[Xastir] Feature idea for Xastir

[Gerry Creager]

Google and Mapquest get their basemaps, if memory serves, from Navtech. 
  No one seriously uses Tiger anymore for "real" applications.  After 
USGS migrated to SDTS format Tiger was the only decent alternative, for 
some low value of decent.  It was based on the original USGS maps, 
regardless of what Census told you.  However, Census munges them for 
their purposes (census work, interestingly enough) and effectively 
renders them less than adequate for "real" mapping.

In other words, "These maps should come with a consumer product safety 
warning."

gerry

Lee Bengston wrote:
> On 10/5/07, Jason Winningham <jdw at eng.uah.edu> wrote:
>>
>> On Oct 5, 2007, at 8:48 AM, I wrote:
>>
>>>> http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/
>>> Ah, this is more like it.  At a glance: maps - so what? looks a lot
>>> like xastir (maybe they do a bit better job rendering labels).
>>> Keep looking: vector maps, rendered by the app, included routing,
>>> vector maps based on TIGER data.
>>
>> Looks good, but I couldn't get enough data downloaded/converted to
>> try anything interested - got tired of it continuously bombing on the
>> mac.  Oh well, another one bites the dust.
> 
> 
> I wasn't able to get the roadnav deb package to install in andLinux, but I
> was able to compile it from source after installing wxwidgets from the
> ubuntu respository.  Not a bad program - with the Tiger maps, they are
> labeling the highways better, and I like they way they display the minor
> streets at high zoom levels.
> 
> However, it's the same old TigerMap problem at intermediate zoom levels -
> either no street labels at all or labels in a very tiny hard to read font
> depending on the exact zoom.  The same view in Google, Mapquest, etc. shows
> the street names clearly.  I don't care about looking really slick like
> Google does, but street labels that I can read are important.
> 
> But the above is in the context of XASTIR and seeing APRS stations in
> certain views.  Using Roadnav on a trip should be fine - can zoom in or out
> as needed - only need to track one vehicle.  Overall I would say it's a
> pretty nice package.
> 
> Lee-K5DAT
> Murphy, TX
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-- 
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University	
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