XMapTools 4.3 – Release notes

Release date: 14 January 2024

Release 4.3 includes new features and updates to XMapTools, as well as stability and compatibility improvements. This update is highly recommended for all users.

General

  • Add a functionality to reorder masks within a maskfile
  • Improve the correlation plots by implementing an option to select a submask
  • Improve the output format of the multi-map export function for all sampling methods
  • Improve the live plot of the sampling method strip
  • Improve the calibration module interface for EPMA data, including a description of the check calibration table
  • Add a subroutine to check the map size before classification. Display an error message with the map size if there is any problem with the data (problem discovered by Alissa Madera)
  • Update and improve the help files.

LA-ICP-MS

  • Add a multi-file mode for importing LA-ICP-MS data
  • Add a log generator module for data collected in separate files
  • Add a functionality to filter values below LOD in quanti files
  • Add standard files for: NIST614, FGS1, FGS2, STDGL3, MASS1, NiS3, MAPS4, MACS3
  • Modify the export function to append the isotope number to the file name (e.g. Al.txt is now Al_27.txt)
  • Optimize the GUI of the data conversion module for LA-ICP-MS.

Classification

  • Add a classification test and calculate the classification metrics (Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1 Score); they are displayed in the Information tab, if a mask file is selected. This feature is not available for mask files created with previous versions of XMapTools
  • Improve significantly the performance of classification for sub-mask creation and fix several minor issues
  • Improve the overall appearance of the graphs generated by the Classification function
  • Improve the composition plot in the classification by implementing the mineral colors.

Data Visualisation Module

  • Add a submask selection option for plotting
  • Add an option to fix (hold on) the axis limits in binary plots
  • Add the specific colors of each mask for plotting
  • Improve performance of density map calculation; density maps are now displayed in low resource mode by default
  • Add an option to hide the density map in low resource mode
  • Add an option to set the density map resolution (default: 100).

Drift correction module

  • Add a drift correction module to XMapTools 4 with enhanced data visualisation capabilities
  • Add a 2D correction subroutine based on a single mask that includes data renormalisation.

Sampling Tools

  • Add a label showing the orientation of the stip when the shape is modified or rotated.
  • Improve multi-map export function when a mask is selected from the secondary menu
  • Improve the file format for single-map sampling
  • Add an option to the Sampling menu to hold the ROI. The ROI will not be deleted if the mask selection is changed from the secondary menu and this mode is selected
  • Thanks to @hannahcunning on GitHub for suggesting these changes.

Other

  • Fix an issue in the external function for rutile thermometry for the Kohn (2020) equations (pressure unit, discovered by Mona Lueder)
  • Fix several compatibility issues in the project loader for files created with previous versions of XMapTools
  • Fix an issue in the data visualisation module for binary plots after the mask option was disabled
  • Fix a display issue in the information window for map data containing NaN values
  • Fix an error in the title of the sampling strip plot where colors where switched; the blue curve represents the median and the red curve represents the mean profiles (discovered by Nils Gies).

How to download XMapTools

You can access compiled versions of XMapTools here after registrering for free. Alternatively, binaries, source code and developer tools are available by browsing our Git repositories.

Release notes of previous XMapTools versions