The QGF graphics format was designed specifically for the FAA's UNIX SIMMOD 2.2 in 1995. This documentation was provided as a standard documentation file with that system.
The principles behind this file's format, and the display techniques, can be found in the book "COMPUTER GRAPHICS by Donald Hearn and M. Pauline Baker, Prentice Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-530924-7". An open source version of these principles in Java can be found in the Jazz package which is maintained by the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland. A WWW link for this site is http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/jazz.
QGF files allow the user to specify the type of graphics he or she desires to see displayed.
All graphic objects are positioned using longitudes, latitudes, and altitudes. The longitudes and latitudes are expressed in decimal degrees. The United States has negative longitudes and Europe has positive longitude values. Altitudes are expressed in decimal hundreds of feet.
Please note that APECS may not support all of the elements noted below.
OPEN required_name
Use the OPEN command to open a logical unit (the required_name) which should contain one more Graphical Objects and may contain one or more attributes for the graphical objects contained therein.
The required name should be unique for items which you expect to have unique attributes such as line color.
An OPEN command may also have nested within it another OPEN command. The nested OPEN command will be considered a child and will inherit all of the parent attributes. The child may set attributes of it's own or it may over-ride some or all of it's parent's attributes.
All OPEN (parent and child) commands should be closed with a CLOSE command (discussed below) .
CLOSE optional_name
Use the CLOSE command to close a previous OPEN command. All OPEN commands should be closed with a CLOSE command.
The optional_name is for your convenience to help you organize your QGF file better. It is ignored by the Network Builder
LINE begin_long begin_lat begin_alt begin_long begin_lat begin_alt
LINE_COLOR the_color
Colors available are machine dependent but you are generally safe choosing
any of the basic colors such as:
red
blue
yellow
green
white
black
purple
orange
When you run the Network Builder it echos the colors available on the window
from which you are running it.
LINE_PATTERN the_pattern
Line patterns available are:
... A dotted line
--- A solid line
- - A simple dashed line
-.-. Dashes and dots alternating
-..-.. Dashes and double dots alternating
-... Dashes and triple dots alternating
-- -- Long Dashes
LINE_WEIGHT the_weight
The weight is a numeric value which should be greater than zero. The
larger the number the greater the line weight.
MARKER longitude latitude altitude
MARKER_COLOR the_color
See LINE_COLOR for options
MARKER_SYMBOL the_symbol
0 (a zero, or an 'oh') An open circle
* A star of some sort
X An 'x' mark
+ A '+' mark
. A dot
(*) A filled in circle
@ A filled in circle
(.) An open circle with a dot in the center
(+) An open circle with a plus in the center
(x) An open circle with an X in the center
(0) An open circle with another circle inside of it
[] A hollow box
[*] A filled in box
[.] A hollow box with a dot in the center
[x] A box with an X in the center
A hollow diamond
<*> A filled in diamond
<.> A hollow diamond with a dot in the center
<+> A hollow diamond with a plus in the center
/\ A hollow up pointing triangle
/*\ A filled in triangle
/.\ A hollow triangle with a dot in the center
|> A hollow right triangle
|*> A filled in right triangle
|.> A hollow right triangle with a dot in the center
<| A hollow left triangle
<*| A filled in left triangle
<.| A hollow left triangle with a dot in the center
\/ A hollow down pointing triangle
\*/ A filled in down pointing triangle
\./ A hollow down pointing triangle with a dot in the center
# A pound sign
++ A wide plus sign
/ \ An upward triangle with an open bottom. Note the space between / and \
/_\ A hollow triangle that is slightly taller than /\
/__\ A hollow triangle that is slightly wider than / \
/_^_\ Two hollow triangles stacked on top of one another
| A vertical bar
/ A left half of an upward arrow
\ A right half of an upward arrow
Y A 'Y' character
Z A 'Z' character
MARKER_SIZE the_size
The size is a numeric value which should be greater than zero. The
larger the number the greater the marker weight.
INK longitude latitude altitude
INK is used to display polylines. Contiguous INK entries are treated as
one polyline. To break the current polyline and start another polyline
use RESTART_INK. You may use LINE_WEIGHT, LINE_COLOR, and LINE_PATTERN
to describe a logical set of INK (polyline) entries.
RESTART_INK
RESTART_INK is used to break the current polyline and to start another.
It is NOT necessary to start a sole polyline with a RESTART_INK.
POLY longitude latitude altitude
POLY is used to display polygons. Contiguous POLY entries are treated as
one polygon. To break the current polygon and start another polygon
use RESTART_POLY. You may use EDGE_WEIGHT, EDGE_COLOR, EDGE_PATTERN,
FACE_COLOR, FACE_CONTRAST_COLOR, and FACE_PATTERN to describe a logical
set of POLY (polygon) entries.
EDGE_WEIGHT the_weight
The weight is a numeric value which should be greater than zero. The
larger the number the greater the edge weight.
EDGE_COLOR the_color
See LINE_COLOR for options
EDGE_PATTERN the_pattern
___ A solid line
_ _ A simple dashed line
.... A dotted line
-.-. Dashes and dots alternating
-..-.. Dashes and double-dot alternating
-... Dashes and triple-dot alternating
FACE_COLOR the_color
See LINE_COLOR for options
FACE_CONTRAST_COLOR the_color
Color used on the face of a polygon used to present the FACE_PATTERN
See LINE_COLOR for options
FACE_PATTERN the_pattern
solid the default pattern, face is painted uniformly with same color
as the FACE_COLOR
## A crosshatch pattern
|| Like the crosshatch pattern but with vertical bars instead
== Horizontal bars
// Slant right
\\ Slant left
:: Dotted (square grid)
Diamonds
[][] Checkerboard
RESTART_POLY
RESTART_POLY is used to break the current polygon and to start another.
It is NOT necessary to close a polygon, the system will do that for you.
It is NOT necessary to start a sole polygon with a RESTART_POLY.
TEXT longitude latitude altitude whatever text you want
TEXT is used to display one line of text which can have embedded spaces
and punctuation but no newlines.
TEXT_ALIGNMENT the_alignment
TEXT_ALIGNMENT determines in each chunk of text where the reference point
falls. Combinations of two differing alignments may be used.
^ Requests that the top always be aligned at the specified elevation
V Requests that the bottom always be aligned at the specified elevation
< Left edge
> Right edge
* Align along a center line, either up, down, left or right.
Examples of combinations:
<* Use the center of the left edge for alignment
<^ Use upper left corner for alignment
** Center both vertically and horizontally
*^ Use the center of the top edge for alignment
TEXT_COLOR the_color
See LINE_COLOR for options
TEXT_FONT the_font
roman
sans serif
typewriter
stroked
system default
You might also try:
newfield
enfield
brooktondale
kuma
TEXT_SIZE the_size
The size of the text in decimal units, the larger the number the larger
the size of the characters drawn.
TEXT_ROTATION the_rotation
The angle in degrees by which the font is rotated clockwise. Note: Some
fonts do not rotate, and the system will revert to the stroked font to
achieve the desired effect.
TEXT_SLANT the_slant
The angle by which text is slanted from -75 degrees to +75 degrees. Note: Some
fonts do not slant, and the system will revert to the stroked font to
achieve the desired effect.
TEXT_PATH x_path y_path z_path
Allows you to alter the d
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n text takes. The x, y, and z path values
may vary from 0.0 to 1.0 respectively.
TEXT_SPACING the_spacing
Allows you to s p a c e out or sqeeze the text strings
0.5 sets the spacing to one-half normal spacing while 2.0 makes spacing
double what it is normally.