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