Jeff Bartlett wrote:The Walls-Illustrator workflow, while not without its quirks and headaches, allows us to manage the artwork in detailed maps drafted to a modern standard, which Therion does not.
Jeff,
as one of the authors of therion I'm rather interested in your statement. Could you explain what a modern standard means?
Jeff Bartlett wrote:I've attached an example of my own, a plan view screen capture from a recent project. While I'm not claiming my cartography is perfect, this is obviously not the sort of work that can be done with Therion. To consider a map output from Therion as "complete" is a compromise I'm not willing to make.
I am afraid that I miss something. I have tried hard to find
anything in your map which therion is not capable to produce. The only difference is that therion currently requires the cross-sections to lie near the passage and they can't be automatically collected on the other page or map margin (as it seems to be the case in your example).
Does your definition of "complete" mean that therion maps available on web are quite sparsely filled with details and Illustrator is capable of producing dense and fine passage fills? This is completely matter of personal taste and preferences. Both therion authors prefer simple, technical-drawing-like maps with just the important features included. Other therion users produce maps which are not distinguishable from your sample (I would need to ask permission to send some example).
I agree with you that learning therion is by far not as easy as learning to use some standard vector-drawing program. There is a good reason, namely that therion is not just about drawing a map. It is about data management (which you consider
vastly inferior) and data reuse and recycling.
To illustrate the point, I could easily reproduce your sample in therion (as a bonus I would automatically get a legend with e.g. scalebar, surveying statistics and description of all used map symbols -- only now I would say the map is
complete). I would perhaps need to add some symbol definitions to match your symbol set. Then, with a
minimal effort I could:
- change symbol set
- display all flowstone (or any other) symbols in other color
- change presentation of any symbol (shape, color, size etc.) based on assigned attributes (e.g. saturation of blue depending on water depth) and you are free to add any attributes you need
- hide all rocks smaller than 2 m in diameter
- display just the hydrology
- create a cross-referenced atlas which would be useful for complicated multi-level labyrinth
- create 3D model based on "true" passage shapes, not just LRUD envelope
- use SQL queries to analyze centerline data
- display cave entrances, schematic passage outines and surface karst phenomena over the topographic map
- generate a list of all possible continuations (as marked by question-mark symbol in the map)
- export the map to GIS preserving even user-defined attributes for all features
These are just examples. When therion users say that something is
easy in therion, it means that it is simple to customize the output and reuse the data after it is initially entered in such a weird interface as therion has.
The user interface is strange because -- as mentioned above -- entering data into therion is not just drawing. Therion GUI is a tool which helps to transfer abstract description of cave features to data files. I agree that it could be easier to use and indeed it's being permanently improved (although mostly in details). Radical rewrite could simplify things for beginners, but it would be so demanding that it should not be expected to happen soon (of course any willing programmer is invited to contribute. For example, I have seen very promising Inkscape plugins in development allowing to read, edit and export therion drawings from Inkscape.)
On the other hand, once you are used to using current interface you are as productive as using any other program. From the experience, a two-day tutorial is usually sufficient for computer-literate people (who are able e.g. to understand and edit HTML code in a text editor) to catch on and start producing maps. For people using computer as a typewriter it takes much longer, for programmers a few hours long explanation is enough not only to start using therion but also to modify and customize it.
I'm far from persuading anybody to use therion. If somebody is surveying simple one-level caves and has enough time, he can draw beautiful,
complete, award-winning map using Walls, therion or oil paint on canvas. For those surveying complicated multilevel systems and wanting to keep the map
easily up-to-date the choice is (unfortunately) much more limited.
Martin