[drats_users] Maps/how to display/where's the cache?

[Dan Smith]

> My D-RATS station map is up and displaying data, now. Thanks the 
> assistance from Dan and others.

Great!

> -        It’s important to enter your own station location in the 
> correct format, which is ddd mm ss (precede ddd with a minus sign for 
> south latitude and east longitude). These entry boxes are in the 
> File/Main Settings window. Note that if you type in the numbers, and hit 
> a space, the program will fill in the right symbols for degrees, 
> minutes, and seconds (this is slick and didn’t know it from the web page).

Indeed, and I could certainly be better about indicating issues with the 
entry.  Feel free to edit the map web page and add some of these 
experiences.  I'm sure other users would appreciate it.

> -        You should scroll the map around to display all the reasonable 
> acreage you expect to display later…and again data will download from 
> your internet connection (where is the server, anyway?)

There is actually a map download tool that makes this easier, and I 
spent a chunk of this weekend making it not so horrible.  When 0.2.6 
comes out, you should try the map downloader again.

> -        You may need to double-click on the map to expose areas to 
> which you cannot scroll.

Double-clicking re-centers the map.  The way it works right now, you can 
only scroll a certain distance away from center without recentering. 
It's a function of how the map works, and it's a lot of work to make it 
better :)

> -        In my configuration, while connected to the radio, two fixed 
> stations and one mobile station plotted on the map as small black text 
> on a highlighted green background. The mobile station “moved” each time 
> the operator transmitted his D-PRS position (exciting!). 

I love seeing those tags move in realtime.  It's so cool :)

> I’m wondering 
> if these can be changed to A/D-PRS symbols, and if so how do you do it?

If they use the DPRS calculator to program their GPS message, then they 
will show up as the proper APRS symbols (if you're using 0.2.5 or newer).

> What I don’t know---can all the downloaded map data simply be 
> transferred to portable media, and loaded onto another client computer? 

Absolutely!  Even better, I've added (in 0.2.6) the ability to point the 
map source at an arbitrary location, so you can store them somewhere 
more convenient.

Thanks for the comments, Rick!

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS