Open side-bar Menu
 The GIS Lens
Sanjay Gangal
Sanjay Gangal
Sanjay Gangal is the President of IBSystems, the parent company of AECCafe.com, MCADCafe, EDACafe.Com, GISCafe.Com, and ShareCG.Com.

ShareMap introduces “Map Calibration” and “Animated Maps”

 
July 5th, 2012 by Sanjay Gangal

Article source: ShareMap.org 

ShareMap is slowly phasing out from beta stage. Feature set is almost complete and dozens of maps created with ShareMap enriches multiple Wikipedia articles.

There are two major features introduced recently:

Map calibration:

OpenStreetMaps is enormous source for geospatial data. Implantation of import mechanism from OSM was one of first features of ShareMap. But sometimes OSM data is not enough, especially when we try to create historical map. For example if we want to create map of dismantled tramway system in Cleveland we cannot find information about track position at OSM. But we can reuse pre war map of system (with expired copyrights, so it is 100% comply with Creative Commons license). We can treat this old map as overlay to our interactive map, but first of all we have to calibrate it. In simple words calibration is just selecting of several calibration points on raster map (old one) and interactive map. After point selection system warps. Under the hood well known open source GDAL library is used. In this video map calibration process is described in detail:

 

Animated maps (timeline)

Maps are not only latitude longitude and altitude of points. There is one more important factor – time. Some geospatial features exists only for limited timespan. Railway line to Ballachulish in scotland was build in 1904 and demolished in 1966. For viewer is very useful to see dynamics of processes – changes of routes, borders, points etc. . This is a key factor for creation of  good historical maps. From map creator perspective adding timeline to existing map is very easy. Editor has just to fill the timespan fields of object on the map.

You can see example map (construction of tramways in Warsaw after WW II) below. Screencast tutorial about animated map creation will be available soon.

Map Timeline

Work still in progress:

Now we are focused on improvement of existing features, fixing bugs and writing documentation.

There are still some export features that are missing – animated SVG files, export to animated GIF’s , MP4 and YouTube. We are also working on mobile viewer for ShareMap maps. Old mobile alpha version is reworked and soon will be published for Android and iOS on app stores.

Waiting for your feedback:

We are are waiting for your feedback – if you have any comments related to map creation process, user interface etc. let us know. If you have any feature request write. Just use this contact form.

Tags:

Category: ShareMap

One Response to “ShareMap introduces “Map Calibration” and “Animated Maps””

  1. Avatar Tribhuvan Pradhan says:

    I am from Kathmandu, Nepal as a GIS person, working in Kathamdnu Metropolitan City. I am very interested in this ShareMaps, please kindly can I get this application system or is this open source, please send me the detail information about this. Once again I am very interested in these two Map calibration and Animinated Map, it is very useful for me

    Thank you

Logged in as . Log out »




© 2024 Internet Business Systems, Inc.
670 Aberdeen Way, Milpitas, CA 95035
+1 (408) 882-6554 — Contact Us, or visit our other sites:
TechJobsCafe - Technical Jobs and Resumes EDACafe - Electronic Design Automation GISCafe - Geographical Information Services  MCADCafe - Mechanical Design and Engineering ShareCG - Share Computer Graphic (CG) Animation, 3D Art and 3D Models
  Privacy PolicyAdvertise