Application Settings

The application settings for HxMap are persisted in "<InstallationPath>\HxMap.ini". Various settings in the file are grouped in sections. The settings file is divided into multiple sections that are grouped based on the frequency of customization. At a minimum, for WFM to work correctly please ensure that the following settings exist and have reasonable values. Note that newer installations of WFM will maintain customized settings whenever possible.

Part 1: Settings you likely want to customize

Licensing

The server keyword needs to point to a valid license server or "localhost" for locally installed licenses. Note that license server is set by the user at installation time and is overwritten each time the user sets a new license server.

[Licensing]
 ; Specify the license server used for HxMap licenses.
 ; Must use IP address or host name
 ; If all licenses are installed on the client use localhost
 server = localhost

Calibration

The sensors come with calibration that could be used automatically from the raw MM, except for DMC III or DMC IIe. However, the calibration could be updated by the customer by doing self-calibration. To use the newly adjusted calibration during data ingest the user is required to copy the adjusted calibration files to a central location and update the INI calibration settings with the proper folder.

The search for new calibration is done by:

• first appending the properties that uniquely identify a sensor:

  • sensor family: ADS, RCD, DMC, CM, SPL, TM, CNM

  • camera_type/sensor_type: SH100, RCD30, DMC III, CM, CM-2, TM, TM-2, SPL100, CNM

  • sensor system key: the sensor system key is generated to uniquely identify the sensor heads that make up the configuration used to capture a session.

    • ADS: the sensor system key  is that same as the serial number for the sensor. E.g. "T:\reference_data\cam\ADS\SH100_10543"

    • RCD: the sensor system key is the sensor serial number and lens id. E.g. "T:\reference_data\cam\RCD\RCD30_82533-50082"

    • RCD Oblique: the sensor system is a combination of the serial numbers with a given order(Nadir, Forward, Right, Backward, Left) as sorted by look angles and with their lens id using the syntax("SerialNumber"-"LensId") . E.g."T:\reference_data\cam\RCD\RCD30_82533-50082_81024-80126_81023-80131_81016-80040_81029-80128"

    • DMC III: the sensor system key is the system serial number. E.g. "T:\reference_data\cam\DMC\DMCIII_27514"

    • CityMapper/ TerrainMapper/ ContentMapper: the sensor system is a combination

      • of the serial numbers for the camera heads with a given order(Nadir, Forward, Right, Backward, Left) as sorted by look angles and with their lens id using the syntax("SerialNumber"-"LensId") .

      • plus the serial numbers for the lidar sensor

      • E.g."T:\reference_data\cam\CM\CM1_82572-80155_81608-150024_81612-150032_81605-150029_81613-150037_4007-1007"

    • SPL: the sensor system key is the sensor serial number and lens id plus the serial number of the Lidar unit e.g "T:\reference_data\cam\SPL\SPL100_82527-80077_3"

  • Version: the version of the calibration("T:\reference_data\cam\RCD\RCD30_82533-50082_81024-80126_81023-80131_81016-80040_81029-80128\v002") 

• then searching for calibration files in that directory that meet the filter criteria for each sensor type similar to how they come from the factory(e.g: "RCD30_GEOMETRY_DATETIME".xml).

Be aware that if you operate your sensor in a specific sensor mode (e.g. operate CM-2 as a TM-2) HxMap expects the user to setup a calibration folder for this calibration mode.

Example:

• Folder for full CM1:
  CM1_Nadir_Forward_Right_Backward_Left_LiDAR
  CM1_82572-80155_81608-150024_81612-150032_81605-150029_81613-150037_4007-1007

• Folder for CM1, operated as a TM1 (no oblique cameras):
  CM1_Nadir_LiDAR
  CM1_82572-80155_81608-1007

The easiest way to update the calibration for a sensor will be to copy the ones from the MM and update the relevant parts determined by the self calibration. For example, for the RCD oblique it will be:
     <Misalignment_deg Omega="0.00000" SigmaOmega="0.00000" Phi="0.00000" SigmaPhi="0.00000" Kappa="0.00000" SigmaKappa="0.00000"/>     <PrincipalPoint Row_mm="0.0000" SigmaRow_mm="0.0347" Column_mm="0.0000" SigmaColumn_mm="0.0291"/>

Note that calibration location is shared for the different sensors and each sensors calibration may need to be organized differently.

; default location for calibrations
[Calibrations]
location=T:/reference_data/cluster_share/cam

QC Issue types

Define "IssueType" in the INI to extend at each deployment as required. By default, the INI file will have the common ones like "Sensor Problem", "Cloud", "Turbulence" etc.

[QCViewer]
IssueTypes = Sensor Problem/Cloud/Turbulence/Image Quality/Shadows/Fog/Haze/Smoke/Flooding/Accuracy

Part 2: Settings you may want to customize

Product Templates

HxMap separates product templates into system and user types. System product templates store the system definitions for Ingest and Overview generation. User product templates store new product definitions created by the User through the Product Generation template editors. User’s may wish to customize the user_location to a central repository on the network.

[ProductTemplates]
; Location of the product templates used for product generations which are global
system_location=$etc_folder/producttemplates/system
user_location=$etc_folder/producttemplates/user

GTopo

The gTopo entry is a global entry that points to an elevation source used by many parts of HxMap, e.g. calculation of footprints, virtual mosaics, etc. The default elevation source, which is also provided in the GeoData Installer, is the GTopo. It provides global elevations at a 30 arcsecond resolution. See this page for more information on GTopo.

[GTopo]
; location and filename for the GTopo global elevation database file
; default is etc/dem/gtopoDem_ell.jptf
datafile = etc/dem/gtopoDem_ell.jptf

SRTM

The SRTM entry allows to provide a link to the global topographic elevation model captured by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission from NASA. It requires the user to have an installation of the SRTM data in place. To obtain and install SRTM data, please review chapter “SRTM3 and SRTM30 data Install”

If enabled, the SRTM data will be used as the preferred global elevation source.

[SRTM]
; location for the SRTM global elevation file(s)
;datapath=$etc_folder/dem/SRTM/SRTM3
datapath= I:\SRTM

Background layer

An Open GeoSpatial Consortium(OGC) compliant Web Mapping Service(WMS) or Web Mapping Tiled Service(WMTS) could be used as a background layer instead of the default Open Street Map(OSM). The configuration for secured or unsecured WMS/WMTS server is configured in the [BaseLayer] section of the INI file.

[BaseLayer]
 ; descriptive name to be used as a layer name
 Name = "OSM"
 ; full OSM/WMS/WMTS URL including ports
 URL =  https://tiles.cache.services.hxgncontent.com/OSM/3857/%l/%x/%y.png
 ; web service type (OSM/WMS/WMTS)
 Service = OSM
 ; CRS to use
 CRS = EPSG:3857
 ; comma delimited list of layers to be rendered [optional]
 ;Layers =
 ; data format [optional]
 ; e.g. "image/gif", "image/jpeg", "image/png", "image/tiff"
 ;Format =
 ; username for secured services [optional]
 ;User =
 ; clear text password for the given user [optional]
 ;Password =
 ; style to send to the server [optional]
 ;Style =

If HxMap is installed on a machine with out internet connection and no OGC WMS/WMTS server is available, one can can simply copy the OSM cache directory from any machine connected to the internet to that machine (Cache is found at: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Hexagon\HxMap\cache).

Metadata

If you do not plan to generate xml Metadata for your projects you can set the default for the product generation wizard to None.

To do so modify the following parameter to 0:

[ProductGeneration]
MetadataType=0

Part 3: Settings requiring in-depth knowledge

Condor Logs

The command line options captured in RSP files, the output, error  and job monitor logs are written to a temporary directory configured in the HxMap INI. Every time a job is submitted to the HTCondor cluster, a new set of related log files are created for each job and its dependencies. The system will create this directory on the first job submitted if doesn't exist already. 

[General]
;skip_stats_check=false 
; Whether we ignore failures creating/updating metainfo files. By defualt we will
;ignore_meta_info_failure=true 

; Whether to use compression for the minifications or not. False by default
;compress_minifications=false
; compression algorithm to use (if compress_minifications is true). Either LZW or DEFLATE (default)
;compression_algorithm=DEFLATE 

; Where to put the HTCondor temp files (.dag, .sub, .rtk, .log, .out, .err, etc)
condor_temp_dir=C:/HXMAP_Temp

Make sure this temporary directory is NOT in a network drives since it could result in the Job submission error messages like the following:

2015-03-23 11:37:30,964 [0x0000209c] FATAL workflowmanager - Failed to run due to error:

2015-03-23 11:37:30,964 [0x0000209c] FATAL workflowmanager - condor_submit_dag did not start correctly: 2

Ingest

There are a few options available to modify the default Ingest behavior.

In case the user intends to use the data processed by the Ingest step directly in a 3^rd party application, as it is possible for RCD30 based systems, there exists an option to create an ASCII file with the exterior orientation information directly during Ingest. The exterior orientation information will be delivered in UTM coordinates referenced to WGS84.

; flag to indicate export of EOP files at ingest for 3rd party applications
; export_eop = false

If the user intends to deliver frame imagery into a 3rd party workflow and performs the preparation of the exterior orientation information also outside of HxMap (e.g. as it may occur with a DMC IIe), it can be sufficient to start Ingest based on the approximate exterior information given in the metadata of the raw data. To do so, enter the entry below:

use_flightxml_eop = true

Product generation

In order to optimal use available hardware resources in a distributes processing environment, it may be recommended to specify the amount of data handled by an individual processing node within a job. Per default a job during product generation includes a complete strip, but could be broken down as well to a specific number of images.

; Number of Images per image generation job
; NumberOfImages=-1

Automatic Tie Point Matching

HxMap's APM can run based on two matching engines, which are per default dependent on the sensor type.

[APM]
; Choose between AREA_BASED and FEATURE_BASED for any of the sensors types listed below
;ADS=AREA_BASED
;RCD=AREA_BASED
;RCD_OBLIQUE=FEATURE_BASED
;DMC=AREA_BASED
;MFC=AREA_BASED
;ContentMapper=FEATURE_BASED
;CityMapper_2=FEATURE_BASED
;TerrainMapper_2=AREA_BASED

In cases where the Area based APM engine is used, there exists several settings to fine tune the approach. HxMap's Area based APM assumes that exterior orientation parameter exist in a quality resulting from GNSS\INS post-processing and camera misalignment parameter are properly given. The default search algorithms starts on a medium minification level and have a limited search range for fast processing. For some deployments the Misalignment may have to be updated from time to time due to various reasons, an APM run in order to determine a Misalignment would need modified settings in order to produce a reasonable number of good quality points. The following table shows items to fine tune in priority order:

[APM]
...
; AREA based engine options
; inline_init_master_search_size = 400
; interest_window_size = 11
; interest_circle_cutoff = 0.75
; inline_rms_cutoff_per_pixel = 1.5
; inline_expected_parallax = 4
; inline_parallax_cutoff = 6
; transfer_template_size = 15
; transfer_expected_parallax = 15
; transfer_parallax_cutoff = 20
transfer_template_size = 21
transfer_expected_parallax = 60
transfer_parallax_cutoff = 80

MultiframeRadiometry

This section includes settings and thresholds used to calculate atmospheric corrections during the Ingest step.

A user can activate or deactivate this process step:

multiframe_processing = true

PointCloudWriter

This section allows the user to specify the temporary directory which is used to store intermediate files when processing Lidar data. 

[PointCloudWriter]
; The TemporaryDir should have enough space available to store roughly the same size as the data being exported. 
; By default, it is a unique directory on C drive on Windows platform.
;TemporaryDir=

Show Perspectives

This section allows one to enable and disable individual perspectives to customize the deployment of the HxMap Workflow Manager to different users within the organization. Future versions of the HxMap WFM will add other perspectives as they are released to the general public.

[ShowPerspectives]
Session = true
QCViewer = true
Triangulation = true
ProductGeneration = true
Editor3D = true
Demo= true