Forum Index > Support & Feedback > Gmap4 map viewer - - Beta update and a look ahead (long)
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Joey
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Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 2794 | TRs | Pics
Location: Redmond
Joey
verrry senior member
PostMon Jul 12, 2010 8:40 pm 
For any newbies: Gmap4 is an enhanced Google Map viewer. It includes detailed topographic maps for the USA and Canada (courtesy of the MyTopo Company) and also includes the ability to read and display certain kinds of files including GPX and KML files. For more info, please see the Gmap4 homepage: http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.html Here are the two URLs you can use to launch Gmap4. Beta version (1.6.beta_01): http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/beta/gmap4_1_6_beta_01.php Production version (1.5.012): http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php If anything does not appear to work right with either version, please let me know. So what’s new in the beta version? 1. Gmap4 might at least open as a browser-app on some phones 2. Gmap4 can display KMZ files 3. Coordinates are always displayed for the cursor and map center 4. Under the hood Gmap4 now uses version 3 of the Google Maps API (Application Program Interface) Below are some details. 1. Phones OK, time to ‘fess up. I don’t have a cell phone of any kind, let alone a web-enabled one. Be that as it may, the Gmap4 beta code uses version 3 of the Google Maps API (Application Program Interface). This API is intended to be mobile device friendly and it supports these browsers: * IE 7.0+ (Windows) Note: kiss IE6 audios * Firefox 3.0+ (Windows|Mac|Linux) * Safari 4+ (Mac|iPhone) * Chrome (Windows|Mac|Linux) * Android If your phone uses a supported browser, then I would enjoy hearing some feedback. Bear in mind that I have not (yet) done any special phone-related programming. If it works, it works. 2. KMZ files The production version of Gmap4 can display .kml and .gpx files The beta version can display .kml, .KML, .kmz, .KMZ, .gpx and .GPX files (Both versions can also display Google MyMap files and KML/GPX files that are hosted online as Google Documents.) There are roughly umpteen bazillion KMZ files online. Here is one with stuff about the Elwa River: 'http://www.pc.ctc.edu/coe/pdfs/ERC/ElwhaMashup.kmz' To display this file with the beta version of Gmap4: http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/beta/gmap4_1_6_beta_01.php?q=http://www.pc.ctc.edu/coe/pdfs/ERC/ElwhaMashup.kmz&t=t1 Note that at the end of the URL it says: &t=t1 That bit tells Gmap4 to display Google’s terrain map. If you leave that bit off, then by default Gmap4 will display the MyTopo topographic maps - except those maps only cover the USA and Canada. If you begin with the terrain map then (1) your map will appear faster and (2) you can always use the menu in the far upper right of your screen to switch to MyTopo. Here is the same map zoomed in a bit and centered near the Elwa mouth. I added the ll and z settings. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/beta/gmap4_1_6_beta_01.php?q=http://www.pc.ctc.edu/coe/pdfs/ERC/ElwhaMashup.kmz&t=t1&ll=48.152809,-123.541404&z=12 Keep in mind that KMZ files are simply compressed versions of KML files. Whatever types of things you see when you click icons on a KMZ map are things that you can do yourself in your own KML map. When you click an icon on a map, you are executing some html code that the author of the KMZ (or KML) file included in the file. To see that actual html code you have to download the KMZ file to your harddrive, decompress the KMZ file (PKZIP works) and look at it with an editor. To look for KMZ files to display, just google for whatever you are interested in and add KMZ to your search query. I’m not certain but this might be the first time it has been possible to view KMZ files on topographic maps (USA and Canada). Some KMZ files will simply not appear. The Google Maps API imposes a size limit on these files and also possibly some kind of timing limit for loading. Also, as mentioned in the Gmap4 ‘Help’ file, if you want to look at a KMZ/KML/GPX file and the link url begins “www” then you will need to edit the link so it begins http://www. And Gmap4 cannot read: URLs with spaces URLs with ‘%20’ (synonym for a space) URLs containing the ‘?’ character 3. Screen changes The screen now displays continuously updated coordinates for the cursor and center of the map. This is a step toward implementing trip planning. Also, if the amount of screen real estate available to Gmap4 is more than 700 pixels wide, then a large pan/zoon control will appear in the upper left corner of your screen, otherwise a small zoom control will appear. Looking ahead: Trip planning Thanks to all who commented in the recent ‘trip planning’ thread. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7984282 I plan to add trip planning features to Gmap4. This will be done in stages. At some point you will be able to plan a trip with Gmap4 and download a GPX file for use on your GPS. In very broad strokes there are two aspects to this task: 1. The actual trip planning features 2. A user interface for accessing and using those features I anticipate first working on some standard trip planning features. In due course I will solicit interface advice and we’ll see where that takes us. I have not thought about printing very much. One issue is whether printing MyTopo maps would violate their ‘terms of use’. After all, the MyTopo Company makes their living by custom printing paper maps. However, I just came upon an additional source for topographic map tiles. I need to do more research on the issue of printing. For trip planning, it would be fairly straightforward to add code that would let you click the map to build a route which you could download as a GPX file. But what if you want to have some data displayed on the screen while you plan your trip? Right now with the Gmap4 beta version you can display any one of the following: kml/KML file hosted online kml/KML file (with extension “.txt”) hosted as a Google Document gpx/GPX file hosted online gpx/GPX file (with extension “.txt”) hosted as a Google Document kmz/KMZ file hosted online Google MyMap file But what if you want to display data from more than one file on the screen as you plan your trip? On one hand, the Gmap4 ‘Help’ file shows an example of doing just that. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4_help.pdf (see “Demo KML file #3” in the Appendix). But that solution is (1) techy and (2) only works with kml/KML files. Soooooo...my next coding task is to add the ability to simultaneously display multiple files of any kind Gmap4 can read. For example: On file might have icons for peaks in the area where you are planning a trip, another file could have a GPX track from one of your prior trips and a third file might have some related GPS data you found online. After the map appears on your screen, Gmap4 will let you turn these different files on/off just like layers in a GIS map. I do not know of any generic map viewing app that presently has the ability to display multiple data files. Looking ahead: Map wiki Now let’s think about the kinds of data files you might like to display with Gmap4 for (1) trip planning, (2) as part of a trip report map, (3) or for any other reason. One obvious example is a file that would show an icon at each summit in an area. When the icon is clicked a window will open with some info about that summit. This is exactly the kind of thing that KML files do for a living. A “wiki” simply means a pot of info that everyone has the ability to edit. For example, one person might add a peak to the summit wiki file. Someone else might know why the peak was given that name and add that info. You might add a link to that drop dead gorgeous photo you took from the summit. I might add a photo I took of this peak from the summit next door. All this info would appear when the icon for the peak is clicked. What kind of info would you like to see on the screen when you are planning your next trip? Are you willing to help load that info into a map wiki so it is available to all? Some things I can think of are: Road info (washouts, high clearance, locked gates) Trailheads (Porta potty?) Trails (Needed for elevation profiles) Stream crossings And I’m sure there are other useful kinds of info. But obviously we do not want to blab seekrit stuff to the whole planet. What? You say you don’t habla KML? Not to worry. If you can cut-and-paste you can do this. Not convinced? OK, here’s KML I wrote for Earl Peak in the Teanaway: <Placemark> <name><![CDATA[<b>Earl Peak</b>]]></name> <styleUrl>#summit</styleUrl> <description> <![CDATA[<b>7036 feet, 2145 meters</b>]]> </description> <Point> <coordinates>-120.842858,47.410011</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark> You would could follow these steps to add a new peak to the same wiki file: 1. Copy the above entry 2. Substitute the new peak name, elevation and coordinates (longitude first) 3. Paste the new entry into the summit wiki file Now how tough was that? I’ve started evaluating Google Documents and Google Sites to see if they would be suitable for hosting KML map wiki files. Both tools allow multiple people to update the same data file. Now that the Gmap4 beta update is posted, I’ll resume this ‘proof of concept’ testing. For various reasons it will not work to have all the data in one super duper humongous KML file. If a suitable environment is found for hosting KML map wiki files, then we will need to think of a rational way to divide the data among several files. Maybe we should have a separate wiki file for different geographical areas. Another method would be to have different files for different types of data. Finally, this idea of a map wiki could easily fail to reach critical mass. Heck, my yet-to-be-finished feasibility testing might reveal that there presently is no suitable environment to host such a thing. Regardless of what happens with the wiki idea, I do intend to include trip planning features in Gmap4. Thank you for wading through this long-winded spiel. I have an open mind and welcome your thoughts.

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mavrick
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Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 31 | TRs | Pics
Location: Olympia
mavrick
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PostSat Jul 17, 2010 7:19 am 
Hey Joey, I love what you have done so far. One thing I am looking for is having trails layed out in google terrain. I see google earth has the national park trails layer, and was wondering if there is anyway to get something similar for google terrain? Or does this already exist, and I just don't know where to look? What I'm looking for is something similar to below. Thanks. Seven Lakes Basin trail Eric

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Joey
verrry senior member



Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 2794 | TRs | Pics
Location: Redmond
Joey
verrry senior member
PostSat Jul 17, 2010 11:33 am 
Eric, Thanks for the kind words. In general, I have not seen many trails just looking at the Google Terrain view in Google Maps. Although in certain areas the Terrain view does include trails. Thanks for the link to the Trimbles.Outdoors app. I plan to add trip planning features to Gmap4 and that app will give me some good ideas. The reason you see a trail in that app is because someone had that trail as a gpx file on their computer and they uploaded that gpx file into the Trimble database and then added some icons. BTW, I recently discovered that a great way to place gpx and kml files online is via Google Sites. A soon as I finished the documentation I'll post a new version of Gmap4 that can read files hosted on Google Sites.

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