Thanks to the Sprouls, WinAPRS has the ability
to use "images" for maps.
The simplest way I've found to make it work is
to use a .GIF file and calibrate
it with a .GEO file - but if all you have is
a piece of paper or another mapping
program, you need to follow this procedure (tested
with WinAPRS 2.4.7)
1. If you have a mapping program running
and a map on your screen, press
ALT and PrintScreen.
Then, open MS Paint and choose Edit - Paste.
The program may ask if you
want the bitmap enlarged - answer yes.
In Paint, you can edit the
map if you want - just don't stretch or
rotate it.
If you have a scanner, scan
your map and save it as a bitmap.
2. Find a spot on your map in the upper
left corner where you know the
latitude and longitude.
Move your cursor there and note the x/y coordinates
(pixel numbers). Then
do the same for a known point in the lower right corner.
If you don't have a mapping
program that will give your lat/lon for a cursor
position, you can always drive
there with the GPS!
Remember, lat/lon has to be
in degrees + decimal like -122.987654 to
work correctly. With
degrees/minutes/seconds, just use the following:
degrees
+ (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600)
to give the correct number.
3. Convert your bitmap to a .GIF file with
your favorite photo editing software.
Save it in your WINAPRS/IMAGES
folder.
4. With a text editor (Notepad, Wordpad,
etc) create a text file with the same name
as your map file, but with
an extension of .GEO, and put the following in it:
FILENAME
your_map_name_here.gif
Tiepoint
xx yy
lon lat
Tiepoint
xxx yyy
lon lat
where the first "tiepoint"
is the upper left corner you picked and the second is the
one in the lower right corner.
An example is:
FILENAME longview.gif
TIEPOINT 121
65 -122.987595 46.187467
TIEPOINT 765
487 -122.847243 46.095435
Make sure you use the TAB key
and not spaces between entries.
5. After everything is saved, restart WinAPRS
if it was running. Go to
WINDOWS/IMAGE FILES and you
should see a menu open with
your map .GIF file listed.
Click on it and it should open just like any other
APRS map. You can even
zoom in on it!
6. Hints:
As always, the more pixels,
the better.
X/Y coordinates should be
as close to the corners as possible.
Remember, most maps are copyrighted.
Distributing them with .GEO
files
would most likely be copyright infringement! Stay safe - scan your
own!
You can insert text and images
into your bitmap maps, such as waypoints,
landmarks,
and so on. An example of this would be adding information to a
map
of a special event or a search that was provided by the organizers.