Dumb question

[ccowan2126]

I am not grasping the concept (or definition) of "UTM tiles". What exactly is a UTM tile or 3D UTM tile or whatever it is called ? What is its importance of its "...carrying a cartographic texture and serves as a template for route building" ?

Thanks,

Connel

[geophil]

Basically, the "UTM tile" is TransDEM's implementation of the classic "basemap" in Trainz: a large texture carrier object. Since the pixel resolution of Trainz ground textures is limited (for very technical reasons beyond the scope of TransDEM, see the manual for details), UTM tiles come as a remedy. Large scale maps, track schemas, or aerial images look quite blurred when used with ground texture, UTM tiles will be sharp. The standard UTM tile is flat, just like the classic "basemap", the 3D UTM tile is shaped after the terrain.