Karl Godt wrote:. . . apparently no text markers on the maps for easy orientation . . .
Yes, that is true.
The primary reason for that is that the map data files contain no name information other than the state, county, and sometimes the town (and even then they just have numbers that placentime_view looks up in another database). That's the information that you see in the lower right-hand corner. But I agree that having the text appear right on the map would make for easier orientation, since that could show multiple names and not require the user to point with the mouse to identify a town.
Highway route numbers are also available, and I hope to add those to the map. Currently they are only available by pointing at a road and using the context menu to choose
What's This?.
As for other things like lakes, mountains, parks, and such, the map data files contain no names. I have tried to fill that hole with the GNIS (Geographic Names Information System) files. These are a separate data set, having no connection with the map data files. Based on the latitude and longitude of the point, choosing
What's This? from the context menu will also provide the name of an object if the
Show GNIS toggle button is set in the
What's This? dialog. But again, I hope to eventually display them right on the map, selectively, depending upon the zoom level.
The original scope of this project was simply to create an application to specifically view these USGS "digital line graphs" (DLGs), not to create a general-purpose atlas type application which had been done many times before. Since there was very little name data in the DLG files, names were not originally a high priority.
However, now I would like the application to be useful to a wider audience, so certainly names will be a higher priority going forward.
Karl Godt wrote:. . . using a better near view scale made 75% of the map unreachable.
You should be able to drag the map around with the middle mouse button.
Karl Godt wrote:No scrollbars . . .
No. Scrollbars have limits. The surface of the earth does not.
Karl Godt wrote:Still lot of work to do ?
Always!
The list of the things I want to do seems almost as limitless as the surface of the earth. "What to do next?" is always a tough question. But getting good feedback from others helps me to decide where my priorities should lie.
Thanks for the good feedback.