After you install, or unzip, the uDig application in a directory you can start the application by running:
By default uDig will store your work in your home directory:
You can change the location of your workspace using a command line option:
udig -data <workspace location>
To start uDig on a Mac double click on the uDig application.
To change any of the above mentioned command line operations you will need to edit the udig.ini file inside of the application bundle.
You can also run udig from the command line using the symbolic link provided.
We have made every effort to make uDig work in a low memory environment, the default application is very careful to stream information from the disk or Internet to the screen.
But we are still working with geospatial information - and that can get very large. Some editing operations will benefit from the addition of more memory.
udig -vmargs -Xmx756m
Minimum Tested | udig -vmargs -Xmx64m |
Default | udig -vmargs -Xmx512m |
Maximum Tested | udig -vmargs -Xmx1536m |
There are many more command line options, here are some popular ones.
udig [platform options] [-vmargs [Java VM arguments]]
-nosplash | do not show the splash screen |
-vm vmPath | to use a different java |
-consolelog | log to the screen |
-debug | more detailed logs |
much more | See this page |
For all of these options you should be able to modify the udig.ini file, or create a desktop shortcut in order to avoid typing them in all the time.
Here we try to shed some light on some known issues about uDig in Linux.
UDIG-1110: this is a conflict between SWT and Cairo 1.2.x, which usually causes the map to not be visible. Until these two camps sort out their problems, uDig will be caught in the crossfire (and we have to disable "advanced graphics"). This problem should be resolved when a) we upgrade eclipse version uDig is based on and b) you upgrade your linux distribution.
Due to a known problem in one of the supporting libraries, when first started uDig shows a pop-up window recommending that Linux users disable advanced graphics (check the version of your cairo package to be certain).
Q: Under what conditions is this necessary, and for what user interface features are there problems?
Cairo 1.2.x = Map in not visible
Cairo 1.4.x = black edges?
Q: Is there a work-around?
A: Disable advanced graphics to make the map visible, but draw slowly.
Q: Perhaps downloading some extra package and installing it manually?
Linux doesn't support udig's cursors.
Q: Would it be possible to have also a set of b/w cursors which are simpler, but at least they do not look ugly in linux?
A: Yes we are limited by time and artwork, specifically we need two black and white bmp files (one for the image and one for the mask). The current cursors are using the GIF format which is apparently a problem.
If you have time please attach the artwork to the UDIG-785 (or email them to the developers list).
uDig uses a web browser to display its help documents and also to show the attribute information about a feature selected from the map using the Info tool.
For several functions uDig will make use of an internal (or embedded browser).
On the Linux platform eclipse tries to launch the Mozilla browser. But recent Linux distributions ship with a "custom" copy of Firefox so uDig does not recognize it.
Because uDig runs inside eclipse, the Standard Widget Toolkit FAQ at http://www.eclipse.org/swt/faq.php#browserlinux may indicate which web browser to install in case this information is not displayed correctly.
Q: How to fix this?
A: Download and Install Mozilla
(i don't think this is necessary – see UDIG-698)
If the advanced graphics are disabled, the zoom box is opaque yellow, not translucent as it is under Windows.
A: Understood, should we use a dither pattern? as a temporary measure?
A: Yes you can (but please make sure it has Java Advanced Imaging and Java Imaging IO installed.
You can specify a different version on the command line:
udig -vm vmPath
You should also be able to mess around with the udig.ini file in a manner similar to the command line options.
uDig will pick up the jre folder included in the download, if you rename this (say to jre2) it will be forced look at your JAVA_HOME environmental variable.
A: Sorry about that, we are using an older copy of SWT and will update when we migrate to Eclipse 3.3. If this is important for you please let us know - right now this is being treated as a cosmetic problem.
A: You will need to download the GDI+ dll and place it in either:
A web search shows this page where you can download a GDI plus installer:
This use of GDI+ is the same problem that forces Vista into a "Downgraded Graphical Experience" - we expect it to be solved after Eclipse 3.3 is released.
(c) Copyright (c) 2004,2005 Refractions Research Inc. and others.