DOQ

[rexb@transbay.net (Rex Brooks)]

I've been waiting for this group to start on this subject, and being too
unsophisticated technically, and not directly academically concerned, I
didn't know how to bring it up, but...

Is this lovely little planet of ours fairly thoroughly mapped with DOQs?
How about 7.5 min USGS DEMs? Or,  Is there a georeferencing coordinate
system in which we do have the best planetwide documentation?

That's where I would start, and, in fact, did with my world in Berkeley,
Virtual Telegraph Avenue:

http://www.rbcomdesign.com/VIRTEL.WRL.gz

specifically, the 7.5 min. USGS DEM san_francisco-e.dem that can be
downloaded gratis. I was looking for a tool to use in 3D Studio Max, and
found Peter Hab's freeware plug-in which outputs a 3ds elevation grid (no
fine tuning). That can be exported as a .dxf if you need it for another
application.

Another way to get a .dxf is to import the DEM into VistaPro, take that
file into Wooleysoft's terravista educational software

http://www.terravista.rg

and export a .dxf. I never got that far, though I still plan to, don't know
how I got sidetracked after VRML98.

Since Wooley's over in your neck of the woods, Neil, you might want to
connect up.

Here's another source:

http://shum.cc.huji.ac.il/~bennun/aoi.html. I always planned on mining that
source for getting greater detailed LODs.

Reading this thread though, really got me back to thinking about these
things and how important this is. I must admit, I want the tools and
coords, be they elevation grids or ifs, SpericCoordinateMFs or reliable
EXTERNPROTOs. Yesterday would be nice.

It really sounds like Don Brutzman has a good map for getting there.

Cheers,
Rex

Rex Brooks Communications Design        1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA
rexb@rbcomdesign.com                     Tel: 510-849-2309
http://www.rbcomdesign.com               Fax: 510-849-1306