PROFILE TOOL (gis.m)

The Profile Tool will draw a 2-dimensional profile of the surface of any raster map. The profile will be calculated along a transect line, drawn with a mouse on a map display. The transect line can be a simple line (i.e., with only a beginning and ending node) or a complex polyline (i.e., with multiple segments, delineated by multiple nodes).

Using the Profile Tool

The Profile Tool is started by clicking on the profile button () on the toolbar of a map display window.

1

Click the map button on the Profile Tool toolbar to select a raster map to profile. The map to profile can be different from the one displayed.

2

Click the transect button to begin drawing a transect to profile with a mouse the current map display (i.e., the map display from which you launched the Profile Tool). Draw by holding down the left button to make a "rubber-band" line for each segment of the transect. A transect can have a single, straight segment or multiple segment. There is no need to "end" the drawing. The Profile Tool will profile the drawn transect at any time. You can also extend an existing transect and draw a profile of the new transect.

3

Click the profile button to create the profile.

The profile extends from left to right in the profile display. The horizontal (x-axis) scale represents the total distance along the transect to be profiled. Vertical lines mark each node on a multi-segment transect and show the total distance along the transect to the node. The vertical (y-axis) scale is in units of the map that is being profiled. All scaling and axis labels are created automatically, and cannot be changed by the user.
• The erase button will erase the current transect and profile.
• The save button will save the profile to an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file.

AUTHORS

Michael Barton, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Hamish Bowman, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Last changed: $Date: 2009-09-12 17:51:39 +0200 (Sat, 12 Sep 2009) $

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