Pack 2001
To convert your PLANS data to Arc/Info coverages, you need to do the following:
Create a directory called c:/plans2arc. This should have the following files in it:
Arcplans.exe
Convdb.exe
Getplan99.aml
This is just to get everything centralized so that you know where these programs are.
In the PLANS directory there is a file called The_Plan.scr. Copy and past this into the PLANS results folder in the project directory that you’re using. Open this file up in wordpad and get rid of the path names so that all you’re left with is just the filename.
Now, take the arcplans.exe program and copy that into the Results folder as well as the getplan99 aml.
All set? Now you’re ready to start converting the files.
Run arcplans.exe from the Results directory with your modified The_Plan.scr. To make it easy, have Windows Explorer open to results folder and just drag The_plan.scr directly into the open DOS window.
Hit enter, and provided everything works out, the arcplans program should chug away and convert the PLANS data into text files. If it only flashes briefly, then something is wrong. A full-blown PLANS analysis should take about 5-10 seconds to convert, depending on the speed of the machine.
As a check, open up the text documents, such as skyp, and check to see how many profiles are in there.
Fire up Arc and set your workspace and amlpath to where the converted PLANS data are at. Run the aml.
A handy trick to make sure that the aml is working is to turn the echo on. At the Arc prompt, just type in &echo &on. That way, all the aml routines can be seen as they run.
Provided everything works, you may have a bit of a wait while the coverages are built.
Some general notes:
Don’t try moving the PLANS data around from computer to computer. These files are old 16-bit DOS based, which means they’re touchy and don’t like to be handled much. If you’re running more than one machine doing analysis, just convert on each machine and combine them in arc later.
-The Mapman J. Tryall
Questions?
Jeremy Tryall