[Xastir] silly map questoins

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sun, 1 Aug 2010, Rob Neece wrote:

> I was using the on line tiger maps until they quit, which coincided with
> work getting very busy.  I'm just now getting back to playing with
> xastir.  The software was updated to v1.9.9, and I launched into
> collecting some maps off line.  None of this was too hard, based on the
> information in the wiki, but now I'm interested in how things work, so
> it can be optimized a bit.

Not going to use Open Street Maps to replace Tigermaps?
Better-looking and now cached tiles, better than we've ever had
before!


> The main question is what does Auto Maps do exactly?

It pre-dates a lot of things, including the Map Properties and map
levels code.  I'd recommend turning Auto Maps off permanently unless
you have a specific advanced use for it.  I now of a couple of such
uses the users have come up with that have prevented us from
removing Auto Maps from the code entirely.


> So, is Auto Maps now displaying whatever it
> finds in my directory system (...xastir/maps)?

Yes.  Anything it finds that might have at least one pixel
displayable in your current window.  Including stacking maps on top
of maps (making the ones below unviewable) in the case of multiple
sets of raster maps that overlay each other.


> Since the Online
> directory is populated, does that mean that maps are being pulled in
> from on line too?

Yes, if you have the proper tools installed to do so like
ImageMagick|GraphicsMagick + wget|libcurl.


> It seems to me that there must be some rhyme or reason to keeping
> certain maps in your directory system, or is all that controlled via the
> chooser?  This basic, user-level information is not in the wiki, or I
> haven't found it.

Map Chooser plus the Map Properties button there control which maps
or set of maps Xastir tries to load.  Based on map levels and
whether the map will even fit in your map window, Xastir is smart
enough not to load some stuff.  With Automaps turned on, Xastir gets
a bit more stupid in this respect.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.                         <http://www.eskimo.com/~archer>
    APRS:  Where it's at!                    <http://www.xastir.org>
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Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates. - WE7U.
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