XconqGIS Reply Summary (Ironically Long)

["D. Cooper Stevenson" <cstevens at gencom dot us>]

Dear Eric, Lincoln, Matthew, & Xconq mailing listers;

For the impatient, go here:
http://wiki.xconqgis.org/index.php?GeologicalInformationSystemInformationGuide

I'm condensing each of your feedback in the same email so that we're all
on the same page. I'll indicate who's talking where, kind of like a
script document.

> Lincoln Peters: Welcome to the list. This sounds like an exciting
project, and I think we would open up countless possibilities for new
games.

Thanks! 

> Matthew Skala: I've been working on making such a map for
Antarctica...a preliminary version is at
http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/temporary/map.g

I posted your terrain map to the Wiki here: wiki.xconqgis.org. This is
like fresh muffins on a Sunday morning. Basically, Cooper: Can we do GIS
stuff? Matthew: Yeah, I did it. Here you go...

> Matthew Skala: Most of the data I got came as ASCII lists of points
with decimal lat/long coordinates. I wrote some Perl scripts to
translate the ASCII lat/lon coordinates into hex-grid coordinates, take
a vote of surface types within each hex grid, and then assign the cell
the majority terrain type of points within the cell. There were a few
other subtleties which, again, I don't remember off the top of my head
but have written down to go into the document that will eventually
accompany the game module.

  Would you _please_ _please_ post and document this? I'm asking you-no
strike that-I'm begging you to! :)  This is _exactly_ spot on.

  I'll tell you what. I'll pull down the sattellite images from the USGS
and parse the graphics if I possibly can. If I get stuck I'll let you
know.

  So what you get is a spectacular looking satellite view of Antarctica
utilizing your coordinate system interface with Xconq and Xconq's game
play. By documenting what I do, I hope that we can "can" the solution
(within the limits Matthew hinted at) for the creation of other theaters
by pulling together the information we need to "feed to" Xconq. 

>Lincoln Peters: I suspect that Xconq's existing terrain libraries might
need to be modified (or a new, separate terrain library be written from
scratch) to accept the data you describe.

  Agreed. I am divided on this. On one hand, writing a GIS library to
interface with the Xconq kernel will be no small task. Also, Matthew
seems to have written a coordinate system that may just do the trick. On
the other, I beckon one of the fundamental laws of Unix
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/:

  "Design and build software, even operating systems, to be tried early,
ideally within weeks. Don't hesitate to throw away the clumsy parts and
rebuild them."

  This does not mean to imply that I think the library is clumsy. I
frankly think otherwise for it's purposes. I don't know if it would be
better for the libraries to be modified of if writing them from scratch
is necessary. I pray for the former. 

>Lincoln Peters: I have a few questions about the GIS data: 1. Does it
track vegetation separately from terrain?

  It sure does. Get a load of this:
http://wiki.xconqgis.org/index.php?GeologicalInformationSystemInformationGuide

  I know too that GIS permits ASCII dumps of individual layers. I'm not
clear on all aspects; I'm a GIS newbie.

>Lincoln Peters: 2. Does it provide meteorological statistics, such as
average rainfall, wind patterns, etc.? I can see that a game based based
on something as detailed as GIS data might want to include such
statistics...

  The tutorial does mention rainfall statistics. I believe this is the
case. I tried to test this, but my tutorial data did not include the
rainfall rastering layer that they mentioned in the tutorial.

>Lincoln Peters: 3. Does it provide any detailed information about area,
such as soil composition or specific kinds of vegetation?

  Yes. This includes soils.Kfactor, soils.Tfactor, (whatever these mean)
soils.ph, and soils.range. Also included is a separate layer for
vegetation.

>Lincoln Peters: There are a few technical difficulties involved with
such a project that I can see already. One thing that comes to mind is
its representation of rivers.

  You got me here. I'm an Xconq map newbie. I will be documenting things
as I learn...


Cooper Stevenson: I am working to build an aggressive new image set for
XCONQ.

Eric McDonald: Excellent.

  Thank you!

  Eric has more terrain map insight specific to Xconq. I have to look at
this more before I can give intellegent dialog. I will do this soon; I
hope that I have provided a good start.

> Matthew Skala: . If you or others want to talk about making Xconq maps
from GIS data in a serious way, I'd be interested in participating.

  Thank you.

> Matthew Skala: It's also possible that we might even put together a
paper about it that we could publish at a conference or something, since
doing it right will actually involve doing some new research on GIS that
the GIS research community would probably find interesting.

  I wholeheartedly agree. Assuming that I am not too busy actually
_writing_ the thing, I absolutely would be happy to pull together the
documentation from the various sources, pull them together, and post.

  Also, before you read the following, note that I am a _die_hard_
optimist. I think the following could be done with a lot of work. I
suspect that some of you have thought too along these lines:

  What would happen if the units you selected were actual human beings
connected to the main server via the Internet? To the individuals, the
game looks like a 3D game similar to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy
territory. 

  So when you select troops at the batallion view and give them
waypoints to follow into battle, that looks to them like a green arrow
on the horizon for them to go. The best part is that there are human
units on the other team trying to do the same thing to you.

   Now, combine that with a 3D battalion view, generated in real time.
When the battalion commander selects tanks, he's selecting _real_
players. 
  Also, every game client reports the user's position back to the main
server their position as GIS data.


-Coop

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| Cooper Stevenson        | Em:  cooper@gencom.us            |
| GenCom                  | Ph:  541.924.9434                |
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