NTMDS is an object oriented tool kit that provides infrastructure for Human Machine Interface in graphical and geographical applications. The tool provides basic capabilities for:
- Display and control of a background map or orthophoto map image
- Display and management of objects on top of the background map
Both capabilities provide direct user control and external application (API) control. NTMDS is intended to shorten development time and reduce risk for applications developers. NTMDS enables programmers to easily manage objects over a graphical or geographical background. Examples of such applications are:
- Command and Control applications
- Situation picture displays
- Planning applications missions, battle plans, forces, deployment etc.
- Display of geographically related information
- Moving map applications
NTMDS entities are separated into background and foreground layers. Background layers include the displayed map or image and support a set of operations that are common for background display. Map layers can be arranged according to user defined categories (e.g. cities, rivers, tunnels, roads etc.).
NTMDS supports a DTM layer and provides a set of geographical applications that use DTM data. The foreground may include any number of object layers. Each layer can contain an unlimited number of objects. Each object can be controlled both at the layer level and individually. The layers can be arranged according to user defined categories (e.g., own forces, intelligence, etc).
NTMDS provides user and application control of both background and foreground layers. User control is provided via standard devices (keyboard, mouse) and its implementation conforms to Windows NT interface conventions. The controlling application can be notified about user operations. Application control supports a wide range of operations including:
- Map operations such as zoom, pan, etc.
- Object manipulation such as move, show, hide, etc.