CHANGES AND UPGRADES
EDSON AREA DEMONSTRATION UNIT
2011
> Expanded regional high-resolution DEM to include entire Edson Management Area.
> Added lookout towers for all of Edson Management Area (14 towers).
> Pinpointed tower locations using topographical maps, photo archives, satellite imagery, and data provided by SRD.
> Added contextual data layers: Roads, Place Names, Landmarks.
> Pre-loaded viewsheds for each tower.
> Added Alberta Township System grids to map projections. Grids appear on target area view map; and location expressed as both decimal Lat/Long and as Township/Range/Section/Quartersection.
> Changed desktop photo to one which better reflects the capabilities of the system.
KAIZEN: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
We hope that you will find this version to be a vast improvement to the former "Athabasca" demo system. From a programming standpoint, it was completely re-built from zero to accommodate the new data and unfamiliar formats. Due to the complexity of the task, and for time concerns to provide maximum coverage this fire season, the Edson Area demo (as is the greater Alberta system at large) is still considered a work in progress.
Certain capabilities present in the Athabasca demo may not be fully functional in this version. Our priority has been to provide the highest accuracy, with contextual and cartographic references, to be of greatest use to the towerman and/or dispatcher.
That said, our work is nearing completion on a single system which would be usable for the entire province of Alberta. Each of the ten (10) management areas is contained in its own regional DEM as well as the DEM for Alberta as a whole. Separate instances of DragonPlot for each area include all the towers for that area, and function exactly like the Edson Area demo.
Major improvements to the next release of DragonPlot include:
> Re-introduction of the KML function.
For practical reasons, the ability to export DragonPlot data to satellite imagery using Google Earth has been removed. We hope to include this capability in future versions. We encourage your feedback, to let us know how this function would be used, and how it fits your agency needs.
> Permit Fires
We believe that the current Lightning Module could be easily adapted to the mapping out of fire permits on a daily or seasonal basis. We would like to work closely with you, so this can be accomplished to your specifications. Meanwhile, we encourage you to experiment with using the lightning module in this way, and would be eager to hear of your results.
> Additional Data Layers
The addition of more data layers, organized in such a way as to be toggled on and off, is an idea we're excited about. Again, we would like to work directly with you to create this with the lookout/dispatch in mind. DragonPlot functions best as a remote location tool. Certain contextual data furthers that purpose, but it should not be considered a general GIS tool.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: 2011 EDITION
We feel we have constructed a remarkably stable system, considering the massive amount of information DragonPlot processes. Please observe certain general suggestions to maximize your experience:
1) Boot Up
2) Panoramic View
3) First Shot
4) Reload
1) Boot Up
The much larger DEM, and the addition of roads and landmarks in the Gazetteer, will cause the system to boot more slowly than you may be accustomed to in the prior version. Be patient. Once these large files are loaded into local memory, the system runs and even re-loads much faster.
2) Panoramic View
Lookouts currently using DragonPlot are trained to load the instance labeled PAN first thing upon opening the lookout for service. This instance is for the lookout's reference only, and may take a minute or two to load. Once loaded, it can be backgrounded to provide a tower-view panorama on demand with no load time.
3) First Shot
Once PAN is loaded and minimized, we recommend opening the first instance (here, labeled "DP_Edson_1") and doing a practice shot. This will set the default tower to local and pre-load the Gazetteer files into memory. Subsequent shots will process at full system speed.
4) Reload
Should the system hang or become sluggish, simply shut it down using the [CLOSE PROGRAM] button, and restart the program. If you notice a persistent crash or error message, please let us know about it. Our goal is to work with all our users to make DragonPlot the best it can be.