Map Calibration by Points

Hi,

Trying to calibrate a *.jpg map

.... and pressed send before I'd finished the question!

The numerical format for gps co-ordinates in dewesoft is Degrees:Minutes where minutes is XX.yyyyyyy. It doesn't display seconds.

1. It would be nice to be able to change the displayed numerical format to Degrees:Minutes:seconds or Degrees as a decimal (as per google maps). Is there any way to do that?

2. When calibrating a map by points (I don't have a track to stretch to the map), the requested numerical format is Degrees:minutes:seconds; but when I move on to the next point, the seconds field seems to get corrupted. I tried entering degrees:minutes (as per the display format) and that nearly worked. But I still can't get the calibration correct. In what format should I enter the point data?

3. It would be nice to be able to edit the calibration data after saving the calibration file .. instead of starting again .. eg I'm in australia and the latitude must be degrees SOUTH, if I accidently forget the "south" option the calibration fails ... then I have to enter all the calibration points again from scratch.

In the end I had to use a track log .. but it's never as accurate.

Hi,

I'm going to try answering everything point by point according to your questions.

1. We currently don't have different display formats for degrees. You can however configure it to the degrees as a decimal format (like Google maps) just by using Longitude and Latitude in a formula and dividing them by 60. You can then use the new channel as your GPS coordinate display, but it will be without the degree symbol. I've attached a comparison picture.

2. You should enter the points in the "Degrees, Minutes and Seconds" format, where degrees and minutes should be integers while seconds can be a decimal. If you check this website, the DMS format is exactly the same that you need to enter, but instead of the of the decimal point we use a comma for seconds. When you say that the field gets corrupted, do you receive an error or anything similar? I've tested calibrating a map and the track was correctly displayed, so I couldn't reproduce the issue.

3. I agree that it would be a nice feature. I thought you could easily adjust the North/South mistake by changing the +/- in the calibration txt file, but it seems that the file only saves the already scaled edges in pixels. I can add this as a wish request if you want, so the developers will consider its implementation.

Hi,

Thanks for the sharp reply.

1. Yes OK .. the availability of different numerical formats would be nice. Especially if the display could show the SAME format as is required for calibration point entry .. ie my test train is sitting at Rosewood station and I can see the GPS location, but have to calculate it to a different format to enter it as a calibration point.

2. I can enter seconds as ss.sss; but when I go back to look at the data for that cal point there is some different and incorrect number in the ss field .. maybe it makes no difference, but its confusing. See the two attachments.

3. Yes please, editable calibration files.

I shall try to cal the map again ... for testing we had to revert to a track log but it was accurate enough.

Thanks

Hi,

it's no problem. Thank you for sharing the screenshots, that seems like a bug. I've added it to the bug list and I'll let you know when it gets fixed and to which branch the update will be added.

I've also added the feature requests (different display formats and the ability to edit calibration files). I'll let you know if the developers decide to implement either one of them.

Hi,

the bug with point calibration has been fixed. Since we've just uploaded two new versions yesterday, it might be a while before the next SP9 gets uploaded. You should however expect a new SP10 on the webpage on Monday, which will also contain this update.

Hi,

our developers have just implemented your wish to enter the longitude/latitude in the same format as DEWESoft displays them, so it should now be easier to calibrate the GPS map. There have also been some general improvements to the accuracy of the calibration.

Both updates will be available in X2 SP10 RC17.

Thanks for that. I just uploaded SP10 to take a look and it's NEARLY exactly right!

Calibration entry is now a choice of pure decimal (as per google maps ... which is good) or D:M:S. Dewesoft meanwhile still displays D:M.mmm IE minutes as a decimal and no seconds. So we still can't type what dewesoft displays straight into the cal dialogue. However, your "divide by 60" work-around allows display of GPS location in Google maps format. SO, achieves the aim with a couple of extra math channels.

... and not included in X3; sure it will come ;¬)

Hi,

I'm sorry about the misunderstanding of the format. I've discussed this with our lead visual and UI developer and he thinks that we should make a general project setting where you could choose how the GPS coordinates will be displayed. There you could for example choose the Google maps format (Decimal degrees), which would then be applied to all of the displays in your setup file. I can't really give you a time estimate on this but it's something that will most likely be added as a feature for X3.

As for the addition of the other calibration format, I can guarantee that it will also be available in X3, it just hasn't been merged as of this moment. I think that it will be present in the next version of X3.

I also have a question for you in regard to your feature request for editing calibration files. Because of the improvement that we've made to the calibration's precision and with the upcoming unification of the calibration and display coordinate format, do you think the editing calibration files is still needed? In most cases where you enter only two points, creating a new file is almost the same as editing the old one and the increased precision might enough of a reason that you don't need to edit the files anymore. Please let us know what you think.

"...make a general project setting where you could choose how the GPS coordinates will be displayed". Yes that's a good idea.

"editing calibration files". The reason I asked for the function to edit map cal files is that sometimes during calibration of a map (which may take three of four points to get an accurate fix), it's easy to enter one point incorrectly (ie my north / south hemisphere problem in Australia). You only discover the error when trying to display the map, then have to enter all the points again. So I still think it's a nice feature to have.

Thanks for the help and consideration of user needs .. you don't get this kind of service from Apple or Microsoft!! ;¬)

Hi,

thank you for the compliments :). I understand why the "edit calibration file" feature would still be useful to you. I'll see what I can do to get it implemented in a future version of X3.

Dear Nick,

as the GPS control is deprecated you can use Map VC which was just released in X3 SP5, and it solves this kind of issues in completely different way.

Regards

Absolutely!! I have been playing extensively with the new control and keeping your map server busy.

But there will be a change over period in which we use the old GPS control and calibrated maps. Why? Well most of the PCs we use for data acquisition don't support OpenGL 4.0 and can't run the new VC! We have a lot of calibrated maps from the last xx years, so have to keep using those. Also a huge library of old dewesoft X and X2 recordings that use the control. Yes we keep copies of X and X2 available - but it's easier to just use X3.

Many thanks for the new control, but Please don't remove the old GPS control quite yet!