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New NZ topo map website


gazzanic

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Hi all,

 

I've just developed a web site that I think you guys will find useful. The address is www.wherearewe.co.nz.

The best feature of the site is that you can create a URL such as:

 

http://www.wherearewe.co.nz/newzealand.html?lat=-43.20&lon=171.029&scale=5&comment=Comment+here

 

for use on your web site, email etc, which when clicked on will create an interactive topo map showing your location. Even better is that I hope to keep it free for uses such as geocaching.

 

Please check out the site and give me any feedback and suggestions as to how I can make it more useful for you.

 

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
Originally posted by BigNick:

OK, what am I doing wrong? If I enter a set of co-ords with decimal degrees it ignores them. ie if I enter "-43 34.648" and "172 40.225" it just resolves to "-43" and "172"


 

Decimal degrees would be -43.5774666, 172.67041666 you are entering degrees and decimal minutes and the program (or the programmer) isn't smart enough to realise that. If you want to I could split the coords into seperate degrees/minutes/seconds fields which would allow you to do the above.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
Originally posted by BigNick:

Opps, it is really broken. If you click on the map it does not generate the correct URL now either.


 

I had it do that to me once but refreshing the page cured it and I couldn't duplicate it, if anyone can do it consistantly please let me know how.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
Originally posted by gazzanic:

Decimal degrees would be -43.5774666, 172.67041666 you are entering degrees and decimal minutes and the program (or the programmer) isn't smart enough to realise that. If you want to I could split the coords into seperate degrees/minutes/seconds fields which would allow you to do the above.


Opps, colour me stupid. Yes, I really wanted degrees and decimal minutes (as this is how the WGS-84/NZMG2000 are reported on the cache pages) and of course without having to find the degrees symbol on the keyboard icon_smile.gif

Cheers

Nick.

 

P.S I hope others are playing with this site (see URL in first message) as it is great if you don't have any mapping software (or if you discover a new cache, and want to head out after work without having to go home and find it on the map - or am I the only one who does this icon_biggrin.gif)

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quote:
Originally posted by gazzanic:

Decimal degrees would be -43.5774666, 172.67041666 you are entering degrees and decimal minutes and the program (or the programmer) isn't smart enough to realise that. If you want to I could split the coords into seperate degrees/minutes/seconds fields which would allow you to do the above.


Opps, colour me stupid. Yes, I really wanted degrees and decimal minutes (as this is how the WGS-84/NZMG2000 are reported on the cache pages) and of course without having to find the degrees symbol on the keyboard icon_smile.gif

Cheers

Nick.

 

P.S I hope others are playing with this site (see URL in first message) as it is great if you don't have any mapping software (or if you discover a new cache, and want to head out after work without having to go home and find it on the map - or am I the only one who does this icon_biggrin.gif)

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Looks pretty good to me. However just wondering why there appears to be some distortion when the map is rendered, on my machine at least.

 

Here's my home town:

 

http://www.wherearewe.co.nz/newzealand.html?lat=-39&lon=175.37&scale=2&comment=Comment+here

 

In reality the streets are at right angles to each other. When I view this map the streets are not crossing at right angles. I guess this is something to do with the projection being used or similar .... ?

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quote:
Yes, I really wanted degrees and decimal minutes (as this is how the WGS-84/NZMG2000 are reported on the cache pages) and of course without having to find the degrees symbol on the keyboard icon_smile.gif


 

Try it now, just make sure that if you are entering decimal minutes that the seconds field is set to zero or it will add that as well.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

 

[This message was edited by gazzanic on May 14, 2002 at 03:27 PM.]

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quote:
Yes, I really wanted degrees and decimal minutes (as this is how the WGS-84/NZMG2000 are reported on the cache pages) and of course without having to find the degrees symbol on the keyboard icon_smile.gif


 

Try it now, just make sure that if you are entering decimal minutes that the seconds field is set to zero or it will add that as well.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

 

[This message was edited by gazzanic on May 14, 2002 at 03:27 PM.]

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quote:

Looks pretty good to me. However just wondering why there appears to be some distortion when the map is rendered, on my machine at least.

 

In reality the streets are at right angles to each other. When I view this map the streets are not crossing at right angles. I guess this is something to do with the projection being used or similar .... ?


 

Well spotted, the maps are currently unprojected on WGS84 so when I ask for a map the same amount of degrees in width and height you get that distortion. If the site gets the support I hope it will I'll purchase my own map server and will have the option of projecting the maps into northings/eastings which should improve things.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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Gazza, do you mind if I link to your website from within an application I am writing for playing Minutewar. I have not uploaded a new beta version yet (v0.4.6), but when I do, you will be able to get it here. Minutewar is another GPS game, but unlike geocaching there is nothing to actually find at the location, you just have to get there and capture a virtual flag. My application is just an interface to the game board, providing a faster way to view the board (also play out strategy, and most importantly display maps for your location) - the maps are displayed in a web browser window, so basically all it does is form the URL and pass it to the users default browser. The program is freeware.

 

Cheers

Nick.

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That's fine Nick just be aware of a few things, firstly the map server I'm using at the moment is just the test one from GeographyNetwork.co.nz and isn't guaranteed to be up 100% of the time. (that should change in the next few months) Secondly if I can't get businesses or individuals to support the site then I can't afford keep it free for uses like yours indefinitely, as much as I'd like to. So if any of your users know business that would be willing pay a license fee to have location maps on their web sites or email signatures or just advertise please let them know about the site.

 

Anyone else reading this please note that this only applies to Minutewar please ask my permission before using the site for any other similar use.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
So if any of your users know business that would be willing pay a license fee to have location maps on their web sites or email signatures or just advertise please let them know about the site.

Thanks for that. I have had a thought about another option you might like to consider to make some money to support the site. I work at a printing company, and our graphic designer is frequently re-drawing street maps for the back of brochures that we design (the "we are here" sort of thing) - can your software support the generation of higher resolution maps? If it does, you could use the current site as a preview, then an option to purchase and download a higher resolution, suitable for printing (needs to be 300dpi at the final printing size) then let the various printing and design companies around NZ know about the site, and the time it could save them. Just a idea icon_smile.gif

Cheers

Nick.

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quote:
So if any of your users know business that would be willing pay a license fee to have location maps on their web sites or email signatures or just advertise please let them know about the site.

Thanks for that. I have had a thought about another option you might like to consider to make some money to support the site. I work at a printing company, and our graphic designer is frequently re-drawing street maps for the back of brochures that we design (the "we are here" sort of thing) - can your software support the generation of higher resolution maps? If it does, you could use the current site as a preview, then an option to purchase and download a higher resolution, suitable for printing (needs to be 300dpi at the final printing size) then let the various printing and design companies around NZ know about the site, and the time it could save them. Just a idea icon_smile.gif

Cheers

Nick.

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Thanks Nick,

 

I've just purchased software that allows me to input the topo data into Illustrator and use that to create higher quality maps, so that will be another service I'll offer. Just a matter of learning how to use it now.

 

Thanks for the idea.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
I've just purchased software that allows me to input the topo data into Illustrator and use that to create higher quality maps, so that will be another service I'll offer. Just a matter of learning how to use it now.

An Illustrator EPS would be even better, you will not need for the user to specify a output size or resolution, plus the download size would be small (love that vector data)

Hope it goes well for you.

Cheers

Nick.

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It would be great if the status bar (that shows the lat/long at the mouse position) could show the distance the mouse is away from the current displayed point. This would allow you to get an idea how far something (geocache, minutewar flag etc) is away from the nearest road.

 

Cheers

Nick.

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quote:
It would be great if the status bar (that shows the lat/long at the mouse position) could show the distance the mouse is away from the current displayed point. This would allow you to get an idea how far something (geocache, minutewar flag etc) is away from the nearest road.


 

Done, also you can change newzealand.html in the url to nzjourney.html and use those tools to get range and bearings etc.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

 

[This message was edited by gazzanic on May 26, 2002 at 08:09 PM.]

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