This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support
staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as
questions.
Note: In these answers we will follow a few shorthand conventions for
describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations will be presented like this: Ctrl+Alt+Delete,
which means that you should press and hold down the Control key, the Alt key, and the
Delete key at the same time. Menu selections will be presented like this: File->Open,
which means that you should open the File menu, and then make the Open selection.
- Can I work only with the Information Manager?
If you are using version 2.0 or later, then the LiveUpdate mechanism built-in your
software will automatically tell you next time you execute the software if an update is
necessary. If so, select the LiveUpdate icon on the GeoWorlds program folder and all
appropriate files will be automatically downloaded to your system. The changes will be
effective next time you start GeoWorlds.
If you are still using version 1.0, then you should check the "What's New"
page on this web site for new information about major releases, bug fixes and
documentation updates. Also, we strongly advise you to upgrade to version 2.0.
Please, don't forget to register as GeoWorlds user. You
just need to send us your name and email address. That's all!
No. You can choose to work either on standalone or client/server modes. On the
standalone mode, all your working files and information spaces are saved on your local
machine, whereas on the client/server mode, all files are saved on the clipbook. The
clipbook in this case is used as a common repository that let users share information
whenever they are working on the client/server mode. Note however, that there is no way to
export your local files to the clipbook. Therefore, we strongly recommend working on the
client/server mode as often as possible if you are part of a team.
Yes. Most of the features and services such as downloading map information from the
gazetteer, querying the web, and accessing the clipbook require access to the
internet.
Not at this point. We are planning to port GeoWorlds to Windows 98, but this has been a
low priority task compared with the otehr commits we have so far. Moreover, all our
customers and beta testers use Windows NT machines.
No. See previous answer.
There is a historical reason for naming the sessions as Incidents. Most of the early
work was performed using a disaster relief scenario in which emergency operation teams
login to one of the available incidents to work as a group, sharing document and map
information. Since then, we have kept Incident as the term referring to a map-document
situational analysis.
As far as the user is concerned, a map is the background image displayed on ArcView,
whereas a map layer is the layered information about the region itself, such as
demographic information, street names, vegetation, and so on.
As far as the internal implementation is concerned, there are no differences between a
map and a map layer since they share the same internal representation. This makes it very
easy to add new layers and/or maps to our existing gazetteer.
You only need to have ArcView installed in your system in case you are planning to take
adfvantage of GeoWorlds mapping capabilities. All system features and services that do not
depend or interface with the Mapping Manager work well with or without ArcView
installed in your system.
Yes. Users can work only with the information manager without having to worry about the
Mapping or Incident managers. GeoWorlds automatically creates a default incident session
for you if you work only with the Information Manager. This is necessary in case you
decide to interface with either the Map or Incident managers.
