MapperIR

Psi-Mapper/Ireland 2.2 for EPOC (Psion Series 5 etc) ===================================================== Released as freeware May 1999 ... A mapping information system for Ireland. Read on... Psi-Mapper update information and new versions can be found at http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/ Requires Psion Series 5 with approximately 200k of free system memory to run in. All data sets are original work of the various contributors, collated using information from low resolution free maps, genuine public domain information, data gathered from personally-owned GPS units, club/hobbyist databases. ****Please note**** that the displayed graphics, coastlines, boundaries, railways and road vectors are shown diagrammatically, for ease of understanding. Please especially note Psi-Mapper's low resolution. Everything is at least +/-1km both horizontally and vertically! Using low resolution means (i) that the program data can be built from public domain information (ii) that Psi-Mapper won't conflict or overlap with existing PC-based GIS systems or infringe map copyrights (iii) (most importantly) that quite large areas and amounts of information can be crammed into a palmtop, where a PC version would need megabytes!! Components and Installation. ---------------------------- If you unzipped Psi-Mapper/Ireland OK, you should have ended up with 2 separate files. One will be this text file 8-) The other is an SIS file. (Experts) If you know what a .SIS file is, just double-click on it in Win95 Explorer or tap on it on the Series 5 and you'll be installed in no time. (Beginners) If you *don't* know what a .SIS file is, this must be one of the very first third party applications you've ever installed. Don't worry, it's all quite painless: IF you have the 'older' PsiWin 2.01 or if you've downloaded Psi-Mapper/Ireland directly onto the Psion 5, the best way to proceed is to copy the "mapperir.sis" file into a suitable place on your Psion. If the file appears on the system screen with a question mark beside it, this just means you haven't yet upgraded your Series 5 to accept EPOC install files. Grab a copy of the special INSTEXE.EXE program from the same place as you obtained Psi-Mapper/Ireland and tap on it on your Psion. You should now see a nice little icon beside the "mappergb.sis" file and can tap on it to complete your installation. IF you have PsiWin 2.1, just double-click on the "mapperir.sis" file to launch EPOC Install on the PC itself and to complete the installation. If all went well, you should now have a new Psi-Mapper/Ireland icon on your Extras bar. --------------------------------- Files installed onto your Series 5 or compatible: --------------------------------- Mapperir.app - the main program module Mapperir.aif - the application icon file plus some support files: Mapihelp.hlp - the comprehensive on-line help file Towns.mp1 - a data-set of towns and cities Coastlin.mp2 - a data-set showing the coastline of Ireland Roads.mp2 - a data-set of the Irish motorway and most of the primary route network (the above three files were updated and compiled by Eddie Slupski, summer 1997) Mapper.mbm - some icons for use with the overlays, including a default one, the town planning symbols and the title screen Vector overlays (i.e. lines and boundaries): National.mp4 - the boundary between Northern and Southern Ireland Railways.mp4 - a vector data-set of the Irish railway network Osgrid.mp4 - a vector data-set of the Irish Grid Reference system Fifty.mp4 - a vector data-set of the Irish 1:50000 map index grid Item overlays (i.e. specific points and labels and reference info): Airports.mp3 - airports! (updated by Eddie Slupski, 1997) Interest.mp3 - places of interest (updated by Zoe Ingle, 1997) Camping.mp3 - camp sites Peaks.mp3 - mountain peaks over 700m (compiled by Zoe Ingle, 1996) Portsire.mp3 - ports capable of taking yachts (contributed by Graeme Smith) HMCGIre.mp3 - coastguard stations (contributed by Graeme Smith) CoastRad.mp3 - coastguard radio stations (contributed by Graeme Smith) Coast2c.mp3 - coast to coast walk - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) Ulstrway.mp3 - Ulster Way walk - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) Walkfest.mp3 - Some walking festivals - (contr. by Paddy DIllon, July 96) YHA.mp3 - Youth Hostels - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) Forest.mp3 - Forest Parks - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) NatTrust.mp3 - National Trust sites (Northern Ireland only) - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) Cathedr.mp3 - Cathedrals, abbeys, ruins etc - (contr. by Zoe Ingle, Jul 96) Viewpont.mp3 - Viewpoints - (contr. by Zoe Ingle, Jul 96) Museum.mp3 - Museums etc - (contr. by Zoe Ingle, Jul 96) Tourinfo.mp3 - Tourist Info Centres - (contr. by Paddy Dillon, July 96) Each of the .mp3 overlays listed above has an associated .MBM file of the same name. These are the on-screen icons for overlays, and will be used if present in the main \System\Apps\MapperIR folder. If they are not present, a default 'star' icon will be used.... Each of the overlays includes reference information for each item, and this can be displayed by turning 'Overlay Reference Fields' On. .MP3 Overlays and their format etc. ----------------------------------- There are three ways to create your own .MP3 overlays, you can choose the method that works best for you: (i) Use the overlay creation menu options to create an overlay and then use the point and shoot method to identify where you want each item icon to appear, together with information for the reference field. This method can obviously be time-consuming if you have a lot of items to enter, but is friendly and easy to use! Note that once you've created an overlay with this method you cannot open it in Psion's DATA application. This is a DATA limitation on the Series 5, unfortunately. Use the supplied utility CustomEd.OPO to edit these special overlays. (ii) If you have a lot of items in your overlay and you know their OS northings and eastings (as numbers from 0 to 1000, so you may have to divide your figures by 10, 100 or 1000...), you can make the MP3 file yourself by preparing (for example) a tab-delimited text file and then importing into DATA. I've supplied a template file (MP3-Temp.lat) which you can copy and rename as appropriate. The general format is: Standard DATA file, named xxxxxxxx.MP3 in \SYSTEM\APPS\MAPPERIR\ 4 fields: Name (text), Eastings (numeric, 0 to 1000), Northings (numeric, 0 to 1000), Reference Info (text) The first record is a header record and should contain (What the reference fields represent) 0 0 (Blank) The second record and following records contain (Name) (Eastings) (northings) (Reference info) (iii) Use the supplied CustomEd.opo utility to add to and to edit your custom overlay. This is a simple data editor and is still in the prototype stage. You will probably want to create a custom icon as well. In this case, Psi-Mapper needs a 17 by 17 single-plane .MBM file of the same filename as the .MP3 overlay, but with a .MBM extension. There are detailed instructions on how to do this in the on-line Psi-Mapper help database. .MP4 overlays and their format ------------------------------- These vector overlays are non-trivial to create, and are best only tackled if you know what you're doing. For the record, here is a quick summary. Note that you can copy and rename the supplied MP4-Temp.lat template database as a way of getting started. Then use DATA itself to construct your records. The MP4 format is simply groups of 5 eastings/northings pairs per record. The 1st/last duplicate/line-up. All ferries/railways etc thus are fitted into block of 5 coordinate pairs. The vector *name* is printed if required to the top right of the third coordinate pair, normally, or to the bottom left if you flag this to Psi-Mapper by setting the eastings coordinate of the *first* point in a record to be negative. First field is text format, all the rest are numeric. All numbers are in 1000s of eastings (i.e. 1km resolution). e.g. Record 1: Basingstoke E1:110 N1:234 E2:114 N2:227 E3:118 N3:220 E4:125 N4:210 E5:132 N5:200 Record 2: Basingstoke E1:132 N1:200 etc etc Deleting info from the custom town database ------------------------------------------------------------ Use the supplied CustomEd.opo utility to maintain and prune your list of custom towns. Once in the program, use the Menu functions to make progress. Grabbing the current map screen as a .MBM file --------------------------------------------- You may well want to grab a map screen as a standard Psion .MBM file, for printing or editing using SKETCH or any other Psion bit-map editor. Grabbing the Psion screen is done with pressing 'Control', 'Shift', 'Function' and 'S' simultaneously (it's easier to do than it sounds).