Point References

The point.xml file contains pre-defined points which can be referenced by their id in <point> elements. This makes maintenance of coordinates much simpler and significantly improves the readability of your map files. Especially when visualizing airways, SID, STAR or any other procedures.

A point element needs to be defined in the points.xml file:

<points>
    <point id="COA"   lat="N0512053002" lon="E0032119001"/>
</points>

You can then reference that point in any map, replacing latitude/longitude or cartesian x/y pairs.

<symbol id="vor_symbol" text="COA" color="symbol_vor_color" lat="N0512053002" lon="E0032119001"/>

could be replaced by:

<symbol id="vor_symbol" text="COA" color="symbol_vor_color" ref="COA" />

Another example …

If you would like to draw a circle around a known VOR beacon …

<circle radius="10" segments="64" r="255" g="0" b="0">
      <point lat="N0512053002" lon="E0032119001"/>
</circle>

could be replaced by:

<circle radius="10" segments="64" r="255" g="0" b="0">
      <point ref="COA"/>
</circle>