
                                                                                                      Contents

Warning
Acknowledgements
Licence
Installation Guide
Quick Start Primer
Registration
Introduction
Starting Farsight
Options
 Menu
 Details
Utilities
 Primary Tools
 Ancillary Tools
Altering the Datafile
 Datafile Structure
Feature Name Conventions
 Restrictions
Advanced Techniques and Extensions
Automatic selection of part of the database
Manipulating Output
World Data Development Kit  (LLG)
High Volume Data Conversion
This Document
Accuracy
Protection of your Source Copy
Data Protection
Ordering and Payment
Software Support
FarSight Business and Support Phone Calls
Contact Details


This document copyright (C) 1994-1998  Green Systems - Science and Software Consultants.




                             FarSight



Warning:  Your personal safety -

FarSight must not be relied upon for navigation support or for assessment of trip viability.
Many outdoor activities are hazardous. To attempt some activities without adequate training or experience, preparation, fitness, planning or equipment may lead to debility, accident or death.

FarSight is an exploratory and analysis tool, it cannot be used to determine the viability and safety of an activity, especially a hazardous one such as aviation or bushwalking.

FarSight must not be used as a primary source of information for trip preparation, its results must be corroborated (or rebutted) with maps and other traditional trip planning techniques before a journey is undertaken.
It may be used as an indicative adjunct only - to a conventional planning process.

ALL INFORMATION MUST BE CHECKED BY CONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES USING AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES OF TOPOGRAPHIC DATA.

FarSight provides distance, direction and adjacency information between features in a region of interest, it does not provide any direct information about the difficulty of a journey.

Personal competence in navigation cannot be replaced by a computer package or a device such as a global positioning system.

In summary:
Farsight is not a replacement for maps, knowledge and experience in bushwalking, orienteering, four-wheel driving, mountain bike riding, aviation, horse riding, boating, caving or any other outdoor activity.

It is not a replacement nor an adjunct to your judgement and your responsibility for your own and others' safety.

                                                                                                  ---------------



Acknowledgements
The developers thank Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AusLIG) for allowing the use of approximately 800 points derived from 1:100,000 topographic map sheets.
AusLIG provides a complete map coverage of Australia at 1:250,000 scale and covers continental Australia at the 1:100,000 scale inland from the coast to a distance ranging from 70km to about 400 kms (typically 300km) along with a spot cover of Alice Springs.

All trademarks are the property of their registered owners.



Licence
The conditions in the original distributed file  LICENCE.DOC  apply to the operation of FarSight, use of its data or use of results from the package.
Read these.
Do not use a shareware or registered copy of FarSight unless you agree to those terms.

Use of a shareware or registered copy of FarSight indicates your acceptance of the relevant conditions in the original distributed file  LICENCE.DOC .



Installation Guide

To install FarSight on drive C:  in directory  \FARSIGHT

Having unzipped the distribution file  FARSIGHT.ZIP  into the root directory of a diskette in drive a: (ie a:\   contains all the files contained within  FARSIGHT.ZIP  but unpacked)

put the distribution diskette into drive a:
 and type

a:\install<Enter>

installation to  drive C:  subdirectory  FARSIGHT       will proceed.


If FarSight fails to install or you wish to install it elsewhere then

      Set up directory   FARSIGHT    at the desired position
                     on your hard disc drive by typing:

cd  directory_name<Enter>      ( <Enter> means press the key marked "Enter"  on the keyboard)

  this moves to the point in the directory structure where you
  want the new farsight directory to be. (note   cd ..<Enter>   moves
  up 1 directory level)

and then type:

md FARSIGHT<Enter>
cd FARSIGHT<Enter>

and then type:

 A:<Enter>   (or whichever your installing floppy disc drive and
                         directory may be)  then
 COPY *.* C: /v<Enter>  (if eg. drive C: contains the new FarSight
                         directory.
                         Use  E:   in place of C:   if
                         installing to drive E:  instead.)

then in the new FARSIGHT directory on your hard disc drive, type

disperse<Enter>



File integrity check:  All files listed in  PACKING.LST  must be present in every distributed copy - whether fullsize or in compressed form - of FarSight. Ensure that all files have the size listed in this file.
A deviation from these sizes may indicate infection with one or more computer viruses.

                         ----------------------

To start FarSight   type:  farsight<Enter>  in its new directory


                 or type:  far<Enter>



Quick Start Primer:


1  GEODATA.DOC   is the terrain datafile.
2  ALLDATA.GEO   is the archive file for data safety - if and when you
   use it.
3  The database is a structure within file  GEODATA.DOC  - of all
   features useable in the current session.
4  Go to directory   \FARSIGHT    (by typing  cd\farsight
   or to wherever  FARSIGHT is installed).
5  FARSIGHT.CFG is the configuration file - editable by wordprocessor.
   Specify units, operating modes, starting points etc. Follow the
   instructions in it.  CONFIG<Enter> to change it with  MS-DOS   EDIT
6  Select a starting point in  GEODATA.DOC  between the lines
   "START",0,0,0,0    and
   "END",0,0,0,0
    you can use    s <feature-name-fragment><Enter>   to search
7  Type Far  or Farsight
8  Enter your starting point exactly   and
9  Follow the on-screen instructions.



Registration
To register a shareware copy of FarSight-

Pay $A58.00 (capped until 31st March 1998) in Australian dollars via direct-deposit or cheque to Green Systems - Science and Software Consultants.
Specify your name and postal address for registration details and your return e-mail or snail-mail address  with a note to Green Systems preferrably by e-mail.

- See section  "Ordering and Payment".

To add full operating features to a shareware copy, after you have obtained registration material from Green Systems,
in the FARSIGHT directory  type:

 register<Enter>

and follow the onscreen instructions.



                              INTRODUCTION

FarSight is a highly efficient, compact, map based geographic information package which operates on any mercator projected map grid such as those used by modern topographic maps and global positioning systems (GPS).

FarSight determines distance and direction to geographic features from starting positions anywhere in the World using features within and beyond its database.
It computes distances along legs of a journey, road distances, total trip distance and intermediate directions between waypoints.

It is used by bushwalkers, travellers, pilots, natural resource managers, mountain bikers, four wheel and rally drivers, orienteers, landscape photographers, bushfire smoke watchers, field scientists, fisherfolk, birdwatchers and coastal navigators.

FarSight is designed to compute distances (in a range of units), bearings (in degrees) and absolute and relative heights between a selected observation point (starting point) in the database and:

1. any other database points selected by name or all points containing a particular word or name fragment (such as "Bridge" or "Lake").

2. automatically found points within a range of distance and direction from the observer and optionally, within a range of (absolute) height.

3. intermediate waypoints and leg distances for a journey, leg bearings and relative height changes between waypoints and ascent and descent totals.

to provide these on screen and to an MS-DOS computer file and via a word-processor, to any compatible printer of your choice.

along with:
4. travel times at a nominated speed.

5. to sort found features by distance, bearing (around the horizon) or height.


6. and to provide a file which lists feature names selected manually and automatically during a session.


Unlike maps, FarSight is scale-independent. Precise but coarse scale features visible on a 1:10,000,000 map can be compared with the precise position of for example a survey benchmark in a street or a spot on your desk. See the Accuracy section.

It is not tied to specific types of features such as airports and navigation aids found in software such as flight planning systems but can include any topographic features; campgrounds, caves, city buildings, islands ...  down to features the size of the head of a pin.

Bearings are computed with any orientation you like. The north direction for bearings is user defined. So magnetic compass heading, true bearing, grid bearing or whatever may be computed.

Useable map grid standards include the universal transverse mercator (UTM) grids on the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) spheroid [available in data output directly from many global positioning systems (GPS)], the Australian Map Grid (AMG) and many other national mapping grids.

With Green Systems'  LLG  tool, latitude and longitude data from a great variety of sources such as map gazeteers, geographic atlases and data from GPS devices not equipped with a map grid output facility can be used to create terrain data for FarSight.


FarSight will work on IBM PC XT, mobile (including portable palmtop computers such as the Hewlett Packard 200LX, 100LX and the Sharp 3000 series) and more powerful IBM PC compatible MS-DOS computers (from an Intel 8088 based XT to a Pentium Pro based PC) with a database size up to around 2000 activated features. An unlimited number of features may be stored in the datafile.

The package works under MS-DOS (from at least vers. 3.30 upward) and can be used within a DOS "window" under Microsoft Windows and Windows95.

Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh owners have a range of PC emulation software and hardware on which FarSight may operate. For the Macintosh 68k series, check out the old software SoftPC (versions AT, 3.0 or Professional 3.1  - 2nd hand copy or old stock) by Insignia Solutions for PC emulation software. For the Power Macintosh check Real PC without MicroSoft Windows by Insignia Solutions (ca. $US79  1997) or Virtual
PC  (VPC-DOS)  without MicroSoft Windows from Connectix Corporation (ca. $US69  1997) or SoftWindows by Insignia for software emulation (at the DOS command line interface.) PC Compatibility Cards ("DOS cards") are available for PCI-based Power Macintosh models. Check with your Apple stockist for advice and ask for a comprehensive test demonstration.


examples of use:

i. From a mountain top such as Mt Kosciuszko, identify hills and mountains, work out whether that is Mt Bogong and the Victorian Alps you can see, where Mt Buffalo would lie on the horizon and which is Mt Jagungal by using printed output from the package and a compass. (or from Mt Everest to Namche Bazar, Gauri Shankar or Kanchenjunga  etc.)

ii. Coastal Navigators investigate the feasibility of a coastal ocean going course plan before planning a trip using conventional techniques.

iii. Aircraft Pilots check "rhumb line" courses and distances between waypoints and destinations before planning a flight using conventional flight planning procedures.

iv. Aircraft passengers prepare a flight schedule of places of interest visible to the right or left on a particular trip, say between Melbourne and Sydney Airports and identify them from the air by position or flight time and speed.

v. Determine which mountainous features in the database lie within a band of probable road distance from your home, verify these and then go for a Sunday drive to the hills.

vi. FarSight can be used for features with geo-coordinates known in AMG, UTM or latitude/longitude. Pilots and GPS users particularly benefit from this. The Australian national topographic map series - and many other nation's maps can now be used to easily derive flight plan investigation data.

vii. Calculate area of plain-sided figures across country using figure side lengths and included angles from FarSight. 

viii. distance to a mobile phone base station (particularly longer range analogue services in non-urban areas), whether hills are in the way and whether or not you can make that call.

ix. Find features in the valley bottoms of river-dissected plateaux using sector and altitude search criteria.

x. Visiting remote country, quickly familiarise yourself with the features of the land - creating individualised direction charts for any lookout position. Of great value in discovering new ground or filling in gaps in your knowledge of an area.

xi. Statistically estimate the length of a road journey, track or bush journey with waypoints.


Unlike many computer packages today, FarSight is designed expressly as "thinware"* which requires little of your hard disk and memory space and which will run on the least powerful of IBM PC (and clone) microprocessors yet yield a flow of information from portable computers to the user impossible 15 years ago. It does this with a total files size of 370 kbytes in its simplest configuration while making efficient use of processor power - with a high ratio of information output to data and interfacial support (measured in total CPU cycles). It is designed against obsolescence.


FarSight comes with 2 datafiles: 1 of 1500 points concentrated in south eastern Australia and Tasmania. With a high concentration of features between Sydney and Melbourne including SE NSW and the Australian Alps. Along with data for major centres around Australia. The other, a set of features across the whole world.

These datafiles contain a broad range of features. Many of these data reflect specific interests of the authors. In time you will want to add to and modify these datafiles or create your own entirely.




* "Fatware" while providing a highly supportive user interface and many integrated features, knowingly creates an expensive, synthetic demand for "growth" in processor, memory and hard disc requirements from version to version - this leads to an artificial machine and software obsolescence in what is currently, 3-5 years.
Green Systems does not design for this expensive waste - we use and create lean and modular computing systems (for example FarSight has a total file size of 370kB including 100kB of optional terrain datafiles, 100kB of optional run-time utilities and 40 batch file utilities.) These run on everything from an Intel Pentium Pro 200 Mhz CPU down to "legacy"(!)  machines. All this is compressed into 200kB for archival storage and internet transmission. We aren't opposed to power computing per se, but that is power to do something useful not merely to feel competitive and meantime tie down a CPU whch could be doing better things with its time and your money.



You can add your own places to the datafile with a word-processor or editor and map grid information.
Features may be absolutely anything on or off a map for which you have rectalinear map coordinates eg. AMG, UTM or your own artificial grid position coordinates. It may contain a map of the Great Sandy Desert or your bathroom !

FarSight supplied data are defined on UTM metric grids - a series of numerically discontinuous, 6 degrees of longitude wide strips stretching away to the north and south which repeats itself across Australia (and the world).
All UTM Zones (including AMG) are 6 degrees of longitude wide.
UTM zone coordinates are discontinuous. Features in different zones usually cannot be used together.

In FarSight, special extension techniques allow points in different grid zones to be linked and their topographic relations computed.

Latitude and longitude based feature data can be incorporated into the FarSight database with the use of LLG - a latitude & longitude to UTM grid conversion programme available as the optional FarSight  World
Data Development Package  from Green Systems.
With LLG features anywhere in the World can be added to the FarSight database.

Note:
The final Grid upon which coordinates are defined is determined by the exact latitude and longitude values as specified on a range of artificial "spheroids" or ellipsoids - approximations to the shape of the earth adopted by varying national conventions and different professional groups. Between various spheroid models the actual values of the latitude and longitude are varied - not the grid coordinates directly.
Variation in the grid coordinates result from the changes in lat. and long.. If you are in possession of lat. & long. data these are already defined on a particular spheroid (of which you may or may not know the details).




Starting FarSight

To start FarSight go to the FARSIGHT directory and type:

farsight<Enter>
    or
far<Enter>
                    <Enter> means press the "Enter" key.


OPTIONS

FarSight has a number of extra facilities and configurable options:

Distances in kilometres, statute miles, nautical miles or metres. Search criteria can be specified in these units.

Height in feet as well as metres. Absolute height or relative height. For journeys, height change on legs and ascent/descent totals.

FarSight will compute a statistical estimate of Road distance between places in its database.
You can specify feature searches based on expected road distance from a starting point.
Also distance along highly winding tracks such as low grade firetrails, mountain bike tracks, horse trails and other rough tracks can be estimated.
These can be used to investigate the length of a journey. These are highly useful exploratory facilities. This feature makes use of the mathematics of fractals to model the geometry of roads and trails.

(note:  FarSight does not tell you if there is a road between 2 features but computes the probable road distance as if there were one. You must check these values against conventionally derived road distance information before planning a trip. Do not use them as the basis for trip plans - say for calculating petrol requirements. They may be used as INDICATIVE ESTIMATES ONLY.)

Travel speed to compute travelling times in minutes.

Back bearings from points in the database to a central "observation" point may be calculated. (The sector search function in this mode, has bearing limits specified in the normal fashion FROM the central point.)

Also, any arbitrary point not in the database can be used as the observation point to other features in the database so long as you know its relevant grid coordinates - from a map, book, computer package or global positioning system (GPS).



To allow FarSight to work in the way that you do, frequently used parameters such as

 the angle between your chosen north bearing and the Grid North direction,
 distance, speed and height units,
 straight line distance or estimated distances by road or track,
 a fixed observation point (such as a fire tower, a mountain or your
  home) and

 other programme options can be specified permanently in the


 configuration file  FARSIGHT.CFG  with a text editor - instructions are
 in that file.

Type
config<Enter>
   or
cf<Enter>

to edit  FARSIGHT.CFG  with the MS-DOS  EDIT   program.
 [ - when finished save the edit as DOS (ASCII) text only - not as a  formatted word-processor file.]


Optionally FarSight can be used to create new regional or other thematic databases from automatically selected features. Such as one made of those places lying within 100km of a feature or exceeding a particular height or which contain a particular word or phrase such as "Airport", "Island", "Mtn" or "Town Hall" or any combination of these via repeated selection.

In FarSight output the label  "TRUE"  or  "MAGNETIC"  or  "GRID"  or "OFFSET"  will be added as FarSight guesses for your convenience (or inconvenience) which direction for bearing north with respect to grid north you have specified in the configuration file.
GRID is applied when the size of the grid to bearing origin offset angle regardless of its sign is between 0 and 0.1 degrees  ie the offset is between -0.1 and +0.1 degrees (including zero degrees).
TRUE applies when the size of the offset angle regardless of its sign is between 0.1 and 4 degrees  (ie  -4 < offset angle <= -0.1   or  0.1 <= offset angle < 4 degrees).
MAGNETIC applies when the size of the offset angle (regardless of its sign) is between 4 and 16 degrees.
OFFSET applies when the size of the offset angle (regardless of its sign) is 16 degrees or greater.

The guess may be wrong. The definitive basis for the bearing is the grid north to bearing origin offset angle. Refer to that angle for precision.



Menu:
The main menu screen appears like this -



  do you want to : -

1   calculate bearings  to/from  named features

2   identify features in the database which fall into ranges
       of (height,) bearing and distance from your point
                       of observation.

       eg. all those points which are between (800m & 1050m height,)
           20 to 40 km away and with a bearing of 235 to 255 degrees
              (height is optional - set configuration file).


3   journey distances, directions and totals
          & (ascents/descents - set config.)


8   go to  DOS
9   reload configuration data
e   finish this session






Details:

A feature such as  "MY BARN"  may be contained coincidentally within the name of another feature such as  "PALMY BARN" . Selecting MY BARN  would select both. To specify  "MY BARN"  only

type:

MY BARN.<Enter>

that's with a period at the end.

To find an exact match for a feature whose name actually ends with a period - do the same thing,

type:


TOP STOP..<Enter>

that's 1 extra period beyond that contained in the name in the database.



Note that to properly specify a position in an AMG or UTM Zone, grid coordinates not grid references are used. These have an extra digit in the easting and 2 digits in the northing values. You will find these prefixes in small type at 10km intervals along the margins of an AMG map. This system is used in FarSight.

eg. the township  "ARALUEN"    has grid reference:
      546515  on the ARALUEN  1:100,000 map sheet

but grid coordinates:

zone 55   7546   60515


FarSight regards altitudes in its database as having been entered in metres and converts that number to feet when required.

Supplied Australian data are on the Australian Height Datum (AHD).

In the results, distance is displayed down to .001 distance units. Which means 1m when kilometre units are used and 1mm when metres are used. This allows fine representation of small scale features such as the layout of a farm, a cave or an archaeological site. This way the package allows survey results and point features in a plan etc. to be used as meaningful input.
(For these applications it may not be necessary to correctly establish coordinates on a UTM grid such as the AMG. False easting and northing coordinates related to an artificial reference point could instead be used. (An AMG zone number must still be used for each point).

The optional automatic linkage and adjustment of grid zone width onto the FarSight pseudogrid assumes a metric mercator grid with scale as described under grid coordinates above.

You can reconfigure FarSight operating data or do something else in the middle of a FarSight session by selecting option <8> - go to DOS  at the main menu. Then using  cf<Enter>  or  config<Enter> at the DOS prompt. Afterwards returning to FarSight  (by  typing    exit<Enter>   ). FarSight operating characteristics can be changed and reloaded during a session eg. km could be changed to nm  and these configuration data reloaded (using menu option  <9> ) to compute session distances in nautical miles.
However the database itself, the central zone and the bearing offset angle cannot be changed during a session - FarSight must be started again with these changed data.


Utilities

Primary tools:

The exact name of a datafile feature may elude you. You may want to display all airports etc in the datafile or for example, you may want to know while motoring, the altitude of a particular town:

S  - a programme in the Farsight directory searches for features in the datafile  GEODATA.DOC  which contain a particular single word text fragment typed in (on the DOS "command line" after the S command) and displays them.

eg.
s bridge<Enter>       <Enter>  means press the "Enter" OR "Carriage Return" key

will display all features containing the text fragment "bridge"   in  GEODATA.DOC
eg.

"SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE",56,3343,62526,50
"WESTGATE BRIDGE",55,3149,58108,53
"HOBART AERODROME  CAMBRIDGE",55,5386.9,52581.2,20.4


S is a quick and easy utility for scanning the database. Because of the nature of the DOS operating system (multiple spaces between (un-quote marked) words on the DOS command line are lost) it is limited to searching for single word text fragements.  See also  SC

Note
This makes use of the DOS  FIND utility which must be accessible via the DOS "path" condition.
Early versions of DOS may require you to type BRIDGE in uppercase to match the database entries (in these versions it is case sensitive).


SEARCH.exe is a programme supplied with FarSight which overcomes these DOS limitations.
It appears much like the DOS command line prompt itself - showing the current directory but also indicates that the search programme itself is running.
It operates like Search - above.
It will search file  GEODATA.DOC  in whichever directory it is started in for strings which may include multiple words (with variable numbers of spaces) [it handles feature lines up to 255 characters long.]

To start  SEARCH   type


search<Enter>
or srch<Enter>

(these programmes must be present in the particular directory or available via the DOS "path" command)


once started a search might look like:


C:\FARSIGHT]  search>s lord howe island<Enter>
    (press <Enter>  at the end of typed keyboard commands - is implicit from here on.)


and yield -

"LORD HOWE ISLAND AERODROME",57,5075,65103,5


search will scan for the UPPERCASE equivalent of your text string in the datafile.

When finished with search   type

u
or
unload

to return to the ordinary DOS command line prompt. Note: search  operates on lines shorter than 256 characters.


To alter the farSight configuration settings, edit the file  FARSIGHT.CFG
This can be done in the FARSIGHT directory by typing-

config
or
cf


Config  uses the MS-DOS editor   EDIT     - (which must be in your command search path -  type  "path" to make sure). Keywords and phrases in  FARSIGHT.CFG  have a fixed format. If that is damaged FarSight may not run properly. If that happens load an uncorrupted copy from your disc backups or copy this file from the installation source files or installation disc and re-modify it to your desired settings.


Output from FarSight is stored in the file  FARPRINT.DOC  chronologically but in reverse order (with the latest session's results at the file's start).
To page through these output type

tf

To word-process these results using MS-DOS  EDIT, type

farout

or to use your usual word-processor, make a copy of the file FAROUT.BAT  modify the call in it to invoke your word-processor package and to automatically load the file  FARPRINT.DOC  for editing (you may need to refer to your WP user manual for the details for your particular package (however, many word-processors are content with a format much as appears in  FAROUT.BAT  namely
 EDIT farprint.doc
          OR
 WP c:\farsight\farprint.doc       etc ).

Modified datafiles should be saved as text or ASCII (unformatted) files


Ancillary Tools:

ALL  to copy the archive file  ALLDATA.GEO  onto  GEODATA.DOC in preparation for use - ensure that the START and END  window in GEODATA.DOC is properly sized. (tip:  A minimal system can use just  GEODATA.DOC but data safety is low! Instead make sure all data changes and additions are made in  ALLDATA.GEO - back that up frequently and only COPY the data you want into  GEODATA.DOC - keep all your precious data in one known place and keep backups of that file. See the "Data Protection" section.

If you run that minimal system,  ALL  can be deadly - keep any terrain data backed up to diskette or other off-line storage since  ALL  copies the contents of  ALLDATA.GEO  over that of  GEODATA.DOC  obliterating whatever was in  GEODATA.DOC .)
See LESSRISK in the data protection section.


COUNT or CT  counts the number of features in the total data file  GEODATA.DOC  minus the count of commentary lines ending in   ,0,0,0,0

D   Displays the file directory entry for file  GEODATA.DOC  in  directory  FARSIGHT .   When you have multiple topographic datafiles this indicates the size and creation date of the currently loaded datafile.
See also  NAME

F  Start FarSight.

FAR  Start FarSight.

F0000  Count the number of feature lines in  GEODATA.DOC  ending in  ,0,0,0,0    - which are database control & commentary lines.

GEOCHECK  checks the structural integrity of features in the datafile  GEODATA.DOC  reporting feature lines with a wrong number of inverted commas (quote marks) and wrong number of commas and then reporting the total number of entries scanned. The check is a limited test of integrity.
If you have a number of datasets, load each file into  GEODATA.DOC  to check it. Note: GEOCHECK  checks all lines in  GEODATA.DOC  but only checks the first 256 characters of any long lines in the data file. Any miscellaneous details stored after "END",0,0,0,0  will usually create false alarms - if necessary, remove them for the test.

GETDATA  takes features named in  SELECTED.DOC  and extracts these and there data from file  GEODATA.DOC  placing them in  NEWDATA.DOC . These can then be copied into a new file - for creating thematic and regional files. Limited to the first 256 characters in feature lines. Collects all features named in file  SELECTED.DOC . Note  SELECTED.DOC  is overwritten by FarSight  during each session so store an intermediate edited file as another filename - if you are assembling a selection list from multiple FarSight runs - until ready to run  GETDATA. It can be used to assemble database files with features in any named order. Compare with utility  P.BAT  which is used to manually collect features for a datafile - from the DOS control prompt with 1 feature name or feature name fragment at a time.

GLL  converts grid zone coordinates to approximate corresponding latitude and longitude - point by point from the keyboard. Accuracy is typically 2 nautical miles or better but may be as low as  8nm.  Note like FarSight it uses grid coordinates not grid references.

GRTCIRCL(E)  with latitude and longitude of start and finish points for a journey, GRTCIRCL computes the shortest distance and the initial heading (it changes) for a great circle route from a starting point. This has poor accuracy at very close range but very good accuracy over great distances. Which is the purpose of this utility - to determine large point to point distances. Don't use course nodes at the poles, along a line of longitude or diametrically opposite each other. Assumes a spherical Earth.


HELP  displays file names of farsight utilities: FARSIGHT\*.bat   FARSIGHT\PICK\*.bat   FARSIGHT\LLG\*.bat   &   FARSIGHT\*.exe   as a reminder of their existence. Use  Ctrl + s  to stop and start screen scrolling if you have too many to display.


HOWMANY  like  COUNT  but displays lines and adds sequential numbers to them. Use <Ctrl>s to stop and start scrolling on the screen. This counts all lines containing a comma.

LAYOUT  or LAY  creates a word-processor file of all commentary or control lines in the data file which contain   ,0,0,0,0    . It displays the commentary/control lines and the sequential line number from the beginning of the file  GEODATA.DOC
It makes use of the MS-DOS  FIND  command and the MS-DOS  EDIT  word-processor. FIND and EDIT should be accessible via your DOS  PATH  command. LAYOUT  is small and neat and makes use of internal MS-DOS resources.
This is a useful tool to manage the structure of your datafile and the database.

LESSRISK  see Data Protection section.

NAME   Optional. This is a convenience if you use multiple topographic datafiles. It searches the file loaded into  GEODATA.DOC  for the line containing the keyword    datafilename    in which text describing that datafile resides in standard FarSight feature format ie.
  "PLATYPUS SIGHTINGS - QUEENSLAND   datafilename",0,0,0,0
  Put such a label line at the beginning of each datafile
   before line:
  "START",0,0,0,0


PICK or PK  to change to the  PICK  subdirectory in preparation for manually selecting individual features for a custom subset of the datafile.

  thence

 P  featurename<Enter>   to manually select features currently held in  ..\GEODATA.DOC  with name fragment (one word) "featurename".
  thence

 BUILD or BD  to build a database file of the progressively selected
 features and then write that over file  GEODATA.DOC  in the FARSIGHT
 directory in preparation to run  FarSight  with that datafile. Ensure
 that  GEODATA.DOC  contains no primary data which would be lost by the
 copy process. (Make periodic backups of all primary copies of your
 data). Build may be disabled by previous use of the utility LESSRISK
 (LOADUP.BAT renamed to LOADUP.SAF) .
 See data protection section.

 NEW  empties (deletes) the manual selection file  NEWPICK.DOC  losing its contents.

 V   views selected data content of  NEWDATA.DOC   - particularly the


 end of the file (most recently selected features).   Ctrl + s  to stop
 and start scrolling on screen if desired.

REGISTER  along with registration material from  Green Systems - Science and Software Consultants allows registration of a copy of FarSight - online. Contact Green Systems for the registration package and then follow the on-screen instructions for use. Note to prevent anyone damaging your registration configuration, REGISTER is renamed to  REG-DONE.SAF  after it has operated once. (To reset  REGISTER  for operation
type:
 ren  REG-DONE.SAF REGISTER.EXE     within the FARSIGHT  directory.)
See the "Registration" section.

SC  like  S  but includes the sequential line number from the start of  GEODATA.DOC  .
Note This makes use of the DOS  FIND utility which must be accessible via the DOS "path" condition.
Early versions of DOS may require you to type the  name fragment  in uppercase to match the database entries (in these versions it is case sensitive).

SORTALT   Sorts Farsight session output by height placing sorted output in  SORTALT.DOC. Output file is subsequently overwritten. Use after the relevant session.

SORTBEAR  Sorts Farsight session output by bearing placing sorted output in  SORTBEAR.DOC. Use after the relevant session.

SORTDIST  Sorts Farsight session output by distance placing sorted output in  SORTDIST.DOC. Use after the relevant session.

TIMES  Displays travel times from the last session using computed distances with the speed and units specified in the configuration file (FARSIGHT.CFG). For journeys, travel times on journey legs and total travel time are computed. Overwritten on each new session - it is not added to like FARPRINT.DOC  . Note - travel times in minutes have DECIMAL FRACTIONS of minutes not seconds in the "TIMES" column.

0FP  To quickly empty the chronological session history file  FARPRINT.DOC (be careful!). This erases the content of the history file.  The history file grows as you use FarSight. You may empty  FARPRINT.DOC but don't remove it altogether.
FARPRINT.DOC  must be present for the package to operate - don't delete it.




Altering the Datafile

Feature data is stored in the database file GEODATA.DOC
This is in the  FARSIGHT  directory in your computer.
You can add to and change this data using a word-processor.

(That said; we recommend keeping all primary data safe in an archive file  ALLDATA.GEO  and copying it into GEODATA.DOC  to run )

 See the "Data Protection" section.



Datafile Structure

If data scanning errors occur, check your datafile structure with that detailed below.


The format of feature data in the file  GEODATA.DOC  is:

"PLACE NAME",grid zone number, easting coordinate on the Map Grid, northing on the map grid, altitude (typically metres above mean sea level) -   all in one paragraph block and end every feature with a paragraph mark (long feature data lines may word-wrap within your word-processor).



two examples are:

"ARAGUNNU BAY",56,2355,59465,0

"COOMA",55,6906,59876,805


Feature data entries are placed one after another occupying one line (actually 1 paragraph block) per geographic point.
Entries have been organised in alphabetic order within regions.
The first active database feature in the file  GEODATA.DOC  must be:

"START",0,0,0,0


The last active feature in the file  GEODATA.DOC  must be:
"END",0,0,0,0


These are required to enable FarSight to start and end the database search properly.

After the end point in the file though, you may put notes, blocks of features that you optionally swap in and out of the database, feature data which you are in the process of developing etc. See  GEOCHECK utility.

In modifying the data file, use a mode in the word-processor that displays non-printing characters such as the carriage-return (paragraph mark), tab and linefeed so that you avoid inserting strange characters that may cause the database to be mis-searched.
Specifically,  Tab  characters are not valid in the datafile.

After editing, ensure that when you save the GEODATA.DOC file it is as a TEXT or ASCII coded file without formatting codes for the word-processor. We recommend keeping all primary data and making all changes in archive  ALLDATA.GEO  and copying it wholly or in part to  GEODATA.DOC  for use.

See the "data Protection" section.


A single point FarSight database file might appear like this:

"START",0,0,0,0
"ARAGUNNU BAY",56,2355,59465,0
"END",0,0,0,0

the start marker    "START",0,0,0,0
and the end marker  "END",0,0,0,0

may be moved forward and backward through the features in the datafile and like a moving window allow  FarSight  access to only those features that lie between them.

In these notes, the term DATABASE refers to those features lying between
"START",0,0,0,0    and
"END",0,0,0,0

Ensure that  "START",0,0,0,0    always occurs before the line containing   "END",0,0,0,0
Don't get them back-to-front  or FarSight would misbehave.

In  GEODATA.DOC  before "START",0,0,0,0  all entries must contain a name in quote marks and the 4 numerical values separated by commas - whether they are comments or unused features.

Don't leave any blank lines in the datafile before the line containing  "END",0,0,0,0



For place names in the data file, USE CAPITAL LETTERS ONLY.


   FarSight converts the place names that you type into uppercase
   letters and compares that with the database. Any lower case
   letters in the database names in  GEODATA.DOC  will cause
   FarSight to fail to select the feature.

grid zone number is an integer or real number

On the Australian Map Grid and other UTM grids, the earth's surface is split into 6 degree wide strips of longitude (shaped like cut segments of orange peel) running north-south. The ranges over which grid coordinates vary are the same within each zone. The only thing that distinguishes globally between zones is the zone number.
The AMG zone number for features between:


180 W  &  174 W longitude is  1          0 E  &    6 E longitude is  31
174 W  &  168 W     "         2          6 E  &   12 E     "         32
168 W  &  162 W               3         12 E  &   18 E               33
162 W  &  156 W               4         18 E  &   24 E               34
156 W  &  150 W               5         24 E  &   30 E               35
150 W  &  144 W               6         30 E  &   36 E               36
144 W  &  138 W               7         36 E  &   42 E               37
138 W  &  132 W               8         42 E  &   48 E               38
132 W  &  126 W               9         48 E  &   54 E               39
126 W  &  120 W              10         54 E  &   60 E               40
120 W  &  114 W              11         60 E  &   66 E               41
114 W  &  108 W              12         66 E  &   72 E               42
108 W  &  102 W              13         72 E  &   78 E               43
102 W  &   96 W              14         78 E  &   84 E               44
 96 W  &   90 W              15         84 E  &   90 E               45
 90 W  &   84 W              16         90 E  &   96 E               46


 84 W  &   78 W              17         96 E  &  102 E               47
 78 W  &   72 W              18        102 E  &  108 E               48
 72 W  &   66 W              19        108 E  &  114 E               49
 66 W  &   60 W              20        114 E  &  120 E               50
 60 W  &   54 W              21        120 E  &  126 E               51
 54 W  &   48 W              22        126 E  &  132 E               52
 48 W  &   42 W              23        132 E  &  138 E               53
 42 W  &   36 W              24        138 E  &  144 E               54
 36 W  &   30 W              25        144 E  &  150 E               55
 30 W  &   24 W              26        150 E  &  156 E               56
 24 W  &   18 W              27        156 E  &  162 E               57
 18 W  &   12 W              28        162 E  &  168 E               58
 12 W  &    6 W              29        168 E  &  174 E               59
  6 W  &    0 W              30        174 E  &  180 E               60



easting values require zone wide prefixes. The decimal point occurs at the position finer than tenths of kilometres and may be included for precisely located features.

northing values require world wide prefixes. The decimal point occurs at the position finer than tenths of kilometres and may be included for precisely located features.

altitude in metres above mean sea level (or your preferred height datum). This may contain a fractional part or for example, be measured in feet or fathoms etc. However when the feet (ft) option is specified in the configuration file FarSight assumes these values are in metres and converts them to feet.  Supplied australian height data are in metres with respect to the Australian Height Datum (AHD).


Ensure that all feature names are in capital letters only and that commas and inverted commas are in place after altering the datafile.
Do always put a value in the grid zone number position for a feature. Otherwise malfunction of the searching process may occur.

When adding a large number of new entries, place them near the end of the database. Run FarSight to ensure that they are accessible and give appropriate results.
Punctuation errors in the database can lead to mis-searching of data beyond the point of the error. Run the utility  GEOCHECK  to carry out a limited structural test of the datafile  GEODATA.DOC
When you are convinced that the new data is error free, sort it into the body of the datafile or structure its order as you like.
A good practice when adding data is to search with FarSight for the last feature before
"END",0,0,0,0
to ensure that new data errors don't cause mis-searching of the datafile.
Short feature names allow more features to be used per session.

Do not put too many features in the database.
Set the

"START",0,0,0,0  and
"END",0,0,0,0

lines so that they enclose about 1500 features - 2000 at a maximum. More than this will significantly reduce the number of features that can be selected during a session.
See the "Data Protection" section.


Feature Name Conventions:

In the data file  GEODATA.DOC  various conventions are adopted:

When the horizontal position of a point (the easting, the northing or both) is uncertain  P? is placed after the feature name within the quotation marks.

When the altitude of a point is uncertain  A? is placed after the feature name within the quotation marks. A?+  if the nominal altitude in the datafile is probably higher than the actual height. A?-  if the height in the datafile is probably too low compared to the actual altitude.
When the altitude of a point is unknown  9999  is placed in the altitude position.

Uncertainty in position is noted first if both occur.
eg.

"KAMBALDA  P?A?",50,1234,56789,9999

When the feature name in the datafile is uncertain or contentious,  N?  is used.
When position is accurate to 1 minute of arc in latitude and longitude and no more,  M? is used in place of  P?

Where position is derived from GPS data on the WGS 84 spheroid use  G4  to remind you of this. Most FarSight supplied data are on the AMG. The difference between the AMG and WGS 84 grids is ca. 200m NE-SW in Eastern Australia.


Keep feature names descriptive but brief since wordiness decreases the number of features that can be analysed simultaneously in the database.


MT is used to abbreviate  "Mount"  in a mountain's name.
MOUNT is used in the name of a settlement.
MTN abbreviates "Mountain"  in the hill - not a settlement.

Use  ADR  as an abbreviation for  AERODROME  etc if you wish to save space.

Airfields and airstrips are simple aerodromes - without local navigation or communication facilities or control towers.
Airfields have 2 or more runways. Airstrips, only one.
Airports are major transport facilities - handling large numbers of passengers or freight or both. In distinction to aerodromes and airfields.

Features with very common names which are repeated in the datafile have a regional identification included such as   "MT SUGARLOAF  KINGLAKE NATIONAL PARK"  and   "ROCKY POINT  KING ISLAND"

Apostrophes are omitted from names to avoid confusion in recalling such places. If you do want to use them, duplicate the feature name - with and without apostrophes to make search easier. That stated though, do avoid duplicate features as a rule since they give rise to data authenticity errors where you make a change in one copy of the feature data but neglect to update the other copy then use the out-of-date duplicate in later analysis.




Restrictions:

The names "ARB", "E" and "END", "L" and "LIST", "START" and optionally, "datafilename" can't be used for features. These are dedicated to carry out particular functions -

ARB  when specifying the origin to allow an arbitrary origin to be specified, within the running programme.
E & END  to end the specific feature search mode (Option 1 in the FarSight run menu) and to signal the end of the database feature data.
L & LIST  to list the database feature names (in Option 1 in the menu). START  to signal the start of the database in the data file.
datafilename  (optional) signals the feature comment line containing text describing the datafile - (used when multiple topographic feature datafiles are available to you). Placed before the first line of the database-  ie before    "START",0,0,0,0      . See NAME under utilities.

In the feature search process the fullstop or period character "."  is used at the end of a name to indicate that you want an exact match only from the database.
In the datafile the period character "." can be used at the end of feature names (eg. "CLIFF EDGE.",55,1234,56789,200) but is subject to this restriction: if a feature name ends with "." then you will need to type ".." at the end of the feature name when searching for it (eg:  cliff edge..<ENTER>)   since the rightmost "." will be removed (and then this exact name alone will be searched for).

The quote mark <">  cannot be used within feature names. Its only but mandatory use in the datafile is to delimit the feature name.

"0,0,0,0" is used in the datafile  GEODATA.DOC  for the data values of commentary lines. ",0,0,0,0"  is searched for by the utility  LAYOUT to provide datafile structure information to you. Data values  0,0,0,0  may be used but in doing so you will select whichever features contain  0,0,0,0  as data - this might be misleading or inconvenient. As a convention then it's better not to use  0,0,0,0  as data. It's not in a grid zone and its south of the south pole.


ADVANCED TECHNIQUES and EXTENSIONS

With appropriate knowledge you can use the mailing list or macro command features in many word-processors to automatically scrutinise the database and (using a working copy of the database file) sort, extract and otherwise modify its form to output a range of features to another computer file, based on the numerical values in the feature data (such as altitude or a range of easting and northing values). These values may then be used for specialised datasets for restricted areas or for particular types of features. Likewise this process may lead to spreadsheet input for subsequent arithmetic processing.


You can maintain many different FarSight datafiles with various regional or thematic bases.
These may be stored in different DOS files and copied into or over the data in  GEODATA.DOC  using a wordprocessor, menu, shell or batch file system or from the DOS prompt using the  COPY  command.

Before you do this make sure that you have a copy of the primary topographic data wherever you keep it, stored safely under another file name or on an external diskette.

See the "Data Protection" section.


For example NSW features stored in file  NSW.GEO  might be written over the data file by typing at the DOS prompt

C:\FARSIGHT>copy nsw.geo geodata.doc

(In case of computing accidents though, make very sure that you backup these files to safe external storage media before doing so.)


Alternately this process can be automated by creating a "batch" file in the Farsight directory called say  NSW.BAT  in which the lines

copy nsw.geo geodata.doc /v
farsight

appear. This will automatically copy the NSW data into  GEODATA.DOC  and then start FarSight when you type  NSW<Enter>

Again make sure all data are backed up before experimenting with such systems.




To compare features across the 180 longitude boundary (near the international date line) at the limit of the grid, temporarily change western hemisphere feature zone numbers to their original zone number + 60 .
eg. San Francisco, California would become

"SAN FRANCISCO",70,5514,141801,0
   from
"SAN FRANCISCO",10,5514,141801,0


For greater accuracy in interzone calculations:
In calculating large distances at temperate latitudes with a large east-west component, link grid zones via the configuration file but don't use the "adjust width" option. For large east-west distances, better determinations are had by placing the central zone, in the farsight.cfg file, midway between points of interest.



Automatic selection of part of the database.

The selected features from each FarSight session are automatically listed in a file  SELECTED.DOC  - overwriting previous data there.

With the program  GETDATA.EXE  you can select and extract data from the entire content of the datafile  GEODATA.DOC  and create a customised datafile of your own. Which then resides in the file  NEWDATA.DOC  This is done by adding the output of the programme  GETDATA  (found in NEWDATA.DOC) to a thematic database file (eg. AERODATA.GEO) and then replacing the contents of  GEODATA.DOC  with them. The selection list in  SELECTED.DOC  can be modified with a word-processor, feature names changed, added or deleted. Ensure that correct feature names are used - otherwise aberrant features won't be selected or GETDATA  will misbehave.


This is done by:

1. Ensuring that SELECTED.DOC contains the list of features that you want extracted from file  GEODATA.DOC . (check it with a wordprocessor).

2. At the DOS prompt in directory  FARSIGHT :

typing-

GETDATA    -   run the extraction program - which selects and places feature data in file  NEWDATA.DOC  .

3. With a wordprocessor add or substitute features in their newly selected order from NEWDATA.DOC into a new thematic data file  eg.  AERODATA.GEO


We recommend you keep thematic and regional datafiles in subdirectory  GEODATA


See the caution in the "Data Protection" section.




Manipulating Output

Sorted output utilities are described in the previous Utilities section. In addition though, programme results in the file  FARPRINT.DOC  can be sorted with many word-processing packages
- with feature names sorted alphabetically.
- features sorted by increasing or decreasing distance from the observer.
- sorted by direction so that features are listed in order as one looks clockwise or anticlockwise around the horizon.
- sorted by ascending or descending altitude.

With appropriate restructure of FarSight output, results can be imported and manipulated using spreadsheet packages to carry out many automated and innovative forms of geographic analysis.


World Data Development Kit

This is an optional component available exclusively with  FarSight  from Green Systems. LLG  converts latitude and longitude to UTM grid coordinates suitable for use with  FarSight. Add $A15 to FarSight purchase.
See "Ordering and Payment".

Install this and its accompanying files separately into subdirectory  LLG

the programme LLG is simple to operate.
In the subdirectory  LLG  from FARSIGHT:-
type-

llg latitude longitude altitude FEATURE NAME


Where

latitude is positive north of the Equator and negative in the southern hemisphere. It is as  degrees.MMSS and fractions of seconds.
MM is minutes value of latitude
SS is seconds value.

longitude is positive East of Greenwich, U.K. and negative west of Greenwich westward to the international date line (strictly to 180 west).

Note Don't truncate the minutes and seconds places. If longitude is
153.5220  don't type 153.522 - this would be read as 52 minutes and 2 seconds - type in the whole angle.

altitude  should be typed in metres.

FEATURE NAME should be in CAPITAL LETTERS and can be up to 6 words long.

eg.

LLG -23.1234 145.4257 250  FEATURE-W/-HEIGHT-OF-250M

When the programme runs it will display on the screen the UTM grid convergence from true north at the point, along with the feature name, height and of course, grid zone and grid coordinates.

These results are also written into the start of the computer file  LLGALL.DOC  in the LLG  directory. In the following form (values are for example only)


"FEATURE-W/-HEIGHT-OF-250M",55,3167.6,74321.6,250,      -0.70584,  -23.1234,145.4257

note that computed grid convergence, entered latitude and longitude are also saved here for any subsequent computer-based use.

This file acts as a chronological "history" file (from the newest to the oldest) of all points converted from latitude and longitude to AMG or UTM  coordinates . Like other FarSight data, make a backup copy of this file from time to time.

With a word-processor, copy the feature data into an appropriate place in the  GEODATA.DOC  FarSight datafile or the primary data file ALLDATA.GEO  if you use it.

NOTE  Ensure the feature name is in uppercase letters. Do remove the convergence and lat. and long. record from additions to the FarSight datafile - the comma after the height and everything to but not including the carriage return (paragraph mark) at the end of the line.

At this point you can modify the name or add to it. Check this data when you copy it. See the caution in the "Data Protection" section.



High Volume Data Conversion

Green Systems transforms user created latitude and longitude based bulk data to UTM metric grid coordinate positions suitable for use with FarSight where you supply data by e-mail in an ASCII text file in the following format:

-----------------
"FEATURE NAME 1",latitude,longitude,height,,
"FEATURE NAME 2",latitude,longitude,height,,
.
.
"FEATURE NAME 5",latitude,longitude,height,,
"FEATURE NAME LAST",latitude,longitude,height,,
-----------------

1 feature per line.
Total line length of 210 characters or less.
Add the double comma at each line's end and the dashed lines at the start and the end delimiting the data you want converted.

The sign conventions detailed above for LLG are used and height is in metres on your datum (eg. above mean sea level).

Converted data are returned to you by e-mail in one of 2 forms-
please specify your preference:

"FEATURE NAME",zone,easting-coordinate,northing,height
  or

"FEATURE NAME",zone,easting,northing,height,,     grid-convergence at point,latitude,longitude

To a precision of .1 units (10metres in metric UTM grid) on the horizontal plane.


the latter form allows you to maintain for your records, the original latitude & longitude values with the converted data. You will need to remove the <,,> after the height and everything beyond that in each line in order to run it in the FarSight datafile (for speed and reliability, use automated macro facilities in a word-processor to do so. When loaded into  GEODATA.DOC  for operation in FarSight run  GEOCHECK  to perform a limited test of its structural integrity).
As in FarSight, zone wide coordinates not 3-figure grid references are supplied for the easting and northing values.

E-mail Green Systems for applicable rates.


This Document

Paperless Documentation:
These instructions are provided in computer readable form only. This helps keep trees in the ground.

Nature of this Document:
This document should be regarded as a series of notes to users rather than a comprehensive manual. While considerable care has been taken in its preparation, it may contain errors or omissions.


Accuracy

FarSight is most accurate between features within a single grid zone.
Beyond a single zone, FarSight is more accurate over shorter distances (up to 1000 straight line kilometres). Accuracy is reduced over large distances because of the curvature of the Earth. FarSight computes Lines of Constant Heading (rhumb lines or loxodromes) and these are of progressively greater length than the shortest distance - Great Circle paths. Great Circle paths however have constantly varying heading along their length (except when travelling strictly north-south or around the equator) and are therefore difficult to follow. FarSight adopts the rhumb line approach because of the high computational speed (low CPU load) and accuracy over the shorter distances (less than 1000kms) which are of greatest interest - compared with a latitude and longitude basis for data representation which yields a high computational cost or accuracy compromise for short distance calculations.
A long path can be split into shorter sections with distance and bearing calculations made between waypoints. This greatly reduces these errors of long distance and with recognisable waypoints, provides checks along the way - in the manner that traditional navigation is carried out.

Take care when conducting FarSight calculations in the vicinity of AMG/UTM zone boundaries - particularly where legs are short and cross a boundary - small errors which are minimised near the equator and poles may become significant in temperate latitudes. These are computationally expensive to remove. These conditions involve only a small proportion of FarSight results. They have been left uncompensated so that the package will operate fast even on the smallest DOS computers.

See  GRTCIRCL.EXE  in the utilities section.


In FarSight for an archaeological dig, building plan, rural property database or cave survey; to increase representational accuracy over a smaller range use an enlarged coordinate system. To gain accuracy to 1mm horizontally for a total mapped range of 1km, use artificial easting and northing coordinates ranging from 0 up to the numerical value of 10 for both easting and northing with an artificial grid zone number for each point (you might just truncate putative easting and northing coordinates and use the actual grid zone if all points fall within 1 zone.) Do not link or adjust grid zones. Any other scale with varying ranges across eastings and northings will produce a linear variation in accuracy: eg. a 10km range (with artificial easting and northing values varying from 0 up to 100) would yield a 10mm limit on accuracy.


The supplied FarSight datafile ALLDATA.GEO contains feature positions which have a mean random error of  50m horizontally and 10m vertically (except for the more accurate trigonometric (trig.) station data).
Most supplied data in ALLDATA.GEO have for horizontal reference the Australian Geodetic Datum (AGD) and vertically, the Australian Height Datum (AHD). The australian aerodrome data are defined on the WGS 1984 geodetic datum.



Protection of Your Source Copy

Keep any distribution disc safely aside after installation.
From any other source (eg. the internet): make a diskette copy of the distribution files and store this safely.
At installation use this copy only with the write protect tab set (so that you can see through both square holes at the bottom edge of a 3.5", 1.44MB diskette - equally and clearly). This guards against virus infection and other corruptions.
Do not use it except for re-installing the software on your computer. If you run FarSight from a floppy disc, make a working diskette copy of the software after you have installed it on your computer's hard disc, on another floppy disc or use the  MS-DOS  diskcopy  command.


Data Protection

Even though  GEODATA.DOC  as datafile is sufficient for a minimum system operation. For data safety, we recommend against using file  GEODATA.DOC  alone as your data repository.
While  GEODATA.DOC  is in fact the database file - from which FarSight draws its operating feature data, we recommend you keep all FarSight feature data in file  ALLDATA.GEO  - modify data in that file only - and keep impeccable backup copies of  ALLDATA.GEO  on diskette or other backup medium - updated from time to time. In order to use the features in  ALLDATA.GEO  use the command line utility  ALL  to copy the file
ALLDATA.GEO  onto  GEODATA.DOC  or copy selected sections or features to  GEODATA.DOC

If you use the minimum configuration system, without the archive file ALLDATA.GEO, consider running utility  LESSRISK  in the  FARSIGHT  directory. This removes some sources of danger (and some utilities) specifically:

 FARSIGHT\INSTALL.BAT      is renamed to  INSTALL.SAF
 FARSIGHT\ALL.BAT          is renamed to  ALL.SAF


 FARSIGHT\WG.BAT           is renamed to  WG.SAF
 FARSIGHT\PICK\LOADUP.BAT  is renamed to  LOADUP.SAF
 FARSIGHT\PICK\NEW.BAT     is renamed to  NEW.SAF

rendering them inoperable.

If you add or change supplied FarSight data you have valuable files to backup periodically or before risky procedures. These files are

1.  FARSIGHT\ALLDATA.GEO       and ..
2.  FARSIGHT\*.GEO             other thematic & regional terrain files

3.  FARSIGHT\GEODATA.DOC       if you run the minimum system
4.  FARSIGHT\PICK\NEWDATA.DOC
5.  FARSIGHT\LLG\LLGALL.DOC    if you use LLG


Ordering and Payment

The primary means of supply of FarSight is over the Internet. Your shareware copy can be turned into a full operating version using registration material supplied to you via the internet by Green Systems without the need to download another copy of FarSight.


To order the registered FarSight package -

In  Australian Dollars  make an international direct-deposit of $A58.00 or $A73.00 with the  World Data Development Kit. If you are unable to obtain FarSight over the internet and require a diskette source instead, add $A10 for freight and handling - (all prices valid until license date 31st March 1998)  to


  Green Systems - Science and Software Consultants,
  Account No.  76  2919  5019312
  Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
  33-35 Northbourne Ave, Canberra, A.C.T., 2601
  Australia


 payment in other currencies is not accepted.  * see below
 So please pay in Australian dollars only.


 send a   >> plain text <<   e-mail registration request   ** see below

  to

    sasco@macquarie.matra.com.au

  for your legal registration as licensee:

 i.    Give your name.
 ii.   postal address.
 iii.  e-mail contact details (if you have a stable e-m address).

 In the e-mail, confirm:
 iv.   the amount,
 v.    Bank or institution  at which you made your payment,
 vi.   place of your payment
 vii.  date and time
 viii. Optionally to resolve any payment transfer difficulties, please
       reproduce the Green Systems account details (accnt no., branch
       etc) to which you  actually  made the direct deposit.
 ix.   Specify how you want your registration material supplied:

      a.  e-mail,
      b.  client-dialled phone call [details (far) below]   ***    or
      c.  snail-mail (airmail - to destinations where available, other
          -wise surface). Add $A5 if international post applicable.
 

 x.    Print the licence agreement in  LICENCE.DOC  -  sign and date it.
 xi.   Post it to Green Systems.


       Bank validation of your payment will take 2-3 days on average.
       Please accept this necessary step in your registration.

                                                                                                         OR
 xii.  If you don't have e-mail facilities. Pay direct and send
       - a snail mail request,
       - payment notice with payment details etc and
       - completed licence agreement as above.
        If you prefer to send a cheque in Australian dollars (no other
        currency please) - do so. Your registration material will be
        mailed to you (Add $A5 airmail internationally).
                                                                                                         OR
 xiii. If you don't have a shareware copy of  FarSight  and don't have
        e-mail facilities with binary file attachment processing; Send a
        postal mail request with payment in Australian Dollars and
        completed licence agreement. A diskette along with your regist-
        ration material will be mailed to you (add $A10 for freight &
        handling).



*  Payment in other currencies may give rise to bank currency conversion and administration charges to you and delay or stop your registration.

** because of the possibility of inclusion of destructive computer code we won't open and accept encoded e-mail or e-mail file attachments  - please don't try because currently we'll have to refuse.

*** We don't place calls. So please telephone Green Systems to arrange licence material by phone.


If after reading the above you remain unsure of the various procedures or have extra queries, please contact Green Systems by e-mail.


Your registration material and registered copy of FarSight are unique. Store them securely and give them to no one else.


Thankyou for purchasing FarSight.



Software Support
Ten minutes of client-dialled telephone support or e-mailed support time are included in the price of FarSight to the original buyer. This is available for 6 calendar months from the date of license. It is not transferable on subsequent sale.
Ongoing e-mail & client-dialled telephone support is provided at the rate of $A1.35 per minute (in 1997-98).


FarSight business and support phone calls

Green Systems carries out most FarSight business via the Internet. If you are unable to do so or don't wish to then-

For FarSight support and registration by phone, Green Systems may be contacted for 1 hour per week at 0500 UTC (5am Greenwich Mean Time) to 0600 UTC - 6am  UTC  Thursday.

on phone number:

 +61  15 48 5674 (international)   or   015 48 5674 (within Australia)


outside that time, support is available via e-mail and standard post.

[At any time the current UTC is available on the world wide web from

 http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl - the US Naval Observatory.]



Contact Details:


                            FarSight

from:


Green Systems - Science and Software Consultants,

e-mail  sasco@macquarie.matra.com.au
ph. +61 15 48 5674     or   015 48 5674 (within Australia)
P.O. Box 393, Dickson, A.C.T.  2602  Australia




