Presentation

(Open a browser)

 
General
  Title bar
Date time Group
Querier/viewer
 

  

  Language
Menu
Map
  Technical description
 
Note :
to return to the top of this page click on the title of a paragraph.

 
 
  General
- This interface proposes a single window bringing together all of the necessary elements During launch, several files are loaded and in particular the base maps that can take a dozen or so seconds. Note that in each tab you'll find the display that you had previously, since the software automatically records several parameters and retrieves them with each new launch. This concerns the selected language and for each tab the displayed zone and the base map.
  Title bar
- This permanent bar contains the partner logo(s) as well as the name of the software that comes up as Navimail 2 or Skyfile Weather depending on the use. The latter for all Vizada clients and Navimail 2 for all the others.
  The date time group
- The date time group is displayed on the upper left side. It proposes UTC and local time. Warning : these times are recovered from your PC that must be correctly configured for the time and time zone.
 
  - Depending on the time zone, the UTC date may differ from the local date.
  Querier/Viewer
- These two buttons enable you to switch from one mode to another. The querier to prepare and order the products and the viewer to open, process and display the products received.
  Language
- Small flags allow you to change the language used by the software. This choice is immediately taken into account and is saved between two program launches.
 
  We recommend that you relaunch the program after having changed the language.
  Menu
- The menu displayed to the left depends on the querier or viewer context, as well as the selected tab for the viewer. It is possible to display up to 9 different Grib files in each of the viewer's sub-tabs.
 
  - The menu is directly linked to the map displayed on the right and there are many interactions between the two. The selection of a button in the menu changes the display while a modification in the display (moving the selection frame for the querier for example) impacts the menu.
  Map
The displayed map takes up the largest part of this interface. This display is geo-referenced.
 
  Presentation
- The image above this map enables you to select a base map.
  - The first is the one associated with the satellite photo available free of charge in this software (images -> World) updated every 6 hours. The software downloads it from the main directory, the file name must be "globe.jpg"
  - The second is a "high-resolution" image from 3km.
  - The third is a high resolution map background.
 
  For each button, 3 to 4 clicks to view gradually coastline, boundaries, rivers and canals.
 
  Displacement
-Use the mouse while maintaining a left button click to move the map.
-The arrow keys on the keyboard (up, down, left, right) also allow you to move around on the map.
-The Globe pictogram below the map is a menu that gives rapid access to predefined zones.
 
  To zoom
-Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
- The Page Up and Page down keys also allow you to zoom on the map.
- Two buttons above the map + and - launch an automatic zoom. Push the button a second time to interrupt the zoom.
- A left double-click launches an automatic zoom on the zone indicated by the mouse.
 
  Current position
- The 2 windows above the map give the position, in latitude and longitude coordinates, of the mouse pointer.
- It's possible to enter two values to centre the map on the selected position.
- The D key on the keyboard allows you to switch the display of these coordinates either in degrees, minutes and seconds or in degrees and 1/10000th of a degree.
 
  Technique
- Different base maps are available with different resolutions (3km for the best). The proposed resolutions are sufficient to display weather data. It is possible to propose higher resolution images such as images from Nasa that proposes a resolution of 500m. These images, and this is true for all software of this type, make up the essential part of the data Hence, this software in its complete version takes up 100 Mo while the program at the heart of the software only uses 2 Mo or 2%. In the 500m version, the full size increases to roughly 1 Go and the ratio to 2 for one thousand.
 
  The 4th display choice is a coast line, more sober but very precise, which is what gives it the highest zoom level. Its resolution is roughly 100m and at maximum zoom 1 pixel = 1 metre.
  Technical description
This software was developed in 6 months at the request of the sales departments of Météo-France and Vizada. Release planned for the Boat Show in December 2008.
 
  It is made up of a main program, 50 classes or objects comprising 700 methods or functions for roughly 35,000 lines of code.
 
  The executable occupies approximately 2 Mo regardless of the system. This executable is the only file depending on the operating system, all of the other files are shared by the 3 systems. This software can therefore be installed on a memory stick with the 3 executables in the main directory. The memory required is therefore roughly 100 Mo and this memory stick can be used on the 3 systems. You must simply launch the executable corresponding to the Windows, Mac or Linux operating system.
 
  The development was entirely written in C++ for optimum performances.
 
  The choice of the FLTK toolkit or windowing tool library was rapidly made because of its speed, compactness, portability and simplicity.
 
  The solutions used in this software, be they the processing of base maps or coast lines as well as the display of weather data and particularly the image processing are all original. The use of "tool boxes" was considered for these operations but quickly abandoned since they are often heavy and difficult to use or restrictive in terms of usage rights. It is often quicker and easier to develop a new tool rather than to use an existing one (that does a lot of things that are not useful and that always lacks essential functions). There are a decisive advantages for the creation of a new tool and they are its perfect fit and its scalability to meet present and future needs.