First apologies for late reply! Replies relate to version 0.9.91 > > * I'd like to have a preset standard set of map layers and be able to > invoke viking on a gpx file. Basically in this use case I want to > use viking as a viewer and not create a viking file to manage > waypoints - I just want map underlay behind my tracks and waypoints > so I can look at them. I don't mind a different command, but I'd > like to basically do 'viking-osm 20090601.gpx' and have a viking > window come up with the waypoint/track layer on top with osm tiles > under it. This is perhaps equivalent to having a file with just > maps and running "viking maps.viking --merge foo.gpx", with the > caveat that the gpx has to be on top. >
>From the command line I have alias viking='viking ~/.osm.vik' Then the contents of .osm.vik is: #VIKING GPS Data file http://viking.sf.net/ xmpp=4.000000 ympp=4.000000 lat=51.000000 lon=-1.000000 mode=mercator color=#cccccc drawscale=t drawcentermark=t ~Layer Map name=Map mode=17 directory=/home/rob/.viking-maps/ alpha=255 autodownload=t mapzoom=0 ~EndLayer Then 'viking file.gpx' draws the gpx track on top of the map. I'm sure you could set up multiple alias's for different map types. > [This is what I would work on first; it would make the default issue > not so important because I could set up the file once. I realize I > can open a file and the open/merge the gpx file.] > > * The default zoom and pan choices when opening a gpx file do not > seemto make sense. The scale says 500m, and zoom 4 (z15), and the > position seems to be the middle of the bounding box. For a GPX file > of A->B on highways, the resulting view had none of the trackpoints. > My preference is to zoom to track, and I suppose zoom to waypoints > if there are fewer than some number of trackpoints. I see a center > on layer option, but nothing to adjust zoom. When opening a GPX > file with waypoints, the center appears to be the center of the > waypoints, and because I haven't yet deleted the all import Garmin > US/Europe/Taiwan, that's someplace not all that interesting (with > apologies to those at 38N 13E :-). I can only zoom out to 8192, > which is I think z4. So it's awkward to get back to the US (I > realize I can goto a waypoint). Why can't I see the global-scale > tiles? Agreed the default zoom for gpx is not too good, I would want it too zoom out to see the whole track / all waypoints. For vik files, it kind of cheats by storing a zoom level. Maybe viking should allow bigger zoom out scale, 8192 is big but not big enough! Try: diff --git a/src/vikviewport.h b/src/vikviewport.h index 5bc49fe..0eded01 100644 --- a/src/vikviewport.h +++ b/src/vikviewport.h @@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS #define IS_VIK_VIEWPORT(obj) (G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE_TYPE ((obj), VIK_VIEWPORT_TYPE)) #define IS_VIK_VIEWPORT_CLASS(klass) (G_TYPE_CHECK_CLASS_TYPE ((klass), VIK_VIEWPORT_TYPE)) -#define VIK_VIEWPORT_MAX_ZOOM 8192.0 +#define VIK_VIEWPORT_MAX_ZOOM 32768.0 #define VIK_VIEWPORT_MIN_ZOOM 0.125 /* used for coord to screen etc, screen to coord */ Seems to work OK. > * I would like map layers to default to saving tiles someplace > standardized and sensible, and to autodownload. I realize that not > everyone will feel this way, but I think most people will. I save > tiles in ~/VIKING/MAPNIK for osm mapnik tiles. I realize the whole > issue of cache purging and max size is hard, but I think that's > separate from the question of defaulting to save tiles. Perhaps a > single global preference to save tiles should cause map layers to be > configured to save tiles and maybe autodownload. > > * Deal better with failed downloads. viking should be more prepared > to have no or flaky net access, including captive proxies at > airports. If it doesn't get a valid PNG file or some other valid > tile data, it shouldn't create a cache file. Cache files of zero > length should be removed when noticed. > > * Show tiles from cache before waiting for downloads to fail, if > downloads have been failing. Perhaps an offline mode to use cache > only would be 99% of the value with a lot less work. > > * Keep a log of tiles that were requested when offline and be able to > fill the cache when online. Needs some kind of rate limiting to > avoid being abusive. Perhaps waiting longer of 1s or the last tile > service time between requests would be ok. > > * It would be nice to have Some other kind of cache filling support, > perhaps various scales around waypoints and tracks, but this seems > fraught with perils, both in terms of server abuse and privacy > issues. Definitely low priority. > > * From the above two comments obviously I need the planet dump and a > tile server on my laptop and will get to that at some point; there's > no reason not to have the data with me. But the map layer add > dialog doesn't have a custom URL. Maybe a localhost standard place > where osm people normally put their local tile server would be a > good thing to add to the defaults, plus having arbitrary URLs. Maps have hopefully improved recently but I suspect many of the above issues are still relevant. > * I was confused about how to create a new track/waypoint layer (that > I'd want to export separately). I generally find the map layer > names confusing, and I wrote the following while trying them > all.. Probably this is my fault but a few things would help: > > in apple-click properties menu, give the layer type explicitly. > > aggregate layer should have a null properties dialog maybe. I > think it's just a container for other layers so you can turn its > children on/off all at once. > > "Coord" layer might be better named "grid lines". In 'mercator' > mode (which is really "google spherical mercator" - perhaps put > the EPSG code in the menu :-)), it seems to be natural to have a > 1' grid. When I flipped to UTM (which I think is various zones, > NAD83 or WGS84, to line up with terraserver tiles, but not 100% > clear), the grid still seemed to be in minutes. That's a useful > option, but in the US on UTM maps from USGS grid lines are in the > UTM grid, every 1 km on 1:25K maps. The coord layer obviously > autoscales (which is good), but there's no clue what it's doing. > > For GeoRef layer, datum should be specified. It's fine for > viking to be WGS84 only, but when asking for map parameters this > should be clear. (In the US, scanned topos that are in NAD27 are > fairly common.) It would be nice to have a way to make a world > file and offer to write it alongside the map, and to have the > normal mode of operation be to associate a world file when a map > doesn't have it, and then use world files. That would make it > easier to share the registration work among users. But this is a > nit and I'd put it at low priority. > Agreed about 'Coord Layer' - I've never used it before until just a few minutes ago! [Hmm doesn't look quite so good when zoomed out - display gets a bit cluttered] Try: diff --git a/src/vikcoordlayer.c b/src/vikcoordlayer.c index 2302d65..157c5c7 100644 --- a/src/vikcoordlayer.c +++ b/src/vikcoordlayer.c @@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ static VikLayerParam coord_layer_params[] = { enum { PARAM_COLOR = 0, PARAM_MIN_INC, PARAM_LINE_THICKNESS, NUM_PARAMS }; VikLayerInterface vik_coord_layer_interface = { - "Coord", + "Grid Lines", // New improved name &vikcoordlayer_pixbuf, NULL, Does anyone know what the 'Minutes Width' property of this layer do? Changing seems to have no effect. > In map layers, the default name is "Map" which is not useful. > For OSM (mapnik), I'd like the default name mapnik, and I bet > everyone else would too. Me too! Change is not as straightforward as I'd hoped. Need to delve deeper... > In GPS layer, it's not clear what "data mode" does. realtime > tracking mode obviously talks to gpsd, which makes sense. > > On the DEM layer, it seems like the normal thing is to download, > but it seems these should be cache too - but it's not clear how > to do that. > > So now I understand that TrackWaypoint is the layer type, and when > you open a gpx you get a trackwaypoint layer named after the gpx > file name - which is just fine. > > * When zooming, I easily got confused before I got used to how tile > scales work. > > In the bottom info line, show the zoom level somehow, and show it > in red if it's not supported by any tile server being shown. Once > I figured out that the maps just vanish when you zoom in too far, > I learned not to. So now I see that > the zoom scale in the bottom is somehow relative to the most > detailed OSM tiles. But it's a multiplier from z17, it seems, and > I don't understand why it says "2.000/2.000..." Being a repeat of the internal zoom factor, I agreed it's not useful in relation to any particular map being displayed. > Mapnik tiles are stored in t13s0z0 for what seems to be the z17 > tiles. I don't understand why there are called s0 instead of z17, > and what the s0 is for. I would think there is nothing special > about the max zoom level - that's just an artifact of that > particular mapnik installation in choosing the conventional max. > I would prefer names that tie very closely to what I would expect > are the WMS parameters, but I could well be confused here. > > Given the t13, it seems 13 is code for osm/mapnik, and I see 13 in > the .viking file. If the map name is encoded in the file, we > don't need subdirs for the default tile cache directories. > > When zooming in too far, it would be nice to duplicate pixels of > the z17 or whatever the most zoomed in level available for that > WMS is, instead of not showing anything. New maps stuff does attempt to show something when zooming in. > In Mercator mode, zoom levels seemed locked to the standard zoom > levels for spherical mercator. This seems sensible, but the zoom > level option in map with values and "use viking zoom" confused > me. Probably this is just me. > > * Obviously viking makes network requests, such as WMS tile fetches. > There are privacy issues associated with this, but that's > unavoidable. Having an offline mode would be nice for this; perhaps > a globe icon that's default depressed and when not (like sidebar) > causes viking to omit all network requests. > * Besides OSM tile fetches, it seems there is 'upload to OSM' and > 'show wikipedia points'. Presumably the wikipedia points creates a > wikipedia layer, but I haven't tried it. For both of these, it's > obvious what will happen. The option to search by name is less > clear. Viking doesn't have a names database, so presumably it > queries the net for this -- but that is not at all clear. > * The default keybindings are unnatural and have caused me to do the > wrong thing. ^Q should quit without saving, and ^W close one window > but not the others, just like any other program. There probably > should be a modified indicator by appending a * in some status > location, and ^S already saves so that's fine. And of course a > discard/save/cancel dialog when quitting with modified data -- ^W > should have that now. > > I don't object to a save/quit combo keystroke. But ^Q means quit, > and the user expectation is that this will not write anything. Agreed about modification stuff. This presumably needs 'deep' integration such that most actions (mainly layer/track/waypoint changes) notch up a modification flag, so this can determine the exit strategy. Getting late now, time for bed. HTH, and may be resparks some interest :) _________________________________________________________________ Send us your Hotmail stories and be featured in our newsletter http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev _______________________________________________ Viking-devel mailing list Viking-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/viking-devel Viking home page: http://viking.sf.net/
