Hi,
On March 15, Blue Marble hosted a "What's New in Global Mapper 13.1" webinar. Here are the questions and answers that were asked by users during the webinar. Video of the webinar will be posted here soon (uploading and converting now)
Q: Do the geo-pdfs contain elevation data?
A: There is such a thing as a 3D PDF file, but those aren't yet supported in Global Mapper. If you export terrain to a PDF it will just be a rendering of the terrain and not the actual elevation data.
Q: Is vector data maintained as vectors in geoPDF
A: Yes, when you export to geospatial PDF the vector data stays vector. When you load a PDF back into Global Mapper everything is rasterized.
Q: What happens if I open this pdf with Acrobat Reader?
A: It should view in Acrobat Reader just fine. The multi-page one will work just like any other multi-page PDF. You should also be able to see lat/lon values on the map in Acrobat Reader using their geospatial tool.
Q: Is PDF support same in 32 & 64 bit versions
A: Yes, with the v13.1 release PDF support is the same in both versions.
Q: So I can export for PDF in 32 & 64bit? And open the same data at Global Mapper 32 and 64 bit?
A: Yes, you can both import and export PDF in both 32-bit and 64-bit now. Not much reason to use the 32-bit version anymore if you have 64-bit Windows.
Q: Not a question, but a possible application. Using the new pdf export may allow direct use of the file in Adobe Illustrator, which would allow very nice final polishing for figures.
A: Yes, Adobe Illustrator is a great finishing tool, especially with 3rd-party add-ons for it like MapPublisher. Great compliment to GM.
Q: Can snapping be toggled on/off?
A: Yes, you can dynamically turn it off by holding the ALT key, or there is an option on the Vector Display tab of the Config dialog to turn it off by default (then holding ALT turns it on rather than off)
Q: Does 64-bit version of GM now handle Microstation files properly? I don't think v12 did.
A: Yes, the issues with DGN import in 64-bit should all be fixed now in v13
Q: How to I add the Land Cover to my online data source
A: If you have v13.1 they should just show up in the online layer list.
Q: Is there a way to export custom color shading settings so we can access them in case of having to reload softeware (e.g., hard drive failure)
A: Yes, the custom shaders (and other things, like custom datums) are saved in text files in the application data folder (see Help->About dialog). So if you backup that folder you can restore those in case of hardware failure.
Q: Is "Sam's New Road" an addition to the general road layer, or the parcel layer? I'm wondering if the new Road Type attributes was added to all parcels/roads? [Or a separate 'cosmetic layer'?]
A: In this case, Sam added the new features to User Added Features layer but he could have assigned them to an exisiting layer if required. The new attributes would then be appended to the exisiting attributes.
Q: The digitized line, can it be draped to generate elevation along the line (3D)?
A: Yes you can select the line, then right-click and specify to assign elevations from the terrain. Can also do this by editing vertices of line, there's a button there to add elevations from terrain.
Q: We have a multiuser computer with GM installed. Each user has their own login for the computer. We have noticed that the first time a user logs on, with an upgarded vresin of GM, we ned to enter registration info for the license. This is fine for us. Will there be any negative impact for this type of use with the new FlexLM licensing system? Can they still share the license of this one registered copy,on one computer? Or would we need to buy multiple seats and a network license?
A: With the new Flex licensing the license will automatically download to the 'All Users' file location on the computer (w 13.1.1 and later), so once one user activates the license on the computer any user can access it without needing to re-activate, so it's easier than it was before.
Q: Is there a way to load/display 2 overlaying "DEM" grids, so they can both display in 3-d view? For example, higher elevation dem might be land surface, lower elevation might be top of a geologic formation.
A: Currently you can only show a single surface at once, but you could export one to a 3D DXF Mesh, then load that back in and you will have a 3D vector mesh that can display separately from the main terrain grid. We do have plans in the future to support multiple terrain surfaces in the 3D mode.
Q: Is there some change on the "rectify" functions? like the possibility to "move" the layer or the tool of zoom have pass for some change?
A: When you right click on layer in Control Center there is an option to simply shift rather than do full rectify.
Q: Regarding the roughness map you created from the tif file: how do you attribute class of roughness value (or separate roughness values in separate group of roughness values like wated/forest/city/fileds) from the source file which I guess contains infinity of height roughness?
A: The roughness length grid values are based on the land cover types. There are built-in default roughness tables that map a particular land cover type for a land cover data set (like CORINE or NLCD) to roughness lengths for the grid. You can also create your own custom roughness length table for any land cover data set. The User's Manual covering the roughness grid includes a sample file showing how to do that.
Q: If I load an existing set of shapefiles, which have attribues, is there a way to show the attibutes as labels on the line?
A: Yes, just go to the Options dialog for the layer and you can set which attribute (or combination of attributes to use for the label).
Q: Will you be recording this for later download?
A: Yes this session will be posted to our Webinars page at: http://www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/webinar.php.
Q: I have an unclassified LiDAR data set, is there a way to extract all of the lowest elevation points? Basically creating a bald earth dataset.
A: Normally you would import the 'ground shot' points, but if your LiDAR data set isn't classified at all there isn't a direct easy way to do this. You might be able to use the Search option to do something based on the return INTENSITY or other attributes, assuming those are populated. Otherwise there isn't currently a way to extract the lowest elevation value when there are multiple stacked elevations, but that is something we plan to add in the future for LIDAR data.
On March 15, Blue Marble hosted a "What's New in Global Mapper 13.1" webinar. Here are the questions and answers that were asked by users during the webinar. Video of the webinar will be posted here soon (uploading and converting now)
Q: Do the geo-pdfs contain elevation data?
A: There is such a thing as a 3D PDF file, but those aren't yet supported in Global Mapper. If you export terrain to a PDF it will just be a rendering of the terrain and not the actual elevation data.
Q: Is vector data maintained as vectors in geoPDF
A: Yes, when you export to geospatial PDF the vector data stays vector. When you load a PDF back into Global Mapper everything is rasterized.
Q: What happens if I open this pdf with Acrobat Reader?
A: It should view in Acrobat Reader just fine. The multi-page one will work just like any other multi-page PDF. You should also be able to see lat/lon values on the map in Acrobat Reader using their geospatial tool.
Q: Is PDF support same in 32 & 64 bit versions
A: Yes, with the v13.1 release PDF support is the same in both versions.
Q: So I can export for PDF in 32 & 64bit? And open the same data at Global Mapper 32 and 64 bit?
A: Yes, you can both import and export PDF in both 32-bit and 64-bit now. Not much reason to use the 32-bit version anymore if you have 64-bit Windows.
Q: Not a question, but a possible application. Using the new pdf export may allow direct use of the file in Adobe Illustrator, which would allow very nice final polishing for figures.
A: Yes, Adobe Illustrator is a great finishing tool, especially with 3rd-party add-ons for it like MapPublisher. Great compliment to GM.
Q: Can snapping be toggled on/off?
A: Yes, you can dynamically turn it off by holding the ALT key, or there is an option on the Vector Display tab of the Config dialog to turn it off by default (then holding ALT turns it on rather than off)
Q: Does 64-bit version of GM now handle Microstation files properly? I don't think v12 did.
A: Yes, the issues with DGN import in 64-bit should all be fixed now in v13
Q: How to I add the Land Cover to my online data source
A: If you have v13.1 they should just show up in the online layer list.
Q: Is there a way to export custom color shading settings so we can access them in case of having to reload softeware (e.g., hard drive failure)
A: Yes, the custom shaders (and other things, like custom datums) are saved in text files in the application data folder (see Help->About dialog). So if you backup that folder you can restore those in case of hardware failure.
Q: Is "Sam's New Road" an addition to the general road layer, or the parcel layer? I'm wondering if the new Road Type attributes was added to all parcels/roads? [Or a separate 'cosmetic layer'?]
A: In this case, Sam added the new features to User Added Features layer but he could have assigned them to an exisiting layer if required. The new attributes would then be appended to the exisiting attributes.
Q: The digitized line, can it be draped to generate elevation along the line (3D)?
A: Yes you can select the line, then right-click and specify to assign elevations from the terrain. Can also do this by editing vertices of line, there's a button there to add elevations from terrain.
Q: We have a multiuser computer with GM installed. Each user has their own login for the computer. We have noticed that the first time a user logs on, with an upgarded vresin of GM, we ned to enter registration info for the license. This is fine for us. Will there be any negative impact for this type of use with the new FlexLM licensing system? Can they still share the license of this one registered copy,on one computer? Or would we need to buy multiple seats and a network license?
A: With the new Flex licensing the license will automatically download to the 'All Users' file location on the computer (w 13.1.1 and later), so once one user activates the license on the computer any user can access it without needing to re-activate, so it's easier than it was before.
Q: Is there a way to load/display 2 overlaying "DEM" grids, so they can both display in 3-d view? For example, higher elevation dem might be land surface, lower elevation might be top of a geologic formation.
A: Currently you can only show a single surface at once, but you could export one to a 3D DXF Mesh, then load that back in and you will have a 3D vector mesh that can display separately from the main terrain grid. We do have plans in the future to support multiple terrain surfaces in the 3D mode.
Q: Is there some change on the "rectify" functions? like the possibility to "move" the layer or the tool of zoom have pass for some change?
A: When you right click on layer in Control Center there is an option to simply shift rather than do full rectify.
Q: Regarding the roughness map you created from the tif file: how do you attribute class of roughness value (or separate roughness values in separate group of roughness values like wated/forest/city/fileds) from the source file which I guess contains infinity of height roughness?
A: The roughness length grid values are based on the land cover types. There are built-in default roughness tables that map a particular land cover type for a land cover data set (like CORINE or NLCD) to roughness lengths for the grid. You can also create your own custom roughness length table for any land cover data set. The User's Manual covering the roughness grid includes a sample file showing how to do that.
Q: If I load an existing set of shapefiles, which have attribues, is there a way to show the attibutes as labels on the line?
A: Yes, just go to the Options dialog for the layer and you can set which attribute (or combination of attributes to use for the label).
Q: Will you be recording this for later download?
A: Yes this session will be posted to our Webinars page at: http://www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/webinar.php.
Q: I have an unclassified LiDAR data set, is there a way to extract all of the lowest elevation points? Basically creating a bald earth dataset.
A: Normally you would import the 'ground shot' points, but if your LiDAR data set isn't classified at all there isn't a direct easy way to do this. You might be able to use the Search option to do something based on the return INTENSITY or other attributes, assuming those are populated. Otherwise there isn't currently a way to extract the lowest elevation value when there are multiple stacked elevations, but that is something we plan to add in the future for LIDAR data.