IRRIGATION	Not all human-made irrigation systems are recorded by the CIA World Databank, but many are. This will turn on those that are entered in the databank.

read_data

The trigger port for the ingester. GISCIAMapII will not read the data out of the file hierarchy until this port is set to a non-zero value.

Output Port

geoPolylines

This is an irregular Mesh data field containing polylines for the geographic features requested. Note: These are polylines, not polygons -- do not rely on the structures in this Mesh to be closed areas. This field can be passed directly into GISMeshProject for standard map transformations.

polPolylines

This is an irregular Mesh data field containing polylines for the political features requested. Note: These are polylines, not polygons -- do not rely on the structures in this Mesh to be closed areas. This field can be passed directly into GISMeshProject for standard map transformations.

coastalPolylines

This is an irregular Mesh data field containing polylines for the coastal features requested. Note: These are polylines, not polygons -- do not rely on the structures in this Mesh to be closed areas. This field can be passed directly into GISMeshProject for standard map transformations.

riverPolylines

This is an irregular Mesh data field containing polylines for the river, canal and irrigation features requested. These are polylines, not polygons -- do not rely on the structures in this Mesh to be closed areas. This field can be passed directly into GISMeshProject for standard map transformations.

About the CIA World Databank II

For convenience sake, the CIA World Databank II data files are included on the AVS/Express CDROM in the data/Maps subdirectory. This information can also be obtained from the Internet (a web search will turn up several sources), or on CDROM or tape from several US Government vendors. Some of these sources will include national, political boundaries for South America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Note: The CIA World Databank II database included with this release of AVS/Express was placed into the public domain and as such this data can be distributed. No portion of the cost of AVS/Express is being used to charge against this data set.

Example

Not available

File

v/gis3.v

See also related modules

GISLatLon

GISProjection

GISInverseProj

GISMeshProject

GISMeshInvProject

GISGrid

GISWorldDataBank

GISMapTransform

GISMapDisplay