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USGS information into useable SC4 maps ????

Started by Gaston, August 17, 2008, 04:00:33 PM

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Gaston

    Okay all you mapping gurus and gods.   I have searched and searched (  %confuso   probably just missed it) for how to use USGS maps to make maps for SC4.     I want to make one for areas that I have lived previously (Franklin, NC;  Windsor, CT;   Manchester, TN; and others)  and for the area I am currently living.   (Dubuque, IA)      I would like to scale these maps as close to correct as possible.   I'd love to be able to play with the layout of transportation, etc.     I know I could lay things out better than they did here.    ::)     There are lots of tutorials hinting on how to do it but there isn't one that will step by step take me through it from finding the map, to what scale to dl the image in to get it accuate, and the what to do next with (I assume) SC4 TF.    Anyone willing to lend an old man with limited computer knowledge a hand figuring it out?     ()meeting()  I am sure there are others out there that would like to do this as well.

    I am willing to grovel and kowtow at who's ever feet it is required.   For I know I am not worthy.    ;) 


    Thanks for at least reading this.

---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

Heblem

Gaston, hi

Actually I have plans to release a well explained tutorial about making 16-bits maps, unfortunately at the moment this just a NHP-BSC exclusive privilege. First of all I need to get some permission, mainly by Travis, is who taught me to do this technique, getting the permission intermediately im going to upload a tutorial about it. But for now Travis is having RLS so he can't reply to me instantly.

By now we just have to wait  ;)
I hope you understand.

Take care
Sincerely Heblem

Gaston

Thank you for replying so swiftly.      I look forward to seeing it.    I will have to wait.   :'(


Thanks Again.

---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

SC4BOY

Unless it was lost on the virus attack (or whatever it was) on Simtropolis there are tutorials on how to do this over there in the mapping section. I have not looked at these in some time, but my recall is that they worked just fine..

Then you can make your own tutorial here :)

Gaston

I am having a bit of trouble at Simtropolis right now.    It thinks I have cookies blocking it but not so.   I am gonna have to work on it a bit.   ()sad()  But thanks. :thumbsup:


---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

SC4BOY

You might try holding the "cntrl key" down while clicking a link.. that normally tells your op system to allow blocked links.. dunno about your specific issue..

Gaston

Thanks for the info.   I'll give that a try.


---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

jmyers2043

#7
Quotefor how to use USGS maps to make maps for SC4.

I guess your real question is how to convert the USGS DEM data into a black and white image that can be used by SC4 to generate terrain? If so - I used to do this some time ago (SC3000 days) and I take your question as a challenge as I've not done it for a while. There are probably other methods. Heblem has piqued my interest and I look forward to his tutorial. Probably quicker and more elegant than my solution. But first, I did see a program called Wilbur when I was google-ing. I downloaded it but have not installed it yet. Here is the link. Have a read and decide for yourself. http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~jslayton/software.html

Ok - the method I use ...

1. Download a small application called DEM2TGA. Located here: http://www.thebilberry.com/greg/dem2tga/



It is a little DOS program. I unzip and then moved it to my C:\root. I did this so I would not have to do a lot of typing in DOS.


2. Download a DEM file from the USGS. I clicked on the alphabetical listing links and chose Greenville East as that is where I reside. http://edc2.usgs.gov/geodata/index.php


I unzipped that file and also moved it to my C:\

3. Open up a command prompt window (From windows you can click start then run then type cmd. Or you can click start then All Programs then Accessories then command prompt. The below picture is a screen grab of the process from there. The highlighted area is what I type ... cd\ gets me to the C: Typing dir displays the folders and files in C:   and finally I type the long command line. I don't mean to insult your DOS knowledge ... I've forgotten most of mine. But wish to show you the process in the unlikely event that your DOS is as poor as mine. 

the format is: [executable] [file to convert from] [file name to covert to] and in this example: dem2tga greenville-e greenville.tga

Bingo! Next to the yellow arrow you see a file called Greenville.tga. This is my black and white tga file that many paint programs can use.



4. And quick as a wink I have a black and white tga file that Paint Shop Pro can open. I can edit, copy, paste, adjust the contrast levels to my hearts delight. Save as a jpg file that can be imported and used as the basis for a new SimCity region. I assume you know how to do this last part already.



I hope I've answered your question.

Good Luck.

Jim Myers  (5th member of SC4 Devotion)

ldvger

Gaston-

Don't know if you ever got this figured out or not, but there is a tutorial over at ST called " How to make Scale Accurate Realistic Regions From USGS Data".  It's in the Omnimaps area and it's fairly long and detailed.  I printed it out a couple of years ago and tried it out but I don't remember if I was successful or not.  The tutorial is not a bit out of cate, as the USGS had changed it's website around some and the screen shots in the tutorial no longer match the screen shots you'll see at the USGS web site.  This is a real drag for me because, like you, I am not computer savvy enough to figure out how to "wing it" through the new dialog windows and settings.  I tried...believe me, I tried.  I spent a good 2-3 hours a few days ago trying to download the DEM info I wanted, but no luck.  I have posted a request in the Mapping Board room thread that someone, anyone, please update the tutorial.  Since the tutorial was written the USGS has added many other parts of the world that can be downloaded, for one thing.  Also, some areas of the USGS survey have not been mapped at the recommended 1 degree or 1/3 degree arc the tutorial recommends.  After hours of searching the USGS site, I learned that all of Alaska has been mapped in a 2 degree arc. 

Heblem-

I don't understand why anyone who maps maps from USGS data for play in SC4 would consider the process to be proprietary, especially given there is at least one very detailed (if outdated) tutorial available on another site.  The NHP-BSC folks don't sell the maps they make (I assume) and if they are unable to fulfill the requests of folks who want maps from them I have a hard time understanding why they wouldn't share thier process with the SC4 world in general.  Seems kinda, I don't know, obstructive to generally creative game play to me.  Which in turn seems to be backwards of the overall philosophy of SC4D...at least as *I* understand it. 

Anyway, Gaston, if you did figure it out, let me know.  I am jumping through all kinds of hoops and barriers trying to created my own grey scale maps from topographic maps and it really frustrates me to put all this work into what I know is in essence reinventing the wheel.  It's true I'm learning lots of new software programs along the way, but I'd really much rather be spending my time playing the SC4...

Lora/LD

debaser

Yeah, no kidding.  I've just wasted 2 hours trying to use your old tutorial over at Simtropolis, but the USGS has changed a lot and so has Microdem.  I was muddling my way through it, though, and the problem I think I'd have is you'd say something like RGB should be set to a value of 65 or whatever.  Well, as a photographer I know that RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue.  And there's actually a numerical value for each, so I had no idea what just plain old "65" meant.  Microdem indeed has input boxes for each RGB channel.  Since I was at a loss I just set the blue channel to 65 and went on.  Actually that looked something kind of like the screens in your tutorial.  Where I really got hung up was in trying to set the min and max.  My whole map turned out black, haha.  Having a calibrated monitor I know it was all black, too.  I was trying to map Dallas County which is pretty flat, but it does have SOME change in elevation, a river, and a couple of lakes. 

Gaston

Wow a year old thread and it is still relavent.   Nope I never figured it out.   I hope maybe someone will make a tool someday to just take info "A" and put "HERE" and then "click" to create desired map.    LOL   Maybe someday.


---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

toja

#11
Dear SC4-community!

After spending quite a lot of time at this site, I'd like to say THANK YOU and make a little contribution: I wrote a tutorial on How to convert USGS-DEMs into 16bit-PNGs at the german simforum.

Unfortunately it's written in german and my english is very bad, but there are many images included, so you should get an idea what to do... If you have any questions feel free to ask here or at the simforum, I'll try to answer as soon as possible.

toja


Sky Guy

hey, sorry to bump this thread, but is there anywhere you can get USGS data for places other than america? I want to get some from Borneo...

Thanks

Kalu Sabah- A fast growing dynamic Southeast Asian Country

cogeo

... and are they accessible to non-Americans, I would add.

Sky Guy

haha oh sorry, I wasn't very clear.

I do live in America and knew they were accessible, I want to download Borneo's information from America.

Kalu Sabah- A fast growing dynamic Southeast Asian Country

Gaston

Quote from: Sky Guy on January 16, 2010, 06:04:17 PM
haha oh sorry, I wasn't very clear.

I do live in America and knew they were accessible, I want to download Borneo's information from America.
I think SkyGuy means He needs maps of Borneo.   
I am not sure if the USGS will have maps of other countries or not.
But I would think that with all the satelites flying around the globe, that there is very little of the planet left un-mapped.   (Well photo-mapped anyway)

---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

Sky Guy

@ Gaston: Thanks, I found this website:http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp/index.jsp

You can download anywhere

However, If anyone knows how this website runs, I am having trouble downloading.
When I hit thew download button (individual one) I get an error message. And when I hit the main download button, I just get a thinking wheel and it makes no progress- I waited all night and still nothing.

Please help thanks

Kalu Sabah- A fast growing dynamic Southeast Asian Country

MOREOPTIONS

Nice site for the map tiles,  I did notice that if you get to many at one time, it's a problem. but under 100. it's all right, so to get sections .. have to brake it up...  The fun pat is the re-assembly of the tiles after you unzip them.  has anyone beeen able to re asemble them smothlly?

Lowkee33

#18
Quote from: toja on November 16, 2009, 08:22:56 AM
After spending quite a lot of time at this site, I'd like to say THANK YOU and make a little contribution: I wrote a tutorial on How to convert USGS-DEMs into 16bit-PNGs at the german simforum.

toja

Great tutorial Toga.  Thanks  :thumbsup:

Also, is there a good site out there for bathymetric maps?

toja

Sorry for the late reply, but I'm very busy with other things atm.

To come to your question: I think the best starting point to get bathymetric maps for the US is http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coastal/coastal.html. The Tsunami Inundation DEMs do have the highest resolution (1/3 - 1 arc seconds; 10 - 30m) but are not available for the whole coastline. The next option would be to use the Coastal Relief Model (3 arc seconds; 90m).

For the rest of the world the best data source I've found so far is here: http://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/gridded_bathymetry_data/, but imo the quality of the data (30 arc seconds) is unfortunately not good enough to be of any use for SC4.

Hope that helps - and if you've any further questions feel free to ask.

toja