[Xastir] Tigermaps not working?

[Rick Green]

On Tue, 5 Sep 2006, Curt, WE7U wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Sep 2006, Rick Green wrote:
>
>> Pardon me if this is an old issue.  I see that there was some mention in
>> July of the tigermap servers being slow.  Is that still the case?
>
> Just tried it (4-something in the morning here) and it was quite
> fast.
   Yes.  I left the machine running, and late last night, maps started to 
appear.  First a partial map, then a map every few cycles.  When I got up 
this morning, there's a nice map populated by stations on the display...

I did discover that I had to change the TRANSPARENCY value in USRadar.geo
from white to black so that I could overlay it on the tigermaps 
effectively.
>
> Yes, but somewhat limited.  You need to install the Berkely DB
> Library and development headers, then re-run configure/make/make
> install.  Xastir will then cache the online maps, then re-use them
> as long as the URL is _exactly_ the same as a previous request.  To
> make best use of this feature you need to use the same window size,
> same zoom levels, same map center.  Best in that case is to set a
> bookmark and then zoom/pan with the keyboard keys instead of the
> mouse, so that you get cache hits often.
>
Since I took the lazy path and installed from the .deb package, I'm stuck 
with what the maintainer gives me.  The last time I tried compiling 
something on a debian-based system, I ended up hosing the whole system.  I 
need to learn how to create a .deb package from the receent sources so I 
can be closer to the bleeding edge, and still compatible with apt.

> Or... Do what I do and start using the Tiger/Line data which has
> been converted to Shapefiles locally, and configure in rtree and
> dbfawk support.  You'll get maps very similar to the Tigermap
> server, but not have to depend on the internet for them, and things
> will be very fast.
>
Is there a HOWTO or script buried somewhere in the tree to help with this 
task?  I would still need to recompile, since the .deb came with dbfawk 
but not rtree support builtin.
   SOmewhere around here, I've got an old pocketaprs map CD.  Next time I 
come across it, I'll layer one of those maps under the tigermap, so the 
next time they time out, I won't be left with a blank screen.

Thanks for the help, and for a magnificent tool!

-- 
Rick Green

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
                                   -Benjamin Franklin