Author Topic: GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics  (Read 4666 times)

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GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

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GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

GPlates offers a novel combination of interactive plate-tectonic reconstructions, geographic information system (GIS) functionality and raster data visualisation. GPlates enables both the visualisation and the manipulation of plate-tectonic reconstructions and associated data through geological time. GPlates runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS X.

GPlates is free software (also known as open-source software), licensed for distribution under the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2.

What is GPlates?

GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

GPlates offers a novel combination of interactive plate-tectonic reconstructions, geographic information system (GIS) functionality and raster data visualisation. GPlates enables both the visualisation and the manipulation of plate-tectonic reconstructions and associated data through geological time. GPlates runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS X.

What is a plate-tectonic reconstruction?

The motions of tectonic plates through geological time may be described and simulated using plate-tectonic reconstructions. Plate-tectonic reconstructions are the calculations of the probable positions, orientations and motions of tectonic plates through time, based upon the relative (plate-to-plate) positions of plates at various times in the past which may be inferred from other data. Geological, geophysical and paleo-geographic data may be attached to the simulated plates, enabling a researcher to trace the motions and interactions of these data through time.

The goals of GPlates are:

    * to handle and visualise data in a variety of geometries and formats, including raster data
    * to link plate kinematics to geodynamic models
    * to serve as an interactive client in a grid-computing network
    * to facilitate the production of high-quality paleo-geographic maps.

The GPlates program is accompanied by royalty-free data. Work is currently underway on a comprehensive user manual.
What can GPlates do?

As of GPlates 0.9.4, GPlates functionality includes:

    * loading and saving data:
          o loading geological feature data from the following formats:
                + GPML / compressed GPML
                + Plates4 line-format
                + ESRI Shapefile (including the ability to map shape attributes in a Shapefile to feature properties in GPlates on a user-specified, per-Shapefile basis)
          o loading reconstruction poles (finite rotations which enable geological features to be reconstructed through geological time) from the following formats:
                + GPML / compressed GPML
                + Plates4 rotation-format
          o loading raster images in JPEG format, including time-sequences of raster images, to enable visualisation of “gridded” geophysical data such as mantle density anomalies, mantle convection-driven dynamic surface topography and the crustal age or spreading rate of the ocean floor —
                + both global raster images, which are assumed to cover the whole globe, from -180 to +180 degrees longitude and -90 to +90 latitude
                + and smaller rasters with a user-specified surface extent
          o saving geological feature data in the following formats:
                + GPML / compressed GPML
                + Plates4 line-format
                + GMT “xy” format, with a variety of options for headers
          o saving reconstruction poles in the following formats:
                + GPML / compressed GPML
                + Plates4 rotation-format
    * viewing data in a graphical display:
          o displaying a 3-D orthographic projection of geological, geographic and tectonic features, and raster images, on the globe
          o reconstructing features to a desired geological time-instant, or animating over a period of geological time
          o moving and re-orienting the camera (the viewpoint of the user), by “dragging” the mouse on the globe, using the keyboard arrow keys, or specifying the desired viewpoint in a dialog box
          o zooming the camera, using the scroll-wheel of the mouse, the click-to-zoom tool, the slider on the right-hand-side of the reconstruction view, or the zoom buttons in the toolbar
          o choice of different colouring schemes for features
          o exporting a 2-D geometry snapshot of the current orthogonal-projected contents of the reconstruction view in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format, for later viewing in a web-browser or vector-graphics editor such as Adobe Illustrator
    * interacting with features graphically:
          o choosing a feature, to query or edit its properties, by clicking upon its displayed geometry
          o digitisation of new geometries for the creation of new features
          o modifying the geometry of a feature interactively by dragging vertices
    * tabular display of data:
          o listing tables of reconstruction poles (finite rotations) for the current reconstruction time:
                + relative and equivalent rotations for each plate
                + a tree-like representation of the rotation hierarchy
                + the circuit between any plate and the stationary reference frame
          o exporting tables of reconstruction poles in CSV (comma-separated value) format, for later viewing in a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel.
          o listing tables of Shapefile attributes on a per-file basis, with one attribute per column
    * modifying reconstructions graphically:
          o manipulation of reconstruction poles by dragging the mouse cursor to move plates

What's next in GPlates?

We are currently working on the following functionality:

    * interactive graphical manipulation of the geometry of a feature (in a manner similar to that provided by a typical vector-graphics application)
    * a variety of map-projections (in addition to the current 3-dimensional orthographic projection of the globe)
    * interactive plate-boundary closure, enabling GPlates to generate plate-tectonic boundary conditions for geodynamic models in software such as:
          o the widely-used, open-source, spherical mantle convection package CitComS
          o the next-generation AuScope-funded spherical mantle convection package Underworld

Future functionality will include:

    * editing total reconstruction poles and sequences (in tabular form)
    * saving data in Shapefile format
    * calculating velocity fields using plate-reconstructions
    * layers



You want this Version: 0.9.5.1+platepolygon-testing <------ Click on this line first to get the following list:

Get GPlates0.9.5.1+platepolygon-testing-win.msi  for Windows     20.0 MiB
Get GPlates-0.9.5.1+platepolygon-testing-Darwin-i386.dmg  for Mac OS X 10.5    24.9 MiB
Get gplates-0.9.5.1+platepolygon-testing-unixsrc.tar.bz2 compile your own for linux, bsd, solaris     1.0 MiB

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=74515&package_id=74881

 

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