After publishing a version with big changes, as usual, we release an update, in which we put the final touches to the previous version, fixing the most relevant errors that may have appeared and adding new functionalities that bring considerable improvements without assuming major changes.

The new gvSIG Desktop version will be available soon (in fact you can download development builds already) and, if everything goes according to plan, the release candidate to final version will be available in January.

That is why we wanted to tell you about the improvements that gvSIG Desktop 2.5.1 will bring, and we will give you more details about them soon.

Exporting virtual fields as values

One of the most important improvements of gvSIG 2.5 has been the ability to work with virtual fields. Now we are going to add the possibility of indicating if you want the virtual fields as real fields in the table resulting from the export. It will be indicated during the table/layer export. As the virtual fields are typical of gvSIG, it will allow to access to these values ​​from other applications.

PDF and ODS viewer in forms

Another important improvement of gvSIG 2.5 has been the option to work with forms. Thanks to this new functionality we can make simple queries on a table using a form as well as practically generate data maintenance applications without writing any line of code.

Related to the forms, in gvSIG 2.5 we can have a reference to an image or the image directly included as an attribute in a field of a table. When we show the form associated to that table, we can configure it to embed an image viewer in the form and display the image on it.

In the new gvSIG version we are going to add the possibility of doing something similar with PDF and ODS files.

Heat map comparison

As all of you know, from gvSIG 2.4 you can generate heat map legends. gvSIG 2.5.1 will now bring a new type of legend that allows to compare heat maps. It allows, for example, to analyze the variations of a phenomenon between different dates or the behaviour of two different variables on the same layer.

Extreme heat map

We are going to add another new type of legend related to the concept of heat map. One of the problems presented by heat maps when analyzing certain variables or entities is to represent the density of all the information in a layer and sometimes, and depending on the type of information, it can make the detection of extreme values difficult.

The new type of legend that will be available in gvSIG 2.5.1 will allow to filter or differentiate those values ​​that we want to represent from a certain threshold or value.

Semi-automatic simple reports generation

Another of the most important gvSIG Desktop 2.5 novelties has been the possibility to create Reports. Currently you can generate reports using JaperSoft Studio and associate them with tables in gvSIG. However, in many cases it is required to be able to make simple and quick reports, without designing templates previously.

For this reason, a new functionality that allows the user to generate simple and quick reports will be integrated in gvSIG.