MAPPER-3a 2.3 (C) UK 1994,1995 Steve Litchfield =============================================== Requires Psion Series 3a or Acorn PocketBook II, with approximately 100k of free system memory to run in. *NOTE* for upgraders from versions prior to 2.1: the settings file format has changed, so you'll have to re-set your favourite map settings the first time you use v2.3 ... *NOTE* for ALL upgraders: take note of the continuing clarification of the name, MAPPER-3a, now including the naming of the OPA file and the subdirectory beneath \APP\ (This naming clarification is to avoid any possible clashes with programs of similar name and function on other computer platforms) The change of name means that you are best advised to (i) delete the old \APP\MAPPER.OPA file (if you have one) (ii) remove the old \APP\MAPPER\ directory and its contents (if you have one) (iii) create a \APP\MAPPER3A\ directory for the MAPPER-3a v2.3 data files (iv) after you've installed the v2.3 files, remember to do 'Remove application' on the old MAPPER-3a icon and **re-install*** from the MAPPER3A.OPA file. You'll know if you've done it right, as the v2.3 icon is slightly different .... Note the supplied RCOM/MCLINK script file which may help you to install the MAPPER-3a v2.3 modules. If in doubt, check your mapper installation against the module listings in the sections below ... ******************************************************************** This text file documents the history of the program and some of the more technical aspects to running it. For general help in using and understanding the program, please browse through the extensive on-line help. ******************************************************************** This text file included with both the core and data ZIP files ..... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick summary for v2.3: (changes since 2.2) Jump to position function now supports jumping to specific northings/eastings; extra hot-keys added (I,L,V); name clarification extended to program filename and subdirectory; many, many more primary routes and other major roads; lots more postcodes added; a few minor bugs fixed; data fixes in the Race course overlay; setting home town now recentres the map display; a 'Compuserve node' overlay is added; a 'Surviving complete Vulcan bombers' overlay is added; the 'Novotel' overlay has been added to and also now includes phone numbers; the useful numbers section is now in 'Help'-style format; the main town database is now sorted in reverse-name-length order (i.e. finds 'Chester' before 'Manchester' etc); a .MP4 vector overlay is included to show the traditional OS 'letter' grid system. Quick summary for v2.2: (changes since 2.1) Motorway names in bold bug fixed; railway lines cancelling bug fixed; new camping icon; removed duplicate Psion-V menu item; removed duplicate railway MP2 file (should now be MP4); Quick summary for v2.1: (changes since 1.8) Program now split into two ZIPs for convenience; additional vector overlays now supported (.MP4 type); roads and vector overlays can be shown in black or grey or both; motor racing circuits overlay, a dozen or so more primary routes; some data fixes; Centre select/positional info now merged into one function; lots of extra settings, including a bug-fix for the fuel economy section; roads can now be made sticky independent of other overlays, and item and vector overlays can also be simultaneously sticky; ESC now refreshes/redraws the screen; all help screens expanded upon and revamped using scrollable dialogs etc; added the ability to search for a string within an overlay file; Quick summary for v1.8: (changes since 1.7) Added Camping and Caravanning Club sites overlay; fixed the 'home town' in custom list bug; added TV transmitter overlay. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is MAPPER-3a 2.3, released as shareware for the Psion 3a in January 1995. All rights reserved, and copyrights, including the database files and their format. One thing MAPPER-3a *cannot* do, for space reasons on disk, is calculate 'best routes', or even display most roads on the map, as the sheer amount of data involved would make the program prohibitively large. This is very much an evolving product, and new data sets and bug fixes, data fixes and suggestions are being implemented all the time. Components and Installation. ---------------------------- MAPPER-3a v2.3 contains the following components: (note that an example MCLINK (or RCOM) script file is included, called INSTALL.SCR, which you may wish to customise for yourself and use it to save yourself some typing. Note that for the script to work properly, you need to have unzipped both MAPP23.ZIP and MAPX23.ZIP into the same directory. Then start MCLINK and type @INSTALL.SCR) {In the zip MAPP23.ZIP - the core modules} MAPPER3A.OPA - the main program module. Place this in an \APP\ directory on any Psion drive, and install onto your system screen with Psion-I. plus essential support files, to be placed in a \APP\MAPPER3A\ subdirectory: MAPHELP.HLP - the comprehensive on-line help file USEFUL.HLP - a help file of some useful numbers GB.MP1 - a data-set of approximately 1100 towns and cities COASTLIN.MP2 - a data-set showing the coastline of GB and a few close islands, plus the national boundaries MOTORWAY.MP2 - a data-set of the GB motorway and a lot of the primary route network MAPPER.PIC - some icons for use with the overlays, including a default one, and the title screen {in the zip MAPX23.ZIP, the extra overlays, install the ones you want or have room for!! Some of them are a bit off-beat, but serve as good examples of the sorts of data-sets you can compile yourself ...} these also all go into the aforementioned \APP\MAPPER3A\ ... RAILWAYS.MP4 - a vector format data-set of the GB railway network (excluding some local or irregular services) FERRIES.MP4 - a vector format data-set of the external GB ferry routes OSGRID.MP4 - a vector format data-set of the OS 'Letter' Grid system LITTLECH.MP3 - a data-set of all Little Chef restauarants in GB. HAPPYEAT.MP3 - a data-set of all Happy Eater restauarants in GB. NOVOTEL.MP3 - a data-set of all Novotel Hotels in GB. TRAVELOD.MP3 - a data-set of all Forte Travelodges in GB. RACECRSE.MP3 - a data-set of all race courses in GB. AIRFIELD.MP3 - a data-set of all airfields in GB. FOOTBALL.MP3 - a data-set of all the football grounds in GB BEACON.MP3 - a data-set of all aircraft beacons in GB REPET145.MP3 - a data-set of the Rn 145MHz radio repeaters in GB REPET433.MP3 - a data-set of the RB 433MHz radio repeaters in GB CAMP&CAR.MP3 - a data-set of Camping & Caravanning club sites in GB TVMAINTX.MP3 - a data-set of TV transmitters in GB MRACING.MP3 - a data-set of motor racing circuits in GB CIS.MP3 - a data-set of the Compuserve nodes in GB VULCANS.MP3 - a data-set of the surviving COMPLETE Vulcan bombers in GB Each of the .MP3 overlays listed above has an associated .PIC file of the same name. These are the on-screen icons for overlays, and will be used if present in the main \APP\MAPPER3A\ directory. If they are not present, a default 'star' icon will be used .... Each of the overlays includes reference information for each item, and this can be displayed by turning 'Overlay Reference Fields' On. =======all the above support files live in the \APP\MAPPER3A\ directory====== MAPPER-3a 2.3 needs approximately 100k of system memory while running. If you try to start it with less than this amount available, it will hopefully warn you and exit. Shareware notes. ---------------- MAPPER-3a 2.3 is shareware. This does not make it a free program! Yes, you can copy it freely to friends or acquaintances, or even upload the original ZIP files to bulletin boards etc, but if you like it and continue to use it, then you are honour-bound to register the program by sending me a cheque for œ11 (pounds). Registration gets you: a) a clear conscience that you're using paid-for software, and that you're helping support future development of MAPPER-3a and other quality Psion shareware software. b) a special code that will personalise your copy of MAPPER-3a, remove the opening shareware screen and let you access the program more conveniently, including the ability to add your own place names to the MAPPER-3a database and shrink the status window to give more room on-screen. No need to re-install the software, just use the registration menu option and type in the code! c) A direct say in how the program develops. .MP3 Overlays and their format etc. ----------------------------------- There are three ways to create your own .MP3 overlays: (i) Use the overlay creation menu options to create an overlay and then use the point and shoot method to identify where you want each item icon to appear, together with information for the reference field. This method can obviously be time-consuming if you have a lot of items to enter. (ii) If you have a lot of items in your overlay and you know their OS northings and eastings (as numbers from 0 to 1000, so you may have to divide your figures by 10, 100 or 1000...), you can make the MP3 file yourself by preparing (for example) a CSV text file and then importing into DATA. The format is: Standard DATA file, named xxxxxxxx.MP3 in \APP\MAPPER3A\ 4 text fields: Name, Eastings, Northings, Reference Info The first record is a header record and should contain (What the reference fields represent) (What the name fields represent) (Blank) (Blank) The second record and following records contain (Name) (Eastings) (northings) (Reference info) If this is not clear to you, then please get in touch and I can arrange to help you construct your overlay. (iii) The third option is if you only have information in latitude and longitude or in paper map form and require extra help to construct an overlay. Please get in touch and I'll see what I can do! Please note that although these .MP3 files are editable under DATA, you will run into a few problems if you update the records in the file on a flash disk, as the file *must be compressed* for MAPPER-3a to use it, and the 3a won't let you compress a file on a flash disk! This will be addressed in a future MAPPER-3a release, in the meantime, you'll have to copy the file onto your internal or RAM disk, make the changes, compress the file and then copy it back over into the \APP\MAPPER3A\ directory on your flash. You will probably want to create a custom icon as well. In this case, MAPPER-3a needs a 17 by 17 single-plane PIC file of the same filename as the .MP3 overlay, but with a .PIC extension. I normally create these icons by starting with a 48x48 blank icon using DRAW206 (see appendix notes), drawing my icon in the top-left corner, selecting the top 17x17 and copying to the clipboard. Then create a new 17x17 PIC and paste the clipboard into it. Save and exit. Phew! Deleting info from the custom town database, \OPD\MAPPER.DBF ------------------------------------------------------------ The \OPD\MAPPER.DBF file is editable under DATA, so you can delete individual towns etc and modify them in this way. Please remember to compress the file before exiting DATA ! Grabbing the current map screen as a PIC file --------------------------------------------- You may well want to grab a map screen as a standard Psion .PIC file, for printing or editing using DRAW (see small print at end) or PAINT or any other 3a bit-map editor. Grabbing the 3a screen is done with pressing 'Control', 'Shift', 'Psion' and 'S' simultaneously (it's easier to do than it sounds) and lo and behold a file called SCREEN.PIC will have appeared in the root directory (\) of your internal disk ... _+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_ Thanks for trying MAPPER-3a! If you decide to remove MAPPER-3a from your Psion, please note that it creates three small files in \OPD\ on your default disk. MAPPER.DBF (custom place database), MAPPER.REG (your registration key, once I've given it to you) and MAPPERn.SET (used to store your preferences and position etc from session to session. 'n' is a number chosen by MAPPER-3a). Important details. ------------------ Registration address (send cheque for 11 pounds to): Steve Litchfield 8 Grove Farm Mytchett Surrey GU16 6AQ Small print: ------------ 1) Reverse engineering of the program or data modules is strictly forbidden. If you would like to create a complementary program and use my data-sets, then please get in touch with me. 2) Please note that I also run 3-Lib, *the* clearing-house for Psion public domain and shareware software. Send me a stamped self-addressed envelope to the above address, and I'll return the latest catalogue. 3) A useful related program to have available for editing and cropping any screen-grabs you do in MAPPER-3a is DRAW 2.06, by Rick Andrews. This is a S3a-only full bitmap editor and manipulator and is also shareware, available wherever you got MAPPER-3a from. 4) You can contact me via email at slitchfield@cix.compulink.co.uk, if you'd like. To speed up registrations, you can quote your email address for quick return of your registration code. 5) On-line support for MAPPER-3a, including test versions and extra utilities are provided in the 'mapper' conference on CIX. Thanks very much to the members of this conference for their suggestions, help and the supply of data-sets! I owe you guys a pint or two! For more information on CIX, phone 0492 641961 and ask for an information pack ... 6) If you give MAPPER to a friend (as is encouraged with shareware!), then it's always best to give him/her the original ZIP files. If the transfer takes place by SSD, then remember to include both the main MAPPER3A.OPA program and the \APP\MAPPER3A\ subdirectory full of data files. Do *not* give your friend your MAPPER.REG registration file, as this is unique to you and contains *your* name, and subsequent piracy will tell the world who started the outbreak! 7) Thanks to all the testers and contributors out there, who have supplied ideas, support, bug-reports, data, code fragments etc. You are too numerous to mention, but I thank you all with a big Merci Beaucoup! ======================= Future work ==================================== Currently in progress are overlays for all the Forte hotels, all camp sites in Great Britain and all mountains/peaks. Plus more roads, more features etc etc !!!!!!! Steve Litchfield 02/Jan/95 Happy New Year!