[Xastir] Maps, Defaults, and Chooser

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Dec 06, 2006 at 05:53:36PM -0500, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <n1mie at ct.metrocast.net> flavor, containing:
> On Dec 6, 2006, at 16:03, Tom Russo wrote:
> 
> >>So you don't have many maps? I've installed maps for trial  
> >>purposes, but since they add time to the display refresh and am  
> >>not presently using them I have them turned off. So you have just  
> >>a few maps you always use and delete or otherwise remove all  
> >>others? I think Automaps is an essential feature and shouldn't be  
> >>removed!
> >
> >I have thousands of maps.  And use map layers and zoom min/max to  
> >handle them instead of letting automaps choose it for me.  Because  
> >it always does so in a way I hate.
> 
> That works, but only to a degree. If you have a map, which fits your  
> needs zoom, layer, and otherwise but you don't always want to  
> display. How do you turn it off for the given session but turn it on  
> later? That's how I use Automaps (aka an ON/OFF switch).

Exactly the same way.  The map chooser allows you to select and deselect
maps individually.  I do this all the time (turning on and off both
individual maps and whole classes of them, e.g. topo maps when I know
I need that detail).

> >>I disagree. Automaps provides a method of configuring the map  
> >>display which is essential. Without it all maps are processed  
> >>every time. With it I have a method of telling Xastir not to waste  
> >>my time with certain maps (regardless of zoom).
> >
> >Not true at all.  Xastir will only process maps that intersect the  
> >current display, whether automaps is on or off.
> 

> I live in CT. I have  
> several flavors of maps which overlap CT. 

I live in NM, and have a half-dozen or so flavors of maps that overlap my area,
too.  Aviation sectional charts, road maps, wilderness trail maps, topo maps, 
and assorted point maps.  I rarely want them all at once, they'd clutter my
screen with conflicting and distracting information.

> Some I want on, some I want  
> off, at this time. How do I control that within your scheme? 

Exactly the same way.  Go into the map chooser and turn them off by deselecting
them.  Usually I organize my maps in directories of map groups that I want to
turn on and off all at once (e.g. by selecting the whole directory in the
map chooser), but I also have a few directories of "miscellaneous" maps
that I enable individually as needed.

For a SAR mission where I need topos, I go into the map chooser and click the
"1:24K Topo" button.  They are instantly selected and since I've prepopulated
the properties dialog, the are set to be at the right level and to only appear
at map zoom levels where they are both fast to display and zoomed in enough
to be usable.  When I'm done, I click the button again and they vanish.

When I'm on a mission for lost aircraft (or more likely, false alarm ELT 
signals), I open the map chooser and click on the "Aviation" directory.  My
sectional charts are now visible when I'm zoomed in to a level that I want.

If I get a new GPS track downloaded into the GPS directory and want to look
at it, once again I go into the map chooser and turn it on until I don't
want to see it anymore, and I deselect it.

Nothing you've said so far --- and nothing in several years of experience with
xastir --- has led me to think of automaps as anthing other than an annoyance
that gets in the way of my controlling maps this way.  You have found a
way to do it, but as far as I can tell from what you're saying, you do it
by manipulating the automaps property to include or exclude maps from the 
automaps "pull in everything" scheme, rather than just selecting the maps you 
want in groups in the first place.

Everything you're doing with automaps can be done without it, with less
effort, and with only a little more up-front set-up.  

> >automaps usurps user choice as to which maps to not to display even  
> >if they do intersect the current display.
> 
> I think exactly opposite. It gives me choices I can't have without  
> it!!!!!!!!!!

Then you have not really explored the whole range of capabilities of map
selection and control.  Automaps is a relic of a day when xastir had minimal
map control, and it was better than the alternative.  Now if you know how to
control things through the map chooser and properties dialog, it just gets
in the way.

As I said, we should not just rip it out because some people use it, but we 
should be deprecating it and replacing it with cleaner ways of modifying 
properties and map selections.  

-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236 AHTB#1 http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is
 one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
 oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick