[Xastir] DBFAWK and map symbols

[Tom Russo]

On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 11:20:11AM -0600, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <russo at bogodyn.org> flavor, containing:
> On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 11:38:04AM -0400, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <n8fau15 at gmail.com> flavor, containing:
> > It took a while, but I'm now making dbfawk files of my own.
> > 
> > I saw in the file #   symbol  - 3 char 'TIO': table, ID, overlay
> > 
> > So far I've not found any info on this function... I'm hoping it's a way 
> > to display Interstate/US Hwy/State Hwy symbols with the numbers as the 
> > overlay....  Reading the names on the map is a bit tricky when on the road.
> 
> No, it's not.  There is currently no way to symbolize roads using standard
> highway symbols in xastir.
> 
> If you set "symbol" in a dbfawk rule, it allows a point feature (and only
> a point feature) to be symbolized by standard APRS symbols like the ones
> you can give to your station or to objects/items.  Table, ID and overlay
> are the character's you'd transmit in your posit (e.g. "/- " for a house,
> or "\#S" for a new n-N paradigm digipeater).
> 
> That field is typically used when you generate hand-rolled point shapefiles
> and want to symbolize them somehow (see README.MAPS for an example of how
> to do it).

For more information about dbfawk, consult
http://www.xastir.org/wiki/index.php/HowTo:DBFAWK

Unfortunately, it doesn't document "symbol" that much except to mention
it's for point data.  The "group/symbol/overlay" terminology is meant to
reflect that it's the same as APRS station and object symbols, but that
could be made more clear.

-- 
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
 "It's so simple to be wise: just think of something stupid to say and
  then don't say it."  --- Sam Levinson