Thread: mapsphere help

I am surprised you have to ask...

There is a list of maps you can use on their home page

OpenStreetMap would be a good one.


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thanks for the help, am a newbie when it comes to this gps stuff

G'day ade.
Download and install the Google Maps plug-in from the MapSphere site (link here) and you will be able to use the Google satelite imagery. Fantastic for detailed aerial views of tracks and locations. Unlike some other software you can get that uses Google imagery, this one doesn't bomb you out for 24 hours if Google think you are downloading too much!

Assuming you are connected to the web (a pre-requisite for building your saved maps), you select the "source" from the screen dropdown, make sure the button is active for "auto download", and then pan around and zoom in. All the images and map files/tiles are then automatically downloaded and saved to your hard drive (withiin the MapSphere program directory structure) for recalling when you are out and about without the net connection. The more you download, the bigger the files gets (in a compressed format) and is automatically added to and updated if the online tiles change, the next time you view them when online.

There's a few of us here on AULRO that now use and prefer MapSphere over Ozi-Explorer. It's much more user friendly for day trips, though I can most definatley see the advantage Ozi has over it for long planned holiday trips, expeditions, etc. But for day trips and a bit of local area mapping, MapSphere is fantastic!

Feel free to ask any questons, I know of at least 5 of us who are using it to death! A few of the latest updates to MapSphere have been as a direct request to the developers from both myself and BST4X4XFA (another forumite).

Cheers,

thanks aussieaub, that was the sort of answer i was hoping for, very helpful as i couldnt work out how to download the google app and found the maps already supplied on mapsphere not very helpful. stay tuned, theres bound to be some more questions as i go along. now i will be able to use it for my trip to tom price this friday! thanks again
ade

once the plugin is downloaded and installed, should the google maps be on the dtat layer dropdown with the other maps?

Originally Posted by ade

thanks aussieaub, that was the sort of answer i was hoping for, very helpful as i couldnt work out how to download the google app and found the maps already supplied on mapsphere not very helpful. stay tuned, theres bound to be some more questions as i go along. now i will be able to use it for my trip to tom price this friday! thanks again
ade

Not a problem. Ask away!

Originally Posted by ade

once the plugin is downloaded and installed, should the google maps be on the dtat layer dropdown with the other maps?

Yes. It will be added at the bottom of the "Data layer:" dropdown list.
But you'll need to install the plug-in when MapSphere is closed.
Re-open after the plug-in installation and "Google - Satellite" will be at the bottom the list.

Here's a tip for getting hold of the tiles/images from Google Earth (and any of the other map providers the program uses) very easily.

Make sure you are online. I suggest a wired connection as opposed to WIFI as it will be way too slow otherwise.

In MapSphere zoom around and pan in to the general area you are looking to download.
Using the "Toggle Measure Tool" (little ruler icon between the "cog" and the "question mark"), draw lines between multiple points of places you are likely to go, just by clicking on the screen.
You should now see a line (or several!) on screen.

Carefully right click somewhere ON the line, and select "Download maps along the path".

You should now have a box called "Area Download".
Select which kind/type/supplier (data layer) you wish to use. I normally use the "Google - Satellite" one. Though you can use multiple selections, eg, "Google - Street Maps", and have the best of both worlds (it will download data for both/all selected data layers along the route paths you have chosen).

Under that selection box is an option to additionally increase that area by a distance in km's of your choice to either side of the line. Maybe use 2-3km if you don't plan leaving that particular line of travel by far?

And also a limit to the maximum resolution. By trial and error we have found 0.6 to be more than satisfactory, but 0.3 delivers the best results. However, it will also download considerably more detail, and hence more data (file size).
You'll find what suits you best.

This process will download all the tiles/images etc to your hard drive, so when you're out bush with no net connection, your machine will read from its own standalone set of images/data.

Hope that helps a little.

Enjoy!


*Tip: I have found on a machine running XP that its best NOT to login if you have set a user account. Just hit "cancel" at the start screen WITHOUT logging on. I had issues with MapSphere timing out and crashing when it was trying to, but couldn't get hold of, a web connection. I'll be letting the support team know soon.