FORMAT FOR MAP FILES

02/06/92 - Original by J Caron & F Hage.

November 2003, Minor updates F. Hage.


Maps are stored in ASCII files; this document describes their format.

These are the types of lines within the file:
	1) comment lines, which have the character "#" in column 1
	2) keyword lines, beginning with a keyword
	3) scalable text lines, which have the character "&" in column 1


1. Keyword lines:

   	1.1. MAP_NAME <name> <desc>
   This should be the first line of any map file. The name is restricted to
64 characters, and must not have whitespace in it. The description is restricted
to 64 chars.  A list of available map names (and desc) may be passed to client
programs; typically it is displayed for the user to select from.
         (Note: By 2003, this TAG is considered optional and is typically
		 ignored by RAP software. Write these fields for human consumption.)

   	1.2 TRANSFORM <transformation matrix>
    OPTIONAL line used by digitizing program.  Ignored otherwise.
   
   	1.3 PROJECTION <type> <parameters>
    OPTIONAL line used by digitizing program. <type> = PJG_XXXX; see PJG.h for
description of the projection parameters. Ignored otherwise.
   
   	1.4 ICONDEF <icon name> <npts>
		<x> <y>
		<x> <y>
		<x> <y>
		...
    This defines an icon with name <icon name>. It consists of <npts> number
of points, which immediately follow.  The <x> <y> are in units of pixels, 
and the value "32767 32767" indicates a pen up.  Note this defines an
icon, but does not draw it.

	1.5 ICON <icon name> <lat> <lon> <text x> <text y> <text>

    This indicates to draw the icon <icon name>, with origin at <lat> <lon>.
If <text x> <text y> is not equal to "32767 32767", then also draw the
text <text>, with the lower left corner of the text at <text x> <text y> pixels
relative to the origin.
   An ICON line can only refer to an <icon name> that is already defined by a
ICONDEF in the same map file.
   An ICON stays the same size as the user zooms.


	1.6 POLYLINE <name> <npts>
	    <lat> <lon>
	    <lat> <lon>
	    ...
    This indicates an object called <name>, which is simply a POLYLINE of
<npts> segments, specified in world (lat, lon) coordinates. Pen-up =
(-1000.0, -1000.0).


2. Scalable Text Lines: 
    These are specified in world coordinates, and scale as the user zooms.
    Note all are space-delineated tokens with the exception of the text itself:

    LABEL <ll lat> <ll lon> <ur lat> <ur lon> <rot. angle> <attach loc> <text>

	<ll lat> <ll lon> = lower left corner of the bounding rectangle
	<ur lat> <ur lon> = upper right corner of the bounding rectangle
	<rotation angle> = angle to rotate text in degrees: 
	   0 = regular, 90 = vertical text goes up, 180 = upside down, 
	   270 = vertical text goes down
	<attach point> = lat, lon of the "attach point"; -1000, -1000 means none
	<text>=  text to display


See the many examples in http://www.rap.ucar.edu/maps.