ABSTRACT

Recently, there has been a push to provide digital topographic data to commanders in the field faster than ever before. This "Hasty Data" requirement presents many problems to the typical terrain analyst, for even today much of the compilation of topographic data is done manually. Many if not most of the terrain analysts at the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) have little geographic information systems and/or ArcInfo experience. Because of the strict time line of the exercises scheduled to test the "Hasty Data" concept, it became necessary to develop a means for analysts to interface with ArcInfo and produce accurate digital data. The data produced for these exercises are attributed with a subset of codes from the Interim Terrain Data (ITD) and are termed Minimum Essential Data Set (MEDS). This paper examines what has thus far been defined as "Hasty Data", will explain MEDS, and will show how this data is compiled and output using a series AMLS and menus that are integrated with Arctools.

INTRODUCTION

In response to the U.S. Army's Force XXI plan, the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) has been participating in exercises which test the ability to produce quick-turnaround digital terrain data and supply it to units in the field. It was determined that the best way to create this data was "heads-up" digitizing of data layers from some image source. However, the Terrain Analysis Center (TAC) of TEC is currently in the transition from analog to digital production and can not produce complete terrain products in a digital environment. To solve this problem, the Digital Products Center (DPC) of TEC implemented a menu driven interface that acts as a part of ArcTools and allows the analyst to construct a data layer without using any command line syntax.

MINIMUM ESSENTIAL DATA SET

The Minimum Essential Data Set (MEDS) is a concept that was developed jointly by TEC and the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). This is simply a subset of the categories collected for Interim Terrain Data (ITD), which is currently produced by DMA. ITD is an unsymbolized digital data set represented at the 1:50,000 scale hard copy Tactical Terrain Analysis Data Base (TTADB). ITD is a portrayal of analyzed attributes of terrain features (both natural and man-made) that are of significance to tactical military operations (DMA, 1990). The layers supported are drainage, vegetation, obstacles, surface materials (soils), transportation, and surface configuration (slope). These categories were selected based on what information would be most important to the warfighter in the battlefield. Figure 1 shows an example of the categories selected for the MEDS drainage layer.

INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW

The quickest and most effective way to address the problem of a lack of ArcInfo experience was to develop a series of point-and-click interfaces that would remove the user from command-line syntax and direct their workflow as illustrated in Figure 2. After logging in and starting ArcInfo, the analyst then runs the HASTYSTART.AML which sets some variables and launches the user into ArcTools. Notice that ArcTools is always running inside of HASTYSTART.AML. The analyst then opens the ArcTools Edit environment, opens the coverage, and selects the feature to edit. After digitizing their points, lines, or polygons, the analyst then attributes the data by selecting categories from a scrolling menu. Next, more detail will be provided on how these separate parts work together.

Figure 2.

HASTYSTART.AML

When the analyst invokes the HASTYSTART.AML, it is essentially a shell that the rest of the process will run within. The first check that is run is to see if the coverages for the operation have yet been created.

&do coverage &list drainage drainage_p vegetation obstacles ~ transport transport_p surf_mat

&if [exists %coverage% -cover] &then

&do &set dumyvar = nothing

&end

&else

&call create_cover

&end

If the coverages have not been created, the routine create_cover is called. This routine creates the coverages by using a coverage called TICS that currently exists. TICS is just that, a coverage of tics that is used primarily to ensure that the created coverages will have the correct map projection and .BND parameters. The TICS coverage must be created prior to starting HASTYSTART.AML.

&routine create_cover

&select %coverage%

&when drainage &do

arcedit

create %coverage% tics

edit %coverage%

editf arc

createattributes

build

save

create %coverage%_p tics

edit %coverage%_p

editf point

createattributes

save

quit

&call add_itd

&end

&return

Embedded in the create_cover routine is a routine called add_itd, which creates the items in the respective attribute table (.aat, .pat) for ITD categories. An example of this routine is as follows.

&routine add_itd

&select %coverage%

&when drainage

&do

&do item &list 'FEACODE 5 5 C' 'OVC 3 3 I' 'MCC 3 3 I' 'LOC 3 3 I' ~

'ACC 3 3 I' 'LEN 5 5 I' 'RRC 3 3 I' 'WVA 3 3 I' ~

'WDA 3 3 I' 'SBV 3 3 I' 'BGR 3 3 I' 'BGL 3 3 I' ~

'BHR 4 4 I' 'BHL 4 4 I' 'GWD 5 5 I' 'HYC 3 3 I' ~

'EXS 3 3 I' 'HGT 3 3 I' 'WID 3 3 I'

additem drainage.pat drainage.pat [unquote %item%]

additem drainage.aat drainage.aat [unquote %item%]

additem drainage_p.pat drainage_p.pat [unquote %item%]

&end

&return

After coverages have been created, the user encounters the familiar ArcTools menu (Figure 3.) where they select "Edit Tools" to edit their coverage. The user then enters the edit environment and selects the coverage and feature class they would like to edit. I have made the following edit to the FCLASSMENU.AML to allow the feature attribution menus to appear concurrently with the ArcTools edit environment windows.

&run attribute [entryname [show edit]] [show editfeature]

Figure 3.

This line starts ATTRIBUTE.AML and passes the arguments of the edit cover and the edit feature. The ATTRIBUTE.AML program first calls another program based on the coverage (e.g., DRAINAGESET.AML), which sets the attribution categories that will be displayed in the attribution window.

(syntax from ATTRIBUTE.AML)

&run %coverage%set %feature%

&do cover &list drainage drainage_p obstacles surf_mat transport ~

transport_p vegetation

&if [show &thread &exists edit$%cover%] &then

&thread &delete edit$%cover%

&end

&if not [show &thread &exists edit$%coverage%] &then

&thread &create edit$%coverage%

&menu calc ~ &stripe 'Attributes' &position &below &thread edit$ed%edfeat% ~

&pinaction '&run attribute exit' &return

(syntax from DRAINAGESET.AML)

&set .hasty$vals = ~

'Open Water' '590' ~

'Island' '591' ~

'Canal,etc., Wide' '543'~

'Intermittent Stream, Wide' '513' ~

'Perennial Stream, Wide' '523'

The purpose of DRAINAGESET.AML (or TRANSPORTSET.AML, etc.) is to set a list of options that will be displayed in a menu for the analyst as shown in Figure 4. After the DRAINAGESET.AML has run and set the variables to the correct code, the analysts would then see another menu appear in their ArcTools edit session and they can begin editing. When the linework is complete for a feature, the analyst must then assign the corresponding attribute. The analyst highlights the appropriate attribute category and selects APPLY. This produces another menu with the individual three letter attribute codes for ITD (Figure 5). The default values appear as stated in the MEDS specification. The analysts may then edit these values as they see fit and press APPLY. The attributes are then set by using the Arcedit CALCULATE command.

calc rrc = 7 calc hyc = 6 calc ovc = 4 /* etc.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

The digitizing and attribution of this feature is now complete. The analyst may move onto the next feature and when finished, save and build or clean the coverage.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of these AML's significantly reduced the amount of stress and time necessary for the analysts to produce terrain data. The analysts were able to interact with the menus with only a minimal amount of direction from seasoned users necessary. The number of errors were reduced and the analysts were able to spend more time concentrating on their analysis and less time struggling with ArcInfo syntax. This paper describes only the initial stages of the hasty data effort. As this paper is written, AML code is being updated to add more features and tools for the analyst. The feedback received from the analysts is critical so that we may provide the best product possible to the users.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all of the analysts in TAC for patiently testing and re-testing these AML's. I would especially like to thank Tom Spillman, Bob Knowles, Sue Mayo and Mark Burnell for taking the initiative to develop the user's guide for this project.

REFERENCES

Defense Mapping Agency, November 30, 1990. MIL-I-89014. Interim Terrain Data/Planning Interim Terrain Data.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

James J. Nolan is a GIS/Remote Sensing Scientist at the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center. He can be reached at:

USATEC

7701 Telegraph Road

Attn: CETEC-OD-DC

Alexandria, VA 22315

Phone: (703) 428-7890 Fax: (703) 428-6070 email: jnolan@tec.army.mil