Digital Data Technologies, Inc. (DDTI) recently announced
the release of the AccuGlobe 2004 software product series. Along with this
announcement came news that AccuGlobe 2004 GIS software is now available as a
free download (see www.ddti.net). AccuGlobe is a GIS product created by DDTi to
view and use GIS information. DDTi specializes in creating accurate E9-1-1 road
and address data for GIS.
By Glenn Letham, November 27, 2003 About Accuglobe
(GISuser feature) The AccuGlobe 2004 software product series was created to be a flexible and extensible base for the GIS community. This scalable software is the core engine behind many of DDTI’s advanced spatial software products. The casual user, with limited GIS knowledge and expertise in GIS, can use a freely downloadable version in developing, editing, and viewing GIS data. The GIS professional can develop plug-ins that are more complex and sophisticated with the AccuGlobe software development kit which is expected to be "coming soon". Additionally, users can use an SDK develop unique, customized application plug-ins.
Free Download
Accessing the free download is quick and painless. Users must first register online, providing a valid email address and establish a username/password pair. Almost immediately you will then be sent a confirmation email along with a hyperlink to where you can now access the download. I elected to download the software (11 MB) as well as the sample data (13 MB). Once I downloaded the data the install was very quick and simple.
Starting the Accuglobe program results in a prompt to open either a new blank project, start adding existing data, or open an existing project (.epf file). Since I had gone to the extra effort of grabbing the sample data (always a good idea), I selected that option. The data provided was for Cedar Point, Ohio and included the following data: orthophotos, road centerlines, addresses, and speed limits.
Cedar Point demo data
My next mission was to quickly browse the menus to determine what I could and couldn't do. The obvious tasks were available; pan, zoom, zoom to previous view, print, hyperlink, create a chart, measure, identify (pretty good selection for freeware!) Looking a bit deeper, I then inspected the options under the menu bar. Selecting Save As enables saving the workspace as a new epf file. Exporting enables me to save the display as a BMP, while the Add Data (aka Import) option provides me with the ability to add a number of data formats including: SHP, TAB, BIL, LAN, GIF, JPG, SID... many of the commonly used vector and raster data types.
Changing the data display options is very simple. Double-Click on the data layer name (left side-bar) and a familiar display theme option menu appears. Numerous display option can then be changed including: pen, fill, symboil, and theming styles.
Color display options
Other cool options and analytical features available to users include: Select features by point, rectangle, cirlce, polygon; Buffer; import X,Y file; copy Identify results to clipboard
Finally, I wanted to test out the Add data capabilities by importing some data. I elected to bring in some MIF data. I pointed to a Canada .MIF dataset which quickly came up in my display. All dta layers appear to have come in along with the data attributes. To test I did a quick identify on a polygon, resulting in a display of the complete attribute list. Note: I could have easily done this with a SHP file as well.
MIF data imports nicely
My Opinion... Overall, this appears to be a very useful tool, and particularly attractive as a free, lightweight GIS for the novice user. Add to that the ability for developers and programers to dable with the SDK, additional plug-ins and extensions and you have a very slick new product that the skilled user may wish to take for a test drive. According to the company, the SDK will be coming soon and this is what makes the product very powerful. Expect the SDK to include the complete AltaMap Desktop SDK, so AccuGlobe then becomes a highly customizable and extendible GIS platform.
See more threads and details about Glenn's AnyGeo Weblog HERE The Editor (Glenn) started the AnyGeo blog some time ago and the threads are now also mirrored here at GISuser.com - RSS feed is available to add to your favorite news reader.
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