[Xastir] DBFAWK and map symbols

[Tom Russo]

On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 01:34:47PM -0400, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <bwebster at wirelessmapping.com> flavor, containing:
> Is there any way to get a file created so it displays the same as the on
> line tiger maps do within Xastir? That format looks great to me and I would
> love to duplicate it with local tiger files.

Not really.  The closest we can get is with the TGR2006_SE data and the dbfawk 
files we already have (or to tweak them a little bit to improve rendering
style).

To render precisely like the on-line tiger maps would require a different
rendering engine, which is not a simple thing to do -- Xastir pretty much
just uses X11 drawing primitives to render vector maps, and it would be a major
rewrite of xastir to get it to render maps closer to the way various on-line
mapping sites do.  All we can do is mimic color schemes and line styles 
as best we can, which is what the existing dbfawk files do.

There is a growing number of open-source map rendering libraries out there,
but to adapt xastir to use them would practically require a complete 
rewrite of xastir.  Xastir's rendering is pretty deeply hard-wired.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xastir-bounces at xastir.org [mailto:xastir-bounces at xastir.org]On
> Behalf Of Tom Russo
> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 1:20 PM
> To: Robert C. Rogers
> Cc: xastir at xastir.org
> Subject: Re: [Xastir] DBFAWK and map symbols
> 
> 
> 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).
> 
> --
> 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
> 
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-- 
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