Map This! v0.3

[wraggster]

Deniska who is hosted here at DCEmu and the very proud winner of Neoflash 2006 has posted a new version of his Map This app for the PSP, heres the release details:

http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/images/mapthis_v03.jpg


NEW IN v0.3
-----------
- Multiple POI icons support - a few types of POI can now be merged in one file for simultaneous display.
- POI files: removed icon size definition (the size is read from the image itself, this should be backwards compatible with prev definition though..).
- speed up in menu responses
- some new parameters in config file:

# THIS VARIABLE IS INTRODUCED TO SMOOTH #
# THE MAP MOVEMENT BETWEEN GPS UPDATES #
# IE THE MAP WILL CONTINUE MOVEMENT IN #
# THE SAME DIRECTION WITH A SLIGHT #
# DECREASE OF SPEED FOR EACH NEXT #
# FRAME RENDERING #

SPEEDFACTOR=0.97

## LOAD WIFI MODULE ##

LOADWIFI=0
- NMEA buffer increased to 1024 - this may help some GPS devices
- map size bug fixed. Now it should support maps up to 1024x1024
- Basic trip computer in gps mode. Display of elapsed time, distance and average speed.
- Set mark. In gps mode, displays distance & direction to mark.
- Scrollable menus in map/poi selectors: ability to display/scroll through up to 100 items.
- Numerous improvements in gmdl tool by in7ane: new map/poi sources added, POI converter, custom map import,
routing tool, etc.
- Ability to disable top info bar and scale for maps with custom scales and projections: just remove coords.txt

Additional documentation & information:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Map_This%21

Download and More info at his site here --> http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/

[pibs]

now thats a gps map, unlike that other battleship radar looking kind of poop

Great job

[F9zDark]

Been watching this for a while. Just wish I could get the money set aside to buy a GPSlim, which is the device Deniska jerry rigged to work with the PSP.

Life and paintball comes first though ;)

[The_It]

if you want a real gps, it needs the map and the battleship style too

[Veskgar]

Does anyone know if this could be used with the upcoming GPS unit for the PSP?

This looks VERY VERY good! Amazing work.

[Solidsnake3000]

Does anyone know if this could be used with the upcoming GPS unit for the PSP?

This looks VERY VERY good! Amazing work.

ithink so it would be good

[Nikolaos]

If only my router wasnt broken.. any 1 know about the portable wifi usb link ?

[Solidsnake3000]

yes

[Solidsnake3000]

hey u still there

[F9zDark]

Does anyone know if this could be used with the upcoming GPS unit for the PSP?

This looks VERY VERY good! Amazing work.

Its possible, but I think it might require loading the USB GPS drivers from 3.0 onto a custom 1.5 firmware or perhaps the program can contain this data.

Is there anyone who has tried this program in depth that can tell us how big these maps get? I am downloading them now and they seem like they wont be too big, but its not too far along just yet, could get much bigger by the time it finishes.

[DragonPimpsta]

wow deniska, nice job.. if the sony GPS device comes with gps software, yours would probably look cooler :D

[mavsman4457]

This would be incredible if you could get Sony's GPS to work with this!

[F9zDark]

Well for about 60 to 70 dollars you can make a GPSlim compatible via serial port. Thats what started this to begin with.

Compatibility with Sony's GPS feature would be grand, but I'd think that Sony would probably sell their GPS unit plus a navigation UMD bundled together for around 100 dollars (considering typical GPS system costs and knowing that this is Sony).

The benefit to Sony's system is that it mounts ontop the PSP (even though it looks horrifyingly ugly and doesn't match the PSP color scheme.) The detriments are that it probably requires a firmware upgrade and the cost. If I bought the system and software from Sony, I'd be hard pressed to use a free navigation tool, since I am not getting what I paid for out of it.

As it is now, if other GPS systems can be made compatible with this, we have a choice and more choices means better deals and bargains. Buying the Sony GPS device and using Map This! with it is like buying a Dell PC bundled with all the software you would need and then putting Linux and Open Office on it; its just illogical.

[LampDev]

What's the cheapest GPS system this works with?

[deniska]

What's the cheapest GPS system this works with?

probably discontinued holux blue tooth models like GPS 230/231 (if you can find one)
Btw, gpslim 236 got a price drop after the new, 240, model came out.
There are "Buy Now" offers on ebay for 57USD.
Gpslim 240, selling for ~100$, is probably smaller than the sony's model (it's roughly half the size/weight of gpslim 236)

[Dickhead]

Well Sounds like we need to get USB GPS support working in 1.5 somehow. Maybe hacking the gps prx to work on the 1.5, like when you customize the firmware with the extra prx etc. Or we could emulate the gps prx on a standard 1.5 built into the map program. It should have standard gps support for other usb gps units as well.;It will be great that because I am rubbish at soldering and dont want to mess my psp up.

[F9zDark]

I used the included program for downloading Google Maps data for Map This!... And damn does it take long! Its on about 12 hours now. If the Properties box is to be trusted, its at about 1.6 gigs so far.

I just wish there was a way to download whole states, that way we could keep them organized and can have a state or two ready to go for traveling or what not.

[F9zDark]

Well Sounds like we need to get USB GPS support working in 1.5 somehow. Maybe hacking the gps prx to work on the 1.5, like when you customize the firmware with the extra prx etc. Or we could emulate the gps prx on a standard 1.5 built into the map program. It should have standard gps support for other usb gps units as well.;It will be great that because I am rubbish at soldering and dont want to mess my psp up.

You dont have to solder anything on the PSP. Just the remote control (if you use this alot, its suggested that you purchase another one for this modification). Since the part needed on the remote is that 6 pin serial plug that goes into the PSP.

Problem is, that I think the PSP GPS will be more involved than people think. The PSP doesn't have a host controller in it, so it cannot work like a computer where one can just plug in any USB peripheral and have it work outta the box.

Who knows what Sony did to make it work, but I bet we can't just plug in any old USB GPS system and make it work.

[Gabba Gandalf]

i cant upload a map !!!!
how does this in this version works ????

and how near can i zoom only 4x or more ???:confused: :confused:

[F9zDark]

The map folder (where all the map images are organized) needs to be named like this: "_~~~~" The _ is necessary. The ~'s represent the name of the map. Put them into the maps folder in Map This.

[deniska]

i cant upload a map !!!!
how does this in this version works ????

and how near can i zoom only 4x or more ???:confused: :confused:

You may need to enable network update (in config file LOADWIFI=1) to use WIFI DOWNLOAD OPTION.

I do suggest that you use the attached windows program to generate the maps. WIFI part as not very reliable yet and may corrupt your memmory stick if network error occurs during download..

F9zDark -
map "generation" speed depends on a vendor.
From my experience MSN/VE seems to be the fastest. Generation of hybrids takes the most time...
BTW, posting pre-rendered maps would probably lead to legal issues with google/MSN/etc... since it's their licenced data...

As to map transfer to PSP -
I am planning to code a better file system in the next release.. if everything goes well, each map will be represented by just one big file... so transfer and maintenance would be less painful, and FAT overhead should be negligible...

[F9zDark]

Will the maps not work if I do not install the higher detail images? Because the area of the map that I had downloaded the 1x folder is about 1 gig. Installing every level of detail would comsume well over what any memory stick could handle (at least with the area that I downloaded; which is roughly a 150-200 mile radius from the center of the map, so I think anyway.)

Are the higher detail levels needed by the program or can they just be discarded to save space? From what I see on the computer 4x and 8x suffice for me.

[deniska]

You can remove layers and individual tiles to save space. You need to keep corner tiles at the most detailed zoom - this is how the program determines image type and dimention of the map.

You probably want to explore the "Advanced" mode of the windows download tool. - It lets you select the zoom range, so you don't have to always settle for the most detailed zoom. It also, allows you to visually select& remove the areas on the map that you don't need detailed data for (like lakes, large fields, etc), thus saving lots of space/time...
There is a thread, in my forums, dedicated to gmdl tool - it's has all the tips & tricks...

[F9zDark]

Alright thanks, I'll check there. Finally got the map installed on the PSP, goto load it and it takes forever. After 20 minutes I got tired of waiting for it and deleted it. I'll have to play around with it more...

[deniska]

sounds like you deleted or did not load one of those corner tiles..or you used ziped map...
viewing zipped maps becomes painfully slow for large map files (over 30 megs)