One of the final pieces in the alpha version of TrueNorth is a demonstration of the software’s ability to integrate live tracking data from an external source. We implemented a tracking layer that’s intended to display position updates from various sources. The first source we implemented was APRS-IS APRS is the Automated Packet Reporting System …
A preface; this is not an April Fool’s joke. No, Web Map Serivce is a real thing and it’s one of the least known and most useful web-based mapping standards out there. Simply put, many government agencies put their maps online. By using WMS, they can make the map imagery available while keeping the underlying data “safe” — …
What’s this? A screenshot that isn’t a map? Yes, boring, but it demonstrates the various capabilities we are planning for TrueNorth — check out the layers we have here under development. Hopefully the layers speak for themselves, but here’s a quick summary. Grid Layer: draws the graticule and what cartographer’s call map furniture: these are …
The GPX import plugin was a no-brainer to write, so it’s been done and operating smoothly for a long time. In fact, the GPX standard and the data fields it supports helped to inspire some of the data structures within TrueNorth itself. This screenshot shows the results of a GPX file import. The data came …
We’re wearing our playoff beards over here at TrueNorth (well, those of us who can grow them); we’re working very hard at the Alpha release, but we just can’t contain our excitement at some of the things we’re dialing in. Today, it’s Google Maps. To be clear, this isn’t a feature that we’ve spent a …
This post is a little technical, so my apologies. The intent is to illustrate the ease of developing extensions to TrueNorth to support geospatial standards. So yesterday I was doing some research on the “scheme” (commonly know as the “protocol”) portion of a URL. Most of you are familiar with the http or https in an url. …
Today we had a bug to fix; some eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that the scale bar was incorrect in the previous two screenshots. In the process of fixing the bug we found that it was useful to compare the same area drawn in two separate map windows using different base map data: one using the Topographic …
In the past two days we’ve implemented an OpenStreetMap layer that polls imagery (tiles) down from the OpenStreetMap servers. You can use OSM, and other “tile servers” such as Google Maps, Bing Maps, and even ArcGis Tile Server. Screenshot below Unlike the last post, this is a true screen shot, showing some of the UI. If …
A screenshot of the latest build of TrueNorth. This is the Joffre Group, just north of Pemberton, British Columbia Technically, this isn’t a screenshot. One of the basic plugins saves whatever’s on screen as a PNG; this is the screen without the decorations and controls. Note the presence of the UTM grid; one of the …
We’re developing TrueNorth at a frantic pace, and we’re just about ready for an early alpha, but the question is this; we don’t have any documentation ready. How do people feel about testing an alpha release without documentation? For supporting the testers of the early releases, we have the following in place: TrueNorth Wiki TrueNorth Forum …