WXP version 5
File Reference

Map File (.map and .bmap)

The map outline database file contains the latitudes and longitudes of political and geographical boundaries that can be used to draw maps. These files are available in ASCII and binary formats.  The ASCII format is available for easy modification. The binary format is for quick drawing.  There is a program called map2bin. which will convert from one format to the other.

ASCII FORMAT (.map)

The political and geographical boundaries are split up into blocks of continuous line segments. Each block contains a header listing the number of points and the latitude-longitude extent of the block along with the latitude-longitude pairs which form the line segment. The header of each block is formatted as follows:

num maxlat minlat maxlon minlon off
lat1 lon1 lat2 lon2 lat3 lon3 ...
num maxlat minlat maxlon minlon off
...

where:

The latitude-longitude pairs follow header block.  There is a total of num pairs which is followed by the next header block.

BINARY FORMAT (.bmap)

The binary map file has the same structure as the ASCII file.  These files were created with C fwrite (big endian) calls.  The header is formatted as follows:

The latitude longitude pairs are written as a continuous stream of binary 4 byte IEEE floating point values.

XXXXYYYYXXXXYYYY...

MAP2BIN PROGRAM

This program converts the ASCII map files to binary or from binary to ASCII. The syntax of the program is:

map2bin in_map out_map

The program will automatically sense which type of file is being used as input and convert to the other format.  If out_map is omitted, the output is to standard output.

EXAMPLES

An example of a block from the wxp.map file:

24 49.00 45.55 -116.92 -124.75 371
48.15 -123.70 48.35 -124.75 47.90 -124.62 47.00 -124.18 46.28 -124.00
46.17 -123.15 46.08 -122.90 45.65 -122.77 45.55 -122.25 45.70 -121.80
45.65 -121.17 46.00 -119.00 46.00 -116.92 46.40 -117.00 49.00 -117.00
49.00 -120.00 49.00 -122.75 48.60 -122.42 48.00 -122.20 47.30 -122.30
47.35 -122.55 47.80 -122.50 48.12 -122.77 48.15 -123.70
14 46.28 42.00 -116.50 -124.55 602
46.00 -116.92 45.60 -116.50 44.48 -117.20 44.30 -117.20 44.15 -116.90
43.80 -117.00 42.00 -117.00 42.00 -120.00 42.00 -122.00 42.00 -124.20
42.83 -124.55 44.00 -124.15 45.00 -124.00 46.28 -124.00
19 49.00 42.00 -111.05 -117.00 903
49.00 -117.00 49.00 -116.05 48.00 -116.05 47.70 -115.75 47.45 -115.75
Map Databases
Database Coverage Resolution Outlines
wxp.map North America low Continental, Country, State
wxpstate.map North America low Country, State
cont.map Global low Continental
country.map Global low Country
state.map United States high Continental, State
usa_cnty.map United States high County, State
river.map Global high Rivers
zones.map United States high Forecast zones
DLG United States high Digital Line Graph:
Continental, State, County,
Rivers, Roads, Misc Political Boundaries

SEE ALSO


Last updated August 10, 1998