[Xastir] On to the next question

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 08:54:51AM -0800, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kf4lvz at yahoo.com> flavor, containing:
> My copy of the Readme (again, I did say it was a couple revs out of date) didn't seem to mention not having to rework GeoTIFFs from USGS.  The only thing I saw was a mention of downloading the GeoTIFFs and reprocessing them locally.  So if that's wrong then I need a new readme which says otherwise.  It might also be that I have a corrupted readme that is missing a section. It wouldn't be the first time I find a section of a file missing.  I'll have to look at it when I return to my computer after vacation.

The current rev says:

    GeoTIFF Map files (requires GeoTIFF):

      If you compiled in geoTIFF support, you can use USGS DRG topographic
      maps. These are primarily useful to U.S. users. DRG topo maps can be
      found for free for most states, and can be purchased for others.

        http://www.bianifc.org/gis_gps/gps/drgfree.html
        http://www.gisdatadepot.com

      or try a google search with "free drg maps" as the search query.

      If you have no luck finding free DRG maps, go to
      http://www.geocomm.com/ and check out the "DRG Data Bundles"
      they have available.  You can purchase a DVD containing all the
      DRGs for an entire state in three scales, all of them usable in
      xastir, for a relatively low price.  Be warned, however, that
      parts of the US have DRGs that are produced by an agency other
      than the United States Geological Survey, and these DRGs are not
      necessarily in correct GeoTIFF format.  The areas covered by the
      Tennessee Valley Authority appear to be among those, as one
      xastir user discovered when purchasing a DVD of DRGs for North
      Carolina.  It is still possible to use these DRG files, but they
      need preprocessing.  See the section below entitled "Defective
      GeoTIFF files need even more special processing."

This has not changed in quite a long time.  The re-processing sections are
pointed to only for "defective" geotiff files and possibly those that aren't
from USGS.

Xastir's geotiff code was written primarily with USGS topos in mind, and that's
why those certainly work with no special effort.  All those sections of
README.MAPS were written after the fact as people started popping up with 
GeoTIFFs that didn't work.

> And yes, I'm currently living in California the land of major annoyances.  I'm not going to bother getting fully set up in CA since I intend to leave the state when I can.

That is unfortunate.  The topos from California are not available directly 
from USGS, and the ones that *are* sold by geocomm.com have been reprocessed
by the state into an equal-area projection that won't work with Xastir.

> --- On Wed, 12/23/09, Tom Russo <russo at bogodyn.org> wrote:
> 
> > From: Tom Russo <russo at bogodyn.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Xastir] On to the next question
> > To: "Xastir - APRS client software discussion" <xastir at lists.xastir.org>
> > Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 11:43 AM
> > On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 01:41:20PM
> > -0800, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kf4lvz at yahoo.com>
> > flavor, containing:
> > > --- On Tue, 12/22/09, Curt, WE7U <archer at eskimo.com>
> > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > > It's just a manual process if there's no
> > script
> > > > handy.? You just
> > > > > go out and get the proper TIGER/Line
> > shapefiles for
> > > > the streets in
> > > > > the areas of interest and also collect your
> > topo maps
> > > > in some
> > > > > appropriate format (GeoTIFF being ideal but
> > it needs
> > > > to be
> > > > > reworked according to the readme with
> > Xastir).
> > > > 
> > > > No.? For topos you want geoTIFF DRG files from
> > the
> > > > USGS which have
> > > > NOT been reworked.
> > > 
> > > That's what I said.? They have to be reworked
> > locally according to the readme unless the readme is now out
> > of date and incorrect.
> > 
> > No, you said GeoTIFFs needed to be
> > reworked.???Curt was clarifying that
> > the best topos are USGS GeoTIFFs that have NOT been --- and
> > do not need to be
> > --- reworked.

-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
  In some cultures what I do would be considered normal. 
                                  -- Ineffective daily affirmation