Messages

901

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Merge Tracks assistance

« on: January 21, 2010, 06:41:58 PM »

A join tracks layer might make sense, yes.  I'll think about what other situations this might apply to.

But yep, the merged track you are working is invisible until saved.

902

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Merge Tracks assistance

« on: January 21, 2010, 10:17:44 AM »

When you are clicking on tracks in succession to merge them it doesn't matter if they came from one file or multiple files.  It just forms a temporary file that you can then later save out.

Nothing in the original file(s) gets changed.

Does that help?

The merge tool is more of a "create new route from an existing set of tracks" then a "merge tracks within a file."

Re: suggestions.

- I agree that clear implies remove, but I'm not sure 'remove highlighting' is clear enough either.  "Start over" ?  Not sure what's better.

- Agreed on help update.

Thanks.

903

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Merge Tracks assistance

« on: January 21, 2010, 07:56:40 AM »

Hey Wayne,

If you right click when in the merge tool mode, you'll get a menu that has an option to "clear all segments."  That'll get rid of any highlighting.

BTW, the tool does not remove the original tracks.  The "merged track" is only temporarily there, and you have to right click and do "save as..." to make it permanent.  (Saving it out also removes the highlight).

BTW, it only merges tracks end to end, no averaging like the network code.  Also note that you can merge whole files together by selecting them (in the file list, not map), right clicking and choosing "merge files."

Hope that helps.

904

TopoFusion Pro / Re: directions for running trail simulations

« on: January 20, 2010, 02:13:09 PM »

Hey Derrick--

Trail simulations were actually pulled from the public version of TF a while back.  Guess I need to update that page -- thanks for pointing it out.

I can re-enable it for you (esp. in a beta), if you want to check it out.  There is some cool stuff you can do with it, but I haven't run the code myself for a while.

905

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Garmin Astro proposal

« on: January 19, 2010, 09:03:47 PM »

I suppose I could anchor the text somewhere like one of the corners of the map, but what I liked about the line and putting it in between was that it was obvious what distance was being displayed.  Maybe it's obvious enough already.

What if the line were super skinny and just black?  Still distracting?

906

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Export or print larger than display?

« on: January 19, 2010, 09:00:18 PM »

Hmm, you should get exactly the image size you request.  When you have constrain proportions checked, though, it should adjust the other (width or height) depending on which one you are currently editing.

But you will see that adjustment happen as you type in the new values.  So, for instance, unless you have the map window sized to exactly a 8:10 ratio, it shouldn't let you type in 800 for the width without adjusting the height accordingly.

This is the first I've heard of the maps being the right size.  So when you did the 1600x2000 one, what size did it actually end up as?

907

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.96 - Bunch of user requests

« on: January 19, 2010, 08:54:45 PM »

Yep, I see the bug in NAD27.  Thanks for being so astute as to pick that out.

908

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.96 - Bunch of user requests

« on: January 19, 2010, 11:02:40 AM »

Amir,

Thanks for the feedback.  Where abouts (rough coordinate is OK) are you looking.  The grid works ok for me at 100ft and even closer, under color aerials. 

Also, you are on the 'auto' grid setting, right?

Thanks.

909

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver slow?

« on: January 18, 2010, 09:41:34 PM »

Almost seems like throttling from your ISP?  I'm a little stumped.  Clean install is a good thought.

910

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver slow?

« on: January 18, 2010, 09:14:46 PM »

Strange.  If you wait for a while can you download again?  Or do you have to restart TF in order to get it to download a ~screenfull again?

Do you get an error saying TF is having trouble contacting terraserver (or other servers)...? 

911

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver slow?

« on: January 18, 2010, 08:30:54 PM »

Uhh, hmm.  That message is not often seen.  Rather than do what it suggests, try changing your maps directory to some other directory (make a temporary one for it maybe).  Restart TF and see if you have any better luck getting maps.  This way you'll still keep your old maps if that isn't the problem.

Otherwise I recommend restarting your computer -- something (a bum TopoFusion process?) may have a lock on the map file for some reason.

912

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver slow?

« on: January 18, 2010, 08:19:14 PM »

OK.  Do you have 'persistent connections' checked, or not?  Try switching that setting, whatever it's currently on.

Recommend ~10 connections (threads) and a ~30 restart time.  Those are pretty much the defaults.

913

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Garmin Astro proposal

« on: January 18, 2010, 07:32:15 PM »

I can easily put the distance under one of the points (the first one loaded, perhaps).  I didn't do that simply because there's no easy way to differentiate between which track is man/dog, and if it's always the first one loaded it may get confusing to have it be under 'dog' and under 'man' between different playbacks.

The line color is the same as the "highlighted track" color in options->prefs->colors. 

I can get rid of the line too.  Any other opinions either way from those requesting the feature in this thread?

914

Feature Requests / Re: Merge/Delete Dialog

« on: January 18, 2010, 07:29:23 PM »

Agree 100%.  That annoys me, especially now with the archive function.

915

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver slow?

« on: January 18, 2010, 07:28:41 PM »

Hi,

Terraserver is only responsible for topo, B/W aerial and urban.  Landsat, canada, color, etc are all from different servers.

So, something is going on with TF's ability to access the internet.  BTW, Terraserver is serving tiles quickly right now.

What is your setup to access the internet?  Home/office, connection type (DSL, cable, etc).

916

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.96 - Bunch of user requests

« on: January 18, 2010, 03:20:56 PM »

Someone just pointed out that I left the "google maps mode" option under the map mode in the beta version.

That's an accident -- it's just an experiment and not ready or useful yet!  Sorry about that.

917

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 17, 2010, 10:57:39 PM »

BTW, new beta out with the kml change. 

918

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Garmin Astro proposal

« on: January 17, 2010, 10:50:19 PM »

Beta is out with man/dog distance feature.  It draws a line between the first two tracks and displays the distance at the midpoint.

I'll send you an email with instructions for the beta version.

919

Beta Testing / Beta 3.96 - Bunch of user requests

« on: January 17, 2010, 10:48:42 PM »

TopoFusion beta, version 3.96 is posted now in the usual place.  In this version we've added a bunch of user requested features and tweaks.  We still have a few more to do, but I wanted to get this version out right now since a few people are waiting...

As usual, please let us know if you notice anything odd, or have any feedback at all!

Thanks



3.96 – [1/17/09]  (Beta)

Added UTM grid support in Color Aerials, Landsat, WMS Maps, et cetera
Added Color Aerials for most of Florida and Puerto Rico
Added option to load additional GPX/TCX files into “Merge/Delete Downloaded
  Tracks dialog.  Defaults to “Archive” or “History” dir, depending on GPS
Added “distance between man/dog” as a toggle for Multitrack playback
  Shows distance between the first two tracks in the playback
Added datums: NAD83, European, Tokyo, India
KML exports with PhotoFusion waypoints now include html code for viewing in
  Google Earth and Google Maps
Added ability to read/write sub second resolution GPX files
Playback functionality supports sub second resolution
Live tracking lat/lon coordinate display now supports different min/sec configs
Fixed crosshair and airplane icons not showing up in live tracking mode
Fixed waypoint download for Oregon/Dakota/Colorado/705 units
  (previously would only download the last position waypoint)
Improved error handling for logbook input/output
Enabled DXT1 compression for user maps – much lower memory usage
Fixed loaded tracks being added to the logbook when DL tracks dialog is open
User Maps dialog now defaults to alphabetic sorting, and can be sorted or
  Reversed on other columns
Fixed blocky profiles when exported using “current” map size
PhotoFusion - added “ignore minor warnings” flag to EXIFtool usage

920

TopoFusion Pro / Re: How doesNetwork algorithm choose which points to use?

« on: January 17, 2010, 04:06:48 PM »

Hmm, the way 'contractions' are handled is a bit tricky.  I think that when there is a node that has a bunch of 'spurs' hanging off, all of which are shorter than the contraction threshold, it simply picks and keeps the longest one.  There's no attempt to choose the most 'central' one.  Usually this case arises at a trailhead, where a bunch of tracks will start, but not at the exact same spot.  Choosing the longest one seemed like a logical way to choose.  I suppose the more central one might be better, or an average of them all.

The type of anomaly you are describing with corners is more a product of the imperfect averaging.  Averaging works well with a small number of tracks.  It gets tricky beyond that.  With turns (esp. switchbacks) your data has to be really good/close/accurate for the turn structure to come out well.

I am working on a new technique that post processes the network and chooses the most central of all tracks as the average to use in the resulting network.  So far this is the best way to preserve tight turns and still get the most accurate/central data possible.  The problem is that often turns are of smaller 'resolution' than the average GPS error in the area.  Any smoothing/averaging algorithm will straighten things out because the turn looks like noise, not a salient feature.  I think that's why you are seeing corners cut and smoothed out.

921

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Best Methods for Networking Tracks

« on: January 17, 2010, 04:00:26 PM »

I would say do them as a group, but only because it's easier.  You will get slightly different results, at least in terms of where the averaged tracks end up, but the overall structure of the network should be the same.

922

Feature Requests / Re: Track Merge question, adding to existing tracks

« on: January 17, 2010, 09:17:03 AM »

Hi,

You can combine multiple files by selecting them (either using CTRL or SHIFT clicking) in the active/loaded file list at the bottom of the TF window.  Right click once you have them selected, then choose "Merge Files and save as...".  All tracks and waypoints in the files will be saved into the new file.

Does that help, or do you need something else?

923

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Memory in Vista

« on: January 16, 2010, 10:17:03 PM »

Update - dug into the code and the DXT1 compression flag was off as a result of chasing a problem that a user had with one of his user maps.  That accounts for even my large memory usage.  It's now down to ~10mb for the 3000x3000 file, as it should be.

It does make the load time on the user maps a bit longer, though.

924

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Memory in Vista

« on: January 16, 2010, 10:09:40 PM »

Increase of 400MB?  Wow, that is outrageous.  In general it should be higher than the size of the (compressed file), but not by that much.  What are the dimensions of the image?

Even 160 mb is way too much.  I just loaded up a 3000x3000 user map and the memory usage went up about 50 mb. 

I can give it a try on my Vista machine tomorrow and get back to you.  I will see if there isn't something strange going on.  Thanks for the post.

925

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Old DEM data

« on: January 15, 2010, 06:28:50 PM »

Mostly legacy... however some people do have 10m DEM data stored locally that is better than the 30m data that TF downloads automatically. 

Unless you have bunches of 10m data, I'd say you can delete the whole directory.

926

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 14, 2010, 10:54:01 PM »

Good find on the other parse mode.  I did get it to pull up the CTR.gpx file, that does have photofusion waypoints.  I got the thumbnails to come up in the box that first appears after clicking on the waypoint -- exactly the same as the .kml version.

I'm getting a little weary of the plugin, though.  I have to keep deactivating it just to edit the post and change the GPX/KML file.

I suppose if you stick to KML and/or keep the file size down it may work well enough.  I do like the profile and extra stuff you get with GPX.


Any luck with the GE parse error?  I'll have a new beta out with the kml adjustment pretty soon.

927

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Garmin Astro proposal

« on: January 14, 2010, 03:59:00 PM »

Panting?  Tee hee!

I'll have it in the next version for sure -- distance between the first two tracks being played back.

I hope to have a beta out this week, and hopefully a full release next week.  Let me know if you want to be on the beta list to try it sooner!

928

TopoFusion Pro / Re: USER WMS

« on: January 13, 2010, 12:16:46 PM »

Hi,

That's a pretty cool server -- topo lines from SRTM data, so for almost the whole world.

I used your string and am getting tiles, but also occasionally an error message.  Do you get that too?  Seems odd since it loads maps for a while, then decides it doesn't like the request string?

I have not yet added easier WMS support (layer picker, basically).  I've just done a few things to make the request string handling a bit more robust.

Looking at the getcapabilities for that server I think you've got it.  With the 10 meter first it should draw that, and then if that isn't available, go to the higher layers.

The server seems a little slow, but let me know what you think of it and if you keep seeing errors.  I'll try it again later in case it's just a temporary hiccup.

Oh, and your question about transparent gif -- no unfortunately it doesn't work that way.  Transparent will only function within a WMS server itself, so it's for combining maps on a single server.  I do plan to implement combo mode for landsat (lat/lon projected) maps, and if this server turns out to be good, it would be good motivation. 

Thanks for the post.

929

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 13, 2010, 11:11:23 AM »

I made a .kml version of the CTR file (http://topofusion.com/GPX/CTR.kml) and it works just fine in the plug in.  Probably has something to do with the graphs/charts.  Maybe you or I should submit a bug report to the author?

That kml file is the new output from TF on the kml, with thumbnail html in the description.

930

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 13, 2010, 10:01:15 AM »

Well, we're figuring a few things out anyway.  The second file (CTR.gpx) is the only one of the three that has photofusion waypoints, so that's definitely the cause of the GE error.  However, it too loads up just fine in my copy of GE.  Very strange!

Not sure why the plugin can't load those files -- they are all very long (distance wise) files -- perhaps the author has only tested shorter stuff?

My CTR.gpx file is the same as your photofusion file -- the pics are just http:// links to photos that are on topofusion.com. 

931

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 10:36:21 PM »

Curious.  Thinking about the parse error a bit more it could be caused earlier in the file, then when a max buffer size is finally reached, it (GE) throws an error.  So it does make sense that GE can load the file w/o the photos in it.

Problem is that the file validates -- so I think TF is doing everything right.  It may have something to do with the way a URL is stored.  It's probably worth comparing how other geotagging software saves it (esp. if GE can load the photos correctly).

Here are a few GPX files I can't get to load with the gmaps plugin:

http://bikepacking.net/gps/GET-bike-v5.gpx
http://topofusion.com/GPX/CTR.gpx
http://topofusion.com/GPX/CLR/CLR09_v4.gpx

LMK if they work for you.

932

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 08:10:15 PM »

That is certainly mysterious... there's nothing different going on at that line:

<trkpt lat="31.058779" lon="-94.273681">
     
      <time>2010-01-03T19:06:55Z</time>
    </trkpt>

It isn't the photofusion part either.  I'll bet if we delete all the waypoints it'll still complain.


On the GMaps plugin side, I can't get it to load up GPX files that are very large.  Smaller files seem to work.

What error are you getting with this photofusion'd file?  Is it an out of memory error like I am seeing, or something else?

933

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 06:09:10 PM »

Very strange -- the file you emailed loaded up in GE for me too.

Maybe it doesn't like elevations for waypoints for some reason.  I'll email you back the same file w/o the ele tags.  There might be some setting (for locking on to ground?) that is different between your GE and mine.

934

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 05:50:05 PM »

Can you email me that file?  I'll try it in GTC too.

935

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 05:42:32 PM »

OK, yeah, I'm stumped on this at the moment -- if I'm loading up the same file in GE, it should give me the same error, one would think.

Let me know what you find.  I'll keep looking at the plugin.

936

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 05:30:12 PM »

In the dialog that comes up after you open a GPX file in GE, are you changing any of the options?  I am leaving them the same -- first box unchecked, the rest all checked.

937

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 05:28:53 PM »

Hmm, I have:

Google Earth
5.1.3533.1731
Build Date
Nov 12, 2009
Build Time
11:59:29 am
Renderer
DirectX 9


I have gotten a couple GPX files to load with the plug in, but several that don't have PhotoFusion pics refuse to load.  I'll keep playing with it.

938

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 04:59:13 PM »

That plugin looks like it has some really cool stuff.  Did you have any trouble getting it to work?  I tried four different GPX files, and none have worked.  I have gotten an out of memory error and also Internal Server Error.

939

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 12, 2010, 04:37:43 PM »

Hey,

The GPX file passes GPX file (xerces) validation.  My copy of Google Earth also loads it up just fine.  Maybe you haven't updated GE for a while?

I haven't tried putting it into a google map -- there is no native support for loading GPX in the API, right?  Is it the wordpress plugin that is doing that for you, and where it caused a crash?

I'll check out that plugin -- would be cool to set up TF GPX files so it meshes well with it.

Thanks.

940

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 11, 2010, 08:54:20 PM »

Hey,

Can you send me the GPX file that gave the parse error?  I have tried a few of mine and they open up OK in google earth.  smorris@topofusion.com

I have fixed the KML output so that it has some html code to display images.  It'll be in the next version.  Hopefully we can get the GPX to roll equally as well.

Thanks.

941

TopoFusion Pro / Re: "error writing log file"

« on: January 11, 2010, 11:09:12 AM »

D'oh!  I'm about to order a new HD myself -- all of mine are jam full of GPX, maps and photos. 

They have gotten huge since the last time I bought one! 

942

TopoFusion Anouncements / Re: Terraserver giving "too busy"

« on: January 11, 2010, 10:35:36 AM »

Back already, seems to be intermittent.

943

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Problems saving gpx files in Vista

« on: January 11, 2010, 09:34:00 AM »

Wow, you must have had some very large files loaded to take 800MB!  Mine gets close to that when I load every piece of GPX data I have...

It still seems strange that it would be the cause of your saving trouble.  Not a bad idea to clear out the open files every once in a while -- if nothing else TF will start up faster!

Let me know what you find -- if the problem resurfaces or not...

944

TopoFusion Anouncements / Re: Terraserver giving "too busy"

« on: January 11, 2010, 09:27:53 AM »

As of this morning, 1/11/10, it's giving a server busy message again.

945

TopoFusion Pro / Re: "error writing log file"

« on: January 10, 2010, 09:52:51 PM »

The "log" as in the training log, most likely.  I get that error every now and again (I have the file open in excel, which grabs a lock on the file, preventing TF from writing it). 

It's called TFlog.csv and is in your default tracks directory.  I have meant to add that info (path/filename) to the error message.

You can ignore it if you aren't concerned with adding new files to the training log.  If you close the logbook window it should go away.

946

TopoFusion Basic / Re: Photofusion troubles

« on: January 10, 2010, 03:48:38 PM »

Hi,

Thanks for the post on this.  I haven't tried to load up a PhotoFusion'd GPX in GE recently.  If there's a parse error it's likely a TF bug.  I will test and see what I find.  It might be a disallowed character in the full path name of your files.  But it could be something more basic, too.

The problem of photos not coming up in a kml export was reported recently, and it'll be an easy fix.  Next version, for sure.

Thanks again.

947

TopoFusion Pro / Re: CAN"T LOCATE FREE DOWNLOAD PAGE FOR PAID MEMBERS

« on: January 10, 2010, 03:40:54 PM »

I sent you a note with the URL.  Let me know if you didn't get it.

948

Feature Requests / Re: GMAP4

« on: January 08, 2010, 09:59:04 PM »

Thanks for the post Joseph.  You are right that in general the myTopo maps seem to be of higher quality, in terms of scan and dates.  I certainly meant them no slight.

It was just a little strange to find a bad registration error within the first minute of panning around close to home.  You are correct that Terraserver has its issues with this too, particularly in California. 

I will be checking out GMAP4 in more detail -- I work on another project, http://trackleaders.com, that could greatly benefit from your API.  It looks very well done.

Thanks.

949

TopoFusion Anouncements / Re: Terraserver giving "too busy"

« on: January 08, 2010, 08:10:31 PM »

Back up now.  Short outage.

950

TopoFusion Anouncements / Terraserver giving "too busy"

« on: January 08, 2010, 11:57:14 AM »

http://terraserver-usa.com/

Terraserver is giving a "too busy" error as of earlier today 1/8/2010.  No map tiles are downloading in TopoFusion.  This is likely a temporary outage.