GPlates 2.3 released

Download GPlates 2.3:-

Download GPlates 2.3 and compatible geodata from the Download page.

What's new in GPlates 2.3:-

• Deformation:
  • Added tectonic subsidence due to crustal stretching and subsequent cooling of lithosphere.
    • Numerically solves 1D temperature advection-diffusion equation over lithosphere depth at each surface point:
      • Solved during and after crustal stretching.
    • Initial conditions:
      • Linear temperature gradient over lithosphere depth (equilibrium state).
      • Zero subsidence.
  • Improved stability of crustal thinning calculations by clamping strain rate.
• Rendering:
  • Supports high-DPI displays (eg, Apple Retina).
  • Added two new age palettes (traditional and modern) along with existing legacy.
  • Tool palette on macOS now looks similar to Windows and Linux.
• Export:
  • Support export of GeoJSON files.
  • Added choice in general resolved topology export (in relation to sub-segments of topological line segments).
  • OGR GMT exports now have dateline wrapping disabled by default (previously enabled by default).
• Layers:
  • New option in yellow layer to extend rotation sequences beyond oldest times in rotation file:
    • Such that reconstructed geometries are not snapped back to present day positions.
• Memory usage:
  • Reduced memory usage of geometries:
    • Multi-points reduced 40%.
    • Polylines and polygons reduced 33%.
  • Reduced rotation tree memory usage by 25%.
• Build:
  • Overhauled build system to use modern CMake 3.
  • Create standalone binary packages within the build system (for macOS, Windows and Linux).
    • Standalone recursively installs dependency libraries into package.
    • Windows supports NSIS installer and ZIP archive (both standalone).
    • macOS supports DMG disk image (standalone).
      • Signs GPlates bundle, its internal contents and final DMG with a Developer ID certificate.
      • Notarization by Apple still manually done outside build system.
    • Linux supports:
      • Debian package (non-standalone: system package manager installs dependencies).
      • Tarball (standalone: pre-packaged dependencies).
  • Library dependencies:
    • Significant upgrade to Qt version 5 (from version 4).
    • GPlates and pyGPlates now link to zlib (no longer require the gzip program).
    • Ported Hellinger Python code to Python 3, and NumPy >= 1.12.
    • C++11 is now the minimum C++ language requirement.
      • GDAL 2.3 and above require it.
      • CGAL 5 and above require C++14.
  • Updated GPlates icon to new blue icon.
  • Changed version numbering to support pre-release packaging (dev, alpha, beta, release candidate):
• Bug fixes:
  • Fixed macOS scrollbar in layers window obscuring underlying layer controls.
    • Fixed exporting CitcomS topological segments using a header format CitcomS is unable to pre-process:
      • This resulted in missing subduction polarities, for example.
      • Behaviour now matches GPlates 2.1.
  • Fixed exception/crash in the following topological scenario:
    • a topological polygon sub-segment is a rubber-banded resolved topological line, and
    • shared by two topological polygons, and
    • we're retrieving its sub-sub-segments (eg, in general resolved topology export).
  • Fixed topology resolving at triple junction with rubber bands converging on a single point.
  • Fixed crash when a point inside a deforming network's rigid block is not always detected as such.
  • Raster fixes:
    • Fixed bug where part of a raster touching dateline is stretched right across map (in 2D map views).
    • Fixed incorrect clipping of high resolution floating-point rasters in map view.
    • Fixed missing square sections in raster when using non-zero central meridians in map view.
    • Fixed regional imported raster not getting exported with same extents.
  • GPlates log file now saved to writable location when current working directory lacks write permission:
    • For example, save to C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/GPlates/ when GPlates installed to C:/Program Files/.
  • Enable writing of .json files (not just .geojson).
  • Fixed PLATES rotation file sometimes having unsaved changes (immediately after loading).
  • Fixed one GROT file getting saved with the contents of another GROT file.
    • And also crashing when trying to save the first GROT file after unloading the second one.
  • Kinematics tool:
    • Angular velocity (rads/Myr) is now always positive since stage rotation pole is arbitrary,
    • because can negate pole/angle pair and get same rotation, so just take absolute value.
  • Fixed crash on Linux when opening a save file dialog to get project or feature collection file name.
  • Fixed default user preferences not getting initialised properly on some systems.
  • Fixed dateline wrapping parameter not getting used for export to OGR GMT format.
  • Fixed polyline around the equator not getting intersected with small polygon crossing it.
  • Fixed some zero area dateline sliver polygons giving incorrect areas (multiples of PI instead of zero).
  • Fixed polygon around the equator ending up with zero area instead of 2*PI (ie, half the globe).

...and other changes listed in the CHANGELOG file in the GPlates source-code releases.

What's next:-

Unfortunately we were unable to release some features currently in progress. So the following features will be in the next release:

• The first phase of generalized symbology:
  • Point symbols, line patterns, fill patterns.
  • With priority for subduction teeth.
• Tilting the globe:
  • To see 3D volumes better.
• A new 3D Perspective projection view.
  • Alongside existing 3D Orthographic view.
  • Farther objects appear smaller, as in the real world, unlike orthographic.
• Fix incorrect rendering of 3D volumes (and crashing) on some modern macOS hardware:
  • Provide overhauled OpenGL graphics pipeline, upgraded for relatively modern hardware (in last ten years).

Also currently looking into:

• Improved integration of external vector formats (Shapefiles, etc).
• Time-dependent 3D volumes.