TopoFusion Pro Refusing to Download Maps

[williaty]

I downloaded the demo of Topofusion Pro. I've hooked my GPS up to it and it will do live tracking. However, as I zoom in, I eventually encounter the black and white tiles with "Donwloading" and a checkmark. If I click in the tool bar to enable internet downloading, nothing happens for a long time and then I get an error telling me:

TopoFusion is having trouble contacting on or more of its map servers. If you have firewall software you need to allow TopoFusion http access. If youuse a proxy server you need to set TopoFusion to use it in Options->Preferences->Internet. For now, internet downloading is siabled. If can be re-enabled on the toolbar (the tottle with a globe and an arrow to a computer on it).

Inspecting the TopoFusion log shows that the last lines are:

Code: [Select]

GetHTTP(#10): Error in connect(), error=10060
GetHTTP(#20): Error in connect(), error=10060
GetHTTP(#6): Error in connect(), error=10060
GetHTTP(#8): Error in connect(), error=10060
Now, I don't use a proxy and the computer has a good connection to the internet. What's going on?

Thanks!

[ScottMorris]

Hi,

That error code means 'connection timed out.'  It could really be that the server is not responding (I just checked the major TopoFusion servers and they are serving tiles quickly). 

My first guess, though, is that you need to allow TopoFusion to access port 80 in your firewall software.  Is it your home computer?  If not you may need to check with your IT guys about allowing the application access.

If that doesn't help, let me know and we can dig deeper into it.

[williaty]

Yeah, it's my home computer. The computer itself doesn't have a firewall on it. The router's firewall is configured to allow all outgoing connections. I'm assuming you were talking about 80 outbound.

[ScottMorris]

Right, 80 outbound.  You haven't been able to download any maps?  You just have the pre-installed landsat (large scale) maps, and as soon as you zoom in the error pops up?  Just checking that it's the landsat server it's trying to access.

[ScottMorris]

Landsat (Nasa) server is definitely up.  If you move the cursor around over an area do you get an elevation in the lower left corner (status bar), or just "Downloading..." ?

[williaty]

I just tried it again now without changing anything. It's grabbing map tiles with about a 90% success rate (have to re-enable DLing after failures on occasion). Sounds like generic network hiccups to me.

Looking at my home location, some of the visual imagery is more than 10 years out of date (which is fine, I don't use that anyway) and the only road data (TIGER) is more than 5 years out of date (which is not fine). Is there a way to get it to fetch data from a more up-to-date source such as the Expedia USA maps?

[ScottMorris]

Hmm, 90% success rate is not common.  But perhaps just a local connection issue, yep.

Did you try the color aerial tileset?  If available for your area (most are), it's usually only a few years old.  TIGER is old, and unfortunately our road map coverage is lacking.

Not familiar with Expedia USA -- are they public domain by chance?

[williaty]

I think they must be public domain because the GPSDrive OpenSource software is able to allow you to download them for free as a built-in part of their software.

In case you can't tell, I'm auditioning mapping software right now, lol. I like TopoFusion's interface quite a bit more than GPSDrive's, but GPSDrive's mapping data gets the nod.

[ScottMorris]

I'll have to take another look at GPSDrive.  It's been *years* since I've used it.  Some good road maps would be awesome.

[Rich Owings]

I'm having the same problem, all of a sudden. I updated versions, but it was no help. Same computer, same network. I'm only getting 10% of the map tiles or less.

[ScottMorris]

Rich -- It looks like terraserver is not responding right now.  I can't get it to come up.  So, no topo maps for the next while.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[ScottMorris]

Back up and serving fast now!  Try it again.

[Larry]

In case you can't tell, I'm auditioning mapping software right now, lol. I like TopoFusion's interface quite a bit more than GPSDrive's, but GPSDrive's mapping data gets the nod.

Hi Rich, just a few thoughts from my perspective. If you are looking for software for navigation or route planning for areas other than off road, or off trail, there are quite a number of options I gather. However for the purposes I mentioned, there is nothing like TF that even comes close. The user interface may not be ideal, but Scott has put most of his time into new features, some of which are quite amazing. And they keep coming. 


Larry

[Rich Owings]

Thanks Scott. Working fine now.

[guney]

Things are definitely still seriously wrong with TerraServer. My tile download speed is currently ranging between three tiles per minute and one tile every 10 minutes! This is the same in another piece of software I have that also uses TerraServer data.

Is there a way of finding out more about what may be going on over at TerraServer?

[ScottMorris]

All seemed well yesterday, but as of this morning (Thursday, 7/16) the server is not responding well.

I will try to get an email in to the folks at TerraServer and will post anything I learn here.  Hopefully the outages will be taken care of soon.

[guney]

Today things seem to be working normally (i.e., fairly fast). Here's hoping this turns out to be permanent...