Transcript
Page 1: T Vector Editing - MicroImages, Inc.page 2 Advanced Vector Editing Before Getting Started The Editor in TNTmips ® and TNTedit™ lets you create, alter, and update geospa- tial data

Tutorial

with

TNTmips®

ADVANCED

EDITING

AdvancedVector Editing

TNTedit™

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Advanced Vector Editing

Before Getting StartedThe Editor in TNTmips® and TNTedit™ lets you create, alter, and update geospa-tial data in a robust editing environment that allows combination of multipleeditable and reference layers for simple or complex editing tasks. This bookletintroduces more advanced vector editing topics than are presented in the Edit-ing Vector Geodata tutorial booklet.

Prerequisite Skills This booklet assumes you have completed the exercises inthe Displaying Geospatial Data, TNT Product Concepts, and Editing VectorGeodata tutorial booklets. Those exercises introduce essential skills and basictechniques that are not covered again here. Please consult these booklets forany review you need.

Sample Data The exercises in this booklet use sample data distributed with theTNT products. If you do not have access to a TNT products DVD, you candownload the data from MicroImages’ web site. The exercises in this booklet usethe Project Files in the EDITADV directory of DATA. You will also need the CB_COMP

and CB_DLG Project Files from the CB_DATA directory. Although making a read-write copy of this sample data on your hard drive is not absolutely necessarybecause the Editor makes a copy of a file when it is opened, making a copy onyour hard drive will generally speed access.

More Documentation This booklet is intended only as an introduction to someof the advanced features for vector editing in TNT’s Editor. Consult the Techni-cal Guides and Quick Guides for additional information.

TNTmips Pro, TNTmips Basic, and TNTmips Free TNTmips comes in threeversions: TNTmips Pro, TNTmips Basic, and TNTmips Free. If you did notpurchase the professional version, which requires a software license key, you areusing TNTmips Free or TNTmips Basic. TNTmips Basic and Free limit the sizeof your project materials. All exercises in this booklet can be completed inTNTmips Free using the sample geodata provided.

It may be difficult to identify the important points in some illustrations withouta color copy of this booklet. You can print or read this booklet in color fromMicroImages’ web site. The web site is also your source of the newest tutorialbooklets on other topics. You can download an installation guide, sampledata, and the latest version of TNTmips Free.

http://www.microimages.com

Merri P. Skrdla, Ph.D., 16 December 2013© MicroImages, Inc., 2002–2013

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Advanced Vector Editing

Welcome to Advanced Vector EditingThe TNT products Editor lets you create and/or editraster and geometric objects (vector, shape, CAD,and TIN). All of these data types can be open in theEditor at the same time for either editing or refer-ence. There is an introductory booklet for editingeach of these object types. You can also add WebMap Service (WMS) and ArcIMS layers for refer-ence. Be sure you have gone through the introduc-tory booklet for vectors (Editing Vector Geodata)before doing the exercises in this booklet as it isassumed you are already familiar with this process.

Vector editing has many additional intricacies, suchas auto generated labels and setting contour Z val-ues, not found for other object types. You can evenselect E00, Coverage, and shapefiles directly for ed-iting and save in the original format if desired orconvert the file to an object in RVC format withinthe Editor. Just be aware of the limitations of exter-nal formats if you choose to save to them. For ex-ample, if you create a new table for a shapefile, it islost when saved in shapefile format, since shapefilessupport only one associated database table.Shapefiles can also be edited in place if opened di-rectly instead of using Object/Open External.

Unlike the Display process where all element typeshave selection off by default, the Editor has selec-tion for all element types on by default. A big partof easing editing tasks is to have selection limitedto the elements you want to work with at the time.Even the View window has Editor specific icon but-tons (Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, and Redo are on theView toolbar).

The Editor provides multiple step Undo functionsfor the editing changes you have made in multiplelayers. There is also a single step Redo after anyUndo for each of the editable layers.

STEPS

copy the files in theEDITADV data collectionand the CB_COMP andCB_DLG Project files fromthe CB_DATA data collec-tion to your local drive

The exercises on pages 4–5 and 8–9 introduce generaltopics that affect your op-eration in the Editor. Pages6–7 discuss snapping toand auto tracing from ele-ments in different layers.The intricacies of labelingare described on pages10–17. Filters, panning byquery, using 3D views, set-ting contour Z values, usingexternal files, and cut/copy/paste are discussed onpages 18–23. Editing nodepositions to move attachedlines, island polygons, holesfor export, and keyboardshortcuts are described onpages 24–27. Pages 28–31contain appendices con-cerned with assigning at-tributes, Vector Tools win-dow components, differ-ences between geometricobject types, internal tables,and other tables that can begenerated by TNTmips.

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Advanced Vector Editing

secondary toolcolor primary tool color

Editor PreferencesYou have direct control over many aspects of theEditor’s behavior through the Preferences window.Because editing takes place in a View window, manyof the choices are the same as they are in the Dis-play process. The options that are the same as inDisplay have the same meaning as in the Displayprocess. For example, having the Default to re-draw after any change option on sets the defaultstate for new View windows to initiate a redrawwhenever a layer is added or removed or has itsdrawing style changed. It does not initiate a redrawfor editing changes made to the active layer.

The View and Layer panels each have one optionunique to the Editor. The Margin Distance lets youdefine the distance (in meters) between your layersand the edge of the window when zoomed so thatthe layers fill the window. The default distance iszero meters, but you can enter a distance if youprefer a margin for ease in editing along the edge ofyour layers. If the distance you enter is not enough,you can use the Ruler tool in the GeoToolbox todetermine an appropriate distance. In addition tothe Display options on the Layer panel, you canchoose to disable DataTips for the editable layer.

The Save panel lets you decide whether you wantto be prompted to save while edit-ing and the time interval forprompting. You also have the op-tion of saving separate display pa-rameters for use in the Editor with

your edited object. TheColor panel lets you savethe tool and preview col-ors and line widths. TheVector panel has param-eters specific to vector ob-jects and the Other panelhas miscellaneous optionsfor the Editor in general.

STEPS

select Main / Edit

choose Setup / Prefer-ences in the Editor LayerManager window

set the choices on theView and Layer panels tosuit your own prefer-ences

browse the additionalpanels so you knowwhat options are avail-able

Vocabulary: Some tools,such as the arc and arcchord tools, have parts nec-essary for positioning andresizing that will not be partof the element added. Forsuch tools, the primarytool color is used for thepart that represents theelement and the secondarytool color is used for therest of the tool.

arc tool

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Advanced Vector Editing

Object PropertiesMost of the options in the New Object Values win-dow that opens when you elect to create a new ob-ject also appear in the Object Properties window.The only properties that cannot be changed in theEditor once the object is created are the CoordinateReference System (CRS) used to assign object coor-dinates and whether an extents box is added auto-matically.

If you want your new vector tohave different extents or be in adifferent projection than yourreference layer(s), choose UserDefined from the choices listedfor the implied georeferencewhen making a new object. Youcan also use the User Definedoption to set the CRS and ex-tents for a new object in theabsence of reference layers.

The X and Y Scale values aredetermined from an object’s georeference, and val-ues you enter will be ignored unless your vector hasno georeference. Under such circumstances, youcan choose to have your object coordinates in anysupported units.

If you use Open External to edit ESRI data (E00,Coverage, or shapefiles), a Convert to internal for-mat toggle also appears in the Object Properties win-dow (above the Element ID Values panel). Turningthe toggle on lets you save your changes in RVCformat. Without the toggle on, objects are exportedto their initial format when saved. Keep in mindthat the ESRI format you are editing may not sup-port all the editing changes you make. For example,shapefiles are limited to one element type (e.g., poly-gons or labels, not both), and Coverages are limitedto lines with 500 vertices*.

STEPS

click on the AddReference Objectsicon and choose_16BIT_RGB from theCB_COMP Project File andHYDROLOGY and ROADS fromthe CB_DLG Project File inthe cb_data collection

click on the CreateNew Object iconand choose Vector

note the options availablein the New Object Valueswindow (including ex-pandable Object Scaleand Element ID Values)and click [OK]

choose Object / Proper-ties from the Editor LayerManager window andnote the options availableand current settings,then click [Cancel]

keep this editing sessionopen for the next threeexercises

Vocabulary: An object thatuses georeference coordi-nates as object coordinateshas implied georeference.A vector, CAD, or TIN objectcreated using a raster tosupply its georeference hasimplied georeference.

* Lines created in the Editorwith more vertices will bebroken into lines that fit in aCoverage when saved;labels and database tablesadded to an openedshapefile are lost if yousave in the original format.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Snap to Elements in Different LayersLine elements created in the Editor will not havegaps unless the automatic snapping feature is turnedoff. The markers at the ends of the line tool changeto the secondary tool color when you are withinsnapping distance of another element. The EditingVector Geodata booklet describes how to snap linesto one another that should, but don’t quite, meet inthe layer you are editing. Such errors are oftenfound in imported vector objects.

While snapping to existing lines in the same layeris quite useful, you may often want to snap to linesin a reference layer, such as a stream or road layerwhen drawing parcel boundaries. You may evenwant to snap different parts of the line to elementsin different vector layers. The Editor lets you snaplines to elements in any vector layer loaded eitherfor editing or reference.

The snap distance is set by vector preferences (page4). When you change the snap layer, the line endmarkers change color depending on the proximityof elements in the newly selected layer. Changingthe snap layer changes the position of the vertexonly at the end of the line being added; previouslysnapped vertices, such as the start of the line in thisexercise, remain at their original positions.

STEPS

use the Zoom Boxto enlarge display ofthe area outlined below

click on the Add Lineicon

check that Snap From isset to Both Vertices in theSnap Options at the bot-tom of the Vector Toolswindow

choose ROADS from theSnap Layer Option Menu

click on the road at thefield boundary shownbelow the road intersec-tion

next click on the streamto the right of your initialclick

choose HYDROLOGY fromthe Snap Layer OptionMenu

first clickfor line

Vocabulary: The snap dis-tance is how close youmust be to an element forsnapping to be active. Thesnap layer contains theelements used to determinethe snapping position.

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Advanced Vector Editing

STEPS

note that the markers atthe ends of the lineshave changed color

click on the TraceReference Layer icon

click downstream on theleft fork a little below thefork

click on the stream be-low the next left fork atthe field boundaryshown

click on the Trace iconagain to turn it off,check that theStretch icon is on, thenselect CROW BUTTE DLG

ROADS from the SnapLayer Option Menu

click on the road to theleft, adjusting the line tofollow the field boundary

click on Trace, thenclick on the Closeicon

either right-click to addthe line or click on [Add]

The Editor has three drawingmodes when creating/editinglines: draw, stretch, and trace. Thedraw mode adds vertices to theline as you drag or click themouse. The stretch mode lets youpreview the line position as itstretches from the last added ver-tex, adding a vertex when themouse button is released. The trace mode is onlyactive when a layer other than the layer you areediting is selected as the snap layer. The Trace iconis in the icon row directly above the snap options.

The trace mode makes a vertex-by-vertex copy ofthe line in the snap layer betweentwo successive mouse clicks. Thetool will not work if the secondmouse click is separated from thefirst by more than one node. Theline snapped to in this examplebranches shortly after it is met. Totrace the line with a minimumnumber of clicks, your next clickshould be after the first branch but before the sec-ond. Note that Close Line will trace a line in thesnap layer if you are in trace mode.

If it appears that the Add Line tool is not working intrace mode with a vector of yours, first double-checkthat you have selected the intended snap layer, thenzoom up to locate the source of the problem. Youwill generally discover a previ-ously unseen “bubble” in the line,which means you were attempt-ing to cross two nodes when trac-ing. Simply pick the preferredside of the bubble and click thereand then click on down the line,or edit out the bubble then resumetracing.

Auto-Tracing Line Segments

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Advanced Vector Editing

STEPS

click on the LayerControls icon for theNewVector layer andchange the line drawingstyle to green and 2screen pixels wide

choose Object / SaveGroup As

create a new file andsave the group in it

you will next be asked tosave your vector object;create a new object inthe same file as thegroup

choose Object / Exit inthe Editor Layer Man-ager window

choose Main / Edit fromthe TNTmips menu

click on the Openicon in the Editor

select the group you justsaved

add a second line adjoin-ing and to the south ofthe first in the editablelayer using the tracingtechniques from the lastexercise; trace from HY-DROLOGY (east boundary)and ROADS (south andwest boundary), thenuse the Snap operation ifnecessary to snap theends of the line to thepolygon you already cre-ated*

Large editing projects or creation of new vectorobjects from reference layers may require severalediting sessions. When you have a number of refer-ence layers and possibly a number of editable lay-ers, it is a great convenience to be able to save thegroup and reopen it just as it was. An editing ses-sion group not only saves all the layers but whetherthey were editable or reference layers and whichlayer was active. Other editing conditions, such asdisplay style, preferences, and DataTips are alsoretained.

Groups saved in the Editor can also be opened inDisplay and vice versa. Obviously, informationabout which layers are editable will not be part of agroup saved in display. If during the course of anediting session that started by opening a group yousave an editable layer with a new name or add orremove layers, you will be asked if you want tosave changes to the group when you exit.

Save / Restart Editing Sessions

aftersecondlineadded

* Refer to the Editing Vector Geodatabooklet if you do not remember how.

tracetheselines

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Advanced Vector Editing

Right Mouse Button OperationsThe right mouse button menu (RMBM) lets youincrease the speed at which you edit when switch-ing frequently between editing operations for singleelements. You can open an existing object and im-mediately begin editing, labeling, snapping, anddeleting elements among other operations. Yourright-click selects the element to perform the opera-tion on using the search distance set in your prefer-ences. If the operation youchoose from the menu addsa panel to the Vector Toolswindow, such as for elementediting, the panel closeswhen you right click or pressthe Save button to finish theoperation.

Some of the right mouse but-ton operations, such as as-signing attributes and label-ing, require specification ofparameters for the operation.When you want to use different parameters, you caneither change what is specified for the right mousebutton or you can run the operation from the VectorTools window interface.

The right mouse button menu is not available un-less an editable layer with at least one element is theactive layer. It is also not available when you haveselected an operation, such as adding or editing el-ements, that uses the right mouse button for otherpurposes. To make the RMBM active for choosingoperations again, choose the Reposition, Zoom, orSelect tool in the View window.

The Editor also has a number of hot keys to let youswitch quickly between different tools, filters, andadding different element types. The hot key foreach of these functions is shown in the ToolTip forthe icon. A Quick Guide that lists all hot keys isavailable from MicroImages’ web site.

STEPS

create a new table in thepolygon database with aOne Record per Elementattachment type and asingle integer field ofwidth 5 (see Editing Vec-tor Geodata or ManagingRelational Databases ifyou don’t know how)

choose Setup / RightMouse Button

turn on Attribute, click on[Settings], select thetable you created as thePolygon table, and click[OK]

turn on Auto GenerateLabels, click on [Set-tings], set the polygonsto label by attribute andchoose the field in thetable you created, alsoset the label height to120 meters on theMetrics panel

turn off selection of lines

right click within the up-per polygon choosingAttribute from the menu;enter 2045

right click on the samepolygon and chooseAuto Generate Labelsfrom the menu

right click on the lowerpolygon and repeatsteps 6 and 7, but enter2046 as the value

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Advanced Vector Editing

Auto Labeling Multiple ElementsSTEPS

save the changes toyour vector object, thenchoose Object / CloseGroup

click on the Openicon and chooseCBSOILS_LITE* from theCB_SOILS Project File

expand the layer, thenright-click on the polygonentry and choose MarkAll from the menu

click on the AutoGenerate Labels icon

on the Polygon tabbedpanel, set the Label Typeoption menu to Attributeand select CLASS in theTable and Field col-umns

also on the Polygonpanel note the choicesfor label position butleave it set to the de-fault of Fit Inside orOutside with Leader

on the Metrics panel,enter 40 meters for theHeight

turn on the Use Pre-view Color toggle, thenset the Preview optionmenu to Marked (belowthe tabbed panels)

click on the Apply opera-tion to Marked button

choose Object / Save Asand create a new object

click on the EditElement icon

The Auto Generate Labels operation creates labelsfor as many elements as you have selected. Whenused from the right mouse menu, only one elementis selected at a time so only one element is labeled.

The Auto Generate Labels operation lets you gen-erate labels for all element types in a single pass ifyou want the labels for all to be the same text style.Some of the controls on the auto label tabbed pan-els apply only to one element type. The choices onthe Optimize panel apply only to points and thebaseline fit and text direction options on the Metricspanel apply only to lines. Obviously, the optionson the Point, Line, and Polygon panel apply onlyto that element type.

Automaticallygenerated poly-gon labels areplaced in thewidest horizon-tal span of thepolygon withpreference givento the span thatcontains the cen-troid. By defaultif the widest span

is not large enough for the label, a suitable positionis sought in the neighboring polygons and a leaderline is added to indicate the polygon to which itrefers (if attached to elements, see later exercise forother options).

There is an Attach to Element toggle on each of theelement specific panels. For most labeling situa-tions, this option should be left on. When a label isattached to an element, it is deleted when the ele-ment is deleted. When a label is not attached, leaderlines are not added for labels outside associatedpolygons, and “slide along the line” editing is notavailable for line labels.

* Be sure to use theCBSOILS_LITE copied from theEDITADV directory. It has beenspecially prepared for thisexercise.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Editing Polygon Label PositionsPolygon labeling does not yet handle label colli-sions. Such collisions are most likely to occur whena label is placed outside its associated polygon sincethe best place for this displaced label may likelyalso be the best place for the label associated withthe polygon where it is placed. The second stage oflabeling is to find such labels and move them, whichis done one label at a time with the Edit Elementtool. When labels are on top of each other, you cantell which label is selected because the leader line isalso highlighted for labels with leader lines. Youhave selected the label that belongs in the polygonif a leader line is not highlighted.

The label editing graphical tool has a number ofoperating parts with associated context-sensitivecursors. You can drag the label to a new positionwith the cursor over the middle of the label, whichis indicated by the four-point arrow cursor. The right-hand arrow cursor indicates that one of the othersensitive parts of the tool is active. The boxesserve to change the angle of the label and drag-ging the + resizes the label. If you resize the labelusing this tool, you are asked whether you want tocreate a new text style, change the current text style,or ignore the style changes. Your label still remainsat the new height when you right click, even if youchoose ignore, because the adjusted heightalso becomes the new element height.

When you drag labels with leader lines,the leader line follows the label, whichmay result in the line running over the la-bel depending on the label’s initial and fi-nal positions. This situation is easily rem-edied by switching the active line from thebaseline to the leader line and editing theleader line with the usual line editing tools.You can add a vertex and drag it so theleader line makes a turn between the pointof attachment and the label.

STEPS

turn off selection ofall element typesexcept labels in theEditor Layer Manager

zoom up on the polygonwith label collisions at themiddle top (give the Viewfocus and use + key)

click on the label with theleader line (BgD), thenright-click

click in the center of thelabel, and drag it up andoutside the vectorboundary, then right-clickagain

reposition the view tonear the right edgewhere there are a num-ber of VaB and VaF labelsthat collide

click then right-click onthe VaB label for thesmallest polygon, anddrag it outside the vectorboundary

click on the Nexticon in the Leadersrow in the Edit ElementParameters panel, grabthe endpoint in the middleof the text and drag itdown to the baseline,then right-click

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Advanced Vector Editing

Auto Labeling LinesSTEPS

start a new editing ses-sion, choose Openand select theLINCOLNCENTRAL object inthe STREETS Project File

expand the layer, thenright-click, and chooseMark All for lines

click on the AutoGenerate Labels icon

on the Line tabbed panelof the Vector Tools setthe Label Type optionmenu to By Script andselect STREETS.QRY*

on the Metrics panel,enter 30 meters for theHeight and set thebaseline fit toExact

turn on theUse PreviewColor toggleand set thePreview op-tion menu toMarked andnote thenumber oflabels

toggle JoinLines byAttribute on(Line panel),again notethe numberof labels

click on the Apply opera-tion to: [Marked] button

choose Object / Save Asand create a new object

In many vector objects, a single feature is repre-sented by multiple lines to maintain polygonal orplanar topology. The object will determine whetheryou want each line labeled. Clearly, in the case ofthe extracted TIGER data used in this exercise, youdo not. In the case of hydrology, you might want tolabel all tributary branches but not all segments ofthe major streams or rivers. In such a case, select byattribute and label all tributaries. Then manuallyselect the line segments you want to label for therivers and streams.

Two solutions are available to prevent “over label-ing.” One is the Set Line Labels tool, which is dis-cussed in a later exercise. The other is to join linesby attribute as done in this exercise. This optionidentifies all contiguous line segments that would

have thesame labeland placesa single la-bel in themiddle ofthis extent.

* TIGER/Line data requires thecombination of four fields toproduce street labels. You canclick on Assistant to achieve thesame results as this query.

zoom up herefor the nextexercise

labels with lines joined by attribute

default labels

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Advanced Vector Editing

STEPS

click on the EditElement icon

turn off selection of allelements except labels

position the cursorwhere shown on the pre-vious page and press 4

click on the Normal Blvdlabel, then right click

click and hold in themiddle of the label whiledragging it down and tothe right as illustrated,then right click

pan around and reposi-tion labels as needed

pan to the northeast cor-ner of the vector, click onthe Delete Elementicon, select theBryson St label, and rightclick

click on Auto GenerateLabels, turn off the At-tach to Element toggle,turn on selection for lineelements, select the leftline that was below thelabel, and right-click

click on the EditElement icon,select the newly addedlabel, and right-click

enter 0 for the BaselineAngle, then move thelabel as illustrated

click on the AddLeader Line icon, thenclick at the base of thelabel , click again in theapproximate desiredposition, and drag to theleft associated line

repeat step 11 but dragto the right associatedline, then right-click

Editing Line Label PositionsUnlike polygon labels,which can be moved any-where when editing, linelabels slide along the lineto which they are attachedwhen they are repositioned.If you want to move a labeloff a line, you can generateit with the Attach to Ele-ment option off or use theDetach Label from Linetoggle when editing. Suchlabels can be repositionedanywhere you want andhave leader lines added if desired. Adding leaderlines is a feature of the label editing controls. Youcan even add multiple leader linesto a single label.

In addition to reducing the num-ber of labels using line attributesas done in the previous exercise,you can elect not to label lines thatare shorter than a specified length.This option is also on the Linetabbed panel when auto generat-ing labels.

Individual label editing is not required for changesto some label parameters. You can select all labelsor a smaller set of labels and change the elementheight, angle, style, and/or whether “clip under” isapplied using the Label Attributes operation.

adding leader lines result

The initial label position issomewhat misleading, looking

like it goes with theboundary rather thanthe two streets below.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Set Line Labels: ContoursSTEPS

save your work from theprevious exercise, thenremove the layer

open the ELEVATION

object in the CON-TOURS Project File

click on the SetLine Labels tool(Add Element panel)

click on [Assistant],verify that Contoursis selected, thenclick on [Next]

set the IntervalGroups to 2, LabelPrecision to 0 withlabeling every 5lines, and ContourUnits to feet, thenclick on [Next]

set the Major Con-tour Step Interval to1000 feet, the LabelHeight to 100meters, click on [EditStyle], and set the fore-ground color to orange,then click on [Next]

set the label height forminor interval values to60 meters, click on [EditStyle], set the foregroundcolor to green, then clickon [Finish]

click on the third contourfrom the upper left andpull out a line down andto the right to just past12000 feet; right click

click on the second con-tour from the lower rightand pull out a line up andto the left over the peakas shown; right click

use Save As then re-move the contour layer

The Set Line Labels tool lets you pick the labelposition by drawing a line on which the labels arecentered. This tool is specifically designed for con-tours and TIGER data but will work with any vec-tor object. An Assistant is provided to aid you inwriting scripts to generate your labels.

When labeling contours, the Assistant generates ascript that designates the line interval between la-

bels, sets up interval groups(major and minor contours)and styles, establishes theunits for labeling and doesany necessary conversions,and establishes the eleva-

tion distance betweenmajor contours.

Once the script is gen-erated, position thecursor on the first con-tour you want labeled,and pull the line out

to the last contour you want labeled. In order formajor and minor contours to appear, you need tomake sure you start on a contour line such that amajor contour falls at a multiple of the label inter-val from the initial line.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Set Line Labels: RoadsSTEPS

choose Open andselect the LINCOLN

CENTRAL object in theSTREETS Project File (theoriginal object, not theone you labeled)

click on the Set LineLabels tool

click on [Assistant], clickon the Roads toggle,then click on [Next]

note the fields selectedthen click [Finish]

set the Height to 30meters (Metrics panel)

click at the top of thevector object then holdand drag to the bottomand release

change the label color ifnecessary (click on theEdit Style icon onthe Style panel)

right click over the view,or click on [Assign]

click at the left edge ofthe vector and dragacross to the right edge

on the Baseline panel,choose Left to Right fromTool for the Orientationand note that some ofthe labels flip

right click over the viewor click on [Add]

save the layer (will beused on page 18)

The Assistant for road labels automatically detectspre-shapefile TIGER database structure and fills inthe four fields required to generate a complete streetname. Other data types may have the entire name ina single field*. If so, choose this field for the roadname, which is the only required field.

This tool used to be the method of choice for label-ing streets. However, now that you can join lines byattribute and the Assistant has been incorporated inautomatic label generation, it is more a matter ofpreference although the two ad-ditional orientation options avail-able with the Set Line Labels toolmay give better labeling resultsfor some objects. This tool is stillthe method of choice for labelingcontours, particularly when youwant to impose major and minor contour styles.

The default line interval is one (Baseline panel),but in areas that have only numbered or letteredstreets, you might elect to label every second orthird street only.

The Left to Right from Tool and Right to Left from Toolorientations are particularly important for labeling linesthat run at an angle together with vertical lines if youwant all labels to read in the same direction.

* includes TIGER files in shapefile format

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Advanced Vector Editing

Editing Label Size and StyleChanging the height or other style parameters whenediting individual labels introduces issues thatmust be resolved before continuing. Labels autogenerated in a single pass generally all have thesame style (unless otherwise defined by script).When you select a single label and change the fontor other style parameter, the question is whetheryou want to change the font for all the labels thathave the same style or change the font for the se-lected label only. In the latter case, you need tocreate a new text style so the selected label can bedisplayed differently than the others.

You do not have to remember to create the new textstyle—the Editor asks what you want to do whenyou make a change that affects the style. Your op-tions are to create a new text style, change the cur-rent text style, or ignore the text style changes. Ifthe first option is chosen, a new style is createdwith the settings you chose. The only label withthat style assigned is the label just edited. You can

assign the style to other selected elementslater if desired. (When you want to changethe style of a number of elements, you shoulduse the Label Attributes operation rather thanthe Edit Element operation.) If the second

option is chosen, all labels using the same stylewill be changed to match the edited label. Thethird option is not quite equivalent to cancel.Changes in element height and label angle are re-tained because these are properties of the text andnot properties of the style.

Additional aspects of label style, such as frame andleader type, are controlled fromthe object’s Layer Controls win-dow.

STEPS

remove the layer fromthe previous exercise,choose Open andselect the labeledcontour object yousaved on p. 14

expand the layer, andturn off selection of allelement types exceptlabels

click on the EditElement icon, selectthe 11000 foot label atthe lower right of thecontours, and right-click

drag the + on the labeltool down to make thetext somewhat smaller,and change the text fore-ground color to blue (EditStyle, MajorContour)

right-click and when theText Style Changes win-dow opens,chooseChange cur-rent text style

note thatother labelswith the MajorContourstyle are also smallerand blue

After editing one label, the otherlabels drawn in the same text stylealso change if you elect to changethe current text style.

before and after editing

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Advanced Vector Editing

Convert Dynamic Labels to Fixed LabelsSTEPS

remove the layer fromthe previous exercise,choose Open andselect CBSOILS_LITE fromthe cb_soils Project File

click on the LayerControls icon for theopened layer

on the Polygons panelset Dynamic Labels Textto By Attribute, click on[Specify], and selectCLASS.Class with Posi-tion Fit Inside or Outsidewith Leader, set the TextStyle to 5 points at64000, and click OK

click on the Selecttool to select apolygon labeled outsidein a position in conflictwith the label in a neigh-boring polygon*

click on ConvertDynamic Labels,then on Active

clear selected ele-ments, turn offselection for all elementtypes except labels, thenclick on the EditElement icon, se-lect and move the labelto a non-conflicting loca-tion, then right-click

The TNT products offer two label types for vectorobjects: dynamic labels and permanent, or fixed,labels. Dynamic labels are generated when the ob-ject is displayed while permanent labels are elementsin the vector object that may have been imported orgenerated in the Editor. Dynamic point and poly-gon labels have a number of positioning options.All dynamic labels have the same style and whilethere are optimization options for point labels, poly-gon labels may collide.

There are three ways to create fixed labels in theEditor: add text labels not associated with (attachedto) any element; auto-generate labels for selectedpoints, lines, or polygons using entered text, at-tributes, or a script; and converting dynamic labelsto permanent labels for selected points, lines, orpolygons. When you convert dynamic labels tofixed labels, the style and positioning set for thedynamic label are maintained. You can then changethe style or move the fixed label as desired usingthe techniques learned in earlier exercises.

You can convert all dynamic labels to fixed labelsor only convert labels associated with selected ele-ments, thus you can have both dynamic and fixedlabels for an object. Dynamic labels are not drawnfor elements with an associated fixed label.

To convert individuallabels, select theelement they areattached to thenchoose the ConvertDynamic Labels op-eration.

* The position of dynamic labels will change with zoomlevel. Make sure to do this step at the zoom level youwill use for editing.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Filter Tools and OperationsThe Editor provides seven filtering tools and threerelated operations: Dangling Lines, RemoveBubble Polygons, Remove Excess Nodes, SliverPolygons, Dissolve Polygons, Remove Island Poly-gons, and Remove by Script filters, and the Snap,Line Simplification, and Spline operations. Eachof the filter tools works on the entire vector objectusing parameters you set, while the operations willwork on selected elements. If you want to apply afilter to a subset of the elements, choose Geometric/ Filter to do your filtering. Filters also have a testmode and provide a report, with the exception ofthe Remove Excess Nodes filter. The operationshave a Preview mode and do not provide a report.If you want more information about changes to yourvector object made by applying these operations,you can look at internal element details or use theGeometric/Filter process.

Each of the filters and the operations mentionedabove, again with the exception of Remove ExcessNodes, add a relevant parameters panel to the Vec-tor Tools window. When you run a test, the linesthat will be drawn after filtering are drawn in thecolor shown on the test color button. You canchange this color by clicking on the button. Anylines drawn in the original line color in the testimage will not be there after the filter is run. Afterrunning a test, you can get quantitative results byclicking on the Report button. The report providesthe number of vertices added / removed, the num-ber of nodes, lines, polygons, or islands removed.You can compare internal element details beforeand after applying one of the operations for similarinformation.

STEPS

remove the layer fromthe previous exercise,choose Open andselect the labeledstreets object you savedon p. 15

click on the Splineicon

choose Cubic BSplineand set the number ofknots to 5

set the Preview option toAll

click on the Select tool inthe View window andselect the line in thelower right quadrant thatshows the greatest dif-ference

right-click on the objectline in the Layer Man-ager, choose InternalElement Details, andnote the number of verti-ces

filtered

Little ischangedexcept thedepiction ofAntelope Creekusing the CubicBSpline filter. unfiltered

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Advanced Vector Editing

Filter ExpectationsThe splining operation adds vertices to lines to makethe lines better approximate a smooth curve. Sinceit is adding vertices to the line, it is also known asline densification. There are three different splinetypes to choose from: Cubic BSpline, QuadraticBSpline, and Bezier Spline. Cubic BSpline is bestfor cases in which you wish to retain sharp angles inthe absence of a node. Splining is also part of theline simplification filter and can be applied beforethe thinning takes place.

Use of filters for cleaning up common problems inraster to vector conversion is described in the Digi-tizing Soil Maps booklet. The Internal ElementDetails menu choice used in this pair of exercisesprovides information about the current active ele-ment. If a set of elements is marked, you can stepthrough all of them using the Previous Marked andNext Marked icons on the View window toolbar.The Undo feature used in this exercise may also beimportant to completion of your editing tasks.

Filters can take care of many problems, but manualediting is still often required. Many filters havesimilar goals. For example, Remove Bubble Poly-gons, Remove Sliver Polygons, and Remove IslandPolygons all seek to remove small intrusions in yourvector objects. Polygons,however, cannot always bedeleted even if they meet thefilter criteria. Remove BubblePolygons and Remove SliverPolygons always delete one of the lines in the iden-tified polygon. For the other filters to remove apolygon, it must be a one-line polygon or an islandpolygon or it must border the universal polygon(the line being eliminated to delete the polygonmust have left or right polygon == 0).

QuadraticBSpline

BezierSpline

CubicBSpline

close the Internal Ele-ment Details window

apply the Spline filter tothe active element, thenopen the Internal Ele-ment Details windownoting the difference inthe number of vertices inthe active line

click on Undo andclose the InternalElement Details window

change the number ofknots to 10, apply thefilter to the active ele-ment, then open theInternal Element Detailswindow again noting thedifference in the numberof vertices in the activeline

remove this layer beforebeginning the next exer-cise

effects ofsplining onlines withsharp angles

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Advanced Vector Editing

Using Pan By Query for EditingSTEPS

open the AUTOTRACED

SOILS object in theSOILSCONV Project File

turn off selection of allelement types exceptlines and zoom in twice

right-click onthe line elements entry,choose Mark by Query,click on the Open iconon the Script tab, andselect DANGLINE.QRY

click on [Apply] and noteyour view has shiftedand the gap between theactive element and theline to its north

choose the SnapOperation, set pa-rameters as shown andapply the previewedsnap to the [Active] ele-ment

click on the NextMarked icon in theView window

notice another line in theview is now highlightedand has a snap preview,then click [Active]

click on NextMarked, choose theDelete operation,and click on [Active]

click on Next Marked,then on the Add Line tool,and add lines to fill in theblanks in the curvy line

click on Apply in theMark By Query window,and continue steppingthrough and editing ele-ments until you get thebasic idea*

initial preview snapped

two lines areneeded tocomplete thecurvy line

Generally, when you are at a zoom level useful forediting elements, the full vector object is not vis-ible in the view. You, thus, need a means of gettingfrom one marked element to the next. Pan by queryrefers to marking by query then stepping througheach of the marked elements for editing consider-ations, which includes panning the view to centerthe active element if it is not already in the viewwindow. Because TNTmips uses the concept ofactive and marked elements, you can mark a largenumber of elements and evaluate each in turn tak-ing the necessary editing steps for individual ele-ments and applying the change to the active ele-ment only.

This exercise utilizes a vector object created from ascanned soil map using Convert / Raster to Geo-

metric Lines for raster to vectorconversion. The vector hasmany extraneous lines and gapsin what should be continuouslines. The majority of these

problems can be identifiedby selecting dangling lines(a line that is not attached toanother line at one or both

ends). You can step through these elements one byone, taking any editing actions necessary and ap-plying them to the active element only.

When you click on theNext Marked button, theview does not pan if thenew active element is vis-ible. This object containsmany very short lines,which may be difficult toidentify as marked. If theview has panned, the ac-tive element is centered.

* It is not intended that you clean up theentire vector. Pan by query is generallya finishing step in editing.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Using 3D Views to Assist with EditingWhen 3D vectors are created using Convert / 2D to3D Vector and the raster used to provide the eleva-tion values has smaller extents than the vector orcontains null or anomalous values, some line verti-ces may have incorrect elevation values. You canreadily identify the presence of such lines in a 3Dview because they drop precipitously (unless yourdata happens to be near sea level). Theanomalies could also appear as spikes.

The vector object edited in this exercise has 15 lineswith endpoint values of zero. The editing strategyis to find these lines and change the value of theendpoint to that of the nearest vertex. If multiplevertices have incorrect values, you may want to varythe values assigned. You could use pan by querywith this vector object, but that only works whenthe anomalous value is known. You cannot selectelements directly in the 3D view, but elements se-lected in the 2D view are also highlighted in 3D soyou can confirm you have the correct element se-lected. You may have to redraw the 3D view to seethe highlight. Val-ues needing changemay be at the startor end of the line.

STEPS

remove the layer fromthe previous exerciseand open _3D_VECTOR

from the HYDROL

Project File

choose Reference /Open 3D View, and ad-just the viewpoint to

choose Edit Ele-ment, select theline at the lower left, andright-click

turn on the ManualEntry toggle, scrollto the bottom of thelist, and select vertex 18

change the Z coordinatefrom 0 to 1199

click on [Save]

locate other lines need-ing editing by clicking inthe 2D view and confirm-ing the correct line isselected in 3D, and editas above

remove the layer

lineselected

after single edit

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Advanced Vector Editing

Set Contour Z Values, External FilesSTEPS

choose Object / OpenExternal / ArcViewShapefile format, selectMFI.SHP, and accept thedefaults in the ImportParameters window

choose Object/Prop-erties, change theCoordinates optionbutton from 2D-XY to3D-XY, and turn onthe Convert to inter-nal format toggle

click on the SetContour Z Valuesicon on the Opera-tions panel of theVector Tools window

set the Start value to60500, the Interval to500, the AssignmentType to Downhill, theAssign Color to Ma-jor Interval, the MajorInterval to 5000, thenclick on [Interval Col-ors], and assign or-ange for the MajorInterval and greenfor the Minor Interval

click inside the centralcircle, drag down pastthe lowest left contour,release, and right-click*

repeat step 5, but drag tothe lowest right contour

The TNT Editor lets you choose external file types,(e.g., E00, Coverage, and Shapefiles, for editing.You then have the option of converting them tointernal format (RVC) or saving them in their origi-nal format. Shapefiles can also be opened directly(Object / Open), but they are edited in place and

use the vector tools rather than theshape tools if that path is taken.

The shapefile used in this exer-cise does not have 3D coordi-nates, but the database containsthe information to assign values

to the isolines for magnetic field strength over NorthAmerica. The Set Contour Z Value tool will auto-

matically change the objectcoordinates from 2D-XY to3D-XY if you do not changeit in the Object Properties.

If you are familiar withArcView, you may noticethat this shapefile has beenmodified from the original—many of the standard fieldshave been deleted. The

modification was made to assist you in this exer-cise because many of the isolines were actually 2 or3 lines that could not be combined by removingexcess nodes because unique information not re-lated to magnetic field intensity, such as line num-ber and length, was included.

The lines at the lower right are iso-lated from the lines with the samefield strength at the left of the object.

* If any of the parameters need to be re-assigned after right-clicking, click on Undofirst then start at step 4 again.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Cut, Copy, and PasteSTEPS

remove the layer fromthe last exercise

click on the OpenObject for Editingicon and choose theNEOUTLINE object from theNETRA Project File

click on the AddReference Layericon and select HIWAYS

from the same ProjectFile

expand the HIWAYS layer,right-click on the linesrow, and choose Mark All

click on the Copyicon (View window),set the Region Type toEntire Object, turn on theUse Marked Elementstoggle, and click [Copy]

click on the name of theNEOUTLINE layer in theLayer Manager to makeit active, click on thePaste icon, then on[Paste]

remove the refer-ence layer, and useSave As to saveyour edited object

Cut, copy, and paste are familiar functions in wordprocessing. You have to either cut or copy to havesomething to paste. Using cut removes the elementsfrom their original location, while copy leaves themin place. In the Editor, you can copy from an editableor reference layer, but an editable layer must be ac-tive for the cut and paste functions to be available.The cut, copy, and paste icons on the View windowtoolbar are for use with raster and vector layers only.When using these tools with rasters, they work be-tween rasters of the same data type only. You canachieve the same ends in a CAD object by savingand inserting blocks.

You can cut or copy selected elements, selected el-ements within a region, or all elements within a re-gion. When you choose Paste, a placement rect-angle appears so you can verify that the position iscorrect before pasting. Thisrectangle is positioned bygeoreference. If georeferen-cing is not highly accurate,some repositioning orresizing to obtain thebest fit may be neces-sary. Open theManual Entry panelfor precise controls orinteractively resize and reposition the rectangle. Inthe absence of georeference, object coordinates areused to determine where the placement rectanglegoes.

highways only

highways pastedinto state outline

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Advanced Vector Editing

Edit Node to Alter Attached Line PositionsThe rigorous vector topology enforced by the TNTproducts constrains how a vector object can be ed-ited. You cannot simply move lines in a TNT vectorobject because of the topology that specifies whatnodes are the endpoints of the line and what otherlines are attached. (For more on vector topologysee the Vector Analysis Operations booklet.) Youcan move the node at the end of a line selected forediting only if that node is not attached to any otherline. The line can also be reshaped by insertingand/or dragging vertices.

You can select a node to which multiple lines areattached for editing and reposition that node, whichdrags along all of the attached lines. The attachedlines are connected by a straight line from the newnode position to the nearest vertex on each line.None of the newly positioned lines may cross exist-ing lines unless the vector has network topology.The vector used as sample data for this exerciseand its illustrations has planar topology.

central node se-lected for editing

node draggedto new position

position accepted, nodemoved and lines redrawn

node draggedto new position

position accepted,node moved andlines redrawn

STEPS

remove the vector fromthe previous exercise

open roadsL in theFROMGLOBAL Project File

turn off selection of allelement types exceptnodes

click on the Edit Elementicon, left click on thecentral node, then right-click

experiment with draggingthe node to new posi-tions, then right-clicking

Note: the vector for this ex-ercise was made by select-ing nodes attached to morethan 8 lines in a vector withnearly 450,000 lines and350,000 nodes then usingcopy and paste of a circularregion to a new vector.

* This node position would be acceptedfor a vector with network topology.

new position rejected*

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Advanced Vector Editing

Islands in Vector ObjectsOne aspect of vector polygonal topology is whethera polygon contains islands or is an island of anotherpolygon. Island polygons are fully contained in-side another polygon. Such polygons may repre-sent meaningful inclusions in the data (an island ina lake or ocean) or they may represent holes (areasthat are not like the surrounding polygon in a waythat is not relevant to the current topic of interest).

Differential styling of holes or islands is easilyachieved for vector objects in the TNT products. Ifthe islands and other polygons have assigned at-tributes, styles can be designated using these at-tributes. If none of the polygons have attributes,you can still readily distinguish between islandsand other polygons using Internal.Inside as the fieldfor styling. The simplest styling assigns the samedrawing style to all islands/holes and a different,uniform drawing style to all other polygons. Morecomplex styling can use a computed field to intro-duce the Internal.Inside field values into anothertable used for styling if desired.

In this exercise, a simple script is used to assign onedrawing style to the non-island polygons and an-other to the islands. You could also just specify onedrawing style and the All Same style will be used forall other elements. You can also use the 0 and 1values of Internal.Inside to assign styles by attribute.

STEPS

choose Main/Display

click on Add Ob-jects and selectISLANDS in the FROMGLOBAL

Project File

note the All Samedrawing style, thenclick on the Layer Con-trols icon for ISLANDS

click on the Polygonstab, set the Style toAssigned_Styles, andclick on [Apply]

after noting the appear-ance, choose By Scriptfor the Style, and click on[Apply], then click on Editto review the script

vector styled by attribute vector styled by script(island/not island)

Note: all database and stylemanipulations can be per-formed in the Display pro-cess as well as in TNT’sEditor.

Individual is-lands haveassigned at-tributes usedfor styling inthis example.

Individuallyassigned at-tributes inuser-definedtables are ig-nored in thisexample; theisland status(0 or 1) isused for styl-ing.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Creating Holes for ExportVector objects with polygonal topology inTNTmips cannot have “holes” because any hole isalso a polygon and is kept track of as such. Othervector topology types cannot have holes becausethey have no polygons.

A polygonal vector object can contain polygonsthat will become holes when exported to shapefiles.Any island polygon without attributes in the tableselected for export will be a hole in the resultingshapefile. Polygons that represent islands of inter-est rather than holes should have an attached at-tribute so their polygon is maintained on export. Itis not necessary to remove unattached records; theyare deleted automatically when you export toshapefile. Non-island polygons that lack attached

records will end up with a blankattached record after export.

The steps in this exercise that willresult in holes in the exported ob-ject could also be done in the Dis-play process. There is not an op-

tion to save to a new object in Display, so anychanges you make to the database will be savedwith the original object. When you make thesechanges in the Editor, you can retain the originalobject and save the changes to a new vector object.

choose Main/Editand open the ISLANDS

object from the previousexercise

expand the layer and itspolygons in the LayerManager, then open thePolBndA table

in tabular view, select allrecords except the CoralSea record (click in thecheckbox for the nextrecord, then scroll downand shift-click in thecheckbox for the lastrecord)

click on the Exclu-sive icon

repeat step 3, thenchoose Record/Unattachfrom marked elements

click on Save Asand save this editedvector in a new ProjectFile

choose Main/Export, setthe format to ARC-SHAPEFILE, select the ob-ject saved in the preced-ing step, click on Next,then on Export

click on Details for thewarnings received andnote that field lengthswere truncated becauseshapefiles do not supportthe field widths allowedand specified in TNT

choose this shapefile fordirect display in a new2D group

click on the LayerControls icon, thenon Specify for ElementStyle, set the Fill Style toSolid, click OK, then Ap-ply

shapefile with holes,polygon style All Same

with solid fill

vector object prepared forexport, polygon style All

Same with solid fill

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Advanced Vector Editing

Keyboard Shortcuts (HotKeys)HotKeys, or keyboard shortcuts, let you substituteone or a combination of key strokes for mouse clicks.There are a number of shortcut keys supported in allTNT processes with View windows that let you zoomin, out, scroll 90%, and recenter. These shortcutsare position sensitive, which means the action oc-curs centered around the cursor position rather thansimply around the center of the view, and are listedon the HotKeys menu in the View window.

TNT’s Editor provides many additional shortcutsthat let you switch from one tool to another or be-tween tool modes and actions using the keyboard.Shortcut keys can speed your editing work whenyou routinely switch between differenttools, operations, and modes. The short-cuts for tools and operations are providedas part of the ToolTip. The shortcuts thatswitch between tools, filters, and operations are aletter or a letter in combination with the <shift> or<ctrl> key. The shortcuts that switch between toolmodes use keys such as <tab> and <esc> to switchmodes or take some other action.

Shortcuts that switch you between tool modes andactions can be shown in the Tools windowwhen the active Add Element tool has short-cuts to switch modes or for additional actions. Thoseshortcuts that correspond to icons shown with thetool parameters will be shown in the icon ToolTip.

STEPS

remove the layer fromthe previous exercise

click on the AddReference Layericon and select the CIR_4object from the DAWSON

Project File

click on the CreateNew Object icon,choose Vector, changethe To-pologyLevel to Planar, and click[OK] for the New ObjectValues

click on the View windowto give it focus, thenpress the L key,and note that theAdd Line tool is selected

press the <tab> key andnote that theline drawingmode switchesbetween Draw andStretch

press the C key andnote that the Add Circletool is selected

draw a circle around thebare center pivot fieldand right-click

note that you haveadded one line and nopolygons (rememberyou assigned planartopology to the new vec-tor)

L

NT PR

JA Ctrl DB

C

EShift SShift K

OH

QShift T

F

M

Shift GShift P

Shift Z

U

Delete

Ctrl B

Shift F

Ctrl E

Ctrl Q

Shift M

Shift D

Shift LShift C

Y

Ctrl T

Ctrl I

Ctrl P

Note: the View windowmust have focus for theseshortcuts to function.

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Advanced Vector Editing

Appendix: Assigning Attributes

For moreinformationon the me-chanics of assigning at-tributes and using defaultrecords see the TechnicalGuide entitled Spatial Edi-tor: Database Prompt andDefault Record and theManaging Geoattributesbooklet.

The tables you checkin the Database Set-tings window will openby default when youselect an element ofthat type.

The Editor has a number of features designed foreasy assignment of attributes as you add and editelements. You can elect to be prompted to enter anattribute each time you add an element. You desig-nate a separate table for each element type, which

can be set up by the usual methods or createdwhen you specify the database prompting pa-rameters. You can also be prompted to assignattributes when you split a line or split or joinpolygons while editing.

You can streamline attribute assignment by add-ing elements of the same type one afteranother. For this specialized circum-stance, you can designate a defaultrecord. The default record will be as-signed to all new elements, such as alladded roads, until you change the de-fault. You can change the default recordfor each open table for each element

type by selecting a different record in anyof the open tables.

Using Setup/Database Prompt will let youchange the default for all element typesfrom the same window. Use a tabular viewfor default record assignment to facilitatechanging the current default when the de-sired record(s) already exist. To specify adefault record from an existing table for useand change, open a tabular view of the de-sired database table. The record you checkin the tabular view of the table will be as-signed to all newly added elements untilyou check another record in the table.

When a table is open in tabular view and a record isselected, you are in the default record mode whenan element is added or split. You are in databaseprompting mode, if it has been set up, and no recordis checked in an open table(s).

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Advanced Vector Editing

AppendicesAdd Element, Filters, and Operations Icons

Not all of the icons in the Vector Tools window areactive at all times. An icon must be active for itsToolTip to appear. The circumstances necessary toactivate icons that may be inactive when a new vec-tor object is created are listed at the right.

Convert Node to Point

Connect PointsSet Line Labels

Add Arc

Add CircleAdd Point

Add Regular PolygonAdd RectangleAdd Label

Add PolygonAdd Node

Add Line

Straighten Lines

Spline

COGO

Interactive Line-FollowingAdd RegionAdd Ellipse

Add Arc Chord

Add Arc Wedge

Dangling Lines

Remove Bubble Polygons Remove Excess Nodes

Edit Element

Snap

Line Simplification

Element Offset

Mark Elements

Remove by Script

Remove Island Polygons

Dissolve Polygons

Sliver Polygons

Z Value

Auto Generate Labels

Label Attributes

Convert Dynamic Labels

Set Contour Z Values

Delete Element

Reverse Line Vertices

All filters and operationsrequire some element to beadded before they are ac-tive.

Add Node is not ac-tive until some otherelement type isadded.

Thesefilters

require that the object con-tain a polygon.

Interactive Line-Fol-lowing is not activeuntil a reference ras-ter is added.

Set Line Labels re-quires that the vectorhas a line.

Connect Points re-quires that the vectorhas a point.

Set Contour Z Valuesrequires that the vec-tor has more than oneline.

Label Attributes re-quires that the vectorhas a label.Convert DynamicLabels requires thatthe vector has dy-namic labels set up.

Vector, CAD, Shape Object Differences

Vector objects are the only object type that has different topology levels: po-lygonal, planar, or network. Shape objects have no representation in Project Fileformat. CAD objects do not have internal tables and cannot have implied one-to-one tables. Shape and CAD objects can have multi-points, multi-lines, andmulti-polygons. CAD objects use geometric descriptions for geometric shapes(e.g., center point and radius for a circle). CAD objects have individual elementstyles. CAD elements can be moved from front to back (and vice versa). A CADobject can be inserted as a block into another CAD object. Shape and CADobjects can have holes. Vector and shape objects have “internal tables.”

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Appendix: Internal TablesInternal tables are a type of system table that keeptrack of element information. For raster objects theinternal table provides cell values. For shape ob-jects the internal table provides the element num-ber. For TIN objects the internal tables keep trackof the node coordinates, which triangles are on ei-ther side of a line, and which edges make up a tri-angle. For vector objects the internal tables keeptrack of all the topology information. CAD objectsdo not have internal tables because they are notreferenced by element number.

There is a single internal table forpoints and nodes. They are dis-tinguished by a check in theIsNode field. Nodes are necessaryfor vector topology. In all topol-ogy types lines start and end witha node. A node can also be a pointif it has attributes.

Line attributes include information about whatpolygon is on the left and right of the line if thevector has polygonal topology. The NumPointsattribute tells you the number of vertices in the line.

Polygon attributes include whether the polygon is(Inside = 1) or is not (Inside = 0) an island of an-other polygon and the number of lines that makeup the boundary as well as the number of islandsthe polygon contains. The Inside attribute can beuseful for simple styling by script or by attributedepending on whether the polygon is or is not anisland. The polygon selected for the record illus-tration at the left is relatively large and surroundedby many other polygons, which leads to the largenumber of lines that make up the polygon.

Right-click on an element type line in a Managerwindow and choose Show System Tables to showinternal tables along with other system tables, suchas style tables.

The fields present in internaltables differ between 2Dand 3D objects. In additionto X and Y values, interaltables for 3D objects willprovide Z information.

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Appendix: Other TNT-Generated Attributes

Dialog for stand-alone Stan-dard Attributes process.

The Geometric / Attributes menu provides a numberof choices for computing additional attribute tables.The standard attributes tables for vector lines andpolygons can also be generated and maintained inTNT’s Editor. The standard attributes tables con-tain such information as length and midpoint forlines and area, boundary length, and centroid loca-tion for polygons.

The Transfer Attributes process lets you transfer theattributes from a vector, raster, or CAD object to vec-tor elements that fall in the same or an overlappinglocation. If transferring attributes from another vec-tor, you can transfer attributes from points, lines, orpolygons to points lines or polygons in the destina-tion object.

The Compute Fuzzy Properties process computesup to 12 properties for polygons including such in-formation as Form Ratio, Grain Shape Index, Com-pactness, and Thinness Ratio.

The Raster Properties process transfers raster infor-mation to polygons that overlay the raster. You canchoose how to treat boundary cells, optionally com-pute the histogram for each polygon and decidewhether or not to include islands in property as-signment.

The Surface Properties process transfers informationabout the surface underlying vector elements tothose elements (lines and/or polygons), such as mini-mum and maximum Z values and minimum andmaximum slope of the boundary line.

The Polygon Properties process creates statis-tics for a selected field in tables with a one recordper element attachment type. These area sta-tistics are calculated for points or polygons andrecords are attached to polygons in another ob-ject that covers the same area. If multiple recordsare attached, the sum of the attached percent-age fields will be 100.

Standard attributes table forpolygons without optionalcomponents.

Choose to keep standardattributes updated while youare using the Editor.

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Advanced Software for Geospatial Analysis

MicroImages, Inc.¤

www.microimages.com

Index

ADVANCED

EDITING

3D views .................................................. 21attributes .................................... 28, 30, 31auto labeling ...................................... 9–10auto-tracing line segments ....................... 7contours ..................................... 14, 16, 22cut/copy/paste ......................................... 23default records ........................................ 2 8external files ................................... 3, 5, 22filters ................................................. 18–19holes ......................................................... 26hot keys .............................................. 9, 27implied georeference ............................... 5internal tables .......................................... 30islands ...................................................... 25labels

auto labeling ........................... 9–10, 12editing ................................... 11, 13, 16

set line labels ................................ 14–15layer properties ......................................... 5major/minor intervals ..................... 14, 22pan by query ........................................... 2 0preferences ................................................ 4restart editing session ............................... 8right mouse button operations ................ 9save editing session .................................. 8set contour Z values ............................... 2 2set line labels .................................... 14–15shapefiles ........................................ 3, 5, 22snapping .................................................... 6standard attributes .................................. 3 1tool colors .................................................. 4Undo/Redo ................................................ 3vector, CAD, shape comparison ........... 29Vector Tools window icons ................... 2 9

MicroImages, Inc. publishes a complete line of professional software for advancedgeospatial data visualization, analysis, and publishing. Contact us or visit our website for detailed product information.TNTmips Pro TNTmips Pro is a professional system for fully integrated GIS, image

analysis, CAD, TIN, desktop cartography, and geospatial database management.

TNTmips Basic TNTmips Basic is a low-cost version of TNTmips for small projects.

TNTmips Free TNTmips Free is a free version of TNTmips for students and profession-als with small projects. You can download TNTmips Free from MicroImages’ web site.

TNTedit TNTedit provides interactive tools to create, georeference, and edit vector, image,CAD, TIN, and relational database project materials in a wide variety of formats.

TNTview TNTview has the same powerful display features as TNTmips and is perfect forthose who do not need the technical processing and preparation features of TNTmips.

TNTatlas TNTatlas lets you publish and distribute your spatial project materials on CD orDVD at low cost. TNTatlas CDs/DVDs can be used on any popular computing platform.


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