Printing/saving settings for Tasmania ListMap

[GPSGuided]

Been playing around with the excellent Tas govt's ListMap service and saving and printing a few maps. Using the Scanned Map as the base layer, it took me quite a few tries to get the saved PDF to include the exact area I wanted. It seemed to want to print an area that's way more than what is displayed within a browser window. Leaving that aside, the printout from these saved PDF aren't to any particular scale. A bit annoying that drives one to buy the "real" map. I've tried to use their A3 page option to try to capture a larger area, or what seemed to be a larger area in greater resolution.

So the question is, what settings have you found to work well for your PDF file and printing? Have you guys used it successfully with any of the smartphone apps eg. MapsnTrax amongst others? Any tips? Thanks.

[Son of a Beach]

Been playing around with the excellent Tas govt's ListMap service and saving and printing a few maps. Using the Scanned Map as the base layer, it took me quite a few tries to get the saved PDF to include the exact area I wanted. It seemed to want to print an area that's way more than what is displayed within a browser window. Leaving that aside, the printout from these saved PDF aren't to any particular scale. A bit annoying that drives one to buy the "real" map. I've tried to use their A3 page option to try to capture a larger area, or what seemed to be a larger area in greater resolution.

So the question is, what settings have you found to work well for your PDF file and printing?

I also save them to PDF from the web site and then print them out to have a paper backup when using electronic versions on the iPhone. I agree that getting a PDF that includes the zoom level you really want is a problem - it appears to zoom out one or two levels before generating the PDF. It takes some trial and error to get what you really want, and is a bit frustrating.

Other than that, it's an excellent service. Oh, the printed maps don't have a scale on them at all, which is a big oversight. I'm sure they'll fix that one day. You can print with graticule on though, which is similar.

Oh, one other thing. I use their 'topographic' layer, not their 'scanned' layer. The 'topographic' layer looks nice on screen, but on paper, the colours are too washed out and feint. Useable, but not ideal. Maybe I should use the scanned layer for printing.

Have you guys used it successfully with any of the smartphone apps eg. MapsnTrax amongst others? Any tips? Thanks.

I use the 'topographic' LISTmap in Maps n Trax as a background map (i.e. downloads from their web site as it needs to) and then save them locally within Maps n Trax so I can use them offline.

Here's a tip for Maps n Trax: Go to 'Settings' -> 'Background Map Sources' -> 'Edit' -> 'New'

Then enter the name and URL for one (or all) of these:

Code: Select all

LISTMap Topographic:

http://services.thelist.tas.gov.au/arcgis/services/Basemaps/Topographic/ImageServer/WMSServer?FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=&SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&WIDTH=256&HEIGHT=256&[wms]

LISTMap Orthophoto:

http://services.thelist.tas.gov.au/arcgis/services/Basemaps/Orthophoto/ImageServer/WMSServer?FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=&SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&WIDTH=256&HEIGHT=256&[wms]

LISTMap Scanned Maps:

http://services.thelist.tas.gov.au/arcgis/services/Basemaps/TasmapRaster/ImageServer/WMSServer?FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=&SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&WIDTH=256&HEIGHT=256&[wms]

(The URLs are way too long to type in on the iPhone, so copy/paste from the browser on your iPhone!)

Once back on the main map view, select the one you want from the background map selector (top right next to the "i" item).

You can also save an area of the map defined by the current view on screen for offline usage. Use the store/save item (looks like a folder) in the middle of the bottom toolbar. On the next view you can define the zoom levels at which you want it saved. Of course, this can take a long time to download and can take up a lot of storage space, so be very cautious with that. Use the default zoom levels first and take note of the number of tiles and how long it takes. Then try another zoom level or two. You can get a feel for what's feasible this way. You can also save a couple of zoom levels first, then save a couple more as a separate map, and then maybe one more as a third map. Then you can merge all three back into one map afterwards.

[GPSGuided]

Thanks SOB! Glad that ListMap printing behaviour wasn't just with my Mac/browsers. Just have to live with it till they fit the issue.

Will definitely try out the setting suggestions on your MapsnTrax, but in the meantime, have you got reports of your latest version crashing under iOS 7.1 when the Settings button is pressed? It's happening to my 5S with iOS 7.1 that was just updated earlier today. It's the latest version of MnT that you have released.

[Son of a Beach]

Thanks SOB! Glad that ListMap printing behaviour wasn't just with my Mac/browsers. Just have to live with it till they fit the issue.

Will definitely try out the setting suggestions on your MapsnTrax, but in the meantime, have you got reports of your latest version crashing under iOS 7.1 when the Settings button is pressed? It's happening to my 5S with iOS 7.1 that was just updated earlier today. It's the latest version of MnT that you have released.

No I haven't heard of that one (I haven't upgraded to 7.1 yet - it was released when I was just about to go off bushwalking). Please send me the crash logs if you can (see: http://bjango.com/help/crashlog/ ). Support email address is at: http://nixanz.com/maps-n-trax/support/ . Meanwhile, I'll update and see if I can replicate the problem.

[GPSGuided]

Let me sync my iPhone first and then track down that crash report. As I haven't really done much with MnT since purchase, more as a play, so all the settings are really just on default. So was a bit surprised by the repeatable crash. -> Sent.

[GPSGuided]

Ignore

[Son of a Beach]

Yowsers, I've upgraded, found the fault and fixed it. Apple have changed something between iOS 7.0 and 7.1 so that the line of code that I was using to determine the default tint colour (to use for the icons in Settings items) now returns NULL. I've replaced it with an alternative method. I wonder if they'll break that in 7.2. I'll try to get the fix out ASAP, because that's a big problem.

(Sorry for hijacking this topic - I was originally just intending to provide direct answers to your original questions. )

[GPSGuided]

No problem. I don't think there's one interesting forum thread on the planet (ok, maybe just one) that doesn't routinely wonders off topic. In this case, it's still on topic.

[Son of a Beach]

Just a quick update to let you (and others) know that the update to Maps n Trax that fixes the incompatibility with the recently released iOS 7.1 has been approved and released on the App Store this morning.

Also, I've just posted a tutorial for using LISTmap maps as background maps in Maps n Trax at: http://forum.nixanz.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=502

[GPSGuided]

Ok SOB, I've just followed your instruction on the use of online LISTmap and it worked great! How neat! And you have indeed fixed the SW bug/s under iOS 7.1. Exploring further, OSM and OCM also worked perfectly apart from OSM's server speed. Looks like I'll need to devote a bit of time to fully explore all the features your app offers.

Thanks again.

[tastrax]

Been playing around with the excellent Tas govt's ListMap service and saving and printing a few maps. Using the Scanned Map as the base layer, it took me quite a few tries to get the saved PDF to include the exact area I wanted. It seemed to want to print an area that's way more than what is displayed within a browser window. Leaving that aside, the printout from these saved PDF aren't to any particular scale. A bit annoying that drives one to buy the "real" map. I've tried to use their A3 page option to try to capture a larger area, or what seemed to be a larger area in greater resolution.

So the question is, what settings have you found to work well for your PDF file and printing? Have you guys used it successfully with any of the smartphone apps eg. MapsnTrax amongst others? Any tips? Thanks.

I have had similar issues and got the following response when I sent in a request to [email protected]

"In relation to the printing to PDF, there is an algorithm that looks at the aspect ratio of the browser window, the size and the zoom scale, and compares this to the paper orientation and size, and then works out how best to represent the map on the paper. If your map is the same aspect as the printed page, then generally you should get a better result. From memory, I think the aim is to ensure what you see on the screen is contained in the print, and the printed scale will change to ensure this occurs.

In relation to a scale bar, we decided that if the grid is printed on the map, then this represent the scale, and thus a scale bar would not be necessary."

You can use bookmarks to save a map location (on the Map Tools Toolbar) and come back to it at a later date. You can also pass the bookmark details to others so they can find the same map. This also save any layers that you have added to your map.

I am yet to find a solution to the really faded Topo print jobs. I have reported it, as it also applies when using the WMS links into other GIS software like Mapinfo and ArcMap.