[Xastir] Map.GEO files

[Curt, WE7U]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013, Fred Hillhouse wrote:

> I posted a question on the Xastir list but haven't seen anything yet and
> getting impatient! :)

Yea, the message I got from the list server this morning, which said it was automatically discarded?  I usually just delete these as they come in to my inbox but saw it wasn't spam and didn't delete.  I would have tried to answer you within the next hour or two.  Or at least told you that you sent from an address that isn't currently subscribed.  Nasty-grams from the mailing list only go to 2 or 3 people (list admins).  Most are rejected spam.


> Do you know what tool is used produce the map files, in particular the GEO
> file which looks like it contains the calibration for the appropriate image?

Yea.  "vi", "pico", "nano", "emacs", whatever you'd like to use.  ;-)

If you have .INF files for the maps then there's the Xastir script "inf2geo.pl", which uses GraphicsMagick or ImageMagick to figure out some parameters of the image and writes out a .GEO file.  If you're starting from scratch, you can write a .GEO file on your own with a text editor.  README.MAPS talks a bit about .GEO files.


> On the link below, I see there are some map files and they mention they are
> compatible with Xastir. This got me thinking about possibilities.
> http://www.crosscountrywireless.net/aprs_map.htm
>
> Also, I remember sometime ago that Xastir could get the OSM tiles. I thought
> they could be cached for offline use. Is that true? I am having a discussion
> with someone working on getting Xastir running on a Raspberry Pi.

Funny, I just got my Pi up and going yesterday here at work.  I've had it for months but didn't have a spare monitor I could use it with until yesterday.  Didn't take long for me to "dd" and image onto the card and get it booted up.  I was thinking about throwing Xastir onto it just to make sure I knew the procedure.

Yes, Xastir can auto-cache the OSM tiles.  I'm using those maps at work and home.  The trick there as I recall it is to pan across the area of interest at each zoom level you may want to use.  <F4> when using OSM maps will go to the best zoom level nearby for reading the map labels.

-However-  If you'd rather have the OSM Shapefile maps stored locally and use those while offline (highly recommended for that use), search for "osm cloudmade" and download the Shapefile maps for the countries/states/provinces that you're interested in.  Those maps are Shapefile extracts from the OSM databases so you may want to repeat the downloads on some periodic basis so you can catch updates.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://wetnet.net/~we7u
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.  -Stephen Hawking