We are working in the stabilization of the next gvSIG version, which will bring important changes both on developer and user sides. It is time to start a series if posts that let us introduce you all the new features that we are going to find in gvSIG 2.3.

One of the main new features is that so called “Dynamic Segmentation” which is related to the management of network infrastructures (roads, railways, tracks, electricity, water, etc.).

Dynamic Segmentation, also known as Linear Reference System (LRS), is a spatial reference method in which the positions of the elements are referred to measurements along a linear element.

The information related to elements such as roads don’t use coordinates of a reference system (X,Y or Latitude, Longitude) but milestones. A Milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals, usually of one unit (i.e. mile or kilometer).

For instance we may indicate that, in a given road, there is an accident in the milestone 17.300 or a traffic jam between the milestones 6 and 12. The use of this reference system based on milestones is known as dynamic segmentation. The position of an element in this reference system is known as M coordinate.

For example, for the management of roads and all its elements (traffic signs, accidents, capacity, intensity, etc.) it is very important that the GIS software is able to generate dynamic segmentation.

This ability involves a set of tools that let define routes, calibrate each route from the milestones, edit the M coordinate of an element, depict it and generate new layers that support dynamic segmentation.

In short, with these new tools we’ll be able to convert a road layer containing X,Y coordinates in a linear reference system based on milestones or, in other words, to subdivide that road by its milestones. As a result the roads are converted in polylines containing an M coordinate.

Along this post series we’ll let you know the improvements that this new add-on.

These are the tools included in the plug-in:

• Generate routes
• Calibrate routes
• Edit the calibration of a route
• Generate dynamic segmentation
• Show measurements
• Remove measurements

For a proper operation of theses tools a new implementation of the geometries library has been included in gvSIG, which allows to add a measurement to each of the vertexes of a geometry. These tools allow to manage that measurements.