Messages

1

Beta Testing / TopofusionPro 4.74

« on: February 14, 2013, 12:19:59 PM »

Hi:
just installed and getting the following error:
Wrong version of GPSMaster.ocx detected, looking for 4.74, but found 4.73 etc.

Amir K9CHP

2

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 4.22: fixes

« on: July 06, 2011, 05:43:03 PM »

I tried the AZ aerials or mapset, but no luck (North of Flagstaff towards the Grand Canyon area).

GOt some server error, but aerials worked fine in my area, NY State.

3

Feature Requests / SAR planning function

« on: October 30, 2010, 05:20:36 PM »

Our team has started working cold cases and that involved using TF Pro for planning. TF Pro really gives us nice tools to accomplish the task. I can define numerous areas using both topo, aerials and user maps, merge those tracks into one, so they easily fit in the Garmin 60csx with its limitations on tracks. So far we are 2 for 2, meaning two finds where others have failed before and  the victims were left in the filed for about a year or so. Credit goes to the dogs, who do the nose work and their handlers who do the training, but without the planning tool TF Pro, we still would be at square one.

Now there is one feature that I'm missing. The ability to write on the map. I don't need a full fledged word processor, just a way to name the areas and perhaps control the thickness of the letters (size and bold), the color (so they will show on the map) and maybe the possibility to make bubbles (transparent or not) with arrows to indicate the areas.

So far, I've used a roundabout way of creating a pdf file and then editing the pdf file. The results are not bad but some resolution is lost in the process. Starting from screen resolution, with relatively high enlargement (so critical features will be visible), the losses are starting to become significant. I think that having some kind of text editing tool in TF Pro would be a really welcomed addition. I'm looking at the functions above this box and drooling, but really that would be overkill.

TNX

Amir K9CHP

4

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 4.01 - Bunch of fixes

« on: September 03, 2010, 11:01:43 AM »

Thanks Scott, merging the tracks is a good solution. I can even put them on a thumb drive and email them ahead of time in case of planned searches (cold cases etc.).

BTW, we were successful on that particular search and partially due to the good quality of the color aerials. They were quite up-to-date compared to what Googlemaps/earth had to offer for that area. I am now studying another possible search area and have found that Bing! has high quality aerials, frankly better that all the others. I guess I can always use screen dumps and define user maps in TF. That will give me nice printed maps and I'll also be able to download a kmz file to my GPS. Would there be any way TF could access Bing aerials directly?

Thanks.

Amir K9CHP

5

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 4.01 - Bunch of fixes

« on: August 29, 2010, 12:09:45 PM »

I ran into a glitch in v4.0 with the printing routine. It seems that it calls the print box but any changes in values such as number of copies to print are not taken in account and while changing the print direction from portrait to landscape works, it does so only once and reverts to the default, portrait. That makes it tedious when printing a bunch of copies of the same map/aerial etc.

Other programs get a different print box and with any changes, there is a apply button and then the changes are recorded and followed through.

Request:
SAR teams often need to download several tracks representing blocks to be searched into searcher's GPS units.TF Pro has only provisions for sending one track at a time. It would be very useful to be able to highlight a number of tracks and send them as a batch. 20 track limit of 60csx is a known limitation but newer units can accept 200 tracks and perhaps now more.


Thanks

6

TopoFusion Pro / Re: TF4: MyTopo tiles corrupted on download

« on: July 23, 2010, 09:31:08 AM »

A few days ago I said I'd test the Garmin GPSMAP 62S with TFPro 4.0. Well it works as expected. Yes, I believed it was close enough to the Oregon to work just fine, but one never knows. OTOH, past experience has shown that Scott makes TF work even with new units, well before the competition!

Amir K9CHP

7

TopoFusion Pro / Re: TF4: MyTopo tiles corrupted on download

« on: July 19, 2010, 01:01:07 PM »

Playing a little further with MyTopo maps, I found that there is a magnification level that below it I get the missing tiles...Just one click on the mouse scroll roller/button makes the difference...

While it does not seem to be the same problem as derelict's, they may be related, as it is a display problem of the MyTopo set.

Amir K9CHP

8

TopoFusion Pro / Re: TF4: MyTopo tiles corrupted on download

« on: July 19, 2010, 05:09:21 AM »

Hi Scott:
I am having some map display problems with TF4.0. See my attachments. I also have tiles not loading in Topo and MyTopo, yet WMS is working fine. While taking screen dumps, Topo started working proerly again but not MyTopo or Color.

Now for the good news. I may put my mitts on a Garmin GPSMAP 62S today and will let you know whether TF4.0 can deal with it, reading/writing tracks and waypoints. I believe it should be fine as the 62 is based on the Oregon/Dakota lines but one never knows.

Amir K9CHP


[attachment deleted by admin]

9

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.976 - New Maps and new Combo mode

« on: June 18, 2010, 08:54:45 AM »

Bang! Bang! Bang! You said shoot, right?
I updated to 3.975 on June1st then to 3.976 today.

Screen capture3 is interesting as you can see the tiles well south of the area but not the actual ones under the track.

Now could it be a Department of Homeland Insecurity thing? All the locals know about the nuke power plant and have free access to iodine tablets etc...

I'm checking that on my laptop which has an older, functional TF version on it 3.973.

Guess what it is getting complex. COLOR works on my laptop, no problems, TOPO is the same on 73 and 75! doesn't work in magnification! TOPOWNS also does not work on magnification on both computers/versions.

It it were DHS the first one to bum out should have been the COLOR. So is it a TF problem or a DHS puck up?

One thing I know for sure, this is a LOCAL geographical problem as I cannot reproduce it at my home location on the map. So I bet that 99.99999% of the users would never know about it, but my last search was in that area...

BTW, my GPS and computer have both topos and aerials from that area, so it is not as it is a real hush, hush location. On a clear day the plant is visible to the naked eye miles away, even from Syracuse NY...



Amir K9CHP

10

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.976 - New Maps and new Combo mode

« on: June 18, 2010, 04:55:02 AM »

I got a problem as not all mapsets are displaying. SOme do fine, like the B&W aerial and MyTopo but not the color, level 0.06 and below do not display (and those are the levels I generally use), topo does not display under 4m and topoWMW does not display under 0.015.

I thus cannot really play with the new Combo mode 

Amir K9CHP

11

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Slow running under Win7 as a regular user.

« on: June 03, 2010, 04:40:57 AM »

Wendy:
I use Revo Uninstaller (Google that) to do uninstalls. It is a nice and thorough tool. Never had to use it with TF though.

12

Beta Testing / Re: request: bulls eye

« on: March 25, 2010, 10:37:37 AM »

Hi Scott:

A bulls eye feature would be nice for SAR, meaning you could either use the cursor position or a waypoint to create the bulls eye pattern centered on it, at user defined intervals (and number of rings/distance) and maybe with user color choice too. All that would be needed are the lines, no fill-pattern is desirable as it would cover the map features.

And while I have your attention, check this out, it is really neat. Could we have such a split screen in TF?

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Amir K9CHP

13

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

« on: January 19, 2010, 12:17:30 PM »

Hi Scott:
I was looking at 18T 4763839N 0398824E (Camillus NY, west of Syracuse NY) that is UTM and NAD27 US. Well I just checked and it worked as expected in NAD83 which you just added so maybe that's where the bug is coming from... It seems to only be screwed up in NAD27 US, all the other dati (plural of datum I believe, my Latin is rusty...) are displaying the grid perfectly well.

I centered on Myrtle Beach SC with the same effect, so location of map displayed has no effect.

Auto setting: I was on 1000m setting switched to auto and again no change.

So I really think it is llinked somehow to NAD27 US.

Amir K9CHP

14

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

« on: January 19, 2010, 10:08:37 AM »

OK, as beta tester I'll push things to the point where they might break... Watching color aerials and TopoWMS maps/imaging the vertical UTM grid lines look fine when the scale is at 1 mile and above but go lower and watch the lines disappear on the top of your screen. At 100ft, little is left, although there should be some (not really useful) but the in-between range is what I generally work at and it would be good to have the lines unbroken. Now the lines work fine in topo and B&W aerial displays, as they always did.


Google Maps mode: I'm salivating..
BTW, you have a typo in that box "Googld" maps mode

Amir K9CHP

15

TopoFusion Pro / Re: using program with new user profile

« on: January 03, 2010, 05:37:19 PM »

When reinstalling, there often is a choice whether to make the software available to the current profile or all users. Pick the all users for TF and that should solve the problem.

Amir K9CHP

16

TopoFusion Pro / Re: using program with new user profile

« on: January 03, 2010, 05:05:07 PM »

How about uninstalling TF then re-installing from the new profile?

Amir K9CHP

17

TopoFusion Pro / Re: using program with new user profile

« on: January 03, 2010, 02:03:48 PM »

Right click on TopoFusion.exe (probably inC://Program Files/TopoFusion). Click on properties, clcik on the security tab and see if you new profile is there. If it is click EDIT and give it all the allow everything but special permissions. See if that helps.

Amir K9CHP

18

TopoFusion Pro / Re: zoom box ? Why so weird ?

« on: December 15, 2009, 06:41:50 AM »

KenF:
This is more an Oregon issue, but why use Custom Maps foir topos? Assuming you live in the US, you could check www.GPSFileDepot.com for 24K topos of your area. And those will store as maps. THis will free the space for more  aerial kmz files.

Amir K9CHP

19

TopoFusion Pro / Re: GARMIN kmz export view total of 100 tile limit for all maps ??

« on: December 15, 2009, 06:36:54 AM »

Sluggishness:
You may want to check the size of the tiles, this may make a difference. I noticed that when I loaded tiles using Google Earth but TF allows you much better control over tiles, thanks Scott!

Amir K9CHP

20

Feature Requests / Re: Feature Request - APRS integration

« on: December 14, 2009, 02:28:05 PM »

jmcglynn:
While you are not using ham radio frequencies to get your packet into the I-gate, your packet can then be retransmitted on ham radio frequencies, generally 144.390 MHz and thus you need at least a technician level license to use that software. I don't know why the software does not say so more blatantly but under setup they do ask for "your valid amateur callsign". BTW, APRS will not work well if you don't give it a legit call sign.

Now getting the tech license is not that hard. Worth giving it a try.

Amir K9CHP

21

Feature Requests / Re: Feature Request - APRS integration

« on: December 14, 2009, 02:06:18 PM »

Scott:
You may want to have a look at Xastir (Google that) as the it has a GPL license and comes with open code.

Amir K9CHP

22

Feature Requests / Re: Feature Request - APRS integration

« on: December 13, 2009, 02:41:38 PM »

Yeah, that would be a nice additional feature to add. Especially since APRS is lacking on a good mapping program, meaning toppo and aerials to work with (one you don't need to add all the mapping or buy expensive software like D-Mapper calls for). USAphotomaps has APRS functions but I've never been able to have a signal received off the air show up on it, just internet based signals.

Amir K9CHP

23

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 23, 2009, 10:52:38 AM »

This is a good resource for information on the Oregon: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/

Problems have been reported with large kmz files. I did not have problems with a couple of 2400-2500KB files but there is one report of someone having bricked his Oregon with a larger file. Recovered the unit with a procedure described in the Wiki.

There are a few other relatively minor bugs in the Oregon beta software, hopefully to be fixed soon.

Amir K9CHP

24

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 23, 2009, 05:49:48 AM »

OK, my head is much clearer this morning and I re-did everything. Starting from a 6 megapixel picture of a trail map I took with my digital camera (a small one I use for SAR, and I don't like playing with settings when I'm in a search, as I'm focusing on other much more important details), georeferenced it using FT's three calibration points method, so easy a caveman could do it... I then enlarge the view and instead of a single kmz file for the park, I made three. Really easy in TF especially with a UTM grid tomake sure I left no gaps. Sent each kmz to the Oregon.

I've attached two screen dumps. I don't think I can ask more, not until I get a GPS with a full 1080i  HDMI display...

Amir K9CHP

25

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 22, 2009, 07:28:27 PM »

OK, I used my jpg and georeferenced it, really a breeze using TF. Now I had to decide about whether to save the file as opaque or with some transparency and I opted for opaque as I was hoping the vector map of the Oregon would show. It did. Otherwise I would have a double set of contour lines, not good, I guess, as I never really tried it but unless they match 100% it would result in a blurr or something very ugly.

I wanted to attach a screen dump but the file is too large 282kb. It is a little blurry, not too bad, I can probably work on it and get better results tomorrow. I finally made it a jpg file so maybe it will show what I meant. This is at 500' scale, it looks better at 800' but I bet a few tweaks and it will look great. I know we are not far from getting it done and anyhow it already is better than whar I previously had.

So we are making progress, at gigantum steps, I'd say. Now with a little  fine touches, we'll get it to be purrrrrrrrrrrrfect.

Here is an idea: how about a square defining the downloaded area, like in the maps saved to hard drive routine? I'd keep the numbers though, as some may like those too.

Oh, the grid option I think is not necessary as with a GPS you have your position or the cursor position and don't really need the grid. I used the no grid option. Maybe that should be the default. Mine always comes up with 1000m.

Well, I better stop now for today.

26

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 22, 2009, 06:42:04 PM »

Well, I just stopped everything else, downloaded 3.92 and send a color aerial to my Oregon. It worked, and man, no time wasted on georeferencing! Beautiful. My next step is to take the same map I already have and use the jpg in TF to georeference it and see how much fasterI can get it done than in the Google Earth version.

Amir K9CHP

You're making me vey happy Scott!

27

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 22, 2009, 06:24:46 PM »

Hi Scott:
I have not had the time to download and play with FT 3.92 today but go to my blog http://K9CHP.blogspot.com and look up the second entry from the top, see the visual difference in screen display of the Oregon 400 with a larger file and a smaller one. I'll see what TF's results will look like and let you know from there.

Thanks for making this possible.

Amir K9CHP

28

Beta Testing / Re: Beta 3.91

« on: October 20, 2009, 06:19:10 AM »

Hi Scott:
When I cancel an Export View Parameters I get an error box saying "Error writing to "view.tfv" Clicking OK makes it go away but I think the box is just not needed as the operation was cancelled by the user.

Exporting gave me an idea. Garmin came up with a way to send raster georeferenced pictures to the Oregon/Colorado/Dakota lines. They do that by georeferencing a jpg file using Google Earth. It is working fine and is huge step ahead as it allows to have park maps, aerials and what not as a layer (which can be transparent too). That layer is then sent via Google Earth directly to the GPS (USB) as .kmx file.
Well, TF's georeferencing is better than Google Earth. Google Earth is all manual. I love the click on three points (assuming you have them), if not then the manual mathod is pretty much similar to Google's. It would be nice to have that feature in TF so one could use the same software to produce paper maps and GPS maps.

See the attachment fo a screen dump of my Oregon.



Thanks.

Amir K9CHP

29

Beta Testing / Re: Beta v3.87 out! Shaded Relief

« on: September 19, 2009, 11:10:45 AM »

Saving tiles has become smarter from last time I had used it! And the save box as GPX was not really clear as to its purpose. Now I got it!

Thanks

Amir K9CHP

30

Beta Testing / Re: Beta v3.87 out! Shaded Relief

« on: September 18, 2009, 06:22:11 AM »

Suggestion for saved tiles.

When saving tiles, the black square remains on screen to show which tiles where saved. But it does not remain on subsequent runs of TF. It would be good to have a map overlay which would show locations of all the tiles saved, currently and previously too. and that layer should be easy to toggle as needed.

Amir K9CHP

31

Beta Testing / Re: Beta v3.87 out! Shaded Relief

« on: September 08, 2009, 02:10:09 PM »

Thanks for the tip. That's a good workaround and will work for a few sheets OTOH, for 15 as in my last water search, it would be tedious.

32

Beta Testing / Re: Beta v3.87 out! Shaded Relief

« on: September 08, 2009, 05:50:33 AM »

Hi Scott:

As usual, good work! Some remarks though, some may be due to my won klutziness but perhaps not.

Layers:

I would like to see the color aerials as well as landownership made as transparent layers, working like the combo does, if at all possible.

UTM/Lat-long grid:

I cannot get grids on the color aerials (and on land ownership too) which make them a lot less useful for SAR. It would be good to have the other grids that the government is trying to shove down our throats available too, should some bureaucrat run a search... THis is not just a 3.87 problem, it was never possible to have a grid on color aerials I believe.

For my last water search I printed 15 8x11 sheets of color aerials for the segment of the river that I considered relevant. It was great to have them in the field, with much more details than the topos, with rapids showing, islands where they really are etc. Not having a grid made it harder to relate them to the topo maps though. I had it all on the laptop too (downloaded the maps etc.) but on a bright sunny day, it was easier to work with the hard copy.

33

TopoFusion Pro / Garmin Oregon 400i

« on: October 20, 2008, 06:29:54 AM »

I have started using the Garmin Oregon 400i for K9 SAR purposes. It is an excellent GPS,but this is not he place for a review. OTOH, downloading the data, TopoFusion Pro does it flawlessly, didn't even bat an eyelid at the new unit. Maptech (used by command) ground to a halt... The only way was to write the track/waypoint files to a USB drive (in Maptech format -and it is so nice TF does that too-) and transfer it like manually.

Scott, as usual, you are way ahead of the competition.

34

TopoFusion Pro / topo 2m

« on: October 14, 2008, 08:43:27 AM »

Hi Scott:
It is the same area in the case of the laptop and desktop and all tiles are enabled in both. So I don't think it is a tile problem. Perhaps as you mentioned a video card although my ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series has the latest driver version 8.501.0.0 from 6/2/2008. So I don't know as I just can't use the 2m option anywhere I tried, geographically, well meaning on the map.

35

TopoFusion Pro / Saving map tiles

« on: October 14, 2008, 08:32:26 AM »

Thanks, that's what I needed to know, now of course there is a follow up question.
Is there a way to save this cache on a CD/DVD/USB drive so it can be transported to another computer or just preserved so it won't be inadvertently overwritten?

Thanks

36

TopoFusion Pro / Saving map tiles

« on: October 13, 2008, 03:51:36 PM »

I think there is a way to save map tiles for use when internet connection is not available. Can someone please refresh my memory on how to do that. Can I have any control on which tiles are saved, meaning what area etc?

Thanks.

Amir K9CHP

37

TopoFusion Pro / topo 2m

« on: October 13, 2008, 03:49:12 PM »

And for some reason, this only happens on my destop and not my laptop, both running Vista... Go figure...

Amir K9CHP

[Quote]

38

TopoFusion Pro / colorado 400t

« on: October 13, 2008, 03:45:23 PM »

Quote (ScottMorris @ May 08 2008,12:09)

Well, every file downloaded from a GPS will be saved by TopoFusion into the "backup" directory.  But the Colorado circumvents that procedure so unfortunately there's no backup. But I'd do a system wide search for all .gpx files and see if the file ended up somewhere else.  Also make sure the waypoint toggle isn't just off or something like that. What does the gpx file look like when you open it up?  No waypoints and no track points?!

Hi Scott:

My Oregon 400i also acts as a mass storage device when connected to a USB port. But I can download waypoints and tracks to Topofusion. And Topofusion does indeed make a backup file, even when downloaded from a mass storage unit like my Colorado!

Amir K9CHP

39

TopoFusion Pro / ALL downloaded tracks - wrong date (Garmin 60csx)

« on: June 30, 2008, 04:26:23 AM »

The answer about saved tracks is correct, no ate and time saved, but you may have set the unit to save teh data automatically on its memory card (which is done once a day) and this save is complete date, time, altitude etc. Check on your card the gpx files of the date you made the track.

40

TopoFusion Pro / topo 2m

« on: June 25, 2008, 11:36:13 AM »

For some reason, I get a blank page when I chose the topo 2m option. It says downloading but nothing happens, other that maybe one tile that is present on screen. Any fix for that? My old eyes would appreciate it.

Thanks