++++ Met-Map NEWS #001 ++++
++++ 30 October 2001 ++++
This letter is sent to the consultation partners of the Constitution of the Met-Map.
CONSTITUTION
============
I have received already replies with numerous constructive suggestions to the Constitution version 6, but with this letter I would like remind all of you to send considerations about the draft of the base document until 15th of November. Several points are still open, thus, after the receiving of all the replies I will send version 7 and a questionnaire to finalize the most relevant key questions in a way which is acceptable for all contributors.
EXAMPLE DESCRIPTION
===================
The first Description is ready (Penninic formations of the Rechnitz Window group; RE-WI); please find the file as attachment of WORD 2 format. It is a relative small, simple Unit bordered by evidently described structural elements, but this Description can serve a good ground to judge the logic and reliability of the suggested structure of the Descriptions. The only atypical feature is its small size. In case of the RE-WI the "Subunits" are small nappes arranged vertically, while in case of other huge Units the "Subunits" are thought to be arranged areally.
COMMUNICATION
=============
As you see from the heading of this e-mail I have arranged an e-mail address to manage the Met-Map relevant communications separately. I kindly ask you to send e-mails about the map to this address. Always give an actual subject to your letters, please, and indicate the version number which you are referring to. This helps me to arrange and maintain all the contributions, remarks, etc. in a logical order
MAIN-MAPS
=========
The digitalization of the topographic base of the NW sheet is ready. It covers the area of the corner of the Eastern Alps, Western Carpathians, Slovenia, Hungary and northernmost Croatia. We have started to work out the technical methods of the placing the geologic-metamorphic content on it.
The topographic base of the SW sheet (Dinarids) is under preparation.
HOMEPAGE
========
Visit and check the structure of the planned Met-Map homepage under the following URL:
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/geo/gpi/ag-frisch/mitarbeiter/dunkl/met-map/index.html
It is placed temporally into my sub-directory, just because for this solution I did not need any permission and it is technically very simple. I will move it soon to an other URL which will be as short and simple as possible.
The Constitution placed on the homepage still does not contain any modifications, it shows version 6 which are actually under discussion.
In the paragraph "List of Units" you can study the planned way of presentation and link-structure of a Description.
SPECIAL CHARACTERS
==================
This is the most difficult issue at the moment. Except Austria all the countries of the Met-Map area are using special characters with accents, which are not included in the standard 215 characters. At the sending a formatted text document we can overbridge this problem by using so called Central European character sets (xxxx CE). But, in case of the web documents the situation is much more complex. The appearance of the texts depends on the settings of the individual computers and it can be rather different. It is not only an "aesthetical" problem, but it will cause troubles if we later build SEARCH function into the Met-Map system. No of these actions can be succesful. Thus, what?
(1) Should it be acceptable to use the "nude" English characters in all files of the Met-Map?
(2) Or, you can write the characters with the special accents and send all the texts using the CE character sets (Arial CE, Courier CE and Times CE). Then:
(A) the downloadable texts will be distributed as ACROBAT pdf files which will show all accents.
(B) The html files which will be presented on the homepage will NOT show the special characters. For this we have to perform a standardized transformation for every texts. All national coordinators must define the way of transcription to English characters, to make possible any search later.
These processes and the duplicate file content will make the system rather complicated, but I do not have a better suggestion at the moment. We will discuss it in the mentioned forthcoming questionnaire (Met-Map NEWS #002).
Best Regards,
István Dunkl