|
|
 |
SpinMass Grid Chart is a .NET application I've developed for viewing interactive maps of the the Second Life grid(s). It displays the sims and their terrain in several styles which can be configured by the user. It includes a query mechanism and the ability to save the current map display. The sims are rendered from topographical data which is included with the application, but it also works in a simple schematic mode without terrain data. The next major feature that will be added is a landmarking system. I've completed a demonstration version and I'm working towards a more complete and stable version. Below are some more details and screenshots. |
|
Click images to see larger versions. 
|
The map style in the image above is one I created called "Faux
Terrain". It has more gradations than the original in-world map including three
ranges of water depth. The in-world map style is also supported. In addition
there are two styles which map color to elevation, like the one in the picture
to the left. The user can adjust the upper and lower range of the color map,
for instance bracketing the minimum and maximum values of a particular region
to maximize the contrast. The maps are generated at run-time from sim terrain
data stored in a custom format. A low resolution image of the grid is
cached for quick display while up-to-date sim maps are generated in the
background. A textured style is in the works but not completed.
Various aspects of the map can be toggled on and off including the display of grid lines, sim names, region outlines, Mature versus PG, and telehubs. |
|
This picture shows the sim details window. It displays all of the data about a sim including its minimum and maximum elevations. The sim can also be displayed in any of the map styles and the color mapping range can be adjusted instantaneously to investigate the sim's terrain in detail. The mapping range is initially set to the minimum and maximum values in the sim which creates the highest contrast. But if the user wanted, for example, to see which areas of a sim were above a certain height, they could simply set the lower limit to this value and the map would be instantly updated. I'm hoping to add a cross section tool to this screen. |
|
The sim explorer window displays the data in a table and includes a simple search tool. The table can be sorted by any of the sim properties. The sims in this screenshot have been sorted by their Y (North-South) coordinate. They are the results of a search for PG, non-Linden sims in the Offshore region. If the user hits the Select button, the sims currently selected in the list will also be selected in the map display after the window closes. All of the sims can displayed at once by executing an empty search, which happens automatically when the window is launched. |
|
Grid Chart can display any Second Life grid stored in its custom human-readable
text format. Currently I have data for the adult mainland, but there is no
reason other grids can't be similarly mapped. The user can open different grid
files using theFile->Open command and can specify a startup grid to be
opened automatically when the application launches. The grid files and the
terrain data can be placed anywhere. The user can adjust the resolution of the
grid images displayed based on their computer's performance.
Grid Chart makes uses of two seperate .NET code libraries. The map display itself is a seperate UI control and can be used in any .NET application (it can be added to the toolbox in Visual Studio and dropped on a form). Both Grid Chart and the map control make use of a library for manipulating the grid and sim data. It is actually a class in this library which renders the images used by the map control. My plan is to make these libraries available for other people to use however they like, but I do need to document them and give them a good cleaning first. |
|
| Copyright 2005 Patrick Rutledge - Contact patrick@spinmass.com | |