Using scanned maps

[hartcarti]

Has anyone been able to use scanned maps of other parts of the world with the new version 9?

[RWinlow]

Since the program can import graphics files, I don't see why not. I remember seeing something about using scanned images, but I am not sure of all the details. Have you asked undertow? They might be able to give you some pointers.

[hartcarti]

Since the program can import graphics files, I don't see why not. I remember seeing something about using scanned images, but I am not sure of all the details. Have you asked undertow? They might be able to give you some pointers.

No I haven't contacted them, but I which they had some documentation available on how to do that. It would help a lot of users, I'm sure. I'll fire off an email to them when I get a chance.

[RWinlow]

Well, *I* did, but haven't received a response, yet. I'll post here when I do.

[BillXG]

Precision Mapping Streets and Traveler 9.0 can import or underlay scanned maps just as previous PMap versions could. Consult your help file for infomation on importing Underlays.

Basically, you need to create a text file with the .sat extension containing the lat, lon of the 4 corners of your scanned map. Lat, lon must be in degrees decimal format, not Degrees, minutes, seconds, or Degrees, Minutes, Decimal minutes. West longitude MUST be a negative number. South latitude MUST be a negative number.

The information in the file must include 4 elements:
UpperLeft Longitude, UpperLeft Latitude, Lowerright Longitude, Lowerright Latitude.

.Sat file Example follows:

-92.0461807250977,49.2474784851074,-76.9502868652344,34.870433807373


Here is a translation of the above .sat file:
92.046 degrees West longitude, 49.247 degrees North latitude, 76.9502 degrees West Latitude, 34.8704 North Latitude.

That's it. One line in a file created by NotePad or some other text editor and saved as a .Sat file, not a .txt file. This file must be in the same directory as the scanned map or it cannot be imported as an underlay.


Bill KC9XG

[xavier]

Thanks, BillXG. Very detailed instructions.

One of the problems I have had, in the past, is someone gives me a scanned map, bit I don't know the Lon and Lat, so how do I even begin to make the SAT file

[DK13]

If you at least have an idea of where the map belongs use a coordinate in the general area for the SAT file. Once you import the underlay you can move the map around and line it up so that it's in the right place. You need to use the calibrate option once you have imported the underlay

[xavier]

What do you mean "move it around"? How?

Am I missing something here?

[DK13]

Yes you did miss something, but maybe i wasn't being too clear when i said "You need to use the calibrate option once you have imported the underlay".

So create the SAT file using coordinates in the general vicinity of where the scanned map should go.

Then use the load underlay option, NOT the import manager to load the file

In the load underlay option (import/underlay) use the Calibrate option to "move the image around"

Once you move it so it is where you want it you can use the import manager to change some of the attributes

[xavier]

Thanks, DK13. I *did* miss that. That's a powerful feature and now that I knew about it I found it in hidden deep in the help file. I wonder wat other goodies I have missed

[mrhagen]

I'm finding new things I can do with it, every day. Now if they could only merger the functionality of this with the Trailer life program, it would be awesome.

[hartcarti]

After reading all the information here, I was able to get the scanned maps to work, but I am not impressed. I have some large files, scanned images of Europe. I imported them and then tried to line them up with the Calibrate option. I was able to make it a little better, but it didn't really line up with the rest of the data, in particular in the upper left and upper right corners.

In addition to that, when I zoomed in below about the 50-100 mile scale, the image looked horrible, blocky, etc.

I don't know if I am doing something wrong, or just the import capabilities of this product are poor.

[mrhagen]

A couple of things. First, whatever map image you are using, you need to make sure it's Lon/Lat projections, otherwise it will not line up with the map data. Second, what happens when you zoom in, depends on the size of your bitmap. This of it this way, it's like taking a picture at a 320x 200 pixel resolution and then trying to print a 2 ft by 3 ft picture from it to frame. I have seen somewhere, that when looking at pictures, if you wanted a pixel on your screen to represent 1 ft, then the picture you would need to represent the earth would be about 120,000,000 x 120,000,000 pixels, or approximatelly 1.44 E+16 pixels. If you assumed 8 bytes per pixel to store color, etc., you are talking about a picture that would be over 1.0 E+17 bytes, or approx. 1,000,000 Terabytes!

I don't know if my math is exact, but I think you get the idea. If you have image files that cover LARGE areas and are in the order of Megabytes, they will display like crap, once you get below a certain zoom level. It's common sense

[hartcarti]

I didn't realize that I had to be a math major or a mapping expert in order to use this product

All I wanted to do was to import some map images!

[mrhagen]

I didn't realize that I had to be a math major or a mapping expert in order to use this product
All I wanted to do was to import some map images!

You don't have to be a mapping expert, but you do need to know and understand what you are trying to do For example, you don't need to be a mechanic to drive a car, but wouldn't you need to know what type of oil your car uses before you decided to pour 4 quarts in the engine crankcase? Same thing here

[hartcarti]

You are right, I was just hoping that the process would be much simpler. I also got their newsletter a couple of days ago, and it had a blurb about imports, but not much, really I really expected the newsletter to go into much greater detail and give some under the hood info, but...

[tcrewman]

I wouldn't mind some more detail on importing etc.

There are lots of geo files out there in shape format and it would be very useful if we had instructions on how to use them with this program. It would make the program a lot more useful to more people.

[mrhagen]

What type of information are you looking for? It really is very simple. You open the dialog, point to the file you want to import and then set its properties, e.g. what colors and line styles to use, and that's it. I guess what I'l saying is that the process is fairly simple. I am no expert, by any means, but if you think I can give you any specific comments on some of the aspects of importing, just ask and I will try.