The contents of a new workspace

New workspace files are not empty but will have some default data set up:

•A Weather folder containing three Weathers where the Weathers are the same as those in the example file.

•A set of default Parameters

If the data that are set up for a new workspace are not suitable for your work, you can set up a workspace that has the items and values that you want, and then use the Workspace Template > Save option in the File tab of the Ribbon Bar to make this workspace the new “workspace template”, which means that it will be used whenever you start the program or create a new workspace.

Setting up the map image

The tutorial uses a map of an area near two rivers, in a country which has a national grid system. The image for this map is supplied with the program the form of a *.tif file. If you have an image file for the area around your facility, you might prefer to use that instead.

Inserting the raster image

Image files that contain a description of each pixel in the image are known as raster images, and most common image files are in this form, e.g. *.tif, *.bmp, *.gif files. The program can also display map data taken from a GIS database, where an image is defined by describing the lines that form the image.

The process of inserting a raster image into a workspace is very different from the process of inserting a connection to a GIS database. This tutorial deals only with raster images, and you should refer to the Help for details of working with GIS databases.

The process of inserting the raster images involves several stages.

Ensure that there is a Raster Image Set in the Map tab section

If the Map tab section of the Study Tree does not already contain a Raster Image Set icon, select the

Phast Analysis icon at the top of the tab section (also known as the “workspace” icon), and inset a Set using either the Insert option in the right-click menu or the Insert gallery in the Home tab of the Ribbon Bar.

The Set is a folder for raster images, and you have to insert raster images inside such a folder.

Insert a Raster Image inside the Set

Select the Set, then select Raster Image from under the Insert option in the right-click menu. A dialog will appear as shown on the next page, and you must first browse to locate the image file. The tutorial.tif file is located under the Examples folder for the installation of the program (which is typically under C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\DNVGL\Safeti_Phast_8_1_0\Examples\Maps\).

When you first browse to this folder you may not see any files if the list of File types is not set to *.tif by default.

When you have selected a valid raster image file, the Placement Mode fields will become enabled as shown below. These are options for specifying the map co-ordinates covered by the image. Some files contain georeference data or header data that will automatically set the co-ordinate data for the image, but the tutorial.tif file does not and the only option available is the Interactive option, which is available for any raster image file.

Placing the image in the GIS Input View

When you click on OK in the Insert dialog, the GIS Input View will be displayed if it is not displayed already, and it will display the instruction “Drag a box to define the raster image size and location” inside the View, as shown in the illustration.

The cursor will be in the form of crosshairs, and you must click in two locations to place the image in the View. This sets the initial values for the map co-ordinates for the images, which you will set to the correct values in the next step.

Click once with the mouse ner the top-left of the GIS View to begin defining the location, then move the mouse diagonally down the GIS area. You will see a red box expanding from the point at which you clicked to the current cursor position. Click a second time to define the location of the bottom right hand corner of your raster image. The raster image has now been inserted, and you will see the map image in the GIS Input View. You can also place the image by clicking at the first point, then holding down the mouse button as you drag the cursor diagonally, and then releasing the button at the second point

If you accidentally place the second point very close to the first point, you might find that you cannot see the map in the GIS Input view, even though a raster image icon called tutorial has been inserted in the Study Tree. This happens because you have defined coordinates for the raster image that make it too small to display with the default scale of the GIS Input View. If this happens, delete the raster image in the Study Tree and try placing the image again, making sure to move the mouse a visible distance before clicking a second time (or releasing the button).

Setting the co-ordinates and size of the image

After you have placed the image in the GIS Input View, a tutorial icon is inserted under the Raster Image Set. Double-click on this icon to open the input dialog for the image, move to the Geometry tab section, and set the values shown below. The origin for a map image is the top-left corner, and the values are in the national co-ordinate system for the country.

When you click on OK the image will probably disappear from the GIS Input View because it has moved to a location outside the area currently displayed in the view. To make it visible, click anywhere in the GIS View window to make sure that it has focus and that the GIS Input Tools group is included in the Ribbon Bar, and then click on Fit All in the General tab of this group. The GIS View will change to display the area covered by the image.

The location of the site on the map

For the tutorial, the facility occupies the long, narrow section of land to the north and west of The Village, between the east bank of the river and the road that runs parallel to the river, shown shaded yellow in the illustration below.