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The
Surface Area Calculator is a tool for easily calculating surface and planimetric areas,
as well as volumes. |
The extent and shape of the
area in
question are given in terms of the coordinates of a number of
points throughout the area.
These coordinates can be specified as either latitude,
longitude, and height, as GPS coordinates (geocentric
Cartesian X, Y, Z coordinates), or as local x, y coordinates
and height, and the coordinates can be supplied in virtually
any text file format. |
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September 21, 2004: The Surface Area Calculator can now import shape
file database coordinates.Also note that the Surface Area Calculator
(SAC) can now handle very small areas, using coordinates given in as
fine a detail as 1/100th of a millimeter. This makes the SAC very
useable for work in medical or other applications.
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To learn more about the Surface Area Calculator
check out our
feature list , or
download it (1.3 MB).
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The price for one SAC license is
only $129 (Canadian dollars). To purchase your license, please
click the button on the right. |
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The Basics
To understand how the Surface Area Calculator (SAC) works, you
must first realize that a grid of heights is the basic type of
input required. The grid can be irregularly spaced, but the
main thing is that your surface is covered fairly evenly with
a number of three-dimensional (e.g. x, y, and height)
coordinates.
The typical input file (which is always a simple text file)
consists of lines of text. Each line of text gives the
coordinates for each point on your surface. The exact format
of each line of text (each point on your surface) depends on
the selected Coordinate File Format selected in the Open
Coordinate File dialog. For example, if you select the “Pt
No., lat, lon (degs), height” format, each line of text in
your input file must contain the Point number (any number you
like), the latitude of the point, the longitude of the point
(both in degrees), and finally the height of that point. Such
a line in your file would be formatted as follows:
123,35.37465,-74.34651,1023.45
Note that the point number (123) is followed by a comma, then
the latitude is given and followed by a comma, etc.
Please note that your surface must be covered quite evenly
with such points to get a reliable calculation of surface area
and volumes. It is not enough to provide only points around
the perimeter of your area. Please see the graphic above
to see a good example of a typical density of points covering
your surface (the three points of each triangle shown in the
graphic are actual data points in the input file).
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