| MAPC2MAPC Help pages : Sample Files |
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To give you an idea of some of the things MAPC2MAPC can do here is a simple tutorial to help you understand the basics. To start, download and install the latest version of MAPC2MAPC from the download page. If you have a 64bit operating system then get the 64bit version, otherwise the 32bit version. Functionally they are the same but 32bit operating systems have a limit on program memory of 2-3GB even when you have much more physical memory - so the 64bit version will handle larger maps. Until you register, map images will have red Xs scattered onto them but the program still does everything. Download the samples.zip from here; unzip it to a folder and you will see three files. kewstoke.png; kewstoke.map; 18536_1.kap 1. Load and view an image Digital maps come as one file where the image and calibration information are combined - or as two files where they are separate. Start MAPC2MAPC. You should see a screen with 5 large buttons. If not, Click File>Wizard Mode. Choose Load a map with calibration and open kewstoke.map. Then View the loaded map. You will see a map of a small area of Britain South-West of Bristol. The map looks grainy because it is zoomed out. Zoom in with the mouse wheel or CTRL +. As you move the cursor, you will see the coordinates updated. You can change the latitude and longitude to show Degrees, Degrees and Minutes or Degrees, Minutes and Seconds with the D/DM/DMS buttons. As the map is of Britain it also shows the British National Grid; in other countries it will usually show Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). The black dotted lines are lines of latitude and longitude. When you have zoomed in, you can drag the map around with the mouse. If you right-click on a landmark such as a crossroads and you have an Internet connection then this will show the same place on Google Earth - a good way to show the map is correctly calibrated. [If you are wondering, 'rhyne' is the local name for a drainage ditch.]. 2. See the image on Google Earth With the map loaded, Choose Save the map for a mobile application, select Google Earth KMZ and click OK. Click OK (this time) on the "Result will be more accurate ...." message. Because this is the same format as Garmin Custom Maps where space is scarce you will see a screen where you can remove areas of the map by clicking on the squares, just click OK. This will create a file kewstoke.kmz which you can open in Google Earth. 3. Create a tiled map for a Smartphone. If you have a favourite Smartphone app then it is probably listed under Save the map for a mobile application . (If not, tell me and I will do my best to add it.). If you want to experiment, I suggest you try a free app : Locus on Android or Map Plus on iOS. Install these from the App Store. In MAPC2MAPC, choose Locus . This will create kewstoke.sqlitedb : follow the app's instructions to copy the file to your device. 4. Create a Marine Chart Many Marine chart systems - OpenCPN for example - use a file format BSB/KAP. Select Marine Chart BSB/KAP and the program will create a file kewstoke.kap. 5. Print a Map MAPC2MAPC will print a map on a series of A4 pages. Use Print the map. You can change the scale of the map by changing the dots-per-inch (dpi) of the printer. (It is best to use a divisor of the printer's actual dpi so 150,200,300 etc for a 600dpi printer). The program will also overlay a grid which need not be the same as the map's grid. Try UTM with WGS84 datum and print preview. Page selection allows you to remove pages you do not need - just click in the area or click and drag to remove a number of pages. 6 Crop a Map This allows an image to be cut down whilst retaining the calibration information. Try another map : use Load a map with calibration to open the marine chart 18536_1.kap. [From NOAA]. Then use Make changes to the Map and Crop the map. Left-click with the mouse to define the top left corner of the area you want to keep, right click for the lower right. You can do this many times until you are happy with what you have selected. Then click Crop. Then View the map to see the result. Right click on a landmark to see that the calibration is still accurate. 7 Change projection When making a map, a basic task is to choose how to represent the curved Earth on a flat surface. Choice involves compromise : do you wish to preserve areas, angles or directions? Common projections (Google them for details) are Plate Caree, Mercator, Transverse Mercator, Lambert Conformal Conic and Albers Equal area. Open kewstoke.map again and View the Map. The blue lines are the British National Grid which is a Transverse Mercator projection. You will see that the blue lines are parallel with the map edges but not quite parallel to the lines of Latitude and Longitude. Close the View window and select Make Changes to the Map and Change the Map projection. Choose Latitude/Longitude with WGS84 datum and click Next. When this finishes, chose View the Map and see that the lines of Latitude and Longitude are now parallel to the window's edges. Many of the smartphone apps need the projection to be Mercator. When this is the case, the program converts automatically. 8 Build a map from an on-line source MAPC2MAPC has the ability to download maps from the Internet. Some sources are built-in and you can add your own. Start the program and choose Work with online map sources and Define the area with a place or coordinates. Enter Puxton and gb as the preferred country then click search. Choose the first item returned and enter 3 as the number of tiles and click OK. On the next screen enter 15 as the zoom level and choose Open Street Map Mapnik. After a few seconds you will be able to View the Loaded Map then Save the Calibrated map as Puxton.png The map can then be output to any of the apps A program called mappuzzle will also download from on-line sources and create files that can be read by MAPC2MAPC 9 Load a GEOTIF file GEOTIF files combine calibration information with an image file. MAPC2MAPC needs a program called GDAL to decode the information. To install GDAL click gdal-200-1600-core.msi accept the download and when it finishes click on the .msi file to run it. The next time you start MAPC2MAPC it should say "GDAL Located". Then download this file as an example : http://aeronav.faa.gov/content/aeronav/sectional_files/Seattle_88.zip Unzip it to a folder. This is a pilots' map around Seattle WA Then in MAPC2MAPC use Load a Map with Calibration and open the seattle SEC 88.tif file. You can then work with the map as normal. 10 Make a Marine chart from an on-line source such as Google Earth. Follow the steps in (8) or use Mappuzzle to download the area and scale of interest then open the PGW using Load a Map with Calibration. Then see step (4) To overlay an aerial photo onto a chart, obtain the area you want. Then use Merge Maps (see the How To tips) in Expert mode using the chart as the base map and the photo as the Merge map. Save the result then load the .map file and save as a KAP. Enjoy! |
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