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8200 (!) Earth locations ready to download

Posted: 02.07.2003, 19:53
by t00fri
Hi all,

I have just Perl-extracted the ~8200 Earth locations with long-lat coordinates among the UNECE-list of 36000 locations on Earth:
http://www.unece.org/etrades/download/downindex.htm

So there is a big jump now from about 500 in my previous precision list to 8200 locations!

Unfortunately, there is no size information available. I have reduced the importance of Airports (100 -> 40) relative to other spots.

My new list may be downloaded from

http://www.shatters.net/~t00fri/earth-UNECE.ssc.zip

Just place it together with my original list earth.ssc in the extras directory.
Let me know whether you find some oddities. Clearly the US and Europe are /very/crowded now and we must think about further selective criteria.

Please note that in the latest CVS code, every location is now selectable. Using Follow or Sync commands gives amazing new views;-)

Enjoy!

Bye Fridger

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:14
by -Shadow-
8200!! Nice......
Are the original 500 necessary?

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:20
by t00fri
-Shadow- wrote:8200!! Nice......
Are the original 500 necessary?


Well, in the UNICE many well-known citys etc are not entered with long-lat coordinates, hence they are missing from that list. So it's better to use both lists.

Eventually, it's easy to eliminate doubles...

Bye Fridger

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:25
by -Shadow-
Thank's fridger, I just D/Led the original 500, I'll test it all out after Dinner.

-Shadow

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:31
by Paolo
I can't see locations :(
I've downloaded the 8200 file .
I've opened with MS Word and saved in txt format to correct the cr/lf problem under windows platform.
I've downloaded the 1.3.1 pre 5 following the instructions in
http://ennui.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677.

I've followed also the previous thread 500 locations... http://ennui.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2623

Anyone can help please? :oops:

Bye - Paolo

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:41
by t00fri
Paolo wrote:I can't see locations :(
I've downloaded the 8200 file .
I've opened with MS Word and saved in txt format to correct the cr/lf problem under windows platform.
I've downloaded the 1.3.1 pre 5 following the instructions in
http://ennui.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677.

I've followed also the previous thread 500 locations... http://ennui.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2623

Anyone can help please? :oops:

Bye - Paolo


You must switch locations on first by means of the key '&'. Next you must get sufficiently close. Typically closer than 6000-7000 km at standard FoV.

Believe me, it works;-)

Bye Fridger

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:43
by Commander David
Hi,

i`ve downloaded the big location file and install them in the extra dir in celestia but i can`nt see any location on Earth. I use celestia 1.3.1 pre 5 and a ati 9500 128 mb with cat 3.5
Can someone help?

Posted: 02.07.2003, 20:52
by Paolo
Yeaaaahh :D :D
Solved :oops:
Was a my mistake I've putted the file in data folder insted of extras folder.

I think that some improvement must be implemented because if not this feature is almost unusable.

Let me know whether you find some oddities. Clearly the US and Europe are /very/crowded now and we must think about further selective criteria.


In 1.3.1 pre 5 for windows platform all the UNECE locations are of type "Other features", so I guess that the locations are without type.
So actually is not possible to make any selection nor limitation to avoid or to limitate crowding.

What is the notation in ssc file to define the type of the location?

BTW I have collected some ideas about locations and selection you can find them in my website at
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/pangeli70/My%20Celestia/FR5%20Ground%20Locations.htm

Bye - Paolo

Posted: 02.07.2003, 21:02
by t00fri
Paolo wrote:Yeaaaahh :D :D
Solved :oops:
Was a my mistake I've putted the file in data folder insted of extras folder.

I think that some improvement must be implemented because if not this feature is almost unusable.

Let me know whether you find some oddities. Clearly the US and Europe are /very/crowded now and we must think about further selective criteria.

In 1.3.1 pre 5 for windows platform all the UNECE locations are of type "Other features", so I guess that the locations are without type.
So actually is not possible to make any selection nor limitation to avoid or to limitate crowding.

What is the notation in ssc file to define the type of the location?

BTW I have collected some ideas about locations and selection you can find them in my website at
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/pangeli70/My%20Celestia/FR5%20Ground%20Locations.htm

Bye - Paolo


Just be patient. It is all going to come...But it's not our fault that this UNECE list is lacking important type/size/... info.

Bye Fridger

Posted: 18.08.2003, 22:26
by Paolo
Any news about locations management aspects that are not yet implemented?

Or actually all the developement efforts are involved in virtual textures?

Bye - Paolo

Posted: 18.08.2003, 22:34
by t00fri
Paolo wrote:Any news about locations management aspects that are not yet implemented?

Or actually all the developement efforts are involved in virtual textures?

Bye - Paolo


Paolo,

as to myself: yes I am grinding tiles at full capacity both with my laptop (XP +Cygwin) and with my Desktop (Linux) in parallel...

Concerning your question: I am continuing to search in the net for a nationally balanced list of locations with accurate coordinates. Apart from that, with 32k effective resolution, all locations are sufficiently separated that everything looks very nice;-)

Bye Fridger

Posted: 04.02.2005, 15:07
by Pierebean
i found that website, maybe it will interest someone. it is very exhaustive!
http://www.heavens-above.com/countries.asp

that site give also the elevation. Does the third coordonate(often a 0) is the elevation in the ssc file? what if we add it in Celestia.
Thus, we are able to value the elevation of a city for example.Then, the lack of Celestia is filled about elevation.

Posted: 04.02.2005, 16:28
by t00fri
Pierebean wrote:i found that website, maybe it will interest someone. it is very exhaustive!
http://www.heavens-above.com/countries.asp

that site give also the elevation. Does the third coordonate(often a 0) is the elevation in the ssc file? what if we add it in Celestia.
Thus, we are able to value the elevation of a city for example.Then, the lack of Celestia is filled about elevation.


You should first specify which ssc file you were referring to!
There are many, that are possibly relevant here.

Usually, there is an importance parameter and NOT elevation. I made a lot of use of the importance parameter though.

That site does not seem to be computer-readable. Do you want to enter 40000 location names by hand?

My actual locations file that most Celestia people use has 40 000+ locations with quite accurate latitude/longitude coordinates, utf8 coded names and lots of other information ( except elevation).

http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3959&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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

Bye Fridger

Posted: 04.02.2005, 19:22
by Pierebean
i was talking about that coordinate:

Location "Chahar Burjak" "Sol/Earth"
{
LongLat [ 62.20 34.25 0 ]
Importance 4.16
Type "City"
}


what is it? if it is not the elevation?

Posted: 04.02.2005, 22:37
by selden
It is the elevation and it does work properly when specified -- the marker for the location is placed at that height from the surface of the primary object.

(Although I haven't verified that such locations are positioned at the correct height if the object is oblate.)

Posted: 04.02.2005, 22:48
by Evil Dr Ganymede
selden wrote:It is the elevation and it does work properly when specified -- the marker for the location is placed at that height from the surface of the primary object.

(Although I haven't verified that such locations are positioned at the correct height if the object is oblate.)


But if the Earth (and other planets) in Celestia don't have any real topographic variation across its surface, wouldn't that make elevation data somewhat pointless in such cases?

Posted: 04.02.2005, 22:52
by selden
Don't forget that an Addon can contain a 3D model that's placed relative to the surface of object. Then the height in a Location can be relevant.

For example, someone might consider creating a 3D model of one or more of the mountains that have telescopes on them.

Posted: 04.02.2005, 23:24
by Evil Dr Ganymede
selden wrote:Don't forget that an Addon can contain a 3D model that's placed relative to the surface of object. Then the height in a Location can be relevant.

For example, someone might consider creating a 3D model of one or more of the mountains that have telescopes on them.


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 :).

Posted: 05.02.2005, 09:53
by Pierebean
i tried with the village in tibet (china) nyetang (elevation:about 4480 m)
it seems to work!
it is really great.
now we can see the montain in pseudo-3D.
of course we cannot have the whole planet in toplogic representation but it better that nothing.


BTW, what is the importance of a location? is it meter,kilometers?

Posted: 05.02.2005, 10:03
by Pierebean
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