NavigAIS User Manual

NavigAIS Hardware Requirements
NavigAIS Installation
NavigAIS Windows
NavigAIS Configuration
Errors

1. NavigAIS Hardware Requirements

The current version of the NavigAIS software has been tested on the following Operating Systems:

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Windows Vista

Windows 7

The software requires a processor with a minimum speed of 1.6 GHz and 1 GB of RAM memory for Windows XP and 2000, and 2 GB for Windows Vista and 7. The RAM recommended size is 2 GB for Windows XP and 2000, and 3 GB for Windows Vista and 7.
The storage of the 1705 AIS maps on the hard disk demands 2.72 GB (but it is also possible to put them on a DVD).

2. NavigAIS Installation

To install NavigAIS:

First of all install the MatLab Component Runtime© (MCR) with a right click on MCRInstaller.exe ==> Install as administrator and follow the instructions.
If you have installed the same MCR version (7.4) before, you can skip this step.

Copy the entire NavigAIS directory in a partition of your HD (named [path]).

Run the program with a double click on [path]\NavigAIS\NavigAIS.exe. At the first execution, the program must decompress the NavigAIS.ctf software files, and you could observe a delay in the AIS map display, but after that the loading time is generally less than 3 s (on a Windows Vista 2 GHz).

3. NavigAIS Windows

NavigAIS opens three windows:

Navigation window (3.1)

Search window (3.2)

AIS digital map (3.3)

Figure 1 – NavigAIS.

There is also a fourth window, a system console used to display error messages.

3.1 Navigation Window

The navigation window (top left in Fig. 1), named NavigAIS Overview, contains the miniature of current AIS map (in the figure the map n. 547 from the volume, or Band, 3, which shows l’accetta, i.e. the hatchet).
The rectangle with the blue edge (Fig. 2) represents the displayed portion of the map. You can move the window position clicking on the rectangle and dragging it all around.

Figure 2 – NavigAIS Overview window.

On the NavigAIS Overview toolbar there are some buttons to zoom in and out the map, to move from an AIS point to another in sequential or predefined order, and to print/save the current displayed image. The box on the top left of the window indicates the percent ratio of the digital map magnification to the original acquisition size.

3.2 - Search Window

The window (top right in Fig. 1), named NavigAIS, contains the word and point search engine.

Figure 3 – NavigAIS search window.

3.2.1 - The input box that appears in the top left of the search window ([1], Fig. 3) consents to find a map with his identifier number (1-1705).

3.2.2 - The input box that appears in the top right of the search window ([2], Fig. 3) allows to search all the maps containing the written word, or part of the word.

The message box ([7], Fig. 3) will indicate the number of occurrences found.

The magenta triangle buttons in the top right of the input box ([4], Fig. 3) moves the focus to the previous or next element in the list resulting from a word search.

3.2.3 - The multi-selection box that appears in the top right of the search window ([3], Fig. 3) allows to find the initial page of a volume (1-8).

3.2.4 - The magenta triangle buttons in the top right of the NavigAIS search window ([4], Fig. 3), consents to move the map selection to the previous or next item in the map list created by a word or map number search (3.2.1-3.2.2).

3.2.5 - Clicking in a line of the multi-selection box (left of the NavigAIS search window [5], Fig. 3) loads the corresponding map.

3.2.6 - Clicking in a line of the multi-selection box (right of the NavigAIS search window [6], Fig. 3) loads the corresponding map.

3.2.7 – Area displaying the software messages (middle of the NavigAIS search window [7], Fig. 3).

3.2.8 - Clicking on the red triangle buttons in the middle right of the search window ([8], Fig. 3) moves the map centre display to the previous or next point in the point selected list, if it exists. In the case the list was empty, the focus is given to the previous/next point in numerical order.

3.2.9 - The check box that appears in the middle right of the search window ([9], Fig. 3) allows to hide/show the background containing regional borders, rivers, etc.

The same effect could be obtained setting the corresponding background_display parameter in the initialization file (Chap. 11).

3.2.10 - The check box that appears in the middle right of the search window ([10], Fig. 3) allows to hide/show the AIS point names that are overwritten in blue on the maps.

The same effect could be obtained setting the corresponding tag_display parameter in the initialization file (Chap. 11).

Hiding the names could be necessary to better see the words that could be covered by the text labels. On the contrary displaying them allows to easily identify the different points.

3.2.11 – In the input box that appears in the middle left of the search window ([11], Fig. 3) you can write the point number where you want to move the window centre.

3.2.12 – The input box that appears in the middle right of the search window ([12], Fig. 3) allows to search a the point name where you want to move the window centre.

3.3 AIS Digital Map Window

The AIS Digital Map is the current AIS atlas page (Fig. 1), generally displayed in full screen. The window title shows the volume number (or Band) B e the page number (or Karte) K and the corresponding Italian index text.As in the NavigAIS Overview, the window is provided with a button toolbar to zoom in and out the map, to move from an AIS point in sequential or predefined order, and to print/save the current image.

The mouse right button on the map does also the zoom in action, and the left double click the zoom out.

Figure 4 – NavigAIS window toolbar.

4. NavigAIS Configuration

Then you run NavigAIS, the configuration parameters are loaded from a file located in the application directory [path]\NavigAIS\NavigAIS_mcr\NavigAIS\NavigAIS.ini.

The file contains the following 19 parameters:

[NavigAIS initialization file]
[Language English/Italian]
Language=English
[Path to the directory containing the AIS maps]
AIS_dir=AIS
[Initial zoom display in % (100=>original scan size, 50=>half size, etc.)]
zoom=100
AIS point sequence to travel]
AIS_point_list=Padola, Belluno, ...
Path to the file containing the AIS point Coordinates]
AIS_points=AIS_points.txt
[Display point names on/off]
tag_display=1
[Initial AIS map to display (547 = 'accetta')]
map=547
[Directory to save printed images]
AIS_images_dir=Temp
[Font & Marker Symbol]
[Shape of the AIS current point marker]
[+     Plus sign]
[o     Circle]
[*     Asterisk]
[.     Point]
[x     Cross]
[s     Square]
[d     Diamond]
[^     Upward-pointing triangle]
[v     Downward-pointing triangle]
[>     Right-pointing triangle]
[<     Left-pointing triangle]
[p     Five-pointed star (pentagram)]
[h     Six-pointed star (hexagram)]
marker_symbol=o
[Edge size of the AIS current point marker]
marker_width=4
[Size of the AIS current point marker]
marker_font_size=48
[RGB color of the AIS current point marker]
marker_font_color=0, 1, 1
[Font size of the AIS point names]
points_font_size=12
[RGB color of the AIS point names]
points_font_color=0, 0, 1
[Background display on/off]
[In the case of low memory (< 2 GB) and for faster execution set: background_display = 0]
background_display=1
[Window size and position in %]
[In the case of low memory reduce the windows display]
[To eliminate the map title, use: rectangle_pos_y=2.3 rectangle_size_y=97]
rectangle_pos_x=0
rectangle_pos_y=0
rectangle_size_x=100
rectangle_size_y=100

The yellow background indicates the actual parameters, while the remaining portions of text, enclosed between square brackets, are comments provided for explanation and ignored by the software.
You can manually edit the parameters in the NavigAIS.ini initialization file with a minimal attention, for any error could cause unforeseeable side effects.
If the NavigAIS.ini file is for whatever reason missing, or not correctly located, or wrongly named, the following error message appears in the window console:

Initialization file [path]\NavigAIS.ini not found.
Default configuration loaded.
Please check the AISinterface.ini file.

In this case, the program use a set of default parameters that could be incorrect, or not appropriate for the current installation.
Similarly if a parameter is not identified, or if a parameter assignment is not the correct one, a default value, that could be wrong, is given to the parameter:

Wrong parameter "AIS_dirXXXX" in the initialization file [path]\NavigAIS.ini.
Default parameter loaded.
Please check the AISinterface.ini file.

4.1 Language

The Language options in the initialization file allows to choose the language you prefer between Italian and English.
The default sets the parameter to English.
You can access dynamically the same function at the bottom left box of NavigAIS search window (Fig. 1). Setting this options causes the immediate reconfiguration of the opened window (field titles, tooltips, messages, button names, etc.).

4.2 AIS_dir

The AIS_dir parameter sets the path to the directory containing the AIS digital maps. Generally the directory is named AIS, and located at the same level of the NavigAIS.exe executable, i.e.: [path]\NavigAIS\AIS.
If you prefer to move the directory in a different position, or give the directory a different name, or keep it on a DVD disk, modify the parameter to reflect the change. For example:

Original:

...
[Path to the directory containing the AIS maps]
AIS_dir=AIS
...

Modified:

...
[Path to the directory containing the AIS maps]
AIS_dir=X:\YYY\AISdatabase
...

where X could be the letter indicating the DVD player unit and YYY\AISdatabase the directory containing the AIS maps. You cannot change the sub directory names (Band1, Band2, etc.) and the map file names (Karte001.for, Karte001.bkg, etc.), for they are used to correctly identify the map volumes and names.
You can also set the parameter value on the bottom box of NavigAIS search window (Fig. 1).

4.3 zoom

The zoom parameter sets the initial magnification display related to the original acquisition size in percent. As told before, it is possible to modify dynamically the zoom value on the left top of the NavigAIS Overview (Fig. 2) and AIS Digital Map (Fig. 4), clicking on the + and - button.

Examples:

zoom=100 (the default) means that the map image is initially showed at the real acquisition size (about 10.000x13.000 pixels), so that each pixel of the screen matches the original one.
With decreasing values you zoom out.
zoom=50 doubles the displayed area, i.e. each pixel of the screen represents two pixels of the scan image.
On the contrary, increasing the parameter value allows to zoom in. For example:
zoom=200 does reduce in half the displayed area, i.e. each pixel of the screen represents half pixel of the original image.

4.4 AIS_point_list

The AIS_point_list parameter does establish the list of AIS points you want to travel in the desired order, then you click on the red triangle buttons on all the NavigAIS windows (Fig. 2 - 4).
The list is cancelled when you select one of the point in the multi-selection boxes at the bottom of NavigAIS search window (Fig. 3). Then the focus moves sequentially according to the map number.
You can create a new list selecting the first of a contiguous range of AIS points with the Left mouse key and the last one with the Shift+Left key in the multi-selection boxes. To obtain a similar list for a sparse set of AIS points choose them with the CTRL+Left mouse key.

4.5 - AIS_points

The AIS_points parameter holds the path to the file containing the AIS point coordinates.
The default is[path]\NavigAIS\NavigAIS_mcr\NavigAIS\AIS_points.txt.
In this version of the software the parameter doesn’t have any utility for the normal user.

4.6 - tag_display

The tag_display parameter allows to hide/show the AIS point names that are overwritten in blue on the maps.
The default is 1 (that means to show the AIS point names).
The same effect could be dynamically obtained in the NavigAIS search window (Fig. 3), setting one of the two check box that appear in the center (Fig. 3).
Hiding the names could be necessary to better see the words that could be covered by the text labels. On the contrary displaying them allows to easily identify the different points.

4.7 - map

The map parameter sets which AIS map the user wants to display at program startup.
The default is the 547 map (l’accetta, i.e. the hatchet).

4.8 - AIS_images_dir

The AIS_images_dir parameter gives the path to a directory in which you can save the images then they are printed.
The default is [path]\NavigAIS\Temp.
If you want to avoid the image saving, set a wrong path or an inexistent directory.

4.9 - marker_symbol

The marker_symbol parameter sets the shape of the AIS current point marker.
The default is 'o' a circle.
The other possible symbols are the following:

+   Plus sign
o   Circle
*   Asterisk
.   Point
x   Cross
s   Square
d   Diamond
^   Upward-pointing triangle
v   Downward-pointing triangle
>   Right-pointing triangle
<   Left-pointing triangle
p   Five-pointed star (pentagram)
h   Six-pointed star (hexagram)

4.10 - marker_width

The marker_width parameter sets the edge of the AIS current point marker.
The default is 4.

4.11 -marker_font_size

The marker_font_size parameter sets the font size of the AIS current point marker.
The default is 48.

4.12 -marker_font_color

The marker_font_color parameter contains the RGB color values [0÷1] of the AIS current point marker.
The default is 0, 1, 1.

4.13 -points_font_size

The points_font_size parameter sets.
The default is 12.

4.14 -points_font_color

The points_font_color parameter contains the RGB color values [0÷1] of the point names.
The default is 0, 0, 1.

4.15 -background_display

The background_display parameter allows to hide/show the background containing regional borders, rivers, etc.
The default is background_display = 1.
In the case of out-of-memory error and for faster execution you could specify background_display = 0.

4.16 -rectangle_pos_x

The rectangle_pos_x parameter sets the X position of the displayed portion of the AIS map.
The parameter could be useful only in the case of out-of-memory error or to avoid the display of some image portions.
The default is 0.

4.17 -rectangle_pos_y

The rectangle_pos_y parameter specifies the Y position of the displayed portion of the AIS map.
The parameter could be useful only in the case of out-of-memory error or to avoid the display of some image portions.
The default is 0.

4.18 -rectangle_size_x

The rectangle_size_x parameter sets the percent X dimension of the displayed portion of the AIS map.
The default is 100.
The parameter could be useful to avoid the display of some image portions.
In the case of out-of-memory error, and for faster execution, allows to reduce the size of the displayed image.

4.19 -rectangle_size_y

The rectangle_size_y parameter sets the percent Y dimension of the displayed portion of the AIS map.
The default is 100.
The parameter could be useful to avoid the display of some image portions: To eliminate the map title, use: rectangle_pos_y=2.3 rectangle_size_y=97.
In the case of out-of-memory error, and for faster execution, allows to reduce the size of the displayed image.

5. Errors

Reports about errors, or misbehaviours, or about possible improvements of the software are welcome.

If NavigAIS doesn't start, try to run it "as Administrator"
A message about the cclmcrrt74.dll file, could signal that the Matlab runtime was not, or wrongly, installed or that you have not rights to access the software (in this case start NavigAIS as Administrator)
A poor workaround in the case of an “out of memory error”, is to avoid the background display (see the parameter background_display), and to reduce the size of the visualized image to the desired portion of the map with the following parameters: rectangle_pos_x, rectangle_pos_y, rectangle_size_x, rectangle_size_y.