8200 (!) Earth locations ready to download

[t00fri]

Perhaps,this web-site do not have a editable-database.But, it has the capital avantage of mentionning every little places in the whole world, with exact coordinates(including elevation)! It allows at least to draw a local tipographic map. To my mind, it is enough.
BTW,thx t00fri for the regular location ssc file.however i did not get this sentence:

With 40 000+ locations we simply do not have enough space on the screen to print out the elevation besides the name...

Bye Fridger

sorry

Pierebean,

the database you quoted contains indeed pretty small places.

There are other extensive databases for earth locations that I occasionally have exploited for cross-checking coordinates. These contain in part much more detailed info than the one you quoted. What really matters in the end is their reliability.

In any case the interactive site you quoted, has little use for Celestia as a whole, since its database content cannot be accessed and manipulated by means of scripts. It might be useful for individuals to compose their own neighborhood manually.

I think the elevation parameter is only useful, if 3ds or cmod models exist, accounting for the true shapes of the objects. In case of Earth, the location names are floating somewhere in the air, if a nonzero elevation is added. Here we generate a pseudo 3d-impression by means of bumpmaps or normalmaps (dynamical shading). Furthermore, the hires satellite photos of the nightlights also do not properly cooperate with labels that are 'elevated'.

Bye Fridger

[Pierebean]

yeah , i did that around my place, it is quiet funny.

[Vincent]

Then wouldn't it be possible to use the location's name method to model an archaic topology on earth surface ?

I mean, we could simulate a topology with 'X' symbol replacing location names. Or even tiny textures (16x16) which would be brown for mountains, grey for cities, etc... That would be less heavy than 3D models. And better than a flat lanscape when you goto earth surface...

I know this method sounds a little bit strange but it's just a proposition, an idea that can be improved by a more clever mind...

But it still would need an editable-database of elevation coordinate...

@+
Vincent

[dirkpitt]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I was assuming you had to have a topographic model of the whole earth all at once, which would be a bit of a pain to render :).

At least one program, Nasa World Wind, is already able to do topographic rendering of the Earth. If these two programs could borrow from each other... just a thought.

[t00fri]

Then wouldn't it be possible to use the location's name method to model an archaic topology on earth surface ?

I mean, we could simulate a topology with 'X' symbol replacing location names. Or even tiny textures (16x16) which would be brown for mountains, grey for cities, etc... That would be less heavy than 3D models. And better than a flat lanscape when you goto earth surface...

I know this method sounds a little bit strange but it's just a proposition, an idea that can be improved by a more clever mind...

But it still would need an editable-database of elevation coordinate...

@+
Vincent

Vincent,

a bumpmap file is nothing but a 8 or 16 bit grayscale file, the gray tone of which represents the elevation at a particular point: black is lowest, white is highest. Celestia uses of course bumpmaps and preferrably their 'relatives', normalmaps, for dynamical shading, depending on the position of the sun.

We normally generate bumpmaps/normal maps starting directly from the published original elevation files that are 16bit grayscale elevation maps in RAW format.

You may be assured that plenty of ideas to incorporating 3d features like elevations have been examined it detail by the developers of Celestia. Chris is a great 3d expert and for sure would not forget about "simple-minded" possibilities...


Bye Fridger

[Pierebean]

It is true that it will be quiet hard to draw a topological map with the Locations replaced by Xs .
However, is it possible ,at least, to have a location indicated by a plot?
For instance, there is a small village in Brittany called "Saint-M?©loir des Bois", you can admit that is a bit long. So when i look at it in celestia I cannot see where it is exactely, a can only assume its position with its name.

I have another question concerning this village:
as you can see there is an "?©" and not a "e". Perhaps it is a detail but is it possible to include "?©","? ","?§","??" or "??" in celestia?
Thus, the non-english locations shall be named correctly.

[t00fri]

It is true that it will be quiet hard to draw a topological map with the Locations replaced by Xs .
However, is it possible ,at least, to have a location indicated by a plot?
For instance, there is a small village in Brittany called "Saint-M?©loir des Bois", you can admit that is a bit long. So when i look at it in celestia I cannot see where it is exactely, a can only assume its position with its name.

I have another question concerning this village:
as you can see there is an "?©" and not a "e". Perhaps it is a detail but is it possible to include "?©","? ","?§","??" or "??" in celestia?
Thus, the non-english locations shall be named correctly.

Many things are possible, but in general we only realize those that hold the promise of leading to a very good 3d display result...(pas du bricollage ).

The location's actual position corresponds to the middle of the left-hand end of the label. I wrote above already that we use utf8 encoding which is more than enough for accents etc...

Bye Fridger

[Vincent]

Fridger, thanks for your reply.

I know the way bumpmaps work but the difference between bumpmap and the idea I proposed is that even if bumpmaps (and normalmaps) give realistic views from space, they show a flat lanscape when you goto earth surface.
What I supposed was a method to simulate elevation when you are onto earth surface.

I've installed Stellarium and the way lanscapes work is really interesting. It's a png file with transparency. This method could be used for Celestia by making different landscape pictures as sea, snow, mountain, cities, etc... that could be used for background rendering when you are on earth surface... We would be able to choose between these lanscapes according to the place we are on earth surface.

I'm not saying this is easy to make. I know it's a lot of work, and Celestia's authors and contributers have done and are still doing a fantastic work.

Pierebean, here are one of the codes I use for my french version scripts :

?  \u00e0
?? \u00e2
?¤ \u00e3
?? \u00e4

?§ \u00e7
?? \u00e8
?© \u00e9

?? \u00f4
?? \u00f9

?? \u00ea
?« \u00eb
?® \u00ee

@+
Vincent

[Pierebean]

thanks

How am i suppose to insert those codes in the script?
Should i insert them as they were simple letters?

[maxim]

You may also save your script with UTF-8 encoding. Just tell your favorite editor to do so.

An example for the Windows standart editor 'Editor': Write your text, then goto 'File' -> 'Save As...' . On the bottom of the save window you'll find:

Filename:
Filetype:
Coding: -> here select UTF-8. Now save.

maxim

[Vincent]

Yes, be sure you save your script as maxim said.

And yes again, you can insert these code as they were letters.

For exemple : le FC Nantes \u00e9tait meilleur il y a quelques ann\u00e9 es...

@+
Vincent

[Croc]

Does anybody keep a copy of 8200 (!) Earth.
Thank you in advance.

[selden]

The "Wayback Machine" has a copy:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070320010532/http:// ... et/~t00fri/earth-UNECE.ssc.zip

[Alexell]

selden,
I do not know that WebArchive stores files. I thought that only web pages.

[selden]

It stores lots of things!

If there's a link on a Web page which points to a file, then it often, but not always, stores that file. This is one of the files that it did store. I downloaded it for testing and the download worked fine.

[Alexell]

selden, It is necessary to completely download full directories, such as ~t00fri and ~claurel from Web Archive. I'm looking for a way to do it automatically.

[selden]

The linux utility wget can download web directories. I don't know if it will do the right thing with web pages on archive.org.

[Alexell]

selden, Yesterday I already tried wget, it does not work as it should. Probably it is necessary to read in detail about wget, that correctly will select keys of start.

[GasperK]

I think the elevation parameter is only useful, if 3ds or cmod models exist, accounting for the true shapes of the objects. In case of Earth, the location names are floating somewhere in the air, if a nonzero elevation of the is added. Here we generate a pseudo 3d-impression by means of bumpmaps or normalmaps (dynamical shading). Furthermore, the hires satellite photos of the nightlights also do not properly cooperate with labels that are 'elevated'.

Bye Fridger

Thanks so much Fridger for the download!