[mapserver-dev] Coloring height rasters

[Frank Warmerdam]

Administrator wrote:
> Frank,
> 
> If you have the capability to process raw data, and the capability to
> quantize that data into a set of 255 user specified colors, you're
> already touching every pixel in the raw data.  A color ramp shader such
> as I'm simply performs a different quantization and outputs 24 bit
> values for each pixel.
> 
> I definitely agree that this is not the pinnacle of optimal code, but I
> can have the shader use the full range of 24 bit color across the
> heights appearing in the rectangle of interest.  Maximum detail based on
> the height minimum and maximum.

John,

You are correct that the current MapServer code (with the recent addition
of the SCALE processing keyword) can scale the data to 0-255.  Then you
could use 256 CLASS statements to set a color for each of those values.
Ideally there would be a further mechanism to specify the 256 entry
color table more compactly ... perhaps as a set of interpolation points,
but that isn't strictly necessary.

> This, of course, begs the question of just where the height minimum and
> maximums come from.
> 
> Which, conveniently, leads to my next question.  There's already a very
> fine tile based scheme that sits on top of the shape file data base
> format, I believe.  It seems that it would not be terribly difficult for
> someone, namely me, to extend the row schema for each tile such that it
> includes the min and max heights for the tile.  
> 
> An appropriate tile index query could then supply the shader with the
> height extrema for each tile in the final image so that the correct
> ratio of height delta to pixel RGB value could be efficiently computed
> for rendering.  This means you may not get the broadest range of values
> for a particular rectangle, but if the tile index has appropriate
> granularity it should suffice. 

This could be done, but would require an extra pass over the tile index
to collect the raster min/max values before actually drawing any of the
raster tiles.  I am not especially enthusiastic about this complication
to the code.

I suppose this could be done outside of the mapserver code base itself if
your application is MapScript based, and then you could set the layer
scaling range before calling drawMap.  That would be sweet.  Note that there
is no harm in adding extra columns in the tile index.  They will be ignored
by MapServer.

The real issue, to my mind, is that you will have a hard time generating
a proper color ramp legend showing the "real values" along a color bar.

> Maybe I could implement the range color table while I'm at it...

How do you mean?  A special way of specifing color tables from ranges
within the mapfile?

Best regards,

-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent