Track Reduction - multiple suggestions

[wayne]

When you take multiple rides and make a trail network, it combines/averages out multiple tracks into a single track.  This is a great function, and I usually do it first.  The Trail Network function also takes long tracks and breaks them into pieces where two tracks cross.  Thus 8 rides (with overlap on several of the trails to be averaged together) can turn into 120 track pieces.

Topofusion also offers an intelligent trackpoint reduction tool that can take a detailed track (ex: points every 10 feet) and intelligently reduce it by selecting the final number of points desired.  Thus you can reduce a track to  20% of it's original size while maintaining a very high-quality representation of the trail.

I like to perform the Reduction function on the averaged track.  Unfortunately, those 8 original tracks were networked into 120 pieces, making a lot of work to right click on them, and to calculate what 20% of each track piece length is.

Suggestion 1:  Allow a percentage option instead of a final point number (or both).  Sliding either the percentage or changing the final number of points will update the other option.

This would let me set a percentage consistently based on my use.
Ex:  If I have track points every 10 feet, I would reduce to 33-25% of original for hiking, and reduce to 15-20% of the original size for vehicle off-roading, 15% for paved roads/highways.  Right-clicking on each track piece would default to the correct number of points based off the prior-set percentage.

Suggestion 2:  Another suggestion that piggy-backs the above suggestion:
(a) Allow me to select a series of tracks, or an area (that would select all tracks within it), or both options.
(b) Create a universal (all tracks) reduction option that would allow me to reduce all tracks by "xx percent" in one step.

That saves me about 120 right-clicks in my Tucson Mountain Park trail network.

[ScottMorris]

Hey Wayne.

Thanks for writing in.  A global simplification tool would sure be handy, especially for use with networks.  I think a simplify dialog that operates on the file level is a great idea, and would also help it be more obvious that TF has a simplify function (right now you have to right click to even find it).

I'll think about the percentage option, too.  It probably won't take that much effort to add.

Thanks.

[wayne]

To go along with Suggestion 2(a)

This is a neat select trick seen in a few programs:

Click-drag to upper/lower right = select all objects that are entirely within the select-rectangle area

Click-drag to the upper/lower left = select all objects that are touched by the select-rectangle area.

[ScottMorris]

Hmm, I've never seen that before.  Can you give a situation (in TF) where you'd want to use the latter form?

I'm worried about it being confusing to someone who draws their box to the left and is confused when extra stuff is selected.

[wayne]

If you make a trail network out of an east region and a west region that overlap each other slightly, and the east region has already been reduced.

Depending on the dirction TF had full inclusion set at (left or right)
- Dragging with "full inclusion" would make it so you could go just past the joined region, and you would only grab the new trails; maybe one or two of the old ones that could be de-selected from the group.
- Dragging with "touch only" would make it so that you could stop just shy of the overlap region, and you would still have the entire west side.

It's not critical, just something to rattle around as an idea.  I know you can get away with it now by just using one method.  It's hard to explain, but ask anyone that uses autocad if they would be happy if that feature went away.  It's one of those things (like a two-button mouse) that once you get used to it, you never want to go back and you wonder how everyone else does it.

That being said, you would be the only  mapping program I know that has it.  I often curse one other one that  has GIS-type features (layering and data types) but does not have a that select feature.

[ScottMorris]

Thanks for the clarification.  I'll think about it as I use the program over the next few days.

I suppose what I do right now is similar to "layers" -- but in TF my layers are just multiple files.  So I turn on and off files in order to select the data I want.

There does need to be a way to select multiple files, just not sure how best how to work it in.

[wayne]

That two half example might not have been the beste.

You effectively have layers, but what if one of those layers has 100 closely grouped pieces?

Just a thought; I love it in autocad and GIS type programs, it's not as critical here.  Just a nice little plus.

Modifier keys could do the same;
- Click and drag = grab only what the select box completely surrounds
- Shift-Click and drag = grab everything in select box, as well as anything it touches a segment of.

[wayne]

I just wanted to bump this one back into your memory.