[Xastir] On to the next question

[Alex Carver]

There's no automated method for obtaining the maps for local use unless a script has shown up in one of the latest releases (I'm about two releases behind right now).

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).

I forget which TIGER set doesn't work properly with Xastir so someone will remind me here.  But there's an older set which has all the data fields and a newer set which had a few fields stripped (or was that the GNIS data files?).

Once you get the files, just put them in the directories of your choice on your system.

One thing you may want to consider is slicing up the county TIGER files into smaller chunks so that they load faster if you're zoomed in.  Xastir will load only what's on the screen.  But if a tiny corner of a county is visible, it will load the entire shapefile for it.  I can't remember now what the tool was that cut them up into squares.  Cutting it into small squares will ensure that the tiny corner of visible county will only load a small square of the TIGER data instead of the whole county which is mostly hidden off the edge of the screen.

TIGER/Line shapefiles (can be downloaded county by county):
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/



--- On Sun, 11/29/09, J Hunter <jhunter at sardognetwork.org> wrote:

> From: J Hunter <jhunter at sardognetwork.org>
> Subject: [Xastir] On to the next question
> To: "Xastir - APRS client software discussion" <xastir at lists.xastir.org>
> Date: Sunday, November 29, 2009, 2:54 PM
> First of all, thanks for the replies
> on my first post. Even though I thought I figured out how to
> fix it I guess what I did had no effect. Regardless, it is
> working now and for that I am thankful.
> 
> Now the next question.  I intend to use Xastir
> primarily in the field which will have no internet
> connection.  Could someone point me in the right
> direction on how to store maps locally on the computer so it
> will not go out to the net and retrieve them.  I see
> that maps can be stored locally and I understand where to
> put them. I just need to know is there an automated process
> of saving maps (preferably street level or topo's) on the
> hard drive?
> 
> I am looking at setting up a directory structure like
> such:
> 
> /States
>    /Illinois
>       /Sangamon
>       /Macoupin
>       /Montgomery       
> ETC.....
> 
> Eventually I would like to have individual maps that would
> cover each of the counties in Illinois.
> 
> Thanks for all the help.
> 
> Jess
> 
> 
> 
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