Tutorial

with

TNTatlas®

TNTatlas

Using TNTatlas®

page 2

Using TNTatlas

Before Getting StartedTNTatlas® is a free product available from MicroImages for viewing hierarchicalatlases prepared in TNTmips® with HyperIndex® Linker or for single layoutatlases. You can also view single files in any of the many formats supported fordirect use by the TNT products. TNTatlas, like the other TNT products, runswith MicroImages X Server (MI/X) with Windows and X11 from XQuartz on theMac. TNTatlas largely uses TNTmips’ Display code; many of the changes madein Display automatically appear in TNTatlas.

Prerequisite Skills This booklet assumes you have completed the exercises inDisplaying Geospatial Data and TNT Product Concepts. Those exercises intro-duce essential skills and basic techniques that are not covered again here. Pleaseconsult these booklets for any 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 TNTATLAS directory of DATA and the TNTatlas file (.atl) alsofound there. A read-write copy of sample data on your hard drive is not requiredsince atlases can be run with the data on DVD. Making a copy on your hard drivewill generally speed access, however.

More Documentation This booklet is intended only as an introduction to usingTNTatlas. There are additional booklets that discuss the design (DesigningElectronic Atlases) and construction (Constructing an Electronic Atlas) ofTNTatlases that you may wish to consult.

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), youare using TNTmips Free or TNTmips Basic, which limit the size of your projectmaterials. All exercises in this booklet can be completed in TNTmips Free usingthe 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., 15 December 2011© 2003–2011

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Using TNTatlas

Welcome to TNTatlasTNTatlas provides a means for limited or widespreaddistribution of atlases. The recipient of an atlas onCD/DVD has everything required to view the atlas.MicroImages requires no payment for the distribu-tion of data and software in this fashion. Once theviewing software (TNTatlas) has been installed, itcan be used to view any atlas or object in TNTmips’RVC format. TNTatlas can also be run directly fromthe CD/DVD that contains the atlas data. AlthoughTNTmips is required to construct an atlas usingHyperIndex Linker, anyone using TNTmips, TNT-edit, TNTview, or TNTatlas can access the atlasescreated (depending on permissions). Any of theseproducts, except TNTatlas, can be used to create asingle layout atlas. Single layout atlases can beviewed in all of the products including TNTatlas.

One example of widespread distribution of an atlasis the street atlas of Istanbul on CD (in Turkish) in-serted in a popular magazine with a distribution ofabout 30,000. The atlas was so popular that it wasalso distributed with a second issue of the samemagazine. Precision agriculture consulting providesa good example of limited atlas distributions inwhich only a single copy of an atlas is given out tothe individual farmer so that he or she may view allthe imagery, vectors, and other data collected forthe land they farm. In either case, the recipient ofthe atlas can be viewing the associated data withinminutes of inserting the CD/DVD in their computer.

Three additional booklets address different aspectsof working with atlases including assistance withatlas design (Designing Electronic Atlases), atlasassembly (Constructing an Electronic Atlas), andthe scope of projects that can be undertaken (MER-LIN: Enterprise-wide Geospatial Analysis). Thisbooklet is intended for people using TNTatlas whowere not involved in the design of the atlas and maybe unfamiliar with TNTmips.

STEPS

copy the files in theTNTATLAS data collection toyour local drive

The exercises on pages 4–7 show you how to open anatlas and navigate in a vari-ety of ways. Page 8 de-scribes layer visibility, whilepage 9 discusses viewingattributes. Page 10 demon-strates web links by at-tribute. Page 11 providesmore tips for viewing singlelayout atlases. Pages 12–14 describe customizingyour TNTatlas interface andadding and using MacroScripts and Tool Scripts.Pages 15–16 provide anintroduction to the featuresof the GeoToolbox and re-gions. Page 18 discussesusing TNTatlas as a viewerfor files in other formats andpage 18 describes interfacefeatures not already pre-sented. Page 19 describesusing multiple views inTNTatlas.

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Using TNTatlas

Launching a TNTatlas from CD/DVDTNTatlas is used to refer to the program that runsatlases constructed in TNTmips and to atlases thatare constructed in TNTmips. Your most likelysource of the program and/or an atlas if you do notrun the professional TNT products is on CD or DVD.The initial actions required when you insert a CD/DVD that contains a TNTatlas depends on how theatlas designer chose to set it up and whetherAutorun is enabled on your PC. Autorun is neverenabled on the Mac.

The atlas may be set up to run directly from theDVD or you may have to install the TNTatlas soft-ware and choose to open the atlas that is also on

the DVD. The person that created the atlas on DVDalso determines which platforms the atlas can runon by what software they place on the DVD. If youacquire an atlas DVD that does not support yourplatform, you can download TNTatlas for your plat-form from MicroImages’ web site (www.microimages.com/products/tntatlas/index.htm),install from the downloaded file, and open the atlasfrom the DVD regardless of the platform you arerunning on. TNTatlas uses the same data withoutconversion on both Windows and Mac computers.

If the DVD you acquired supports running the atlaswithout having to first install the software, it mayor may not also include the setup program forTNTatlas and, if included, it is up to you whetheryou want to install it. Once the TNTatlas softwareis installed, you can also use TNTatlas as a viewerfor individual objects in Project Files or files in avariety of formats supported for direct use in the

TNT products (e.g. shapefiles, TIFF,JPEG2000). You can also use the TNTatlasprogram that runs from the DVD for this pur-pose.

TNTatlas can be used byanyone with a Windows orMac computer and CD/DVDdrive. You can substitute theInternet (to download theprogram and data) for aDVD drive.

If TNTatlas is configured torun directly from the DVDand autorun is not enabled,look for a batch file in theroot directory or a *.atl file inthe root or data directory.

If the atlas is configured toautorun from the DVD andautorun is enabled on yourmachine, you will first seethe MicroImages splashscreen and then TNTatlaswill open.

double-clickhere torun onMac

double-click here to run onWindowsif autorunis disabled

double-click on *.atl on Mac or Windows to run atlas from DVD

page 5

Using TNTatlas

STEPS

install TNTatlas fromwhatever source youacquired it

launch TNTatlas

choose File / Open Atlasfrom the TNTatlas win-dow and select USA.ATL,which is in the TNTATLAS

folder you copied

Installing and Opening

If the DVD does not autorunand is configured to installTNTatlas, look in the setupfolder and double-click onsetup.exe (Windows) or*.dmg (Mac) to beginTNTatlas installation.

If you have acquired an atlas on DVD that is notconfigured to run directly from this medium, thefirst step in running TNTatlas is to install it. Placingthe disc in your DVD drive on a Windows machinewith autorun enabled should launch the installa-tion program. It could also launch an Adobe Acro-bat or html document with buttons that letyou choose between installation and otherfunctions.

Installation is a simple procedure. You justread the screens that come up and click on the Nextor Continue button until you are done withinstallation and you click Finish. You do nothave to reboot your machine for installationto be completed, as you do with many prod-ucts.

During TNTatlas installation, an associationis established between the file, which has a.atl extension, that specifies the atlas homepage and the program that launches TNTatlas sothat double clicking on any .atl file will open TNT-atlas with the home page specified by that file. Youcan also launch TNTatlas by double-clicking on itsicon in the installed location or choosing it fromthe MicroImages group on the Start menu (Windowsonly). If launched in this manner, you need to usethe File menu to open an atlas (.atl, Open Atlas) oran object in RVC format or other formats supportedfor direct display (Open Object). If you received anatlas on DVD, the .atl should be at the root level ofthe disc or in the data directory.

You are instructed here to open an atlas that is pro-vided as part of the sample data for the tutorial book-lets. You should, of course, also open the atlas thatcame on your CD/DVD if that is how you acquiredTNTatlas.

When you open a TNTatlas,you may initially get a blankTNTatlas window or youmay get a window with anintroductory image until theactual atlas data loads.

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Using TNTatlas

TNTatlas ComponentsLike the TNTmips Display process, TNTatlas oper-ates with view and manager windows. Unlike Dis-play, the Manager is optional in TNTatlas unless

HyperIndex Navigator

Navigate BackNavigate Home

STEPS

note that when youpause the cursor over astate, a DataTip with thestate name appears

in the view window, clickon the HyperIndex /Set-tings icon and chooseShow link aeas

note the cursor changesshape when over a linkarea

now toggle off the Showlink areas option

(continue to the exercise onp. 11 without exiting.)

sidebar

you want to view at-tribute tables. Thethree HyperIndexicons at the right ofthe toolbar appearwhen the HyperIndexNavigator tool istoggled on. Open theLayer Manager fromthe Options menu(view window).

A HyperIndex stack,or atlas, is a collection ofgraphically and geographi-

cally related objects that uses the HyperIndex Navi-gator tool for point and click retrieval of objectsfrom the hierarchical links established with Hyper-Index Linker. An atlas can also be a single layoutthat uses map scale controlled visibility to revealand hide different layers as you zoom in and out.In this case, you use the zoom tools, not theHyperIndex navigation tool, to discover the breadthof information presented in the atlas.

The area of the parent object that contains a link tothe next level in a stack is called a link area. Youcan choose to show or hide the outlines of theseareas. If you click where link areas overlap, the

HyperIndex Link Selection win-dow opens to let you choosewhich link you want to follow.

The link areas in this example arethe min/max boxes for each state be-cause the links were created automati-

cally using georeference informationrather than individually for each poly-gon.

Choose Options/Layer Managerif this window does not open.

HyperIndexSettings

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Using TNTatlas

Navigating DownMany objects can be linked to the same parent ob-ject. In the atlas used for this exercise, the countymaps for each of the states have been linked to theparent object (contiguous states of the USA). Whenyou click on a state, its county map is displayed. Asmentioned on the previous page, your links mayoccupy the entire area represented by the min/maxbox of the object you are linking to. It may also bean individual vector element, such as each statepolygon. In this latter case, there is no area of over-lap between link areas. Note that the cursor shapechanges from the left arrow to a hand shape whenyou are over a link area.

Clicking on the Navigate Home button always takesyou to the level of the atlas you started at. TheNavigate Back button takes you one level up in thehierarchy of the atlas to the layout that had the linkyou used. You have only navigated down one levelin this exercise, so the Navigate Back and NavigateHome buttons will bring up the same object.

When you click on a location that is covered bymultiple link areas, a window opens that lists thedescriptions for all the link areas that overlap whereyou clicked. You then choose the link you want tofollow or cancel the navigation. You can elect tohave this window open if there is just a single linkby turning on the Verify Selection toggle button onthe HyperIndex Settings menu from the correspond-ing icon in the view window. Generally, it is a nui-sance to have to click [OK] each time you navigate,but you may decide with some atlases, particularlyif you are not connected to the Internet (and theatlas contains web links) or are runningon a slower machine, that you want to seethe description of the link before display-ing the object.

Vocabulary: The HomeLevel is the first level of astack. In a published atlas,the Home Level is often agraphic that introduces thepurpose of the atlas. Youcan begin where you wantwhen viewing a stack inTNTatlas by choosing OpenObject rather than OpenAtlas, which always opensthe Home Level when youbegin navigating.

STEPS

with the HyperIndexNavigator tool se-lected

click in the middle ofNebraska

pause the cursor overseveral counties notingthe county names pro-vided by DataTip

right-click on the up-and-left arrow,note the choices,and select one

click on the Navi-gate Home buttoneither in the HyperIndexNavigator window or onthe view window toolbar

click on the eastern bor-der of Nebraska, thenchoose Nebraskacounty outlines from theHyperIndex Link Selec-tion window, and click[OK]

page 8

Using TNTatlas

Layer VisibilitySTEPS

turn on link areas (see p.6 if necessary)

click on the link area inDawes county

expand Group 1

click on the Show / Hideindicator for ROADS andnote the presence of thenew layer

click on the ShowZoom icon at thebottom of the sidebar,set Zoom to View Scaleand enter 42000 in thescale field, andpress<enter>

change the scale to55000 and press<enter>

Three conditions may cause a layer to not be cur-rently visible: the Show / Hide indicator is set tohide and/or the layer has map scale controlled vis-ibility and the current scale is outside the visible

range and/or you are zoomed in such that theentire layer is outside the extents of the cur-rent view. You can see if there are any hiddenlayers by expanding the group it is in so thelayers are listed. The Show / Hide checkbox

is immediately to the left of the layername. Many atlases, particularly single

layout atlases, have so many lay-ers that showing them all at onceis not practical. The atlas de-signer has to make the decisionabout which layers to make vis-ible initially. If you are interestedin any of the other layers, youcan turn them on.

Map scale controlled visibility turns layers on andoff as you zoom in and out. Low resolution imagescan be replaced by higher resolution images as youzoom in, or satellite imagery may replace a scanned

map. Vector objects can showdifferent levels of detail. With

map scale controlled visibility, a layer can alwaysbe on, it can either appear or disappear when thespecified scale is reached, or it can be visible onlywithin a designated scale range. The Zoom scalefield in the sidebar reports the number to the rightof the colon in the map scale at the bottom right of

the view (for example, 24,000 for1:24,000). To see the soil map inthis exercise, you have to zoomin to 1:42,000 or greater. You can-not change the visible map scalefor layers in TNTatlas. Assigningmap scale controlled visibility isalso up to the atlas designer.

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Using TNTatlas

Viewing Database InformationSTEPS

change the entry in thescale field to 42000, andpress <enter>

find the CBSOILS layer inthe TNTatlas Layer Man-ager window, expand it,then expand the poly-gons

click on the Show orHide Table checkbox forthe CLASS and YIELD tables

click on the Selecticon button on theview window toolbar

click on a number of soilpolygons in the viewwindow noting therecords selected

click on a SelectRecord checkboxin the YIELD tablethen on the Exclu-sive icon button inthe YIELD table’s toolbar(note the view will pan ifthe active element is notvisible)

look at the polygon rowfor CBSOILS in the TNT-atlas Layer Managerwindow and note howmany polygons are se-lected

repeat steps 6 and 7 fora different soil type

click on the Hyper-Index Navigator tool

TNTatlas provides you the same access to databaseinformation available in TNTmips. You can viewattributes of selected elements and use attributes toselect elements. You can use attributes to selectelements while the HyperIndex Navigator tool isactive, but you must switch to the Select tool or theGeoToolbox to select elements with the mouse.

The Select tool on the view window toolbar letsyou select individual elements. In addition to in-dividual element selection, the GeoToolbox letsyou draw geometric and irregular shapes for use inselection. You can make measurements using thesesame shapes or create a sketch layer or region fromthem (these features are described in the Sketchingand Measuring and Interac-tive Region Analysis book-lets).

If you select elements with-out first opening a databasetable, the first table associ-ated with the element typeselected opens automati-cally. For many vectorobjects, this table may bethe element ID table,which is not likely to pro-vide information of inter-est to you. You need totake the positive actions described in this exerciseto open the table you want to view. Unless you arealready familiar with the data in the atlas you areviewing, finding the information you want to see isan exploration process. You show details on groupsand layers, then reveal the list of tables and decidewhich to open.

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Using TNTatlas

Web Links By AttributePoint-and-click object retrieval in TNTatlas replacesthe current view window contents with the objectretrieved. Any object type, including complex lay-outs that include many different objects and scalebars, legends, or other enhancements, can be re-trieved as was demonstrated in the previous twoexercises. When the link is to an external file typethat is not supported for direct display or to a web

site, a sepa-rate windowopens forthat applica-tion, and thecurrent viewremains un-changed.

The layoutfor this exer-cise shows a

resampled mosaic of Digital Ortho Quarter Quads(DOQQs) for a portion of Box Butte County as thebase for a sample of registered ground water wellsin the area. The well points are theme mapped bypumping capacity. Each of the points has a link tothe groundwater wells data maintained by the Ne-

braska Department of Natural Resources(NDNR). This link used to take you di-

rectly to the informa-tion for the well youclicked on. Changesin the NDNR web sitenow require you tochoose what informa-tion you want to enterand that you then en-ter that information inorder to view their in-formation for a par-ticular well.

STEPS

click on the NavigateBack icon then onthe other link area (inBox Butte County)

make sure you are con-figured to connect to theInternet although youneed not have launchedyour browser

with theHyper-IndexNavigatortool stillselected,click onone of thepoints

un-checkOwner’sName andcheckRegistra-tion Number, then clickSubmit

hover over the point youclicked on and enter thenumber shown in theDataTip, then click Sub-mit

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Using TNTatlas

Viewing Single Layout AtlasesThe HyperIndex Navigator tool has no function withsingle layout atlases unless there are links to websites or other file types. You reveal the depths of theatlas with the zoom and pan tools. The hot keyspresented at the bottom of the page 18 are also use-ful. Single layout atlases rarely have all the layersshown at one time. The earlier exercise on LayerVisibility describes different methods of making lay-ers draw without specifically using the zoom box.

The Zoom Box is used to select an area you want tozoom up on and is proportional to your view area(unless you have differential zooming turned on).There is an Options / View Settings toggle that letsyou set whether the tool is spring loaded (zoomswhen you release the mouse) or right-mouse buttonactivated. In the latter case, the Zoom Box remainson the original image where it was drawn, so that itsposition and size can be adjusted, until you clickthe right mouse button. Set this toggle in which-ever position you prefer.

Most single layout at-lases are far more com-plex than the layout usedin this exercise, whichyou should recognize aspart of the larger USA at-las. This layout, however,will serve to demonstrateapproaches to use withsingle layout atlases. Ifyou see a layer listed that you want to view but youdon’t think it is drawn, first check if it is hidden. Ifnot, try zooming to the layer extents. If the layerhas map scale controlled visibility, it may be vis-ible at this scale. If the layer has been assembledfrom many pieces, for example all the TIGER datain the state, it will not likely be visible when youzoom to its extents so zoom in within the extents.Finding a layer of interest may take some thought.

STEPS

choose File / Open Ob-ject and select SPOTAND

OVERLAYS from the CB_SPOT

Project File

click on the ZoomBox tool, positionthe cursor at the upperleft of the raster, drawout a box that encom-passes at least two gridsquares in each direc-tion, then release themouse (right click ifneeded)

click on the Fullicon button

choose Options / ViewSettings and toggle onthe last button (Use rightmouse button to performzoom or pan)

repeat step 2 exceptreposition and resize thebox after its initial draw-ing, then click the rightmouse button

click on the Zoom toActive Group iconin the view window

expand Group 1 in theLegend, right-click onSPOT_PAN in the LayerManager and chooseZoom to Extents

page 12

Using TNTatlas

Synchronize Atlas View with Google EarthSTEPS

connect to the Internet

click on the Syn-chronize ExternalGeoViewer icon

turn on the GoogleEarth toggle

turn on the Draw ViewExtents as TemporaryPlace option in theGoogle Earth Synchroni-zation window

The outline shown in GoogleEarth indicates the area shownin your TNTatlas view window.

You can open a view that includes the extents ofyour current TNTatlas view in Google Maps, Micro-

soft Bing Maps, or Google Earth. Forthe first two choices, you need toreselect synchronization from the iconagain to update position and zoom

changes. Google Earth will automatically followthese changes but will ask if you want to reload theKML file generated by TNT, which indicates yournew location and/or zoom level. You can turn thisprompting off by clicking on the Always button.

Google Earth synchroniza-tion provides additional op-tions to show thecenterpoint of your view,show view and group out-lines, and/or to change therelative zoom from yourview to that shown inGoogle Earth. Google Mapsalso shows the center pointof your view.

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Using TNTatlas

Another option available to the atlas designer iscustomizing the interface to provide only the toolshe or she thinks you will need. Thus, it is possiblethat you may have received an atlas that does nothave all the buttons illustrated on the precedingpages. The atlas designer also controls whether ornot you can customize the inter-face. The Hidden Features choiceon the Options menu presents allavailable icon buttons and menuchoices. Not all choices are onby default. If you are usingTNTatlas downloaded fromMicroImages’ web site, you willhave the ability to customize the interface. Thefeatures you select are part of the TNTatlas program,not the atlas itself and will be retained if you run thesame program and open a different atlas.

TNTmips’ display process, which is incorporated inTNTatlas, has many tools and features that the nov-ice or casual TNTatlas user will not utilize. Suchfeatures may have been removed from the interfaceto simplify its use or you can remove the tools andoptions you do not use if customization is allowed.

The Customize window is divided into Toolbar andMenubar sections. All toolbar icons are listed be-fore the menubar selections. All user interfacecustomization settings are stored in the customui.usrfile. These settings can be transferred to subsequentinstallations of the TNT products if you choose thetransfer settings option during installation.

STEPS

choose Options / HiddenFeatures in the viewwindow

scroll through thechoices noting what ison and what is off

make any changes de-sired

The toolbar shown above is the default configuration.The toolbar below has all available icons turned on.

These are theatlas specificnavigation icons

Drawing ActionsView Actions

Tool Selection

Customization of TNTatlas Interface

All View menu choices areshown above. All choicesthat have correspondingicons have been removedfrom the View menu below.

Marking ModesMarking Actions

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Using TNTatlas

Adding and Using Custom ToolsIn addition to adding and removing menu itemsand icons, you can add specific functionality toyour atlas, or it may have been added by your atlas’sdesigner. If Macro or Tool Scripts were added byyour atlas’s designer, they will come and go as you

Navigate through theatlas (unless it is asingle layout atlas) be-cause they are associ-ated with specific lay-outs. Look for icons toappear to the left of theHyperIndex Settingsicon.

Macro and Tool Scripts that you add will only beavailable in the current TNTatlas session if you arerunning from DVD. If you have installed TNTatlas,these scripts will be available the next time youopen TNTatlas provided you did not choose theThis layout only option in the Script Properties win-dow.

STEPS

with the SPOTAND

OVERLAYS layout open,choose Options / MacroScripts (View window)

click on the Add iconand select ZOOMTO.SML

enter Zoom to Scale inthe Name field

click in the MenuChoices text box andtype in the entriesshown, then click [OK] inboth windows

click on the new icon tothe left of theHyperIndex Settingsicon on the toolbarand select 60000

click on the sameicon and select 42000,then note the differencein scale and what is dis-played

Note: Some Macro andTool Scripts only makesense for a particularlayout in an atlas, suchas the script addedhere. If you zoomed toeither of these scales atthe USA or Nebraskalevel, you would likelysee nothing but yourbackground color.

Macro Script used tozoom to 1:42,000 andCBSOILS is displayed.

Macro and Tool Scripticons will appear here.

Macro Script used tozoom to 1:60,000 andCBSOILS is not displayed.

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Using TNTatlas

Introduction to the GeoToolboxThe GeoToolbox integrates sketching, measuring,selection, and region operations. Input for any ofthese functions can come from the mouse, an X-Ydigitizer, or a GPS unit or log. You can get the mea-surements for a polygon you draw as a region thenadd it to a sketch just by switching tabbed panels inthe GeoToolbox and using the right mouse buttonmenu. Elements added to sketches can have at-tributes and you will be prompted for the attributevalue for each element you add if you choose to useattributes. A simple Select tool is provided on theView window toolbar, but the GeoToolbox providesarea selection as well as single element selection. Asimple Annotate tool is also provided on the Viewwindow toolbar.

There are two line drawing modes thatare used with the line and polygontools: draw and stretch. In the drawmode, the line is drawn as you drag themouse. In the stretch mode, the linecan be adjusted as you drag the mouseand the next vertex is added where you release themouse button. Your preference for drawing is set onthe Controls tabbed panel. The Ruler tool behaveslike drawing a line in stretch mode.

STEPS

with the SPOTAND OVER-LAYS layout open, zoomback to 1:60,000

click on the Geo-Toolbox icon

click on the Rulericon

click on one of the dot-ted lines, then hold anddrag to an adjacent dot-ted line

click on the Measure taband see how close to 1mile you got (changeunits from the Optionsmenu in theGeoToolbox)

right click over the im-age and note the avail-able choices (the middlepanel tells you the kindsof regions you can gen-erate from the linedrawn)

Keep this layout openthrough the exercise onpage 17.

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Using TNTatlas

Making a Buffer Zone RegionSTEPS

expand the HYDROLOGY

layer in Group 1 (LayerManager) and turn onselection for lines byclicking on thearrow

draw a rect-angle thatcontains a few ofthe hydrologylines, then right-click and chooseSelect Elements

right-click on thelines row in theLayer Manager, andchoose Buffer ZoneRegion

click on Apply to see apreview of the bufferzone region at thedefault width

change the bufferzone width to 200meters, and clickApply again

click on OK

switch to the Re-gion tabbed panelin the Geo-Toolbox and notethat the regiongenerated isnamed the sameas the object it was gen-erated from and it isonce again shown in theTNTatlas window

click on Group 1 in theLayer Manager to makeit the active group thenclick on the Sketch taband try your hand atsketching

You have the option of generating regions fromshapes you draw or from selected elements. Whenyou right-click over the image in the TNTatlas win-dow in this exercise, the region is generated for theelement you have drawn using the GeoToolbox. In

this case, right-clicking overthe image afteryou have se-lected the ele-ments andc h o o s i n gBuffer ZoneRegion wouldbuffer around

the rectangle you drewrather than around the se-lected elements. The regionoptions are not on the rightmouse button menu for an

element typeunless youhave selectedelements ofthat type inthat layer.

The GeoTool-box providesmany addi-tional power-

ful tools for your use. You should take the time todiscover more of its functionality. For more infor-mation on the GeoToolbox, consult the Sketchingand Measuring and Interactive Region Analysisbooklets.

page 17

Using TNTatlas

Using TNTatlas as a ViewerSTEPS

choose File / Open Ob-ject

select any TIFF, JP2,MrSID, ECW, shapefile,or TAB file you have*

if you do not have data inany of these file formats,

choose a TIFF file fromthe import folder with thedata on a TNT productsDVD or from Micro-Images’ web site.

* See the Tech Guide en-titled System: Direct Useof Geodata Files for ad-ditional formats

Although TNTatlas is much more than a viewer, itcan be used to view data in a variety of formats inaddition to the TNT products Project File format.You can directly view rasters in TIFF/GeoTIFF, JP2,MrSID, and ECW (Enhanced Compressed Waveletfrom ER Mapper) formats. You can also directlydisplay data in ESRI’s shapefile format andMapInfo’s TAB format. Shapefiles are dis-played as shape objects and TAB files as CADobjects. A number of other formats are alsosupported for direct display*. You can evendisplay an Oracle Spatial layer in TNTatlas ifsomeone had previously created a link to thelayer inTNTmips,TNTedit, orTNTview.

TIFF

You can view any of the supportedformats using the same methodsyou use to open a single layout atlasor any other object in MicroImages’Project File format.

JP2

shapefile

TAB

page 18

Using TNTatlas

TNTatlas Miscellaneous FeaturesSTEPS

choose File /Open Object andselectWELLS_AND_DOQQfrom the WELLS

Project File

click on the + tothe left of Group 1in the Legend

note the appear-ance of the layernames and theirlegends

click on the minus(-) to the left of theMOSAICCOQ layer name(note that only the legendfor that layer is hidden)

right click on the wellslayer name in the Legendand choose ViewMetadata

read the metadata, thenchoose File / Close in theMetadata Viewer window

move the cursor tothe right of the verticalscroll bar in the Leg-end, but not over theview itself; the cursorshould become adouble-arrow, then clickand drag to resize theLegend

choose View Histogramfrom the RMBM for theMOSAICCOQ layer, andnote the informationpresented

try other selectionson the RMBM

The sidebar appears at theleft of the view window andcan be turned on/off andresized. The gadgets for thesidebar are controlled by the

icons near the bottom. The information in theLegend can be expanded and collapsed. It is amatter of personal preference whether you wantthe legend information in the view window oryou want the Layer Manager or neither. How-ever, you need the Layer Manager window toview dabase information.

You will find a variety of right mouse button func-tions at the group and layer levels in the Legend.Clicking the right mouse button on the group namelets you choose to open the group settings, hide/show layers in the main and locator view, and zoomto extents among many other functions. The rightmouse button menu (RMBM) for the layers lets youzoom to various levels of detail, and open the Markby Query window. These functions and more areavailable from the RMBM for each layer in the

TNTatlas Layer Manager includingthe options to view raster histograms,layer extents, metadata, and to turnDataTips on/off if they have been setup by the designer. For vector, shape,

CAD, and TIN layers you can also zoom to the ac-tive or selected elements.

A number of hot keys are available to make chang-ing view position and zoom easier. The view win-

dow must have focus for theseto be active: redraw at fullview, 0; set zoom to 1X–4X,1–4; recenter at cursor loca-tion <space>, zoom in, +;zoom out, -.

These icons control show/hidefor the sidebar features.

Legend

SidebarMagnifier

LocatorPlaces

Zoom

*

* See the collection of2012 Technical Guidesabout the Sidebar andits functions.

page 19

Using TNTatlas

Multiple ViewsThe designer of an atlas you have acquired mayhave set the atlas to open with multiple views of thesame data open. You can also choose to open addi-tional views of any atlas. Once you have multipleviews open, you can turn on/off different layers and/or groups in the layout in different view windows.You can also display different views at differentscales.

You may want to consider using the GeoLock fea-ture if you have multiple views open. This featurelets you move the view in all of the open windowsby changing the position and or the zoom in anyone of the windows. The position of the cursor inany one of the windows is also shown in the othersby a yellow crosshair. The icon for GeoLocking isone of the hidden features in TNTatlas (see p. 13)but can also be turned on using the GeoLock toggleon the View menu. You set whether you want to userelative zoom or extents or both to determine howother views are adjusted by choosing GeoLock Set-tings from the Options menu. When you are work-ing with multiple views you may also want to usethe Multi-View Locator. See the Technical Guidesentitled Geolock with Relative Zoomand Multi-View Locator Tool for moreinformation.

STEPS

choose View/Open Addi-tional in the TNTatlasView window

check that GeoLock istoggled on on both Viewmenus

turn different layers on/off for different viewsand compare them

open Geolock Settings(Options/GeoLock Set-tings), change the Rela-tive Scale to 5, click OKthen Refresh

Right-click on a Show/Hidecheckbox to see which viewsa group or layer is visible inand to make changes.

No check indicates that thegroup/layer is hidden in allviews.

A gray check indicates thata group or layer is hidden inone or more views.

A black check indicatesthat a group or layer isvisible in all views.

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Index.atl file ........................................................ 4atlas definition .......................................... 6automatic linking ...................................... 6customization ................................... 12–14database viewing ...................................... 9DataTips .............................................. 6, 10external formats ................................. 4, 17GeoLocking ............................................ 19GeoToolbox ................................ 9, 15–16hidden layers ............................................. 8hierarchical atlas .................................. 2, 6home level ................................................. 7hot keys ................................................... 18HyperIndex Linker ............................. 3, 6HyperIndex Navigator .................. 6, 7, 10index areas ........................................... 6, 8installation ................................................. 5JP2 ....................................................... 4, 17

lateral links ................................................ 7layer visibility ........................................... 8layouts ...................................................... 11link selection ............................................. 7Macro Scripts .......................................... 14map scale controlled visibility ......... 8, 14metadata ................................................... 18raster histograms ..................................... 18related booklets ......................................... 3sidebar ...................................................... 18single layout atlas ..................... 2, 3, 8, 11stack definition ......................................... 6TIFF/GeoTIFF ................................... 4, 17TNTatlas Layer Manager .................. 6, 18Tool Scripts ............................................. 14URLs in an atlas ...................................... 10view scale .................................... 8, 11, 14zoom tools ............................................... 11

TNTatlas

®

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