[aprssig] Xastir Map question

[Tom Russo]

On Tue, Jun 03, 2014 at 01:17:41PM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <mike at mikegoldweber.name> flavor, containing:
>    Hi Mike,
> 
>    I don't know Xastir, so I don't know for certain if this advice will be
>    helpful.  However, I am an EC in ARES for my town.  I was able to get in
>    touch with the GIS professional for my town and through him I was able to
>    get shape files (filled with vector data) of the town.  Related to this,
>    in my last job, I was handling the creation of maps for our software and I
>    frequently was in touch with town, county, and university personnel to get
>    map (vector and raster) data.  In each case, I requested shape files,
>    because it was compatible with the software we were using.  The shape
>    files do not require an internet connection.  Just disk space and a
>    program that will read them.
> 
>    If your program doesn't use shape files, you may be able to use an editor
>    that will convert the shape file into a jpeg (or gif/bmp/ stc), and that
>    can attach a lat/lon to different points on the map.  This is a good
>    technique to use for inserting a overhead/aerial photograph into your map
>    display. I found a base aerial photograph with map data layered on top of
>    the photo is very exciting.

Xastir definitely handles shapefiles.  It can be a little bit of a challenge 
to construct the file required to get it to render those shapefiles in a 
pretty way, but there is a powerful capability to do it (through its "dbfawk"
system).  The system allows one to select shapes from the shapefile based on
attributes, level of detail appropriate to the zoom  level, label the shapes
using combinations of attributes, and so forth.

Using local GIS departments to obtain shapefile data is an excellent approach,
especially for emergency operations.

Xastir will alow you to overlay shapefiles over any raster layer you like, 
including locally stored USGS topo sheets, FAA sectional charts, georeferenced 
scanned images, as well as on-line map layers (e.g. openstreetmaps, 
terraserver aerial photos, etc.).

And APRS tracks from xastir can be exported as shapefiles to be used for 
documentation purposes, for import into other programs, or to use as map
layers later.

Under normal circumstances the best place to talk about using Xastir is on
the Xastir mailing list, but the list and the Xastir wiki are both in the 
middle of being moved from one server (where they have lived for years) to 
another, and both are currently down.  I have it on good authority that the
list is expected to be returned to operation first, and within the next few
days.

>      From: "ml41782" <ml41782 at yahoo.com>
>      Date: 6/3/14 1:20 pm
>      To: "aprssig at tapr.org" <aprssig at tapr.org>
> 
>      I'm putting together an APRS project for our county EOC   .
> 
>      I need everything to reside on the computer. No internet access.
>      I want to use some good quality of our county  and surrounding
>      jurisdictions.
> 
>      We have an event coming up that will have several dignitaries from other
>      jurisdictions and agencies present.
>      I want to do this right.


-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
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