GPlates 1.2

Here are some key features of "GPlates":

Loading and saving geological, geographic and tectonic feature data:
Loading feature data from the following formats:
· GPML / compressed GPML
· Plates4 line-format
· ESRI Shapefile (including the ability to map shape attributes in a Shapefile to feature properties in GPlates on a user-specified, per-Shapefile basis)
· GMAP VGP (Virtual Geomagnetic Pole) data files.
Saving feature data in the following formats:
· GPML / compressed GPML
· Plates4 line-format
· ESRI Shapefile
· GMT “xy” format, with a variety of options for headers
Loading and saving reconstruction poles (finite rotations which enable geological, geographic and tectonic features to be reconstructed through geological time):
Loading reconstruction poles from the following formats:
· GPML / compressed GPML
· Plates4 rotation-format
Saving reconstruction poles in the following formats:
· GPML / compressed GPML
· Plates4 rotation-format
Displaying raster images:
Loading raster images in JPEG format, including time-sequences of raster images, to enable visualisation of “gridded” geophysical data such as mantle density anomalies, mantle convection-driven dynamic surface topography and the crustal age or spreading rate of the ocean floor — both:
· Global raster images, which are assumed to cover the whole globe, from -180 to +180 degrees longitude and -90 to +90 latitude, and
· Smaller rasters with a user-specified surface extent
Viewing feature data and raster images in a graphical display:
Displaying geological, geographic and tectonic features, as well as raster images, on the globe, in any of the following map-projections:
· 3-D Orthographic Globe
· Rectangular
· Mercator
· Mollweide
· Robinson
· Moving and re-orienting the camera (the viewpoint of the user), by “dragging” the mouse on the globe, using the keyboard arrow keys, or specifying the desired viewpoint in a dialog box
· Activating a full-screen presentation mode, by pressing F11 to switch to a minimalist interface ideal for demonstrating data and animations on digital projectors
· Zooming the camera, using the scroll-wheel of the mouse, the Zoom In tool, or the slider on the right-hand-side of the reconstruction view
· Choosing different coloring schemes for features
· Exporting a 2-D geometry snapshot of the current projected contents of the reconstruction view in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format, for later viewing in a web-browser or vector-graphics editor such as Adobe Illustrator
Calculating and displaying plate-tectonic reconstructions:
· Reconstructing features to a desired geological time-instant, or animating over a period of geological time
Exporting “reconstructed geometries” (feature geometries at a particular reconstruction time in the past) in the following formats:
· ESRI Shapefile
· GMT “xy” format, with a variety of options for headers
· Calculating velocity fields according to plate motions
Exporting “data animations” — each frame of a reconstruction animation saved automatically to disk in a sequence of files:
· All reconstructed feature geometries (as GMT .xy files or Shape files)
· A 2-D vector graphics snapshot of the view (as SVG files)
· All velocity fields (as GPML files)
· Resolved topologies as a sequence of static polygons (as GMT .xy files)
Interacting with features graphically:
· Choosing a feature, to query or edit its properties, by clicking upon its displayed geometry
· Digitization of new geometries for the creation of new features
· Modifying the geometry of a feature interactively by dragging vertices, inserting vertices or deleting vertices
· Measuring distances, along the geometry of existing features, during digitization, or between arbitrary user-chosen points on the globe.
Tabular display of data:
Listing tables of reconstruction poles (finite rotations) for the current reconstruction time:
· Relative and equivalent rotations for each plate
· A tree-like representation of the rotation hierarchy
· The circuit between any plate and the stationary reference frame
· Exporting tables of reconstruction poles in CSV (comma-separated value) format, for later viewing in a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel.
· Listing tables of Shape file attributes on a per-file basis, with one attribute per column
Modifying reconstructions graphically:
· Manipulation of reconstruction poles by dragging the mouse cursor to move plates, including the ability to constrain the latitude during the interactive adjustment.
Interactive plate-boundary closure, enabling GPlates to generate plate-tectonic boundary conditions for geodynamic models in software such as:
· The widely-used, open-source, spherical mantle-convection package CitComS
· The next-generation AuScope-funded mantle-convection package Underworld