STEMgis Publicist - Overview
The STEMgis Publicist is a tool that allows data gatherers/owners
to publish their data (e.g. on CD-ROM) complete with a temporal GIS visualization
and analysis tool for distribution/sale to clients or other interested parties.
STEMgis Publicist creates an installable version of a STEMgis
database and a free version of the STEMgis
Viewer, called STEMgis FreeView. The files created by STEMgis
Publicist, form a 'virtual publication', which can be written to appropriate
media for distribution, e.g. a CD-ROM, ZIP disk, DVD or FTP site. The
publication can be copied, distributed or sold as many times as required, without
any further payment to Discovery Software Ltd.
The STEMgis Publicist allows you to customize the virtual
publication in the following ways:
- design a splash screen for the copy of FreeView on
the distribution media you create,
- add web links that will appear in the help menu of FreeView,
- specify whether a shortcut for FreeView should be added to the user's desktop,
- define the appearance of any banner text that will appear in the map window of FreeView,
- define a fixed map projection for the publication,
- set up to three levels of security (public, level
1 and level 2) for data retrieval from the published STEMgis database,
- specify a default map file that will appear in the
FreeView map window,
- specify a default STEMgis workspace file
which opens up default layers within STEMgis FreeView when it is executed,
- add user written documentation and presentations
to the published project.
STEMgis FreeView, a slightly cut-down version of the STEMgis
Viewer, is included automatically in the publication. FreeView includes
all the temporal and spatial retrieval, visualization, graphing and animation
features of the STEMgis Viewer, but is limited in the following ways:
- FreeView cannot be used to open other STEMgis
databases unless the user has the appropriate password and the STEMgis
database is installed correctly.
- STEMgis Publicist allows one pre-defined
map projection to be specified for inclusion in the publication. FreeView
also allows an 'unprojected' view, which displays the data in latitude/longitude
co-ordinates.
- The Draw Vector Tool
and the various analysis tools are not included in FreeView.
- The Interpolation
Tool in FreeView is restricted to a maximum interpolated grid size is
256 x 256 pixels, as against 4096 x 4096 pixels in the STEMgis Viewer.
- A number of the vector and raster analysis tools and import facilities are
disabled.
All STEMgis
databases are created using the STEMgis
Manager.
Follow the step by step guide to creating
a virtual STEMgis publication