linuxmaster9 101 Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) I am relatively new to Visitor 4 and am attempting to recreate the Kirkwall Islands located at the northern-most tip of Scotland. http://i.imgur.com/8Guc1fO.jpg?1 (247 kB) I will attempt to keep you guys updated on the progress. A lot of this stuff confuses me. I work with GIS software but am not familiar with the whole layers.cfg and .cpp file creation so it may take awhile. I have been using Global Mapper for the .xyz, sat_lco, road shapefiles, and topography in general. I am loading the files into L3DT pro. It will take a while since the .xyz file is 4.7GB in size. I will then resize it to something like 4096x4096 or 2048x2048. I will do the same for the satmap and so on. Edited January 3, 2015 by LinuxMaster9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spookygnu 563 Posted January 3, 2015 its good to see you advertising your project and seeing new people coming into terrain building, but do you think it might be easier to begin on a smaller island so that it won't frustrate so much trying to work out the cfg files etc. If you don't entirely know what they do and how they work then you may stumble across all kinds of things you may not fully understand and eventually dump the project because it isn't working out for you. May I suggest doing 3 things to get you started. Join the map makers skype channel research start small best way in my opinion, then you won't need to worry about a wasted project through frustration because you learnt the fundamentals first. I began a project on Alcatraz, renaming it Armatraz and put a thread up on the BI forums, saying I'd keep people updated etc, that thread has died a little because I've learnt what to do on that and moved onto bigger terrains. Experimenting and testing my abilities to no end and to the detriment of my family sometimes, but map making is never an overnight thing. Bornholm was 11 months in the making I'm to believe. Just a thought if alot of this stuff is confusing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxmaster9 101 Posted January 4, 2015 Well, i have realized that the islands while they looked small are pretty big so I will be starting with one of the islands and working my way to each one. then, try to stitch all the terrains together if possible. I have been a member of the Skype group but it is very confusing to follow. I really wish there were a better messaging service. Probably something using Jabber or IRC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Uro 220 Posted January 4, 2015 Those are the Orkney Islands, not the Kirkwall Islands, Kirkwall is the main town. I know because I live here ;) These islands are littered with old WW1/WW2 bases, airfields, etc. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spookygnu 563 Posted January 4, 2015 doh! can't believe I didn't even pick up on that! lol! But in anycase, if you do go on the skype channel Linuxmaster, you don't need to follow every conversation its just a bunch of people talking about a bunch off different map making things. It's there for people if they have a question its a goldmine of resource and information. Any question will get duly answered by someone. There's an abundance of knowledge on there. Probably a better place to get hands on help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxmaster9 101 Posted January 5, 2015 Those are the Orkney Islands, not the Kirkwall Islands, Kirkwall is the main town.I know because I live here ;) These islands are littered with old WW1/WW2 bases, airfields, etc. :) Wow, thanks for the info. I knew it wasnt the Kirkwall Islands but Google Earth did not have a name for them other than the City located in them. I guess the biggest challenge I am having is getting the DEM data. Global Mapper usually allows access through AsterDEM but that site apparently is down because it causes Global Mapper to crash everytime I try to use it. Plus the SRTM data I grab online does not work well in L3DT. I want to use Global Mapper to grab all the necessary data for the terrain data. Including the road shapefiles and buildings and so on. Maybe someone can suggest a better program? I do have ArcGIS on a student license but that software is confusing to use. Every version changes so so much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 46 Posted January 5, 2015 Try the UK Ordnance Survey "OS Terrain 50" product - I think it's free OS Terrain 50 They do a "Terrain 5" too - which, as the name implies, is 5m res rather than 50 - it's pretty expensive though. Still, the 50 is better than the equivalent SRTM, and may be less fuss than the often scrappy ASTER coverage too... B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxmaster9 101 Posted January 5, 2015 Thanks for the tip Bushlurker!! i wonder if i can add that as a source to Global Mapper. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 46 Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Not sure if they have a WMS server, but you can download direct from the website - then just drag it into Global Mapper. If it asks for projection details on the way in, use British Grid OSGB36 (Best Transform) - NTv2 Grid and it should drop into place nicely. The Open Streetmap Data available via WMS in Global Mapper is raster-based - useful in itself if you crop it out at the same res as your sat and drop it into Terrain Builder as an additional (satellite) guide layer for object placement or whatever, but if you want the equivalent Vector based product - which may or may not contain some usable shapefiles for roads, etc - you can get that HERE. (There's whole world coverage there so you'll need to delve into the regional directories). I don't know offhand of a OSM vector data WMS server, but there may be a few around. Try Google?? The downloadable OSM vector stuff is Transverse Mercator - WGS84 - Degrees, if I remember correctly - it should autodetect as it loads hopefully. Remember after you've loaded all this differently projected data to reproject the whole deal (in GM... Tools > Configure > Projection) to UTM, WGS1984 Zone 31 before you set up your layers exporting... B Edited January 5, 2015 by Bushlurker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxmaster9 101 Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Not sure if they have a WMS server, but you can download direct from the website - then just drag it into Global Mapper.If it asks for projection details on the way in, use British Grid OSGB36 (Best Transform) - NTv2 Grid and it should drop into place nicely. The Open Streetmap Data available via WMS in Global Mapper is raster-based - useful in itself if you crop it out at the same res as your sat and drop it into Terrain Builder as an additional (satellite) guide layer for object placement or whatever, but if you want the equivalent Vector based product - which may or may not contain some usable shapefiles for roads, etc - you can get that HERE. (There's whole world coverage there so you'll need to delve into the regional directories). I don't know offhand of a OSM vector data WMS server, but there may be a few around. Try Google?? The downloadable OSM vector stuff is Transverse Mercator - WGS84 - Degrees, if I remember correctly - it should autodetect as it loads hopefully. Remember after you've loaded all this differently projected data to reproject the whole deal (in GM... Tools > Configure > Projection) to UTM, WGS1984 Zone 31 before you set up your layers exporting... B Awesome! I am currently on my Linux machine and am going to see what I can do with the QGIS and GRASS software. Especially since Global Mapper is being so spotty lately. Heck, one of the GeoTIFF files it generated was 150GB in size. I deleted that after wasting 12 hours for it to complete the export. I think I will start with North Ronaldsay Island (per OSM info). Edited January 5, 2015 by LinuxMaster9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimbop 25 Posted January 5, 2015 thanx for that terrain 50 link bushlurker. I downloaded some terrain, imported into global mapper, changed the projection as you stated but TB still gives the 'wrong zone' message. tried importing it into l3dt then removing the GeoRef, but after exporting it I get a smaller image! [ie it chops off a chunk of a small island] is there a way to strip all GeoRef in global mapper? oh before I imported into TB I moved the terrain to a new folder so it woudnt get bundled with the .prj file. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 46 Posted January 5, 2015 Try Exporting the heightmap from GM as Arc ASCII (.asc)... Delete any .prj file which is generated. Load the .asc into L3DT Immediately go to Export Heightmap" in L3DT - choose to Export as .asc and in the "export options", change "UseProjGeoref (bool) = true" to "=false" That should get rid of any projection info and allow TB to import the heightmap properly... B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimbop 25 Posted January 5, 2015 thanx mate! that worked :D is there a flaw in TB why it wont import a heightfield even though it has the right projection? I fancy by the time arma 3 tools are sorted well have arma4. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
