Java
Geometry, Cartography, and GPS Demos
This is another demo from
the GPS class. You can build a network in the left-hand pane by clicking to
create nodes and dragging between them to create links. Start and goal nodes
are created automatically but can be reselected by choosing the appropriate
button at the top. As you build the network, its tree representation is created
in the right-hand pane with respect to your chosen start and goal nodes. You
can choose among 4 search strategies—depth first, breadth-first, branch and
bound, and A*. Please see the accompanying documentation on this link for more
detailed instructions.
Hyperbolic
Coordinates for Navigation
In my GPS class (GOG
479/579) we discuss earlier forms of electronic navigation, including LORAN,
which used hyperbolic coordinates to determine position. This applet demos how
the position of an object can be found with respect to two intersecting
hyperbolas. The applet plots hyperbolas with respect to 3 reference towers
(labeled with typical LORAN tower designations) and the position of a receiver
(the boat). Yes—I know boats don’t usually drive over land!
I use this applet to demo
recursive programming, mouse event handling, and the Douglas line
simplification algorithm (D.H. Douglas and T.K. Peucker,
“Algorithms for the reduction of the number of points-required to represent a
line or its caricature,” The Canadian
Cartographer, 10, (2), 112–122(1973)). As you click on the canvas, vertices
and connecting line segments are drawn. By increasing the tolerance from 0 (in
pixels), simplified versions of the line appear in red, overlain on the
original. Vertices can be dragged with the mouse.
Practice with
Scale Conversion
This is one of the first
Java applets I ever wrote. I used it to help my Introduction to Cartography
(GOG 290) students practice converting map scales. It still works for the most
part although the context sensitive help has mysteriously disappeared…
This is a very simple applet
that I use to introduce my students to some basic computational techniques and
to the construction of an event driven user interface. Enter a
latitude in degrees to get the circumference along a parallel at that
latitude. The calculations assume a spherical earth with a radius equivalent to
the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid equatorial radius. This is one of the first projects
that students implement in GOG 414/590, Computer Mapping/Advanced Cartography
This is another simple
applet that demos 2D translation, rotation, and scaling through coordinate
system transformation. A rectangle is drawn at the coordinate system origin.
The user translates the origin by clicking on a new location. The X and Y axes
can be scaled separately by changing their values in the appropriate text
boxes. The coordinate system axes can be similarly rotated with respect to the
page by changing the text value. The coordinate axes and the rectangle are
redrawn whenever the user selects a new point or changes the scaling and
rotation parameters. I kept the interface as simple as possible to keep the
code accessible to beginning students.
3D Transformations
and Shading
I use this applet in the
second of my 2 Java programming classes to demonstrate the use of plane
equations in support of 3D affine transformations and surface shading
applications. Although it’s best to use the Java 3D API (a Java wrapper for
OpenGL) for a demo of this sort, most users’ browsing environments will not
have the appropriate client-side libraries to make this work. Therefore I have
implemented 3D transformations, including 3D perspective transformations, using
the javax.vecmath
package’s vector and matrix resources. This provides a pretty good simulation
of a true ‘3D’ application for smaller demo programs.
Point in
Polygon Test by Ray Intersection
Almost any program running
within an event-driven graphical user interface must determine where mouse
clicks occur. This is especially true in GIS applications where a click on a
map may select a shape for some operation. A standard point-in-polygon test is
performed by running a ray from the test point to the exterior of the target
polygon. If the ray intersects the polygon an even number of times, the point
is inside. Otherwise, it’s outside. This program uses simple line segment
intersection tests to count intersections and to restrict the user from
creating self-intersecting polygons.