[Xastir] Maps, Defaults, and Chooser

[William McKeehan]

I'll add my 2 cents into this discussion.

I use automaps. The way that I use them is that I have all of my "normal" maps
setup as automaps="yes". I have a variety of maps in this category:
  terraserver
  radar
  shapefiles of just the USA (with states)
  shapefiles for counties
  interstate roads
  other major roads
  tiger maps (divided by state)
  local repeater locations (dbf)
  gnis data
and have the min/max zoom set so I get more detail as I zoom in.

I turn off automaps to disable all of these maps and look at something
specific. When I'm ready to go back to my normal display, I simply re-enable
automaps. If there was a way to associate a collection of maps together so
they could be enabled/disabled all together, then I could easily do without
automaps.
-- 
William McKeehan

On Wed, December 6, 2006 10:27 pm, Tom Russo wrote:
> 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
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