Atlas Boundary .BNA File Description

Didger imports and export Atlas Boundary files .BNA.

 

The Atlas Boundary File .BNA is an ASCII format file used to store spatial information including areas, curves, ellipses and points. Spatial information is only concerned with the location of objects in space (i.e., their coordinates) and not with their attributes (such as line or fill style, marker symbol used, text labels, etc.).

 

File Format

The general format of the file is:

 

"Pname 1", "Sname 1", type/length

x1,y1

x2,y2

...

xn,yn

"Pname 2", "Sname 2", type/length

x1,y1

x2,y2

...

xn,yn

 

Pname

Pname is the name of the primary ID. The primary ID is used to link the object to external data.

 

Sname

Sname is the name of the secondary ID. The secondary ID is optional.

 

Type/Length

The type/length is an integer which identifies the object as an area, curve, ellipse or point.

 

X, Y

Following the type/length are the actual X,Y coordinate pairs that make up the object. These can be integers or real numbers, and are stored 1 pair per line.

 

The type/length field indicates the number of coordinate pairs to follow and also indicates the type of object as follows:

 

Simple and Compound Areas

Two kinds of areas exist, simple and compound. A simple area contains a starting point, a series of points specifying the area's boundary and a closing point with the same coordinate as the starting point. A compound area contains one or more subareas, such as islands or lakes. Atlas Boundary files use a special technique to specify the subareas comprising compound areas.

 

Example 1

A simple area with 5 points is shown in the Atlas Boundary file format:

 

"name" "attrib" 6

2.15, 3.25

3.75, 5.15

6.5, 4.3

5.5, 1.7

4.25, 3.4

2.15, 3.25

 

Example 2

A compound area consisting of a closed outer area and two islands. Here is how the coordinates should be specified in an Atlas Boundary file:

 

AX1,AY1           Starting point of area "A"

AX2,AY2           Points specifying boundary of area "A"

.

.

AXn,AYn            Ending point of area "A"

BX1,BY1           Starting point of subarea "B"

BX2,BY2           Points specifying boundary of subarea "B"

.

.

BXn,BYn           Ending point of subarea "B"

AX1,AY1            Starting point of area "A" (Flag Point)

CX1,CY1           Starting point of subarea "C"

CX2,CY2           Points specifying boundary of subarea "C"

.

.

CXn,CYn           Ending point of subarea "C"

AX1,AY1            Starting point of area "A" (Flag Point)

 

Each area's ending point must have the same coordinate as its starting point. The staring point of area "A" is used as a marker (called a Flag Point) to indicate the end of each subarea. This means the first area point's coordinate must be unique and cannot appear as a coordinate within any subarea.

 

And, an example of what the actual file may look like:

 

""pname"" ""attrib"" 13

48 99

52 20

57 19

56 8

29 0

27 71

48 99

40 70

50 60

48 55

34 40

40 70

48 99

 

Import Options Dialog

No import options dialog is displayed.

 

Export Options Dialog

See Atlas Boundary .BNA Export Options Dialog.

 

 

See Also

Atlas BNA Examples

Atlas Boundary .BNA Export Options Dialog

File Format Chart