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Archive for November, 2009

Create KML Range Circles, Arrows And Wedges With An Excel Macro

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 19, 2009 in 3DEM and blogkeeping. 0 Comments

I’m currently running OpenOffice only, so I can’t try it out, but “Planeman” has created an Excel macro that will create range circles, arrows and wedges for a list of decimal latitude/longitude points. Should be able to create these for hundreds or even thousands of points simultaneously. Pictures are from Planeman’s description. Excel spreadsheet view:

mvsppi

And a view of the results from the sample data in Google Earth:

23wqxhc

Download the spreadsheet macro at this link; be sure to scroll down to the bottom to get the latest version. From the picture above, looks like additional features are coming soon.




kmlfactbook – The CIA World Factbook In Google Earth Format

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 18, 2009 in 3DEM, blogkeeping and geocoding. 0 Comments

The CIA World Factbook …

provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

In short, it’s the go-to source for current world demographic, economic, social and political data. David Tryse has taken data from the Factbook and created an online application, the kmlfactbook, that generates thematic maps in KML format for use with Google Earth. Select a dataset:

factdataset

Then choose a chart type, coloring scheme and other options:

charttype

2D charts are flat choropleths:

2dchoro

3D add scaling based on height:

3dchoro

And “Chart” creates a pie chart:

piechart

There’s a Google Earth plugin view that lets you preview the appearance, and when you’re happy, you can export a KMZ file. And you’re not limited to CIA World Factbook data; if you register on the site, you can upload your own data to convert it to a thematic KMZ file.

The one thing that seems to be missing is the ability to create a map legend to show what the color codes represent (or at least I couldn’t find it); you can click on placemark icons on each country to get the data, but it’s not the same. Hopefully, legends will be added soon.

Via Google Earth Blog.




Pardon My Dust

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 18, 2009 in ESRI. 0 Comments

Sorry about the old posts making it into the feed. I’ve spent the better part of the past week rebuilding the site from the ground up, and parked it temporarily at a different IP address; I’m guessing that caused the repeat listings of old posts. Should be done with the rebuild, and semi-regular posting will resume immediately; regular posting may have to wait until my current field survey work is done in 2-3 weeks.




Mashup And Map Demographic Statistics With DataMasher

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 12, 2009 in data. 0 Comments

Take one of DataMasher’s 90-odd datasets (demographic, economic, energy, health, etc. data by US state), add/subtract/multiple/divide it by another dataset, and plot the results as a choropleth map (plus get the results in tabular form):

2009-10-31_204803

Mashups are posted publicly for comment and ratings. Results may be significant, or be totally devoid of meaning; YMMV. DataMasher makes no claims as to the statistical validity of any of the maps created. You can also select and plot individual datasets by themselves. There’s a short video on how the process currently works, and DataMasher promises more datasets and capabilities are coming.

Via Lifehacker.




Another Tool For Identifying Garmin Map Tiles

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 11, 2009 in GPX and Garmin. 2 Comments

A few months ago, I covered GMapTool, a program that lets you identify the name and coverage area of a Garmin .img map file, whose only outward identifying info is a cryptic 8-digit filename that doesn’t reflect anything about its contents. Some people who have download the most recent version of GMapTool have reported getting virus warnings from their AV programs. I’ve checked GMapTool with MS Security Essentials (a terrific free AV program, BTW; unobtrusive, and doesn’t use a lot of system resources) and Avast antivirus, and neither one has spotted a problem – I suspect that the warnings are a false positive, though I can’t be sure.

Regardless, if you’re leery of using GMapTool because of the virus warnings, an alternative program is Mapsource Map Explorer. It doesn’t have the additional capabilities of GMapTool to split and combine .img map files, plus it only works on maps installed in MapSource (GMapTool can work on any .img file in a directory, not just those installed in MapSource). But if all you want is data characteristics for a set of installed map tiles, it does the job:

MapSourceExplorer

While the identifying map number may have less than 8 digits (e.g. “”162923” above), the .img filename for that map tile will have enough leading zeroes to pad out the name to 8 digits, i.e. “00162923.img”.




G-Raster Version 1.3 Released – Raster Maps On Garmin GPS Units

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 10, 2009 in GPS and Garmin. 0 Comments

I”ve posted about my free app G-Raster before – it converts raster imagery like topo maps and aerial imagery into the format compatible with recent Garmin GPS models (the Colorado, Oregon, and Dakota series). I’ve just uploaded version 1.3, which adds some major improvements:

- The option to rescale images that are too large for Garmin units (> 100 million pixels) to a smaller size; the previous version only let you crop the image

- Automatic rescaling of images to make sure that less than 100 tiles (the maximum for Garmin units) are created

- Display of the image resolution in meters per pixel, plus the maximum Garmin zoom level at which an image can be viewed without pixelization (aliasing)

- A view of the central part of the raster imagery, updated when the image is rescaled to a smaller size, or when the JPG compression is modified

- Your choice of 6 different algorithms for use in rescaling imagery

- Adjustment of the JPG compression factor using a slider, with immediate updating of the image view so that you can see the effects.

- Major additions to the help file

graster13




Draw Freely On Google Maps, Export In Multiple Formats

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 9, 2009 in GPX, Google Earth, Google Maps and KML. 1 Comment

ScribbleMaps is one of the slickest Google Maps apps I’ve ever seen. Draw and/or place any of the following on a Google Map view:

  • Freehand lines
  • Straight lines
  • Circles
  • Rectangles
  • Arbitrary shapes
  • Text
  • Images (needs a web link to the image)
  • Standard Google Map/Earth placemark icons (select from multiple sets):

placemarks

You also have control of the color, opacity and line thickness from the toolbar, along with the ability to search for locations:

scribblemapcontrols

Once the shapes are created, you can move them, modify them by shifting vertices, rotate them, or erase them. Once done with your map, you have multiple export options:

  • JPEG
  • Print directly from browser
  • Embeddable widget (no Google Maps API key required):

  • Facebook map
  • Regular Google Maps view
  • Google Earth plugin (though this didn’t work for me)
  • KML file (for viewing in Google Earth)

scribblemapsGE

  • GPX (for export to your GPS); only exports points and lines, the only geometric shapes that GPX files support

You can also save your map for future editing, and get a dedicated web link for it; you choose a password for it so that only you can edit it, or delete it later.

Very slick, and very cool; I’m putting ScribbleMaps into my main bookmarks list




Historical Marker Database

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
at November 4, 2009 in cartography and data. 0 Comments

The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org) is a voluntary effort to document and catalog historical markers, mainly from the US and Canada (a few markers from foreign countries are also listed). Markers are listed by category and state; you can also search by multiple parameters (keywords, postal code, county, etc.). Marker info pages have a photo of the marker, a copy of the marker text …

histmarker

… latitude/longitude of the marker, a context photo showing the general surroundings of the marker, and a list of other nearby markers. A link will take you to a Google Maps page showing the location of the marker and other nearby markers; a link at the top of the map page will let you download a GPX file with all the marker positions for upload to your GPS unit (TomTom POI files are also available). There’s even a custom version of the page for mobile phone; enter your latitude/longitude and get a listing of up to 20 markers near your current location.

The site also accepts submissions of historical makers not yet in the database (requires free registration).




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