Suggestions for using a Google map?

[gleff]

Hi all,

What i'm trying to do is set my map background to be a google street map, or google terrain map (not google earth).  I'm having a hell of a time trying to do it though and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions/comments.

Here's the issue.  The Zoom level on RB is different to the Zoom level in Google Maps so no matter what I do, proportions, and placement is always incorrect for me.  I can't set both zoom levels to be the same.  The result is the map looks like absolute crap on RB even though the map as a .jpg looks awesome.

Here's what I do.  It may not be the best way of doing it hence this thread.

I go to the zoom level in RB and do a Ctrl D to get the satellite map.  I save the satellite map, and save the zoom level map. 

I then go to the saved satellite map's .stl file to get the co-ordinates.

Using a calculator, I calculate the GPS co-ordinates.

I then use a program called Google Maps Terrain Downloader and enter in the GPS co-ordinates. 

I then choose the Google maps zoom level (here's the first problem.  The zoom levels in google or the terrain downloader are only 15 levels, and you can't find tune the levels to match RB.  One is too big, and the other is too small.

The terrain downloader simply takes 4 co-ordinates and downloads all the map pieces and then stitches them into a .bmp (which I convert to .jpg later).

The end result is the .bmp and .jpg look great and are of the correct region but when I place them in RB using the same .stl co-ordinates, the image looks squished and utterly like crap.

I'm pretty sure it's because the zoom levels are different between RB and Google maps therefore the map doesn't place correctly in RB.

Anyone got any suggestions or comments.  I could be wrong and perhaps it's just something i'm doing wrong, but would really love to use a google map as a background.

Incidently, AirNav.. is there any plans to allow google maps in RB 3D in addition to using google earth maps?

Geoff

[tarbat]

Attach the jpg and stl files to your post, and I'll take a look if you want.

Remember, you can set zoom-level in RB by right-click dragging on the map to draw a rectangle around the area you want covered.  That's what I do.  Create a map, setup the stl, open it in RB, then right-click drag a box around it to set correct zoom-level.

[gleff]

Holy crap batman.. I didn't realize you can right-click and drag to make a custom zoom level.  I'll experiment further tomorrow (it's getting a bit late here in Sydney), and if i'm still having issues, i'll do as you suggest and post the files.

Thanks heaps for that. 

[gleff]

Okay.. was going to go to bed, but played around with the maps and i'm having a bit of trouble getting the google map correctly downloaded.. i'll experiment a bit more tomorrow but here is what I have so far..

Here are the files and it's explanation.

http://www.gleff.com/map/theview.jpg - RB map

http://www.gleff.com/map/theview.stl - RB map co-ordinate file

The google map is as below.. it's not perfect but it's about as close as I seem to be able to get it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-32.911182,147.606812&num=1&t=p&sll=-33.867139,151.207114&sspn=0.018531,0.032015&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Trundle+NSW,+Australia&ll=-33.751748,150.196838&spn=1.655639,5.273437&z=9

For some reason now the google terrain downloader is giving me the correct region but it's a bigger map.  I may be calculating incorrectly.

Couple of questions.

1. How do you do it?  Do you manually stitch parts of a google map together or do you use a program? 

2. How do you do the calculations?  I've basically been following your formula:

To get the co-ordinates of LEFT (long), TOP (lat), RIGHT (long), and BOTTOM (lat):
TOP = (B+D)/60/60/1500
LEFT = A/60/60/1500
BOTTOM = B/60/60/1500
RIGHT = (A+C)/60/60/1500

That gives me the decimal degrees which I plug into the google maps terrain downloader.

I really want to find the easiest and most workable solution but understand it at the same time so I can create maps on the fly without having to spend a day trying to work it out.

Ps. Now i'm going to bed.. i'll check back tomorrow.

Cheers

[tarbat]

Here's what I do.

1. Get the map I want in Google Maps.

2. PrintScreen, and paste into MSPaint.

3. Crop to the exact map I want.

4. Find out the lat/long coordinates for the top left and bottom right corners.

5. Feed those into the stl.xls spreadsheet.

6. Paste the stl numbers into an stl file.

I do think you're trying to overcomplicate things.  Why are you bothering with a sat-map download in ANRB in the first place?  And the formulae you're using convert lat/long to stl, NOT visa-versa.

[gleff]

Hmmm.. So much for going to sleep.. just realised I forgot to upload the .ml3 file.. I've uploaded it now.

I hope I am over complicating things because it's doing my head in LOL.

The reason I was using the sat-map was to get the co-ordinates, and then get the google map from the co-ordinates.. as opposed to getting the google map, then getting the co-ordinates, and then converting them to .stl co-ordinates.  Don't worry.. it's confusing the hell out of me too LOL.

I've now tried it your way and it's way easier, however, the final jpg.. Eg. Google.jpg looks great, but when I bring it up in RB, the image quality is really poor. 

Here's an example..

http://www.gleff.com/map/Google.jpg
http://www.gleff.com/map/Google.stl

If you look at the .jpg on it's own.. the quality is really nice.  Then if you load the .stl into RB, the quality looks quite bad.  Even when you try and zoom in and out.

[tarbat]

Looks okay to me.

Obviously RB will have to scale your image to fit whatever zoom level you're using in RB.

[gleff]

Maybe i'm just being to pedantic but I think that looks horrible.  That's the quality i'm getting too.. but if you compare the text with that of the actual .jpg it's really jagged and ugly. 

I realize that it will scale according to my current zoom level, but I was hoping to get around that by then surrounding the image by right click dragging to make the image the right size.  That obviously doesn't work because the image is being scaled first.  Which was one of the reasons I was trying to save the map .ml3 first and going the other way.  It ensured I was using the same scale on the RB as to the google map.

Ps.  I keep meaning to go to sleep as it's almost 2:30am here but I can't sleep. LOL

[MrT]

Ps.  I keep meaning to go to sleep as it's almost 2:30am here but I can't sleep. LOL

Know the feeling, since I bought my radarbox I've been sitting up till the wee hours mucking around with it!

[Bell 407]

Hi All,

Is there a way of switching off the label function in Google Maps? All I want to use is the simple terrain map with nothing else on it.

Tnx,

[Bell 407]

Hi All,

I have been playing around with the STL file coordinate converter and Google Terrain Maps Downloader.

Process works fine but the sattelite map displayed is "squashed" i.e. the corners of the map image do not line up in ARB.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tnx,

[tarbat]

A screenshot might help understand the problem.  A lot depends on what projection the original map is in, and what projection you're using in RB.

I find that the image normally lines up okay at the bottom of the map, and gets slightly out of line nearer the top of the map.  It's the problem of showing a curved surface on a flat screen.

The bigger the area covered by the map, the harder it is to map the curved surface on a flat screen.

[Bell 407]

Hi Tarbat,

Sorry for the delay but here is the screen shot (reduced to 800 px wide). As you can see, the scale of the Google Terrain Map seems to have been squashed both latitudinally and longitudinally. Look at the cost lines for clues as well as the border of South Africa (white line to the north).

The coordinates used for Google Terrain Downloader were simple: Top Left S-23 and E15. Bottom Right S-28 and E33.

Any reason what is wrong or what I am doing wrong?