request - elevation information

[hwalther]

hi,
would it be possible to add a feature that lets you see the elevation at the pointer location? if there already is a way -  i haven't been able to figure out how to do it...

i'd be nice to be able to compute the approximate elevation gain for a bike ride without having to draw a path for it.

also, it used to be possible to enter a minimum elevation gain in the Climbing Analysis tool without using the slider. that doesn't seem to  work anymore.

cheers,
harry

[Krein]

Yep, it would be great to see elevation at the mouse pointer.  Problem is that we currently don't store elevation data that is downloaded from the NASA server.  Hopefully this will change soon (a tiling system similar to the 2d maps) and then it will be easy to add this.

As for getting elevation gain without drawing the track - I don't understand what you mean.  How can you compute a number for a track that doesn't exist?  You have to know where it goes!

I don't think the minimum gain field could ever be changed, except with the slider.  I could be wrong, but it hasn't changed recently.

Thanks for the feedback.

[sanewcomb]

There is an easy way to read the elevation from the screen. Press the 3D button at the top, then move the screen around until the blue ball or center is where you want the elevation. The elevation is shown in the lower left hand corner, and is updated as you move the map.

This would allow you to get the beginning and ending elevations easily, but would not compute the total elevation change between points.

Steve

P.S. Scott, the vertical elevation control exhibits a very unusual (to me anyway) behavior. Once it is selected the bar can be moved left or right with arrow keys, but the value doesn't change. It changes only when the mouse is moved. Quite odd don't you think? Using 2.91

[Krein]

Good point, Steve -- that's an effective solution.

Thanks for the tip on the elevation exaggeration slider.  I just fixed it.  New beta to be released later today... featuring a little something you've been waiting years for...

[hwalther]

that'll work for me!

Quote

As for getting elevation gain without drawing the track - I don't understand what you mean.  How can you compute a number for a track that doesn't exist?  You have to know where it goes!

badly expressed on my part. i just wanted to see the elevation of 2 points on a street i know, that's all.

[Bosti]

HI!

That's great solution for elevations, Sanewcomb.

Krein, when do you plan to implement ability to add own maps (from file, not WMS) in UTM projection?

Thanx!

Bostjan from rainy Slovenia

[Larry]

Quote (sanewcomb @ July 31 2006,2:31)

There is an easy way to read the elevation from the screen. Press the 3D button at the top, then move the screen around until the blue ball or center is where you want the elevation.

Great tip Steve,

Krein, while I think of it, would it be possible to have the 3D map regenerate 'sooner' when you move it around? That is, without having to move it until the blue ball is at the edge of the map?  For route planning, it's awkward to have to move the map further than needed, and constantly using the R key seems, well, sort of distracting.

If the blue ball represents some sort of hot spot, could you just increase the size of the hot spot? An adjustable size would really be cool!

Larry

[Krein]

Quote (Larry @ Aug. 13 2006,8:46)

Krein, while I think of it, would it be possible to have the 3D map regenerate 'sooner' when you move it around? That is, without having to move it until the blue ball is at the edge of the map?  For route planning, it's awkward to have to move the map further than needed, and constantly using the R key seems, well, sort of distracting. If the blue ball represents some sort of hot spot, could you just increase the size of the hot spot? An adjustable size would really be cool! Larry

I can see some advantages of having it regenerate without going all the way to the boundary, but it also might lead to more unintended regens and confusing behavior.  Do you see what I mean?

I already end up unintentionally moving off the model sometimes and wishing it didn't regenerate and change my zoom / position settings.

We'll keep it in mind for when we update the 3D code (happening sometime soon).

Sorry about the error message from the board here, it's from the emails that it is trying to send out.  As you saw, the posts go through even with the error message.  The notification emails just aren't working.  Something's amiss on our server...

[Larry]

Quote (Krein @ Aug. 13 2006,12:58)

I can see some advantages of having it regenerate without going all the way to the boundary, but it also might lead to more unintended regens and confusing behavior.  Do you see what I mean? I already end up unintentionally moving off the model sometimes and wishing it didn't regenerate and change my zoom / position settings. Sorry about the error message from the board here, it's from the emails that it is trying to send out.  As you saw, the posts go through even with the error message.  The notification emails just aren't working.  Something's amiss on our server...

Krein, right - I suppose for some purposes one would not want the map to regenerate too frequently. But I'm not quite sure about the reference to changing zoom and position settings on regen. On my computer if I move the map a small amout and then hit R, it just fills in a bit around one edge of the scene and cuts the other. No change in zoom.

If there is some sort of hotspot under the blue ball that triggers regen, then you might get the best of both worlds by having the size adjustable; increase the size and the map would regen with just a little movement, 'negative' sizes would let the blue ball go off the map before regen.

As computing horsepower goes up, it's less and less of a pain to have the map regenerate frequently. When I zoom down to 1 meter res pics for route planning in the mountains, frequent regens helps keep me oriented. So one more request to add to the thousands you already have!   '>

After the track has been elevation color-coded, and is displayed would it be possible, or is it already possible to have a scale displayed for the elevation color coding? The elevation color code scale for example might indicate that bright red is equal to 3500 ft while dark blue is say 2200 feet?  That way the color coding for elevation on the track is more easily interpreted especially when exported to someone you want to show your route to as an e-mail attachment.

[Krein]

Check the 'window' menu, there's a scale window that shows the current min/max elevation.  Unfortunately it won't show up on a map export, so you'd have to use more traditional means (ctrl-printscreen then paste in a graphics program), but that's not that hard either.

Another option would be include a profile of the track (using the export function), which gives an even better correlation between colors and elevation.