vhclmaps technical info

vhclmaps is a C++ framework for displaying and querying map data, with an emphasis on USGS map formats. NIMA formats supported here. It reuses and extends frameworks from ivtools. vhclmaps also contains sample programs and frameworks for navigating maps with vehicle simulation.

• Map Database Libraries
  • Map, framework for representing and accessing map databases
  • Dlg, library of Map-derived classes for DLG format
  • Vpf, library of Map-derived classes for VPF format
  • Dem, library of elevation model access base classes
  • Los, library of line-of-sight capability
• Map Application Libraries
  • MapUnidraw, library of map display classes based on ivtools
  • MapServ, map feature processing server
  • DlgUnidraw, library of MapUnidraw-derived classes for DLG format
  • VpfUnidraw, library of MapUnidraw-derived classes for VPF format
  • DemUnidraw, library of vtk/Unidraw integration and elevation display base classes
  • UtmUnidraw, library of MapUnidraw-derived classes for UTM projected map features
  • ProjServ, server library for arbitrary projections
  • ProjUnidraw, Unidraw library for arbitrary projections
  • LosServ, server library for line-of-sight/viewshed
• Vehicle Application Libraries
  • Vehicle, library of vehicle objects
  • VhclServ, library for vehicle simluation server
  • VhclUnidraw, library for vehicle server integrated into map viewer
• Applications
  • vpfviewer
  • dlgviewer
  • demviewer
  • utmviewer
  • projviewer
  • mapserv
  • losserv
  • vhclserv
  • vhclviewer

For cartographic projection, vhclmaps uses the PROJ-4.3 package from the USGS.

For 3d terrain display, vhclmaps uses vtk, a C++ framework for visualizing 3D data. The book The Visualization Toolkit: An Object-Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics by Schroeder, Martin, Lorensen describes the conceptual framework of the toolkit. vtk contains fairly general data representation capabilities, many nontrivial data manipulation operations and support for popular 3D rendering libraries including SGI OpenGL, Mesa (OpenGL clone), Sun XGL and HP Starbase.

Here is more on demviewer and vtk.