Thanks Juergen for your feedback - we appreciate it a lot. Regards, S.
Juergen Bohnert wrote: > Hi Stacho, > > you are absolutely right, Therion has the basic functionality that is > needed to keep a cave map up to date. And it is a reliable work horse. > > We should always remind ourselves that there is no other software that > has the flexibility of Therion combined with this platform-independent > and open source approach when it comes to cave cartography. > I repeat, no other! > Therion sets the high standard to which all other programs have to be > compared... > > CAD for caves is a nice piece of software, but it needs a non-open > source system (AutoCAD) which you can only obtain at a price that > prevents most cavers from buying it. > > Although the Therion GUI might be a bit old-fashioned, it still does the > job. It is not as fancy as AutoCAD and CorelDraw, but since I know both > programs I have to admit that it didn't take me much longer to get > accustomed to it. > > OK, I admit that the GUI could be a bit "renovated", but in my opinion > this is a mid- to long-term thing... function is more important than > look and feel. > > And since Therion is an open-source project every caver can contribute > to improving this software package.... > > And instead of creating completely new cave mapping software I would > rather prefer an approach of building modules within the Therion > framework which means at least using the Therion data format. > > Therion might not be the best tool for the casual cave cartographer but > it is definitely the best tool if you are into long-term GIS-based > mapping of complex cave systems with multiple entrances and frequent > survey shot changes e.g. based on refinement of already existing surveys > by radio location or loop-closure. Try that in AutoCAD... very > cumbersome .... > > Therion definetely closes the gap between conventional GIS, CAD and cave > survey visualization software... > > Regards, > > Juergen > > > > Stacho Mudrak schrieb: > > > Quoting Stefan Oswald <stefan_oswald at gmx.at>: > > > >> We draw on therion in our caving club, but we have a few problems, > which i > >> want to report to you, we also have made a little "brainstorming"... > > > > > > > > Thanks for your feedback. You are asking very difficult questions, > but I will > > try to answer... > > > > > >> It is always very difficult to introduce new people, no software > engineers, > >> into therion, also i had great problems. > > > > > > > > You are right, but... > > > >> From time to time we get a crazy idea - that we will start > programming much > > > > more simple therion again from the scratch. But when we start to > analyze again all functionality that is definitely needed, > > we are not able to find data model, that is much more simple > > than current state. > > > > > >> The map editor user interface gives > >> many options, but thereby it is not really easy to handle, the same > with the > >> layout. It is difficult to produce a good looking plan-layout with > text and > >> so on. > > > > > > > > Well, I am afraid you will never get really good looking map with all > bells and > > whistles from therion. Our goal was to have a system, where we can have > > complete, up to date and very flexible documentation of the cave. For > this, we > > are now paying price of good looking cave map. But if you have > several tens of > > km cave with multiple levels and passages that connects to each other > - even > > schematic map in therion is a pain, not a precisely drawn map with > all the > > details... At least in our situation, when we do not have a lot of free > > time... > > > > > >> A generall icon-interface, such as most leading CAD programmes use > would be > >> much more efficient in our opinion. Is this planed in final version? > > > > > > > > The main problem of therion user interface is, that it is not > standard vector > > drawing interface. Here I 100% agree. But I am afraid - I have no > resources to > > start working on another CADlike interface. > > > >> In Therion you draw something and you do not know what it will > exactly look like. For handling the Programm it would be easyer if you > could immediately see the result without pressing F9, opening the .pdf, > take a look > >> at the result, close it again (Windows) and return to therion. > >> just an idea. > > > > > > > > On Windows it is a problem of acrobat reader - I usually use > ghostscript, when > > I > > need check how it looks frequently. I have tried several times to control > > Acrobat Reader from xtherion - but without success. I do not know, > what is > > going wrong - but from version to version, Adobe Acrobat Reader has > different > > behaviour when controled from other program. > > > > I would like to add some features to xtherion in this case (e.g. > showing some > > symbols instead of simple dots). But it is only in TODO. > > > > > >> Also showing other scraps (.th2 files) in map editor, as with CAD > for Cavers > >> (Autocad) would be an option. > > > > > > > > Yes, it would be great. But I am afraid - with the current state of > the code in > > xtherion, this is not possible... > > > > > >> To abstract we mean placing focus on usability would make it easyer > for many > >> people using therion, not only in our club. > > > > > > > > This would be great, but it implies very deep changes in the system > design and > > currently I have no resources to do that. > > When I started therion - I was single and student. Now I am married, I am > > working and I have three little children. I am really happy if I find > time to > > fix bugs, add little features or go to the cave > > > > Best regards, S. > > _______________________________________________ > > Therion mailing list > > Therion at speleo.sk > > http://www.speleo.sk/mailman/listinfo/therion > > > _______________________________________________ > Therion mailing list > Therion at speleo.sk > http://www.speleo.sk/mailman/listinfo/therion
