Every version of Intersection Magic ever shipped stores all of its dates as julian numbers. This means that we shouldn't have any date problems for as long as cars skid on pavement. However, your source data may not be year 2000 compatible.
Knowledge Base
Intersection Magic Windows
IMWEdit with IMW version 6.52x - Upon opening IMWEdit or loading a database in IMWEdit, the program reports that it can not intialize the database, and then proceeds to open with no active database.
This article describes how you can test a new/updated configuration.
This article is to walk users through upgrading their Intersection Magic program using a new version posted to the web site.
The Intersection Magic database is contained in a number of files. This article describes which of these files should be copied when moving or copying the database to a new location.
NOTE: Beginning with version 6.x of the program, there is an option called "copy" under the Utilities / Database menu. This is the preferred method of copying databases in Intersection Magic.
Intersection Magic is currently in support only mode. No future upgrades will be released. The recommended upgrade path is to Crash Magic. Intersection Magic is written to function in the Microsoft Windows environment. With each new version of Windows comes questions of compatibility. This article describes known compatibility issues under the various versions of Windows.
When attending a training, conference, or tackling a particularly tricky problem with your system, we will often ask you to send us your configuration and your database. This article describes how to package up that information.
This article is for users that have been requested to upload a file or files to Pd' Programming
changing the appearance of the IMW Edit can increase the speed and ease of entering data.
Clients moving from Intersection Magic to the Crash Magic Online will need to export and upload their current Intersection Magic database
This article covers how to copy virtual locations, and set Intersection Magic to use the copy
The database contains two or more names for the same street. Either one is mis-spelled or a street is known by two names.
Intersection Magic can be installed in a variety of configurations. On occasion it is desirable to change a Type I (all local) installation to a Type II (application and database on server, config local) This article describes that process.
This article shows how to locate invalid time information in Intersection Magic
Users may wish to move their configuration on to a new computer, but no longer have the original cd that came with Intersection Magic.
This article covers how to create a copy of the Intersection Magic database
Clients with two or more database may find a need to merge databases into a single database for reporting
Intersection Magic version 6.6.8.4 introduced new functionality to protect your data from incorrect entries in your streets changes file. The program will not process your street changes file when a problem is detected.
Some users may need to sort the files that are being imported. This article was created to show how to sort a file.
Clients using data from ADOT cannot create accurate corridor studies.
This article is a reference for users that import SWITRS data into Intersection Magic
Due to a bug in the program, the reindex process, when combined with data entry, change streets, or remove unused streets, can cause street names to become renumbered. This can cause the relationships with crash records to break.
Location filters can be very useful for High Crash Location. This article describes the format of the location filters.
New configurations can be posted on our web site for users to access immediately. This article was created to show users how to install a configuration to their local computers.
Network users may receive a message of insufficient access when a change has occurred to their network or when installing Intersection Magic on new machines.
After opening Intersection Magic users may find that the database selected during their previous use of the program is no longer selected, and the new diagram button is grayed out.
Intersection Magic has been designed to support a wide variety of data formats. This data may originate on a mainframe, mini, or micro computer. In some areas data may be obtained directly from the state, California, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Idaho to name a few. In other areas, data is stored at police departments on mainframes. In still others, data is maintained on PC database programs. Intersection Magic supports all of these cases. This article describes the various options and requirements for preparing data to import into Intersection Magic.
The State of Arizona has created a new form for reporting crashes. This article describes changes that have occurred that will affect your crash data in Intersection Magic.
Users will try to access the Demo database after Intersection Magic has been installed on a computer, and they will receive an error saying they have insufficient access to read data for the demo database.
Intersection Magic keys have now been moved to the login section of the pdmagic website.
Some fields (controls) in the IMW data Entry program are not needed in some installations. Rather than have to tab through these fields, it would be nice to make them invisible (disabled).
Configuration files are generally prepared by Pd' Programming. They may also be created by end-user clients, resellers or consulting companies. This article addresses the responsibility, ownership and maintenance of the configuration in various situations.
Some charts created in Intersection Magic require more space for labels than is allowed by the default chart area.
Until the year 2000, the license agreement for an Intersection Magic purchase was for one physical building. After 2000, the license agreement is for one department in one physical building.
Operating system, hardware, software and networking requirements of the program.
When a cross street order is defined in the streets manager, Intersection Magic assumes this is the entire list. As a result, it only shows the streets you've created in the order list.
How to install Intersection Magic onto a new system when you can not find your media. This article only applies to IMW v6.6 and newer.
Bad dates inadvertently get entered into an Intersection Magic database and can not be recognized by the program. IMW can not do a search of a 00/00/0000 date, because the date is invalid ("bad date").
Intersection Magic can maintain a list of intersections and volume studies. This article describes how to create the required volume data file, and how to let the program know to use it.
The State of Colorado has created a new form for reporting crashes. The new form is in effect as of 7/1/2006. This article describes changes that have occured that will probably affect your use of crash data in Intersection Magic.
This article describes a state-wide license. The printed license you receive with your product or with a quote will supercede any items in this license.
In order to work with virtual locations, you will need to create an ODBC share and tables.
To claify the behavior for Intersection Magic during Import.
Improper use of the "OR" operator (|) can result in an undesired data set, no data at all, or all data being returned. This article is to help understand its correct use.
Suppose you've written a filter to show all collisions resulting from vehicles traveling in opposite directions. (i.e. east vs west or north vs south) Now suppose you want to get all the other crashes.
We would like users to be able to take advantage of a new way to backup and copy their configurations.
When Intersection Magic updates are sent to users, the 'custom configuration' that was sent for the first install is not included with the update cd or diskettes. The result is that, for a network install, no data directory (containing imwuser.exe) is created, and thus the 'client' side of the install can not take place. For a local install, only the demo/tutorial is installed, there is not IMW icon or DATA directory.
Making the Address or Mile Post fields blank in IMW Edit will store invalid numeric values in the database for those fields, and can cause program crashes.
On occasion it may be useful to be able to delete a specific group of cases from the database. The IMWEdit program contains an option to do this.
Some users have created or modified their own configurations, and now have concerns or problems with them.
This describes how to use the new Pd Data Extractor.
Scanned images for crash records may be stored in a centralized location or on a web server and accessed when viewing a crash record in Intersection Magic. Beginning with v6.611, users may use the filter mechanism to specify the a web address or path, filename and even the extension of the image to load. This article describes some ways of using this powerful feature.
When a network install is done where version updates are automatically updated on end-user machines, the registration key can be set-up for auto updating as well.
How to resolve issues with registering Intersection Magic and Map Magic.
Some IMW configurations require that multiple ascii files be specified for import. When a configuration of this type is loaded (at import time) the "Data Source" button is grayed out and indicates "n/a".
How to install Intersection Magic onto a new system while still including existing data and config files. This article only applies to IMW v6.6 and newer.
TRASER is a program written many years ago at Texas A&M. This article describes the process for using TRASER and Intersection Magic together.
This article contains links to knowledge base articles that provide information about preparing a configuration.
Intersection Magic has many capabilities, and depending on your use of the program, you may choose to include a variety of fields for analysis. Engineers, police, planners all have different needs. In addition, Intersection Magic requires a number of fields regardless of your specific analysis needs.
Intersection Magic does not support long file names. IMW takes advantage of MS Windows to convert long names, to short names. The resulting names have a tilde (~) as the second to last character.
The volume data is handled in a new way starting with version 6.500. It is important to understand the new methodology.
How to install Intersection Magic onto a new system while still including existing data and config files. This article only applies to IMW v5.511.
How to install Intersection Magic onto a new system while still including existing data and config files.
This article only applies to IMW v6.0.
NOTE: This version of Intersection Magic has a known bug which can corrupt data. Use of this version is not recommended
Many users have reported problems running Intersection Magic after upgrading to Windows XP. We've found that the problem is related to new security defaults in Windows XP.
To remove unused files located in various places on computers and throughout networks.
To be able to draw a corridor diagram for the length of a ramp.
We have created a personalized system on our website here at Pd' Programming, Inc. This article describes the steps first time users should follow to obtain their initial password.
After the dry run process and before actually making changes in the change streets process, a list box is supposed to show all the changes that will be made if continued.
Automated process to change incorrectly spelled street names.
Intersection Magic has a margin of error when calculating sliding spot sections.
There is one instance where a report may not be saved in IMW Edit.
Under this version of Novell client, when running Windows NT/2000/XP, IMW fails to open the database. Instead it reports a File I/O error.
Over time, computers tend to gather lots of old, unused information. It can often be desireable to completely erase and reinstall a program. This article provides tips for uninstalling Intersection Magic as completely as possible to prepare for a new installation.
The Canon N1000 printer driver raises this error when printing graphics from Intersection Magic. After closing the dialog box, Intersection Magic closes without printing or further warning.
When running Windows NT/2000/XP, IMW fails to open the database. Instead it reports a File I/O error.
We have created a new SWITRS configuration that may be downloaded from our site for free to all current subscribers to Intersection Magic.
When Intersection Magic has an error or crashes, it often provides a numeric error code. This article lists the numeric and associated text error messages.
CA CHP introduced a new structure for SWITRS data beginning with data send after June 2002 (although most of this new format didn't ship until 2003) Pd' Programming made available a new configuration to read this data free-of-charge to all current subscribers to our Intersection Magic software. On February 13, 2003 we identified a minor problem with the new configuration. The caseID format in this new CHP data structure is variable - it is different after 1/1/2000. This article describes how to correct your configuration and database if you downloaded the new configuration prior to 2/18/2003 and imported 2002 data using it.
Intersection Magic provides a mechanism for "pushing" configuration and master support files (schematics, charts, gis, scripts, and other misc files) from a server to each local installation. This mechanism only works when a full network install is used. This article provides a checklist to follow if this mechanism isn't working.
A feature exists in the Pd' Editor application (pdeditor.exe) that provides the ability to produce a list of every intersection within a virtual corridor as well as all of its aliases. This is a low-level routine intended for use by other programmers desiring to extract part of the data stored by IMW.
IMW is crashing when trying to generate a sliding spot report.
If there is a conflict between Intersection Magic and another software program on your computer, it can be helpful to identify the environment that your system is running in. Rather than ask you question after question, there are some tools that ship with Windows that can help. This article lists some of them.
User receives an error message stating trial period has expired or no active database when using the IMW Editor.
Intersection Magic's symbols to represent vehicles, fixed objects, dui, etc. reside in a symbol library that can be modified. Therefore, new symbols can be created and then introduced into the object table (.tbs) file and displayed in collision diagrams.
Intersection Magic keeps track of users who are accessing the database. At any one time there may be many people READING from the database. However, if anyone is writing to the database, no one else may READ or WRITE at the same time. If you are attempting to READ when you get this message, then another use has opened the database for WRITING. If you attempting to WRITE to the database, then another user is READING the database. Note: This message can also be caused by the program having crashed during a READ or WRITE operation and not released its lock on the database.
Sometimes changes are called for in the design of the charts.
Unable to print to any printer in IMW (specifically an HP1220C). Able to print using other applications.
For one user installation, the program crashes when trying to print to a color printer. The user is running Windows 98 using the driver for Xerox Phaser 2135 v4.
When creating a report from a diagram using all fields, the report runs off the right of the page, unable to print all data.
When creating a database in Intersection Magic, the user is provided a place to specify a username and password. If selected, the database manages read and write access by a list of users. This article describes how to change enable or disable the selection made when creating the database.
Intersection Magic is 'configured' for a particular format of ASCII data. When you first purchased IMW, we probably prepared a custom configuration. This custom configuration defines, among other things, the order of the fields in the ASCII import file; the meanings of any coded fields; the method of parsing, or extracting the data from any given field. Periodically, states re-evaluate the crash report form that they are using. When this is done, they frequently add or remove fields. Occasionally, they add or remove codes for a particular fields. Rarely, and unfortunately, they change the value that a code represents in a particular field. This article describes some things to think about if you find that your data source is different than it was when we prepared your configuration.
This problem occurs when your printer is set to a resolution higher than 300dpi. Intersection Magic is still printing to some internal coordinates that reflect 300dpi.
In some cases street names appear twice in cross streets listings and that it can cause confusion when selecting street names.
Intersection Magic supports several ways of adding data to its database. This article describes the difference between updating data with regular importing, partial record importing and merging using imwedit.
The © and ¨ symbols are placeholders for a carriage return. While these symbols are generally hidden from view, they are visible in files, and in some edit controls.
Registration key doesn't "stick" when using Windows 2000 or Windows XP. As a result, the key appears to not be accepted. Often, the key works on one machine or for one user, but not on others.
Changes made in version 6.615 require user verification of cross-street data. Note that because the changes only affect cross street ordering associated with the use of aliases, this information only applies to users who have prepared cross street listings using the streets manager. Also, if aliases have never been used, this information does not apply.
Intersection Magic requires read/write access to the IM database files on the operating system level.
Earlier versions of Intersection Magic have a small bug where a street is not truely deleted when using the delete feature in the Streets Manager.
Changes made in v6.607 resulted in incorrect print when using Windows '95 or Windows '98.
When a corridor diagram is created for a street which is an alias to another street, not all the crashes will be shown. The crashes included may also not include those that occured on end-point cross streets if they are aliases as well.
This article describes some general "try this first" printer problem solutions.
Each diagram contains a number at the top that indicates how many crashes took place at that location. The number of graphics may not always match that number. However, the number of graphics plus the number of "records with insufficient data for display" listed at the bottom of the diagram should match.
This problem occurs when your printer is set to a resolution higher than 300dpi. Intersection Magic is still printing to some internal coordinates that reflect 300dpi.
This version contained a small piece of code that causes the message "Can't load 16-bit Windows application" to be presented when the program tries to load.
When printing an accident list, the printer reports that it has insufficient memory. Repeated clicks to close the dialog result in partial output.
The diagram name indicates an intersection. The diagram type is not an intersection.
When creating a filter, the filter editor reports an "ambiguous variable" and will not let the filter be saved.
The text: Record Scan Canceled is displayed when creating a diagram or running a report. After dismissing the dialog several times, it goes away.
Some viewers, under some versions of windows return a code that Intersection Magic is not expecting. As a result, after properly loading the program, Intersection Magic crashes.
Certain fast computers crash when the user closes a diagram.
Is there a way to get a accident listing along the entire length of a roadway? Yes. There are several ways. This article describes the various ways to obtain that data.
On occasion, users have the need to supplement records in their database without removing data already stored for those records. An example would be if you have a data source that provides you all the crash data you need except for direction from intersection. You have another source that can provide direction from intersection and uses the same caseid number that the first data source uses. This is a use for Supplemental importing.
When there are greater than 16,000 accidents to be generated on an all-data diagram, the program may crash.
Accident graphics are placed on the collision diagrams automatically. As a result, they will never be as good as those done by hand by a trained technician. However, there are may way to improve the display of a diagram. Those methods are described in this document.
Under certain circumstances, especially when an Intersection Magic program directory is copied from one computer to another, many settings come along with it that may confuse Windows or Intersection Magic. The result is that the program may not permit printing, changing printers, or configuring printers.
Whenever Pd' Programming changes the Intersection Magic database structure, the program automatically "knows" to update the database and its indexes. In a couple of situations, the program prompts the user to update the indexes and then doesn't seem satisfied, requiring it over and over again.
Intersection Magic diagrams may be saved, but only Intersection Magic can open these .dgm files. How can an Intersection Magic user send a diagram to someone who doesn't have Intersection Magic on their machine?
The data entry program, imwedit.exe, responds incorrectly in certain circumstances when there are no crashes in the database.
Dates may be represented may ways. Intersection Magic can handle most of them. This article describes which formats are supported and will be properly converted by the program.
When in the data entry program - imwedit.exe, the computer beeps when enter or tab is pressed rather than moving from field to field as intended.
You want to create a single chart that shows the day of the week accidents occurred - but want several specific intersections on that one chart.
It would appear that there are two streets with the same name causing reports to list a street twice.
The data in Intersection Magic is usually obtained from local city, county or state sources. In most cases, it is possible to query these sources to list the same data being reported by Intersection Magic. WeÕve found that when this is done, there may be discrepancies between the two systems. There can be several causes for these discrepancies. This document describes how we attempt to identify and resolve these differences when contacted by a concerned user of our software. While we welcome you to contact us, it is our hope that you can take the first steps yourself using the information provided here.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) maintains the crash records that you use as SWITRS data. In January of 1998 they modified the format which had been used for many years. The format was changed to add the century to any dates in the data file. This makes the data y2k compatible. This requires special treatment of SWITRS data by Intersection Magic.
Can't re-index after installing latest version of IMW. Warning (see summary) indicated.
Since the earliest version of Intersection Magic, the install program has looked for a file called cityid.txt to identify configurations to include in the install process. This file always needs to be included in the data directory of the install diskette, and on the hard disk. Beginning with version 6.002, this cityid.txt file is also used by the Intersection Magic program to identify that it is running in a valid directory, and to describe the configuration. This article describes how to create such a file.
In one user installation, the program crashes when closing the last collision diagram on the screen. The only known specifics are: The user is running Window 95 on an HP Vectra 166/32. Norton Antivirus is in background.
A very long street name exists in the database, but diagrams for locations on that street can not be generated, and sometimes the street itself is missing from high accident location lists.
After upgrading to v6.002 from an earlier version, the message "Failed to init object tables (TBS/TAB)" appears on the first query request. Further processes do not function.
The error "Number too great" is logged when a value being imported into a user-field is greater than the max allowed value of 254.