OS Maps - a question for the techies
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OS Maps - a question for the techies
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 7:46 pm    Post subject: OS Maps - a question for the techies Reply with quote

I have a netbook (lovely birthday pressie from Jack) to take when we travel. But I can't put memory map on it since it doesn't have a disc drive. I thought I might download some maps from OS now that they are free. I tried one for the NT square, but their FAQ and technical help links don't appear to be working.

I'm wondering what kind of software might be needed to open or read the OS map data. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
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Haggis Hunter
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PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't really help with your Techy question, but to get MM onto the netbook you could buy an external drive which are about £12 on Amazon then you will be able use discs with it.
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haggis Hunter wrote:
I can't really help with your Techy question, but to get MM onto the netbook you could buy an external drive which are about £12 on Amazon then you will be able use discs with it.


I have an external hard drive so that may be the way to go. Thanks
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Big Wolf
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PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could also use a 4GB usb 'memory stick' instead. You might not get as many maps on to it but will be a lot more portable.

You can of course use memory map on the PC to export cut down versions of your PC based maps so that if you have say a 5GB map on the PC then you can then just export the part(s) of the map you need rather than take the who area with you. Doing this you may find that you have enough space on the netbook for the small exported parts without the need for extra storage capacity.
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the suggestions.
But, just out of interest, does anyone know what to do with the OS mas that you can download from the Ordnance Survey website?
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big Wolf wrote:
You could also use a 4GB usb 'memory stick' instead. You might not get as many maps on to it but will be a lot more portable.

You can of course use memory map on the PC to export cut down versions of your PC based maps so that if you have say a 5GB map on the PC then you can then just export the part(s) of the map you need rather than take the who area with you. Doing this you may find that you have enough space on the netbook for the small exported parts without the need for extra storage capacity.


I'm being very dumb. While I can see how to put chunks of the maps onto a USB stick, if the memory map software is not loaded onto the netbook, how will it open?
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HighlandNick
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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Firth of Forth wrote:
Big Wolf wrote:
You could also use a 4GB usb 'memory stick' instead. You might not get as many maps on to it but will be a lot more portable.

You can of course use memory map on the PC to export cut down versions of your PC based maps so that if you have say a 5GB map on the PC then you can then just export the part(s) of the map you need rather than take the who area with you. Doing this you may find that you have enough space on the netbook for the small exported parts without the need for extra storage capacity.


I'm being very dumb. While I can see how to put chunks of the maps onto a USB stick, if the memory map software is not loaded onto the netbook, how will it open?


I'm completely perplexed here - how does anything at all get put onto this netbook and when its there, where is it stored. It seems to be a completely useless item if you can't get stuff on and off it....
What machine is it anyway?
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Haggis Hunter
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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nick, I have looked at netbooks and hardly any of them have CD/DVD drives which means unless you have an external drive you can't put anything on unless it's downloadable or moveable by USB. They are great due to their size for moving about, but HP have got an all signing all dancing laptop that is just slightly larger than a netbook and for not much more. If and when I do buy one it will probably be the HP that I get.

Please don't ask the model of the new HP one, as I seen it in Staples last week and didn't take note of the model.
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Big Wolf
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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Firth of Forth wrote:
I'm being very dumb. While I can see how to put chunks of the maps onto a USB stick, if the memory map software is not loaded onto the netbook, how will it open?


I had assumed (wrongly) that you had already loaded memory map application on to it. The base product for memory map is small (a single file about 20mb) and can easily be downloadable from their website or you could use your normal pc and copy the program from the cd to a usb stick and then move it over to the net book and then run the install program from the usb stick.

After that its a case of getting your maps onto the new device.

The other option is that most net books will use the same internet connection as your home PC and using this link it should be possible to set up a simple network so that both the PC and the Netbook can copy files between then.

Once you have this set up all you need to do is share the CD drive on the PC and it can then be accessed by the net book. This is called a peer to peer network and there is bound be a simple quide on how to do this via good old google.
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chizu
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PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are using the OS data, I would use a "proper GIS" package if you can.
Try loading QGIS onto the netbook and see how it looks... I have read that it depends on the screen resolution, sometimes some of the buttons disapear off the screen.

This would allow you to load in the OS raster tiles (geo tiff), but even better also the new vector data (.shp format). You would need to apply some styling to the vector data though.

I have yet to spend time playing, but I wonder how well the OS data will fit with the caches, as it is British National Grid (transverse mercator) projection rather than the WGS 84 (geodetic) used by geocaching.com. I know I have had to apply a bit of a shift in the past.

I can probably help with the OS data if you can get QGIS on, I mainly use commercial (=££) software for this at work, the data is the same.
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Scotsbob
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PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are using it for travel why not buy a dongle to allow you to connect to the net? I realize that this would probably not be suitable when abroad but it would be ok in the UK, (I am assuming you just want to get cache info) and it would save you having to put the maps on the netbook (great wee things aren't they, mines has hardly been out my hands since I got mine at Christmas).
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chizu
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PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The data works really well in QGIS - we have just loaded in the vector map data, then put a gpx file (from pocket query) on top. You can tell the programme to display them in the same projection format.

I can post further details if anyone is interested.

Data in QGIS (finds near Gifford):

[/img]
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2010 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

HighlandNick wrote:
Firth of Forth wrote:
Big Wolf wrote:
You could also use a 4GB usb 'memory stick' instead. You might not get as many maps on to it but will be a lot more portable.

You can of course use memory map on the PC to export cut down versions of your PC based maps so that if you have say a 5GB map on the PC then you can then just export the part(s) of the map you need rather than take the who area with you. Doing this you may find that you have enough space on the netbook for the small exported parts without the need for extra storage capacity.


I'm being very dumb. While I can see how to put chunks of the maps onto a USB stick, if the memory map software is not loaded onto the netbook, how will it open?


I'm completely perplexed here - how does anything at all get put onto this netbook and when its there, where is it stored. It seems to be a completely useless item if you can't get stuff on and off it....
What machine is it anyway?


It's an Acer Aspire One. It's small, light (with no drive) and useful when we are travelling as I can fit it in a handbag or small backpack. It looks like I would have to pay to download memory map onto it if I want it there as well as on my PDA/computer. That's why I was wondering whether I could do anything with the new free downloadable OS maps.
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Last edited by Firth of Forth on Wed May 12, 2010 9:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2010 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Scotsbob wrote:
If you are using it for travel why not buy a dongle to allow you to connect to the net? I realize that this would probably not be suitable when abroad but it would be ok in the UK, (I am assuming you just want to get cache info) and it would save you having to put the maps on the netbook (great wee things aren't they, mines has hardly been out my hands since I got mine at Christmas).


It connects to the net - have used it frequently - abroad as well as here. So there's no problem getting cache information or loading it into the GPSr. it even has an integral card reader so you can put photos straight into it from the camera. It was really maps I was thinking about trying to get on it when away from home.
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Firth of Forth
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PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2010 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

chizu wrote:
The data works really well in QGIS - we have just loaded in the vector map data, then put a gpx file (from pocket query) on top. You can tell the programme to display them in the same projection format.

I can post further details if anyone is interested.

Data in QGIS (finds near Gifford):

[/img]


That sounds good! What is QGIS and where do you get it? Instructions would be most welcome.
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