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Usaphotomaps Now Works With Gsak


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USAPhotomaps has new functionality that allows it to be called from GSAK so caches can be viewed on aerial photos and topo maps. Here's how to set it up:

 

First, you will need GSAK (www.gsak.net) and USAPhotoMaps (www.jdmcox.com) installed on your computer. Note you must have the newest version of USAPhotoMaps (v2.63 or later) which was released April 2 2005. USAPhotomaps is "donation-ware", but may be used free of charge. (Send Doug a token of your appreciation if you like the program though, he did a nice job on it.)

 

If USAPhotoMaps is new to you, you will need to download aerial and/or topographical map data before anything meaningful will be displayed. You do this by pressing F inside the program. Obviously this requires internet connectivity, and the faster the connection the better. (Internet connectivity is only needed to download photos initially; the program stores them for offline use later)

 

Once both programs are installed, setting up GSAK to call USAPhotoMaps is a very simple process. Open GSAK, then click on Tools - Options - Advanced and in the Run program box, you'll need to enter this text:

 

USAPhotoMaps="C:\Program Files\USAPhotoMaps\USAPhotoMaps.exe";"%gpx"

 

The above line assumes USA Photomaps is installed in it's default location, if not then you'll need to edit the path accordingly. Once this change is made, you'll be able to right-click a cache in GSAK, choose the RUN option from the pop-up menu, then choose USAPhotoMaps. You'll see the waypoint selection dialog, so click GoTo or press Enter to view the cache location on the aerial photo map. To change from the aerial photo to the topo map view, press T.

 

Known issues: If USAPhotoMaps is already running, the waypoint dialog box won't be shown. Close USAPhotoMaps before you use the Run option from within GSAK. (GSAK will open USAPhotoMaps automatically)

 

Thanks to Doug Cox, author of USA PhotoMaps for coding the change that enabled this new functionality.

Edited by DocDiTTo
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Known issues: If USAPhotoMaps is already running, the waypoint dialog box won't be shown. Close USAPhotoMaps before you use the Run option from within GSAK. (GSAK will open USAPhotoMaps automatically)

 

I fixed that (USAPhotoMaps can be opened multiple times if called from GSAK). On my webpage

 

Doug Cox

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Known issues: If USAPhotoMaps is already running, the waypoint dialog box won't be shown. Close USAPhotoMaps before you use the Run option from within GSAK. (GSAK will open USAPhotoMaps automatically)

 

I fixed that (USAPhotoMaps can be opened multiple times if called from GSAK). On my webpage

 

Doug Cox

I had just noticed that, otherwise it a VERY nice update.

 

Should we just download the program again or is there a patch?

 

Great work!

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The full install of USAPhotoMaps is 357 Kbytes (and most of that is ijl15.dll), so there doesn't need to be any patch file. I just update that full install of USAPhotoMaps whenever I find or hear of a bug (and I only change the version number when it's a notable change (although I change the date if it's a semi-notable change)).

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I'm fairly new to GSAK and may have missed this in the instructions.

 

Is there a way to have more than one waypoint "exported" to USAphotomaps at a time from within GSAK. For instance, if I have a local park with 4 caches in the park I would like to show them all at the same time on the map. I know I can manually enter them into USAphotomaps, but is there a way to select all 4 of them within GSAK and right click to run USAphotomaps and have them all show up as waypoints?

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I'm fairly new to GSAK and may have missed this in the instructions.

 

Is there a way to have more than one waypoint "exported" to USAphotomaps at a time from within GSAK. For instance, if I have a local park with 4 caches in the park I would like to show them all at the same time on the map. I know I can manually enter them into USAphotomaps, but is there a way to select all 4 of them within GSAK and right click to run USAphotomaps and have them all show up as waypoints?

The right click option is only good for a single waypoint.

 

However, you can send multiple waypoints to USAPhotmaps using the custom export option. (File=>Export=>Custom). Even though the custom export option was mainly set up for GPSBabel, you can run any program here, so for example you could enter:

 

"C:\Program Files\USAPhotoMaps\USAPhotoMaps.exe" "c:\Program files\gsak\temp\babel.gpx"

 

Just make sure the path to USAPhotoMaps.exe and babel.gpx are correct for your installation (the defaults are used above)

 

So just set a filter on the waypoints you want to send, then run the custom export.

 

If this is something you do often you could set up a macro, then add a button to the tool bar so it is only one mouse click away.

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However, you can send multiple waypoints to USAPhotmaps using the custom export option. (File=>Export=>Custom). Even though the custom export option was mainly set up for GPSBabel, you can run any program here, so for example you could enter:

 

"C:\Program Files\USAPhotoMaps\USAPhotoMaps.exe" "c:\Program files\gsak\temp\babel.gpx"

 

Wow, thats really nice. Could have used that this morning. Thanks for the tip Clyde.

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Here's what I do:

 

Waypoints>Open/New File

 

I browse to the directory where my .gpx files are located and select one

 

Doubleclick the file and get:

 

"Oops - That waypoint file isn't in the USAPhotomaps Folder"

 

It's a minor inconvenience but it means cluttering up the USAPhotomaps directory with my .gpx files. Where am I missing out?

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I get the same behavior, mrh - unless the GPX is in the USAPM install folder, the error pops up and the file doesn't get loaded.

 

I worked around the problem with a GSAK macro that dumps all user-flagged records to GPX and opens it directly in USAPM - it just re-uses the same filename every time so I only have the one in that folder.

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That was a feature that disappeared for a month or so and is now back.

Hooray! I though I'd permanently jinxed the single most used feature of USAPhotoMaps by actually paying for the program. I've been sticking to version 2.56 since it went away. I just tried the GSAK call-up and it's great.

 

But now I have an item for the GSAK wish list. Make this work on all waypoints in the current filter instead of just on one.

 

edit: Nevermind about that last. I just discovered the custom export to USAPhotoMaps line in Clyde's post.

Edited by blindleader
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Well, you can do this right now with a relatively simple macro. You'd just need to save some Export to GPX settings to always save the current filter's records to the same GPX file, then have your macro use those saved settings, export the GPX, then RUNPGM to open it in USAPM.

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JDMC

Thanks for the patch. GPX files load from anywhere now. Here is something I ran across today. I decided to download the entire state of Indiana topo map. I started out going West to East. Everything has gone well until I got to the Eastern part of the state.

I've started getting for lack of a better term, dropouts. The program goes about its normal routine but skips certain tiles. I've tried going back over the same areas at different zoom levels but the same thing happens. I know the program is working fine so there must be an issue with Terreserver. Anybody else notice the same thing?

 

mrh

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As far as I can determine, the Houston urban maps are off by ~512 feet, or 180' in longitude and 480' in latitude, more or less. The difference is .03 minutes of longitude and .08 minutes of latitude. This is not caused by USAPhotomaps, but of an improper registration of the maps by Terraserver. USAPhotomaps only presents the coordinates given to it by Terraserver. I've heard there are problems with some other cities also, but I haven't checked personally on any others.

 

If you want the correct coordinates to be displayed in USAPhotomaps, then lie to it, and add .03 minutes to the longitude, and subtract .08 minutes from the latitude, and you will see the dot in the correct position. I would hope that Terraserver corrects the error, but I won't hold my breath while I wait.

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I've started getting for lack of a better term, dropouts. The program goes about its normal routine but skips certain tiles. I've tried going back over the same areas at different  zoom levels but the same thing happens. I know the program is working fine so there must be an issue with Terreserver. Anybody else notice the same thing?

There's a strip about 1Km wide and several long that goes right through a heavily populated area south of Seattle that has no imagery available anywhere that I can find. What gets imaged depends on the orbit of the satellite and a lot of other things, and stuff gets passed over quite often. I'm sure there's others around who can provide details, but yeah, not everything has pictures. <_<

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I've started getting for lack of a better term, dropouts. The program goes about its normal routine but skips certain tiles. I've tried going back over the same areas at different zoom levels but the same thing happens. I know the program is working fine so there must be an issue with Terreserver. Anybody else notice the same thing?

 

mrh

If you switch to UTM coordinates, you'll see that the topo and other maps are in strips following the UTM regions. When you get to the edge of a region, you get a black and white border, then a dead area, then the border and start of the next region. The puzzled me at first too. You would thing that the regions would overlap, but apparently they do no, and some areas seem to be omitted.

 

Also, some areas are simply whited out. Search the area around Groom Lake, Nevada, and you'll see a large area (which some call "51") is not visible.

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As far as I can determine, the Houston urban maps are off by ~512 feet, or 180' in longitude and 480' in latitude, more or less. The difference is .03 minutes of longitude and .08 minutes of latitude. This is not caused by USAPhotomaps, but of an improper registration of the maps by Terraserver. USAPhotomaps only presents the coordinates given to it by Terraserver. I've heard there are problems with some other cities also, but I haven't checked personally on any others.

 

If you want the correct coordinates to be displayed in USAPhotomaps, then lie to it, and add .03 minutes to the longitude, and subtract .08 minutes from the latitude, and you will see the dot in the correct position. I would hope that Terraserver corrects the error, but I won't hold my breath while I wait.

Thanks for the help with the math, NP. I assume that information is embedded with the photos, so if Terraserver gets it fixed, I will need to delete the urban maps and reload them.

 

I assumed it was a data problem and not a USAPhotomaps problem when I got the same shift in NASA Worldwind.

 

Incidentally, Worldwind, while it doesn't have the functionality of USAPhotomaps, and takes a VERY stout internet connection, appears to allow you to zoom in on topos all the way to 24K resolution, which is very handy.

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