[Xastir] Prefered map format?

[Nate Bargmann]

Hello all.

This is probably an FAQ, but I've been driving myself nuts trying to
find a map format that isn't ugly as all get out.

I downloaded some palmmap files and they are okay, but not impressive.

I've tried various Tiger line format files and totally found things
lacking. Far too many files to deal with and no real guidance that I
coupld find to use them effectively. End result, still ugly.

The dynamic Tiger displays are beatiful! I want these all the time, but I
don't have any kind of mobile Internet access out here in the sticks and
apparently there is no way to cache the data that is downloaded to disk
so the image files could be rebuilt later. If only the Tiger files I
downloaded could look so good with colored roads and nicely defined
urban areas.

I thought I'd try MacAPRS files, but had no luck trying to decompress
them as Xastir never showed a map on the screen.

I am frustrated, to say the least, and should probably go back to doing
something else, but I'd really like a map display worthy of 2003 instead
of a few lines and an ugly motif-gray background. :-\

Thanks for letting me vent a bit. I really want to use Xastir, but I've
wasted nearly a day trying to find a map that meets my taste. I find
I really need a continuous 'Net connection to make it work. Bummer.

Does anyone have a really nice map format that they use from the hard
drive? BTW, I'm using Xastir 1.2.0 on Debian Testing.

73, de Nate >>

[Alan Crosswell]

The pretty maps are all based on commercial products such as UIview's
use of Precision Mapping maps. You can find some nice DRG rasters which
are scans of USGS paper maps. Otherwise you can play around with
shapefile maps, but they are not so pretty as say those made by
Precision Mapping. It's hard work to get automatically rendered maps to
look nice. Of course, Xastir is freeware and uses free map data so I
feel a little better about the maps not being so pretty. I believe
there's some work going on with respect to caching of downloaded maps.
I too want my Xastir station to work "unplugged."

If you use shapefile maps and "configure --with-dbfawk" you can do some
customization of how the shapefile maps look, but they still look
amateurish (that's a good thing, right? :-) See README.MAPS. Read it
about 6 times and it will start to sink in; There's a lot of dense
information in there.

73 de Alan N2YGK

Post by Nate Bargmann
Hello all.
This is probably an FAQ, but I've been driving myself nuts trying to
find a map format that isn't ugly as all get out.
I downloaded some palmmap files and they are okay, but not impressive.
I've tried various Tiger line format files and totally found things
lacking. Far too many files to deal with and no real guidance that I
coupld find to use them effectively. End result, still ugly.
The dynamic Tiger displays are beatiful! I want these all the time, but I
don't have any kind of mobile Internet access out here in the sticks and
apparently there is no way to cache the data that is downloaded to disk
so the image files could be rebuilt later. If only the Tiger files I
downloaded could look so good with colored roads and nicely defined
urban areas.
I thought I'd try MacAPRS files, but had no luck trying to decompress
them as Xastir never showed a map on the screen.
I am frustrated, to say the least, and should probably go back to doing
something else, but I'd really like a map display worthy of 2003 instead
of a few lines and an ugly motif-gray background. :-\
Thanks for letting me vent a bit. I really want to use Xastir, but I've
wasted nearly a day trying to find a map that meets my taste. I find
I really need a continuous 'Net connection to make it work. Bummer.
Does anyone have a really nice map format that they use from the hard
drive? BTW, I'm using Xastir 1.2.0 on Debian Testing.
73, de Nate >>

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Alan Crosswell
The pretty maps are all based on commercial products such as UIview's
use of Precision Mapping maps. You can find some nice DRG rasters which
are scans of USGS paper maps. Otherwise you can play around with
shapefile maps, but they are not so pretty as say those made by
Precision Mapping.

Hi Alan.

Okay, I was not so clear on that. I thought I was simply looking in the
wrong places.

Post by Alan Crosswell
It's hard work to get automatically rendered maps to
look nice. Of course, Xastir is freeware and uses free map data so I
feel a little better about the maps not being so pretty. I believe
there's some work going on with respect to caching of downloaded maps.
I too want my Xastir station to work "unplugged."

I understand the free nature of Xastir and the maps. I did not mean to
disparage anyone's hard work on this project, in fact I wish to thank
them heartily as I'm involved in another project and I know firsthand
the time sink these projects are.

I hope that Xastir will support caching the downloaded data into some
kind of a database and be able to reuse it as well as download more data
points and rebuild it on the fly.

Post by Alan Crosswell
If you use shapefile maps and "configure --with-dbfawk" you can do some
customization of how the shapefile maps look, but they still look
amateurish (that's a good thing, right? :-)

I'm using the pre-built package in the Debian archive, so I'm not
exactly sure whether --with-dbkawk was used. It probably was.

As for an amateurish look, I'm not so sure that is a good thing. I
firmly believe that Linux based systems offer many advantages to hams
over Widnows of any release. The problem is one of first impression and
while I know that is not a fair way to judge something, that's how many
people do judge things.

I'm not at all up to speed on Xastir yet, but I'm mystified as to why
the Tiger data I downloaded is not rendered the same as that which is
dynamically downloaded.

Post by Alan Crosswell
See README.MAPS. Read it
about 6 times and it will start to sink in; There's a lot of dense
information in there.

I've it at least twice and I'm not sure how four more times will be
beneficial, but I shall give it a go.

73, de Nate >>

[Dick C. Reichenbach]

Post by Nate Bargmann
Hello all.
This is probably an FAQ, but I've been driving myself nuts trying to
find a map format that isn't ugly as all get out.
I downloaded some palmmap files and they are okay, but not impressive.

This is my personal preference. I bought the set from Mike, so the ones
I use covers pretty much all of North America, and most of Europe as
well.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I've tried various Tiger line format files and totally found things
lacking. Far too many files to deal with and no real guidance that I
coupld find to use them effectively. End result, still ugly.

These shapefiles can be very pretty, as pretty as the dynamic maps, but
it takes a lot of work to get them that way. It's all there in the docs
on how to do it, it just takes time, to both understand the docs, and to
do the work.

And you are right on the the other point. There are too many of them.
My older computer can take many minutes to load all the layers and all
the counties that I would want to see at one time.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I thought I'd try MacAPRS files, but had no luck trying to decompress
them as Xastir never showed a map on the screen.

I have some handy. If you want, I can convert a bunch to another
compression format. But they are very similar to palmmap files, with
less detail and because Mike has done some extensive work in cleaning up
the original Tiger line files, they have errors that (current
generation) palmmaps don't have.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I am frustrated, to say the least, and should probably go back to doing
something else, but I'd really like a map display worthy of 2003 instead
of a few lines and an ugly motif-gray background. :-\

Well, small consolation, but the background is changable, I like rose
myself. :^/

I'd like to see some work on the SDAL mapping spec, but hey, I just want
way too much. I've already got 2 other requests in to the developers.

Dick Reichenbach - KC8OBZ

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Dick C. Reichenbach

Post by Nate Bargmann
I've tried various Tiger line format files and totally found things
lacking. Far too many files to deal with and no real guidance that I
coupld find to use them effectively. End result, still ugly.

These shapefiles can be very pretty, as pretty as the dynamic maps, but
it takes a lot of work to get them that way. It's all there in the docs
on how to do it, it just takes time, to both understand the docs, and to
do the work.
And you are right on the the other point. There are too many of them.
My older computer can take many minutes to load all the layers and all
the counties that I would want to see at one time.

I have to do more reading, obviously, but I'm rather vague on what
exactly is downloaded in the dynamic Tiger mode and why the files I
downloaded aren't rendered the same way.

If the rendering were the same I'd have no complaint and I wouldn't have
started this thread. :-)

Post by Dick C. Reichenbach
I have some handy. If you want, I can convert a bunch to another
compression format. But they are very similar to palmmap files, with
less detail and because Mike has done some extensive work in cleaning up
the original Tiger line files, they have errors that (current
generation) palmmaps don't have.

Thanks for the info.

Post by Dick C. Reichenbach
Well, small consolation, but the background is changable, I like rose
myself. :^/

I figured that out and went to steel blue myself.

Post by Dick C. Reichenbach
I'd like to see some work on the SDAL mapping spec, but hey, I just want
way too much. I've already got 2 other requests in to the developers.

As I said in another reply. I did not intend my original message as a
flame toward the developers nor anyone else. I was just a bit
frustrated at my inability to get a display similar to the Widnos
programs screenshots, that's all.

73, de Nate >>

[Brenda Wallace]

download some ui-view raster maps and put them through the inf2geo.pl
script.
Aerial photos have a big wow factor when showing off aprs. expecially
when watching a mobile station.

Post by Nate Bargmann
Hello all.
This is probably an FAQ, but I've been driving myself nuts trying to
find a map format that isn't ugly as all get out.
I downloaded some palmmap files and they are okay, but not impressive.
I've tried various Tiger line format files and totally found things
lacking. Far too many files to deal with and no real guidance that I
coupld find to use them effectively. End result, still ugly.
The dynamic Tiger displays are beatiful! I want these all the time, but I
don't have any kind of mobile Internet access out here in the sticks and
apparently there is no way to cache the data that is downloaded to disk
so the image files could be rebuilt later. If only the Tiger files I
downloaded could look so good with colored roads and nicely defined
urban areas.
I thought I'd try MacAPRS files, but had no luck trying to decompress
them as Xastir never showed a map on the screen.
I am frustrated, to say the least, and should probably go back to doing
something else, but I'd really like a map display worthy of 2003 instead
of a few lines and an ugly motif-gray background. :-\
Thanks for letting me vent a bit. I really want to use Xastir, but I've
wasted nearly a day trying to find a map that meets my taste. I find
I really need a continuous 'Net connection to make it work. Bummer.
Does anyone have a really nice map format that they use from the hard
drive? BTW, I'm using Xastir 1.2.0 on Debian Testing.
73, de Nate >>

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Brenda Wallace
download some ui-view raster maps and put them through the inf2geo.pl
script.
Aerial photos have a big wow factor when showing off aprs. expecially
when watching a mobile station.

I only had a few minutes to do a Google search and found the UI-View
site and some topographic relief maps. While great from a macro
perspective, they're too blocky to be useful when zoomed in tight.

Do you have some links to some better maps?

73, de Nate >>

[Kirk Mefford]

Post by Nate Bargmann
Hello all.
This is probably an FAQ, but I've been driving myself nuts trying to
find a map format that isn't ugly as all get out.

As others have mentioned.... With dbfawk support installed you can make the
tiger shapefiles to look "prettier"

Post by Nate Bargmann
The dynamic Tiger displays are beatiful! I want these all the time, but I
don't have any kind of mobile Internet access out here in the sticks and
apparently there is no way to cache the data that is downloaded to disk
so the image files could be rebuilt later. If only the Tiger files I
downloaded could look so good with colored roads and nicely defined
urban areas.

The cvs version of Xastir will allow you to use the dynamic maps to a
limited extent off line. You can now generate .geo files for the
snapshot.png that Xastir can create. Might not be the best solution but if
you make enough snapshots and save them as different names with the updated
info in the .geo file then you can have the same looking maps that you'd
normally only have available online.

Post by Nate Bargmann
Does anyone have a really nice map format that they use from the hard
drive? BTW, I'm using Xastir 1.2.0 on Debian Testing.

I have a few .geo files with the associated image files that I use along
with some shapefile maps I've been tweaking with dbfawk.

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

Post by Nate Bargmann
I'm using the pre-built package in the Debian archive, so I'm not
exactly sure whether --with-dbkawk was used. It probably was.

Nope. That's a new feature that Alan coded up. It allows us to do a
lot more, but since it's so new, it might be a bit before people
start enabling that by default for binary distributions of Xastir.

Post by Nate Bargmann
As for an amateurish look, I'm not so sure that is a good thing. I
firmly believe that Linux based systems offer many advantages to hams
over Widnows of any release. The problem is one of first impression and
while I know that is not a fair way to judge something, that's how many
people do judge things.

So give them their money back! hi hi

Post by Nate Bargmann
I'm not at all up to speed on Xastir yet, but I'm mystified as to why
the Tiger data I downloaded is not rendered the same as that which is
dynamically downloaded.

Because the Tigermap images from the 'net are just that: Images.
When you use ESRI Shapefile maps from local hard drive, you have full
control over how they're rendered yourself, both through the
Map->Properties options and now through the dbfawk options as well.
We didn't ever intend to duplicate the look/feel of the Tigermap
server. You can do that if you wish though.

We have more map support than ANY other APRS client out there. Play
with it a bit more and you'll get the hang of what you can/can't do.
I can make maps that look very similar to the Tigermap server, except
for the exact colors. I tend not to want to do that though, as I
only enable the layers I need at any given instant to speed things
up.

Curt, WE7U. ***@eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
Lotto: A tax on people who are bad at math. - unknown
Windows: Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates. - WE7U.
The world DOES revolve around me: I picked the coordinate system!"

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U

Post by Nate Bargmann
I'm using the pre-built package in the Debian archive, so I'm not
exactly sure whether --with-dbkawk was used. It probably was.

Nope. That's a new feature that Alan coded up. It allows us to do a
lot more, but since it's so new, it might be a bit before people
start enabling that by default for binary distributions of Xastir.

Ahh, okay. I guess it's documented in the newer releases?

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U

Post by Nate Bargmann
As for an amateurish look, I'm not so sure that is a good thing. I
firmly believe that Linux based systems offer many advantages to hams
over Widnows of any release. The problem is one of first impression and
while I know that is not a fair way to judge something, that's how many
people do judge things.

So give them their money back! hi hi

???

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U

Post by Nate Bargmann
I'm not at all up to speed on Xastir yet, but I'm mystified as to why
the Tiger data I downloaded is not rendered the same as that which is
dynamically downloaded.

Because the Tigermap images from the 'net are just that: Images.

Homer Simpson, "Doh!"

I feel a bit foolish now for not having figured that out...

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U
When you use ESRI Shapefile maps from local hard drive, you have full
control over how they're rendered yourself, both through the
Map->Properties options and now through the dbfawk options as well.
We didn't ever intend to duplicate the look/feel of the Tigermap
server. You can do that if you wish though.

Perhaps in time I can learn that well enough to make up a HOWTO for
others.

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U
We have more map support than ANY other APRS client out there. Play
with it a bit more and you'll get the hang of what you can/can't do.
I can make maps that look very similar to the Tigermap server, except
for the exact colors. I tend not to want to do that though, as I
only enable the layers I need at any given instant to speed things
up.

Layers? I'm not fluent in graphics by any means, but as I added .shp
files everything appears (well, after I disable maps, kill xastir,
delete map_index.sys and selected_maps.sys from ~/.xastir/config and
restarting xastir and re-enabling maps). Exactly what layers do I can't
tell as I see no change.

Thanks for all your work on Xastir.

73, de Nate >>

[Jack Twilley]

WARNING: Unsanitized content follows.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
[...]

Curt> We have more map support than ANY other APRS client out there.
Curt> Play with it a bit more and you'll get the hang of what you
Curt> can/can't do. I can make maps that look very similar to the
Curt> Tigermap server, except for the exact colors. I tend not to
Curt> want to do that though, as I only enable the layers I need at
Curt> any given instant to speed things up.

Nate> Layers? I'm not fluent in graphics by any means, but as I added
Nate> .shp files everything appears (well, after I disable maps, kill
Nate> xastir, delete map_index.sys and selected_maps.sys from
Nate> ~/.xastir/config and restarting xastir and re-enabling maps).
Nate> Exactly what layers do I can't tell as I see no change.

I have area-based shapefiles for land and I have line-based shapefiles
for roads. It's best to display the land before the roads, don't you
think? That's the power of layers.

Layers and the zoom level functionality is useful when you have a few
area-based shapefiles you want always displayed (think continents,
islands and the like) and many intricate line-based shapefiles (think
roads, rivers, and such). You want to display the continents and
islands under the roads and rivers, so the former would have a lower
"level" than the latter. Also, you may not want to display local
roads or small water features above a certain zoom level because of
the processing impact and resulting visual clutter -- the maximum and
minimum zoom level can now be set in the properties window.

I am unfamiliar with dbfawk.

Jack.
- --
Jack Twilley
jmt at twilley dot org
http colon slash slash www dot twilley dot org slash tilde jmt slash

[Alan Crosswell]

... Also, you may not want to display local
roads or small water features above a certain zoom level because of
the processing impact and resulting visual clutter -- the maximum and
minimum zoom level can now be set in the properties window.
I am unfamiliar with dbfawk.

dbfawk lets you set the zoom level and label level on a per-shapefile
object basis whereas setting them in the map properties dialog does it
at the level of the entire shapefile.
/a

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Alan Crosswell
dbfawk lets you set the zoom level and label level on a per-shapefile
object basis whereas setting them in the map properties dialog does it
at the level of the entire shapefile.

Okay, what is dbfawk? A program, a language, a feature strictly in
Xastir?

Is there a reference any place?

73, de Nate >>

[Alan Crosswell]

It's a new feature in the latest CVS. See README and README.MAPS. You
have to build xastir with dbfawk enabled. This is done with:

./configure --with-dbfawk

It's called dbfawk because of an awk-like syntax. If you are familiar
with the awk language, invented by Aho, Weinberger, and Kernighan,
you'll be comfortable with it. It takes the shapefile metadata (names
and other attributes) from the .dbf file and lets you tell xastir how to
display those attributes in a fairly straightforward way. This
functionality is currently hardcoded in the shapefile map support for a
limited number of shapefile types. I wrote dbfawk to generalize this
without having to add more hard-coded logic to the shapefile processing
code.

There are good examples of dbfawk usage listed in README.MAPS.
/a

Post by Nate Bargmann

Post by Alan Crosswell
dbfawk lets you set the zoom level and label level on a per-shapefile
object basis whereas setting them in the map properties dialog does it
at the level of the entire shapefile.

Okay, what is dbfawk? A program, a language, a feature strictly in
Xastir?
Is there a reference any place?
73, de Nate >>

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

Post by Brenda Wallace
download some ui-view raster maps and put them through the inf2geo.pl
script.
Aerial photos have a big wow factor when showing off aprs. expecially
when watching a mobile station.

You can also enable Snapshots, use terraserver, toposerver, or
tigermaps, and save away the image and the .geo file for the image
that Xastir creates in your ~/.xastir/tmp directory.

I'm much more impressed by topo maps and satellite images than I am
by street maps.

Curt, WE7U. ***@eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
Lotto: A tax on people who are bad at math. - unknown
Windows: Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates. - WE7U.
The world DOES revolve around me: I picked the coordinate system!"

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

Post by Nate Bargmann
I only had a few minutes to do a Google search and found the UI-View
site and some topographic relief maps. While great from a macro
perspective, they're too blocky to be useful when zoomed in tight.

That's why I personally despise raster maps! They have some uses
for fixed stations with internet access, and for topo maps, where
there are few other options. Weather radar is another worthwhile
use.

For being able to zoom indefinitely and complete control over how a
map is drawn, nothing can beat vector maps. They're also typically
smaller for the same information as raster maps. That means they
might load faster/keep up with you as you drive better.

For driving and SAR, I use USGS DRG topo maps (raster) and
Tiger/Line data that has been converted to ESRI Shapefile format
(vector). I also have GNIS files for the state so that I can do
searches for a map feature.

If you can define specifically what you don't like about the
Shapefile street maps, perhaps someone on here can help you to
change your settings so that they do meet your requirements. More
information than "doesn't look like the Tigermap server" please.
;-)

[Nate Bargmann]

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U
If you can define specifically what you don't like about the
Shapefile street maps, perhaps someone on here can help you to
change your settings so that they do meet your requirements. More
information than "doesn't look like the Tigermap server" please.
;-)

I'll take a shot, Curt.

For one, I do like the street map display as that is how I would find
APRS to be most useful. What I liked about the Tiger server images were
the nice way that federal highways are colored and state and secondary
roads were black or gray. In my experiments with the ERSI maps did
result in the federal highways being a heavier line, but still black.

I like the server maps that colored in incorporated town boundaries
while the ERSI file only had a colored line drawn, but no fill even
though I had the Enable color fill option activated. I liked the river
and lake polygons being filled.

I like also that as one zoomed out the graphic didn't seem to become a
jumbled mess. I have levels turned on, but the highway names and all
the roads were visible rather than being ignored. I also didn't find
the magic file that contained town names nor highway numbers. I did
find that the street names in a town did disappear beyond a certain
zoom-out.

Perhaps I can send a screenshot of what I'm getting.

As I learn more I hope to contribute some as that is how a better
program develops. I think the real problems are few, but a street map
display that exceeds the screenshots of WinAPRS would be too cool.

73, de Nate >>

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

Post by Nate Bargmann

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U

Post by Nate Bargmann
I'm using the pre-built package in the Debian archive, so I'm not
exactly sure whether --with-dbkawk was used. It probably was.

Nope. That's a new feature that Alan coded up. It allows us to do a
lot more, but since it's so new, it might be a bit before people
start enabling that by default for binary distributions of Xastir.

Ahh, okay. I guess it's documented in the newer releases?

Yes. CVS Xastir, or the Nov. 4th development snapshot has it as
well I think. It's a "configure" option. You won't have the new
feature without configuring it in, then doing a new compile.

Post by Nate Bargmann

Post by Curt Mills, WE7U
So give them their money back! hi hi

???

Xastir is free...

Post by Nate Bargmann
Perhaps in time I can learn that well enough to make up a HOWTO for
others.

If you come up with something that you think should be added to the
docs, or doc changes, let us know. Reuven is our docs guy, but any
of the 12 developers can tweak the docs.

Post by Nate Bargmann
Layers? I'm not fluent in graphics by any means, but as I added .shp
files everything appears (well, after I disable maps, kill xastir,
delete map_index.sys and selected_maps.sys from ~/.xastir/config and
restarting xastir and re-enabling maps). Exactly what layers do I can't
tell as I see no change.

There are reindex maps and index new maps options in later Xastir's.
Under Map Chooser->Properties you can select which map layer each
map exists on. Xastir loads lower-numbered layers first, so think
of them as the bottom of the map stack. Latest Xastir also allows
you to pick a min/max zoom for each map file, so that different maps
take over as you zoom in/out.

[Jerry Chamberlin]

Where does one get it, the correct version that is.

Post by Alan Crosswell

... Also, you may not want to display local
roads or small water features above a certain zoom level because of
the processing impact and resulting visual clutter -- the maximum and
minimum zoom level can now be set in the properties window.
I am unfamiliar with dbfawk.

dbfawk lets you set the zoom level and label level on a per-shapefile
object basis whereas setting them in the map properties dialog does it
at the level of the entire shapefile.
/a
_______________________________________________
Xastir mailing list
https://krypton.hscs.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/xastir

The Net Lab year 2000 and beyond Internet Education is Science
http://www.netlab.org
WA0JRJ - Jerry
used to be ICQ 6408731
used to be AIM PappyJerry

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

Post by Jerry Chamberlin
Where does one get it, the correct version that is.

the "--with-dbfawk" configure option has been in CVS for quite a few
weeks. Alan has been tweaking the code here and there to give more
support for more map styles, and tweaking/adding new dbfawk files as
well.

CVS Xastir will have the latest. It's only running roughly 24 hours
behind the development server these days.

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

First let me say some general stuff: The Shapefile hard-coded
defaults were selected by me as I played with Shapefiles. They
worked for me, but I didn't get any input from others as to what
worked/didn't work for them.

Now that we have the dbfawk code, users can get in there and either
create their own dbfawk files to go with specific types of maps, or
suggest changes to the default dbfawk files so that they can be made
more useful for people who don't want to go to the extra trouble of
messing with these files.

Post by Nate Bargmann
What I liked about the Tiger server images were
the nice way that federal highways are colored and state and secondary
roads were black or gray. In my experiments with the ERSI maps did
result in the federal highways being a heavier line, but still black.

I _think_ the dbfawk stuff can change that for you. I'm sure Alan
could verify/disprove that.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I like the server maps that colored in incorporated town boundaries
while the ERSI file only had a colored line drawn, but no fill even
though I had the Enable color fill option activated. I liked the river
and lake polygons being filled.

Again, I think and appopriate dbfawk file could fix that.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I like also that as one zoomed out the graphic didn't seem to become a
jumbled mess. I have levels turned on, but the highway names and all
the roads were visible rather than being ignored.

Not sure about the levels/labels thing, whether dbfawk can handle
that.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I also didn't find
the magic file that contained town names nor highway numbers.

They're in the .dbf file that goes with each shapefile. That's
where all the attribute information goes.

Post by Nate Bargmann
I did
find that the street names in a town did disappear beyond a certain
zoom-out.

That's hard-coded, based on zoom-level, and based on what looked
good to me with just a few examples of files while I was writing it.

Post by Nate Bargmann
Perhaps I can send a screenshot of what I'm getting.
As I learn more I hope to contribute some as that is how a better
program develops. I think the real problems are few, but a street map
display that exceeds the screenshots of WinAPRS would be too cool.

Using *.map files? I think we already do better than they,
particularly with the rotated labels.

It sounds like the way to proceed would be for you to run the latest
CVS Xastir, configure with "--with-dbfawk", get it all running, then
suggest changes to the list (or direct to Alan?). Between tweaking
the code and tweaking/adding dbfawk files, we should be able to fix
you up.

[Henk de Groot]

Hello Dick,

Post by Dick C. Reichenbach
This is my personal preference. I bought the set from Mike, so the ones
I use covers pretty much all of North America, and most of Europe as
well.

Europe? I wasn't aware of any European maps from Mike, unless Mike copied
mine (which is fine, they are free of charge anyway). You can get those
maps from:

<http://www.homepages.hetnet.nl/~pe1dnn/>

Also pocketAPRS maps for Canada are stored there. They work fine in Xastir,
in fact they were tested and reviewed on Xastir before I uploaded them to
pocketAPRS :-).

Kind regards,

Henk.