If anyone reading this page would like me to expand on anything covered, please e-mail me. My e-mail address can be found on my home page. At the time of writing, it is being expanded. It was last updated at 20:00 UTC on 4 February 2007. Check it out regularly for updates.
The main software that is available with my datafiles is a program, "4B". A random screendump showing part of this program can be found here.
This program may allow the user, equipped with a PC running Windows XP, the appropriate data files and preferably at least 512MB of RAM, to scroll seamlessly around the world, using conventional mapping or color relief mapping, with a resolution of 3" or 30". It can also generate panoramic maps of views from most locations, and interact with a names database. But the setup procedure is not as easy as it is with most software. The program infrastructure must be downloaded.
Readers should only attempt to download and install this software if they are willing to spend some time learning to use it. Readers who are serious are asked to report any installation problems; to find my e-mail address, see above. Readers who get as far as the world map should contact me before attempting to proceed further, unless they have detailed knowledge of PC's and X86 machine code or are willing to spend long hours scratching their heads.
Download and unzip the VF folder onto your drive "C:\".
Download Program 4B, to sub-folder M within the VF folder.
Download and install MASM32 to hard drive "C:\". The installation process will create a folder "C:\masm32".
Download program RTA, and copy it into your C:\masm32 folder.
Now go into your masm32 folder, and select QEDIT, the file=>open to open program RTA (ASM file). Then go Project => Assemble and Link.
If this is successful, go Project => Run. This should show some multicolored text on a white and cream background, but it is at this stage that some processors may fail. Pentium and Celeron processors should be OK but Athlon processors may not.
Press F12, and this should show a map of the world.
From the map of the world, the following options are available:
F View and edit a list of single character settings. Type the number of the variable, followed by return, followed by the character required. Example: to change setting 25 to E, type 2 5 return E (4 keystrokes).
Variables 25 and 27 should point to the drive letter of the device on which the appropriate data files are stored.
Left Mouse View 30" resolution digital elevation model at the mouse location.
F12 View and edit a list of map settings. Some of these are explained in the sections below.
B Generate a panorama.
C Edit a contour file.
The available datasets include:
The available datasets include:
From the world map, type F12. That should display several settings. You need to change the following:
There are two principal types of contour editing:
Filling gaps in existing DEM data
Creating new DEM data
Outer Screen Editor
Inner Screen Editor
Assuming that the index interval is 100 metres and the standard interval is 20 or 25 metres, the contours are colored as follows:
| Unedited | 20m | 40m | 60m | 80m | 100m | 200m | 300m | 400m | 500m | 10m | 25m | 50m | 75m | Water | Ridge | Valley | ||||
| Standard Mode | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Index Mode | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Code |
The color scheme is devised to ensure that a single spot height will be sufficient to define absolute heights for all contours, provided that all the index contours are 100% solid. All the pixels that make up a solid contour must have exactly two out of eight neighbours, unless they are outside the tile boundaries.
To begin editing a contour, "hook" it by right click near to its end. This will place the cursor, and centre the screen, at the its end. Now select its code. This should be possible from the table above, although initially a few moments may be required to work these codes out.
Part of the contour will now be colored. At this stage, it is possible that the coloring may not have remained on the correct background contour. If this has happened, press "B" until the offending coloring has been de-colored. Several options are now available:
Continue until the background contour ends or its course becomes unclear. This may happen at the tile perimeter, or if the local topography becomes very steep, or if there is dense background detail, e.g. a town. If it is uncertain that the cursor is on its correct contour, i.e. it may have "derailed", it should be discontinued. If it is likely that it has derailed, it should be reverted with the B key. After reverting, the correct contour course may become clear; it can then be continued. Otherwise a new contour should be started.
If a contour ends where it started, or connects to a contour of the same color, connect it by sing the F key or the mouse. If it connects to a foreign color, an error has occurred. If it cannot be corrected with certainty, it should be marked by pressing T followed by shift0, which will leave a type 0 spot.
Ringer. If a short and annular contour is encountered, it can often be colored with a single stroke. Place the mouse in the centre of the ring. Now press "7" if its correct code is T, or "8" or any other code. If 8 is pressed, the program will attempt to find its correct color. If it cannot, it will use a cream color, which should be then overridden using the appropriate start-contour key. If the ring is too large, too weak, or too eccentric, or if there is too much intervening detail, the program may not draw the ring correctly; press F8 to revert it. It may have to drawn by longer hand means. Illustration.
The ringer may also be accessible via the mouse. In a new version of the program, right clicking will activate four boxes, labelled 7,8,7,8. Dragging the mouse into the top boxes will read only the bolder contour pixels. Dragging the mouse into a 7 or 8 will have the same effect as the respective keystroke. Not dragging the mouse will hook a contour.
Sweeper. If the program takes you to a screen in which it is clear that none of the unedited contours belong over real contours, press D. This will delete the trash and move on to a neighbouing screen. Be careful not to delete genuine unedited contours. Illustration.
Tailsnipper. This can be used where two ends clearly belong to the same line, but do not connect smoothly via their ends. This routine will clip the appropriate end before connecting and continuing. Illustration.
More contour editing instructions will be posted here soon.
Screen by Screen Return
Moves screen forward. LSh to reset, RSh to revert.
Import from another scale I go to label: teir
To create panoramas from locations within the United Kingdom and Ireland, folders K and KA are needed, and should be written to hard drive "C".
To create panoramas from other locations, folders D, GNPS-N and GNPS-S are required, and should be written to the hard drive specified by F-setting 25.
In either case, the folders are not downloadable. Please apply for them.
BRITISH ISLES
To enter panorama mode, press B. This should bring up a screen that includes a line that includes "L Load Viewpoint".
Press L. This should bring up a list. The top (and perhaps only) entry should be "1 A-GOATFELL".
Press 1 followed by return. This should bring up a screen headed by "Viewpoint X Y Z".
Press 1. You should now be able to use the left and right arrows to scroll around the view from Goat Fell, the highest point on the island of Arran, off the coast of Western Scotland.
Press "Return" to return to the Viewpoint screen, and choose a new location. The following fields must be set:
Now press V to generate the panorama. To generate the view from Ben Nevis should take about 8 seconds, although this is dependent on hard disk and processor speed. During this process, various 100km x 100km K-block names will appear on the screen before the viewpoint screen is restored, but it is possible that the screen may turn white. If this happens, press From the viewpoint screen, press 0. This should give a screen that includes part of the unlabelled panorama, and a line that includes "Z Zoom". This should be set to 1. If it is not, press the "less than" and "more than" keys until it is set to 1. Then press return to bring back the viewpoint screen, and press ctrl-A to set the vertical angles on each of the eight strips that will appear on the panorama.
Now press 1 to call up and edit the first strip. Dots should appear, mostly along tops of mountains. If they do not, press Esc, F12 and B, then retry 1. If there are still no dots, something has gone wrong, please contact me.
Depress the mouse above a dot on the horizon, then drag the mouse upwards before releasing it. The feature under the dot, and its distance, should be identified. Scroll around using the arrow keys and try to identify more features.
To save the view and labels, press S. A prompt "Save (number of) bytes to C:\VF\PAN-DATA\(name of viewpoint) should appear. Press Y. This is necessary, otherwise the panorama may be lost. Then press return. Now press O and the output image should show up. Scroll around. If it is OK, press S. The panorama should now appear as a .GIF file in the folder C:\VF\PAN-IMAGES\(name of viewpoint),
OTHER LOCATIONS
First, the viewpoint must be entered. Click on the map of the world close to the viewpoint to see a 30" DEM of the world, which can be scrolled with the arrow keys. Then position the mouse close to the viewpoint location and press H. A 3" DEM should now appear. (If it does not, check the directory of D\EL3N.) Reposition the mouse and press H again to see a map of the area; if only names appear, press 1 to see a 100K map of the area. If the 100K map still does not appear, check the directory of G\100N. Position the mouse again and press H to return to the DEM. Now hold down the right shift button and press P followed by a digit from 0 to 9, this should save the location.
From the map of the world, press B followed by L. A list of viewpoints should appear, initially there should be only one entry. If there is not, check the contents of folder C:\VFDAT\PAN-DATA. If this path does not exist, or is empty, the program will crash. If this happens, download a viewpoint here, create the above folder and copy the viewpoint into that folder, then restart the program.
On seeing the single entry, press 1 and return to select that entry. A screen starting with "Viewpoint X Y Z" should appear. Most of the green labelled fields can be set as for UK locations, but X and Y can not. Press D then Z, to set the data source to Z (international), then press P followed by the viewpoint digit. The viewpont's coordinates should now appear, and fields X and Y will be set to the viewpoint's UTM location, centred on the viewpoint with X=1000000.
Now you can type V followed by return, and the view will be calculated; this may take a few minutes. When this is completed, the viewpoint can be edited and saved in the same manner as UK viewpoints.
