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| Xamba offers a comprehensive range of software and services for the development of interactive map applications. Applications can be developed based on clients' in-house map data. Alternatively Xamba works with a number of content partners who can supply both global and regional map data at a variety of scales. Interactive map applications are developed using a software toolkit that permits rapid and flexible interface design/customisation. Interface development and map data conversion can be undertaken by Xamba, or software tools licensed for in-house use by clients. | ||
| Global mapping | ||
| World atlases can be developed
at virtually any scale that the source map data can support. Existing
products include global maps at 250 metre resolution, with selected
areas visualised at up to 30 metre resolution. With over 650,000 labelled
locations and 2 million vector lines, these products demonstrate the
outstanding performance delivered by Xamba's interactive map visualisation
software. Users can switch between multiple map styles, search gazetteers to instantly centre maps on any named location, display/hide multiple map layers and customise maps by adding user-defined labels. Maps can be zoomed continuously between minimum and maximum scales, as well as smoothly rotated/scrolled in any direction. Points and areas can be hyperlinked to related media. |
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| Regional mapping | ||
| With on-screen scales of 1:50,000 and
above, interactive regional maps can display levels of detail appropriate
for use in tourism, travel and marketing. Using the software's hyperlinking
capabilities, regional maps can be used as an interface to access detailed
local information, stored either online or offline. Interactive regional maps can be based on raster maps acting as a backdrop to overlaid vector data, or developed using vector data only. An extensive range of line and fill styles, still and animated symbols, plus point, linear and area labelling, can be combined to make regional maps a visually rich and highly interactive experience. |
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| Planetary maps | ||
| Exploration of the Solar System, undertaken
by NASA and other space agencies, has yielded a rich source of imagery
showing the surface of the planets and their moons. Much of this imagery
has been mosaicked to create global or partial raster image maps of
each of the major objects in the Solar System. Xamba's award winning
Atlas of the Solar System CD-ROM, shows how effective these maps can
be when they are visualised as 3D globes. The software has also been
used to develop detailed interactive maps of Mars and the Moon. The ability to represent irregular 3D objects was added as a special feature of Xamba's map visualisation software, in order to visualise extra-terrestrial objects such as asteroids and planetary ring systems. |
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| Terrain visualisation | ||
| 3D modelling of terrains offers an informative
(and sometimes dramatic) method of visualising topographic features.
Xamba offers xVTR, a new software tool for real-time visualisation of
3D terrains. Available as either a dll or integrated within the main
mapping software engine, xVTR delivers smooth rendering performance
combined with a small memory footprint. Features can be labelled using
a variety of symbols and font styles. Vector lines can be overlaid on
terrains, for example to represent transport networks. Created by 'draping' geo-corrected satellite or aerial imagery (or scans of printed maps) over gridded height data, xVTR terrains permit users to experience 'virtual flights' over areas of topographic interest. |
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| About the software | ||
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In order to permit smooth scrolling while displaying large-scale
raster maps, thousands of labels plus substantial volumes of vector
data, Xamba's map visualisation software requires map data to be split
into 'tiles', using a proprietary data format optimised for fast access.
Only those data 'tiles' required for the current screen display are
loaded into memory. Converting source map data to the data formats
required by the software is carried out as a batch process prior to
the 'publication' of an interactive map. Depending on the quantities
of data involved, the conversion process may take anywhere from several
minutes, to upwards of an hour. Indexes, used to create an interactive
gazetteer, are generated as part of the same process.
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