Topics

1

Beta Testing / Very slow 3D startup

« on: June 26, 2011, 08:19:39 PM »

Hi Scott,

Haven't used this feature much recently so I don't know when it started happening, but the current beta is extremely slow displaying the 3D view, even when it is showing a small area with regular 3D settings. It used to pop up instantly (though don't remember what TF version that was). It has been slow for some number of versions now. Any ideas?

Nvidia 9600 GT
275.33 drivers (June 2011)
XP 32 bit SP3
AMD 5050e, about 50% cpu load while waiting

TF 4.21 beta
~92,000 vertices
2.0 texture detail
bilinear
download/cache

Thanks,

Steve

2

Beta Testing / Load Maps Tool and Arizona Tiles from azmap.org

« on: April 01, 2011, 03:14:22 PM »

Scott,

I've seen some pretty bizarre behavior with the load maps tool and tiles from azmap.org using a custom WMS server setup.

With the latest version I've seen

1. stuck at the 98% completion
2. spends 40+ minutes downloading 4,000 tiles and then there's nothing but the highest res tiles

First one doesn't bother me much but the second makes the tool useless for this tile set. Accessing the 2007 data, only using 2 persistent connections, texture compression off.

Try this. Turn off downloading. Select 0.06 degree tile set. Draw box around a single square with load maps tool and download. Should say it's getting around 270 tiles. Mine gets up to 98% and the longer it stays there the more cpu usage.

None of that really bothers me, but go to the map and zoom the designated square and you won't see any tiles downloaded at all. At least that's what I see.

Thanks for looking into it.

Steve

Addition: I think I've figured out what is happening with #2. Apparently the square that's drawn with the tool isn't the square downloaded from the server (and the offset is present with the urban tile set, probably all of them).

3

Beta Testing / Export Bug in 4.x versions

« on: March 11, 2011, 07:07:34 AM »

This is an odd bug. When exporting an image to a file, if the total tile memory size is high enough (presumably depending on the video card) then the trail line and grid lines (if checked) will not be drawn to the image file. This is easiest to see when the view is of a large area and Shrink Lower Maps radio is selected. When the bug happens it doesn't matter if a smaller Width and Height are entered.

Probably related to this problem, sometimes when the Use current radio is selected the exported file will contain higher resolution tiles than what's on the screen.

I run a high resolution screen (2048x1536) at 32 bits and this might contribute to the frequency that I see this bug. It's quite annoying because once it happens you don't know what smaller view is necessary to get rid of it and there are a number of iterations of exporting and opening the files. Not good when running out the door! ; )

Steve

4

Feature Requests / Alternating Colors on Tracks to show Distance

« on: January 07, 2011, 07:33:18 AM »

I see there is no shortage of suggestions!

I've always thought it would be nice if a track could alternate between red and white (or any two colors, doesn't matter) to indicate distance. Some printed maps use this technique, and it's when a TF map is printed for the field where it comes in handy. All a user has to do is count the number of segments to get a quick ESTIMATE of the distance to the next map feature. (I know track distances, particularly user drawn ones, are not precise).

Although there are potentially a lot of options that could be included (colors, distance interval, thickness, etc) I'd aim for the simplest implementation to see if the feature is useful to users. For example, a special track option that draws a red and white line with 1/2 mile (or kilometer) alternating color segments. If useful, more work could be done to integrate it into the regular track drawing routine.

Steve

5

Beta Testing / GPS Transfer is buggy with Garmin Geko 201 attached to Serial port

« on: January 07, 2011, 07:21:24 AM »

This has actually been a problem for some time (many TF versions, well over a year). Might just be my setup, but I can only download one track at a time to the Geko. When I try downloading a second one, nothing happens. No blue bar progressing. Thankfully all I have to do is cancel the GPS Transfer box and reopen it for the next track. Oddly, this doesn't happen while downloading waypoints. The GPS Transfer track download worked fine for this setup from the beginning (XP, serial, Gecko 201) and broke at some time in the past. I'm sorry I can't remember what TF version that was, but I think it was more than 2 years ago.

No rush (but annoying when headed out on week long trips).

Steve

6

Beta Testing / 4.06b Options/Preferences/Tile Sets scroll bar vanishes when moved

« on: January 07, 2011, 07:13:05 AM »

Subject pretty much states the problem. I was trying to scroll over to additional tile sets to download and the scroll bar disappeared and left the box unscrollable (you're stuck with what whatever was displayed when the tab was opened). Sometimes the box is redrawn with scroll bars (but still vanishing when moved) after returning to TF from using a different program, sometimes not.

Steve

7

Beta Testing / Arizona Color WMS always gives error

« on: October 17, 2010, 07:49:29 AM »

Hi Scott,

I guess this is probably specific to my setup but thought I'd post it here in case it happens to someone else in the future. I cannot get any tiles from the Arizona WMS server and always get the message below. I can't find any reference in these archives that the Arizona server is closed (their webpage still comes up with WMS instructions).

I've tried just about everything I can think of. Set internet connections to 1. Copy and pasted the WMS code from their site. Did a totally new install (Beta 4.05) with erased Topofusion.ini (should have made everything default, right?) and nada. One thing that caught my eye was Arizona isn't included in the fresh install WMS list.

What am I missing?

Steve

http://home.comcast.net/~steve_newcomb/AZColorTileError.gif

8

Beta Testing / Vista x64 3D View Loading Local DEM very slow

« on: January 29, 2009, 06:07:14 AM »

Hi Scott,

Getting some hours in using TF with new hardware and 64bit OS and have found a potential problem.

I have two custom local DEM files that cover the entire GCNP, broken into two files east and west. These load fine in my old system with XP. When doing the same thing in the new rig I get the brown bar, and eventually see a blue progress indicator, but it is very slow and have not yet had enough time to wait for it to complete. Very slow whether large area or small. Have tried to make sure all the 3D parameters are set the same or similar in the two systems.

These DEM files are about 77MB each.

Steve

9

Feature Requests / Specific Zoom Setting

« on: January 02, 2009, 08:59:22 AM »

Is there a way to enter a specific zoom level in TF Pro? This comes up primarily when saving screens for print out later. I use the mouse wheel to change zoom levels and I find the steps too big sometimes.

This feature would also simplify printing out maps in their original scale/size (of printed USGS Topos).

Cheers,

Steve
Tucson, AZ

10

TopoFusion Pro / Windows Vista 64bit

« on: December 27, 2008, 04:01:57 AM »

Are there any issues in using Topofusion Pro with the 64bit version of Vista? I'm considering putting together a new computer and I've heard about problems running older 32bit software. Not that TF is old, but I think it has a fair bit of legacy 32bit code in it in several different APIs.

Only considering the 64bit version looking forward. If any of my major 32bit programs don't run on it, the 32bit version would be fine for me. For that matter, if XP is still working better I would stay with that.

Thanks for any advice,

Steve

P.S. Scott and Alan, Happy holidays!

11

Beta Testing / Sprite File Doesn't Work

« on: January 01, 2008, 12:58:22 AM »

I saved the sprites.bmp file in my tracks directory, which is not the default directory name. None of the sprites show up in the Profile function. When no icon is selected, a light blue dot is displayed. Using 3.20. Have not modified the sprites.bmp file.

Steve

12

Feature Requests / Grid Line Thickness

« on: June 04, 2007, 03:37:05 PM »

The thickness of the grid lines and tick marks is too narrow, particularly the tick marks. When printed out it is very difficult to read values off a map. In addition, it looks like it is anti-aliased now, which makes it even harder to see. I had a workaround, which was to choose a wild color, select it in Photoshop, make several copies and offset it on either side. This doesn't work with anti-aliased lines.

Steve
Tucson, AZ

13

Beta Testing / UTM Grid Feature

« on: August 14, 2006, 11:29:19 AM »

Thank you for adding the UTM Grid feature. A few comments.

1. I like the ability to just click on a checkbox to add the grid to the export for printing. I don't find much use for the grid on screen. The mouse shows the coordinates anywhere on the screen and I only use the grids while out in the field.

2. There needs to be some way to control the font size, either automatically sizing depending on export size or user selected. Being able to export higher resolution images for printing is a great feature, but the way it's implemented makes the grid labels too small to read. I've been using the 2500x1875 export size with the screen scale set to around 1:7 (scale marker about 4000 ft) for printed maps that work well in the field.

3. BUG: When the preferences are set to Lat/Long and NAD 27 United States, the grid becomes fixed (does not move with moving the map) and displays wrong values.

4. Something to think about. While reading a position using a printed map, I find it easier to have the grids set 1000 meters apart, with grid ticks showing 1/10th divisions (with a bigger tick at 1/2 grid box). It's easier to eyeball and do the math since the UTM is a decimal system. Half a 500 meter grid box is 250, a fourth is 125 and so on... Plus it would reduce the clutter of grid labels. These preferences are based on using printed maps with grids out in the field.

It's true that I've been waiting for this for several years and thanks for adding it.

Cheers,

Steve
Tucson, AZ

14

Archived Support / Joining Tracks

« on: June 10, 2005, 02:15:07 AM »

I've been trying for some time to figure out if TF can join tracks. I thought Make Network would do the trick, but the 3 sections I am trying to join remain 3 sections. When you right click on them with the hand, only the section highlights. This causes problems when I go to export the file. Is there any way to join segments so that you end up with one sequential list of track points?

I often get back to find a mess of points, particularly on an out and back hike. I like making multiple copies of the "raw" file, deleting the unwanted points in each segment, then want to rejoin these into a single contiguous track.

TIA

Steve

15

Beta Testing / Beta 2.1x crashes

« on: January 10, 2005, 08:32:18 AM »

While I was panning around AZ collecting Landsat tiles, the program abruptly crashed generating one of those error messages asking me to send info to Microsoft. This also happened in one of the 2.15 betas (can't remember which). Will send the topofusion.log file. Doesn't appear to cause any other problems and program reloads ok.

16

Beta Testing / Beta 2.15 rev 2 Landsat 1024M tileset

« on: January 06, 2005, 01:26:11 PM »

Hi Scott,

Nice addition of another tile set. Not terribly useful for planning trips, but I still like seeing the wider areas with better continuous data than the b&w aerials.

This isn't a big issue, but when I zoom out to 1024M Landsat image set, I get the zoomed out too far message and no tiles. When selected in drop down menu, all the tiles are greyed with "Tile request is invalid, theme id is incorrect".

It looks like there is really just one actual image set, with two scaled sets for 64M and 256M?

Also, from these images, it looks like we are living on Mars!

Happy New Year and keep up the good work.

Steve

17

Beta Testing / Bugs in 2.04

« on: June 24, 2004, 09:24:18 AM »

These are a few things I've noticed in this version, and they probably predate it as well.

1. When importing GPS data, the dialog window not resized properly to show the buttons (for me, none of the buttons are visible). This is a nightmare when trying to import GPS tracks since you have to select which ones you want to download.

2. The column headings for Northing and Easting in the Waypoints Tab of the File Properties are reversed. (In addition, it seems like N and E would be more useful on the main screen when UTM coords are used than Y and X. Also, putting in the fractions serves no useful purpose and makes the N and E harder to read/copy. Actually, I like the method used by some map makers to make part of the number in a larger font to aid reading.

Steve

18

Beta Testing / Blue Ball - option for removing it?

« on: March 25, 2004, 11:57:33 AM »

I like to zoom into a place I've been and look around by rotating the 3D map. However, to rotate around a point located on the ground, the ball grows to a very large size. Is there anyway to turn it off. If not, having this option in the future would be much appreciated. It looks quite funny on exported views!

19

Beta Testing / Creating Waypoint Problem

« on: March 12, 2004, 09:21:07 AM »

In beta 1.65,

Clicking on a map to add a waypoint often, but not always, creates a nonsense location. Or rather it has no idea where it is, so it enters a position like this: 0° 0' 1.#R" S, (-1.#QNAN in UTM). This, or something related to this, corrupted a gpx file causing TF to fail to load.

On a separate issue, TF allows symbol names to be used with waypoints, but as far as I can tell, it always uses a blue square on the maps. Is this the way it's suppose to work, or are we suppose to see different symbols?

20

Archived - Feedback and Comments / Grids and Printing

« on: February 29, 2004, 04:36:38 PM »

Topofusion is a great program that needs just a few more basic features before I can stop using other programs.

1. Overlay Coordinate Grid. A grid that displays the coordinates (lat/lon/utm) so that a printed map can be used with GPS in the field. This could be done over the map like TopoUSA, or on the margins if no. 2 below is added like Maptech. I really consider this a necessary feature for GPS map software. Currently I don't take Topofusion maps into the field because I can't use them with GPS.

2. Print function, a basic feature for any program really. Screen capture is ok for saving screen images for viewing on the computer, but printouts suffer from not using the highest resolution available from the tiles.

Thanks for the great software and the continuing updates.

21

Beta Testing / Edges in adjacent DEM files

« on: February 29, 2004, 12:33:31 PM »

The problem I am having with using DEM data is the seams between DEM files are visable. To my surprise, this even happens when viewing adjacent DEM files from original UTM files, such as those from the site from Tom Harvey. It is a bigger problem in files obtained from the National DEM seamless set, even though this set should be "seamless". Since TF does not recognize geographic coordinates, the files from NDEM must be converted. This ends up in large gaps when the area is broken up by the server:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/steve_n....ver.jpg

Even when it is overlapped, by selecting overlapping areas on the NED server it is visible:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/steve_n....ver.jpg

The DEM files in the original UTM format also are discontinuous between files:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/steve_n....all.jpg

Presumably this problem could be fixed by allowing TF to read DEM files saved with geographic coordinates. I believe the only seamless DEM data set is the national one, which is available in 1 degree resolution across the whole country. It's also available in 1/3 degree for much of it.

Steve

22

Beta Testing / Future Feature: Saved Viewpoints

« on: February 13, 2004, 11:48:35 AM »

Since the 3D view is not realtime, it would be very useful to be able to save the viewpoint (height, direction and angle of view) so it could be returned to by loading up the viewpint. It takes quite a bit of time to get a specific view using the iterative process of moving the scene and pressing 'r'.

23

Beta Testing / Future sky color and blank tile texture

« on: February 06, 2004, 08:48:24 AM »

You may have already thought of this, but a couple of small improvements for the 3D viewing would be

1. colored horizon, gradient if possible to simulate sky

2. uniform tile texture option so elevation can be looked at by itself. Similar to download check tile, but just a uniform color. I personally like grey, but could be any color.

Great job guys!

24

Beta Testing / Bugs in Beta 1.54

« on: February 02, 2004, 02:30:52 PM »

1. switching tiles set in 2d mode no longer changes tiles automatically. Must move location to see new tile set.

2. Pressing 'r' in 2d mode shows black screen. Pressing '3' after this puts you somewhere on the equator! Must restart.

3. Vertical Exaggeration is not saved between starts.

I put all of them in one post because this board limits users to 1 post per 25 minutes.

Steve

25

Beta Testing / Other SDTS Sources

« on: February 02, 2004, 12:33:56 PM »

This page (click on 1:24K DEM graphic)

http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/

lists 2 other sources for free SDTS files, both of which are faster than gisdatadepot. The mapmart was 560 kBps, atdi 17 kBps. The mapmart is limited to 10 files per order, but it appears easy to place additional "orders".

There are other sources for DEM info, but would require coding for different file format.