[Xastir] New member Intro and question

[David Ranch]

Hello Joel,

It's also worth mentioning that you can't just "download and install the 
maps" with Xastir.  Depending on the map type you want (tile, vector, 
etc), you need to download the raw files, process them for your desired 
area, etc.  What I personally use is OSM (OpenStreetMaps) which is an 
online tile service (maps broken down into sequences of little 
squares).  I then jump to my desired map area while Xastir is connected 
to the internet to get all the zooms I want.  While doing this, Xastir 
automatically caches the downloaded tiles and will use the cached tiles 
vs. download them from the Internet for the next viewing.  At that 
point, Xastir can show your maps offline.

If you want something more flexible to support completely offline 
operation, search the archives here on how some people have created 
their own on-box tile servers for OSM or processed their own vector files.

--David
KI6ZHD