Opportunity Route Map Options

[Tesheiner]

Alan, thanks for keeping the map updates during this last month!

I'm back from vacations and no longer in "lurking mode" so here's a map update covering the whole exit path. Given that the exit route overlaps with the entry one I did a similar approach as when Opportunity drove back from "Tierra del Fuego", making the entry route darker than the exit. But in this case I'm only updating the zoom window, because the main one is too cluttered in this area.


And for the journey ahead I think it's time to start with a clean map.

[Tesheiner]

Updated route map, up to sol 1650.
Opportunity left the site at the exit point but is still in the vinicinty.

[Tesheiner]

It's time to stretch the route map, don't you think so?
(Sol 1659, 820KB)

[climber]

This is the best map I've seen in over 2 years

[Reckless]

Yes a great map makes me think we are really going to get to Endeavour.
It's good the way the main picture just reaches the first part of the main 'pavement' type bedrock.

Reckless

[BrianL]

In addition to the detail box inside the neighbourhood rectangle, I would like to see that rectangle inside a low res map of the the big picture, if that wouldn't be too much bother.

[CosmicRocker]

This is the best map I've seen in over 2 years

I'll second that.

[Tesheiner]

In addition to the detail box inside the neighbourhood rectangle, I would like to see that rectangle inside a low res map of the the big picture, if that wouldn't be too much bother.

Dunno if I got you right, but if you mean "neighbourhood rectangle" by the main background map (the one covering Victoria and the area to the south), is this what you want?


It would make a nice map but I see some inconveniences. The first one is that to keep the main map at the current resolution of 50cm/pix the whole image is about 4000x4000 and the file size, with a JPEG setting of 80%, is almost 1.5MB; too big (IMO) to post it drive after drive and perhaps too big for the people that might still be using dialup (I've upgraded to ADSL just 2 months ago). The second one is that my computer can barely handle such a picture; actually, Photoplus crashed once while making this test.
I'm not against this map layout, actually I like it, but I'm afraid it's too big. Alternative solutions?

[jaredGalen]

Perhaps Doug could host this larger map and you could just post the reduced version with drive updates.

You could just paste in a link to the larger version (or included thumbnail) with your post if you felt so inclined.
If people need to check it out they can quite easily.

Great map

[djellison]

One thing I would say - is that 500 days of driving, with 1 meg route maps every day - is half a gigabyte of forum attachments.

I really don't think that a new attachment ever single day is the best way to do this. I'm not turning up the maximum attachment size - sorry - I have to back this forum up - so every single attachment everyone has ever downloaded - I have to download it on a regular basis to ensure a full, re-installable backup of the forum.

FWIW - I really don't think we need a context map every time. It's superfluous. Maybe one every month or something, or one each time the background map moves?

I don't think we need the current map to be 2k x 4k. 2k x 2k would be fine - and significantly smaller on file size.

[jamescanvin]

I'm not against this map layout, actually I like it, but I'm afraid it's too big. Alternative solutions?

I reckon you could get away with that context map being 1/4 the size it currently is and added as an insert in the corner so as to not increase the image size.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[jamescanvin]

If it's a problem I'm more than happy to host the maps.

My site has a file upload feature that I could give Tesheiner access to. Then he could just link to it here without taking up space.

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/media/users/james/...ol1659.new1.jpg

James

[Tesheiner]

I reckon you could get away with that context map being 1/4 the size it currently is and added as an insert in the corner so as to not increase the image size.

That was my initial intention; background map (50cm/pix) covering the whole area and a small context map (50m/pix) located at the corner. The context map doesn't need additional space so the file size in MB basically won't change and would be defined by the size of the background map.

FWIW - I really don't think we need a context map every time. It's superfluous. Maybe one every month or something, or one each time the background map moves?

Agree, when speaking of a context map located beside the main one into the same file. It's a waste of space because it doesn't change. I like your suggestion to post it as a separate attachment whenever the background on the main map changes, however I still think it's a good idea to have such context map at 5m/pix in some way together with the main map on the same post. I tried sometimes to use attachments from previous posts on a new one with no luck; a link to the previous post would serve as a workaround but the other way would be, imho, a better solution. Is it possible?

I don't think we need the current map to be 2k x 4k. 2k x 2k would be fine - and significantly smaller on file size.

Yeah, I know. Actually the maps before reaching Victoria were even smaller then 2k x 2k.
Problem is that if they really want and succeed to drive 100m/sol, a 2k x 2k map would cover only 10 driving sols. Either the map should be bigger or its scale should be changed, say to 1m/pix.

If it's a problem I'm more than happy to host the maps.

Many thanks James, but I don't think it'll be needed. I personally think that it's a good policy to host both posts (text) and attachments on the same place.
Have a look to some old threads where you can read the people discussing about a topic but the images associated to the discussion have simply gone because they are hosted somewhere else and either the owner moved from one place to another or the host changed its name.

[Phil Stooke]

I love having these maps, but the bigger map is not necessary every time. I would suggest posting a small section covering the actual driving area after each driving sol, and the 2K by 2K map only occasionally.

Phil

[climber]

I love having these maps, but the bigger map is not necessary every time. I would suggest posting a small section covering the actual driving area after each driving sol, and the 2K by 2K map only occasionally.
Phil

Yep, once a month, during the traverse, like TPS updates...