Map: Height Maps

[DRG]

Thanks. We'll see how that works, I just noticed that DL's a map was a "Go make coffee and a snack, this will be awhile" procedure for me but my internet connection might have been "fast" by standards a quarter century ago but not now.. OK for 95% of what I do though

Also why I was thinking the ability to make the map smaller would speed up the DL as not everyone want's to put a battle on the Gigantor maps


Don

[MarkSheppard]

If it wasn't for you, I would never have noticed this huge vulnerability that I created on my website. That's fixed now; and I'll be inspecting it closely for the next week.

[DRG]

Don't thank me, thank two events:

A.) You found Tuomas' github repo at [https://github.com/tvenhola/SPMBT-maps]. I was able to download the complete source and use that later on.

“Funny” story about that sequence of events.............

The post I made with that link to Github (I just reread that post #287 and it sound perfectly normal.) was made two days before I told my wife that “something’s not right” and we went to the closest hospital emergency just before 11am on Feb 18 / 2025.

We were told where to wait, We sat down and I remember someone walking to the nursing station then walking back to where they were sitting

That is the last memory I have until the morning of March 6 / 2025

16 days GONE.

My wife tells me she visited me and we had normal conversations for at least the first 4 days but I have NO memory of that at all

This was caused by a fall I had Jan 13 which I didn’t think twice about when it happen, I fell down and got up…… the lost part of that is how long I laid there before I got up. I *think* I got up right away but maybe not……IDK

“Bilateral Subdural hematoma”……… I can say with experience anyone reading this should avoid having it happen.

I *think* I am mosty, almost back to normal but I know I am not quite what I was before I slipped

The “funny” part of this story is if I had not gone to hospital EXACTLY when I did I would have gone on autopilot at 11am that morning no matter what and I would have had NO memory of anything that happened after 11am Feb 18 2025
Sometimes life is just sh*t luck.

But this and Andys ongoing eye issue is why the final MBT update **MIGHT** happen this year.......or not

[MarkSheppard]

Here's a map of the Volga approximately 130 km NW of Nizny Novogorod @ 57.37426538651651, 42.86519119375884 generated by my current Webhola code and saved in the Extended Map.

It's currently bare, no trees; goes into the 999 slot.

[DRG]

Just gererated another map. Should have timed it but it took awhile. The next try I will time it

BUT the result was an excellent contour map as good as the original Venhola program

[MarkSheppard]

I have a working method now that doesn't require a server that's vulnerable to attacks/whatever happened with my website (generalstaff).

Problem: You need to do a few more clicks to get a map.

Bonus: You can save DEM tiles offline and collect them; so you don't need to waste time downloading over and over; especially if you're making a series of maps -- each downloaded tile covers about 5000 km2.

https://generalstaff.org/Games/Webho...hola_v2-4.html
(new URL)

Same workflow as before; mouse around/find/lookup an interesting area.

NEW FEATURE: You can now paste a Google Maps right click lat/long coordinate (57.37426538651651, 42.86519119375884) into the search box and jump there directly.

To get a map:

1.) Select target dataset (default 30m Copernicus), options are:

30m Copernicus — primary, best quality, can be stored offline, big tiles (30~ MB)

90m Copernicus — secondary, good quality, can be stored offline, small tiles (3~ MB)

90m SRTM via open-elevation — emergency fallback only, coverage limited to 56°S–60°N. You need an internet connection to D/L these.

2.) Click the new 🗺 Tiles button.

It'll bring up a popup window telling you how many tiles you need to download (and their estimated filesizes); plus a download link button to download them.

Download them (they end up in your \Downloads directory)

Once they're finished downloading, click on the "LOAD .TIF FILES" button.

Simply select all the TIF files in that directory; I've got a filename search that rejects all files that aren't needed; the status window will go something like:

Scanned 10 files — skipped 0 non-tile, 8 not needed for current map area.

Loading tile N57_00_E042_00 (1/1)…

✓ Tile N57_00_E042_00 ready (30.2 MB)

BIG NOTE: Keep your downloaded 90m Copernicus / 30m Copernicus elevation tiles in separate directories, mixups between tiles and the format selected can cause elevation data corruption; simply F5 and reload the webpage if this happens.

There's a button labeled ANALYZE TILES that will extract the elevation data from them; plus a new checkbox:

Dual-thread Decode (Faster on multi-core)

As an option to speed up computation during ANALYZE TILES.

NEW FEATURE -- Sea Level Offset.

I discovered the need for this feature while trying to make a map at 57.37426538651651, 42.86519119375884

This area is the Volga River about 130 km NW of Nizny Novogorod.

The Sea Level Offset feature hides in the ⚙ button above the elevation preview.

Mousing over the Volga river reveals that it's height is 84~ metres. We enter that into the Sea Level Offset input box; and turn on the Coastline 🌊 mode.

A bit too high; adjust to 85m sea level offset; and we now have a nice clean "super river".

As before, once you're done; hit "⬇ D/L Map" which will download:

JSON with all settings + elevation data (.json)
SPCAMO Map File (.dat)
SPCAMO Map Description File (.txt)

EDIT: If you're doing deep inland stuff, you'll have to adjust the elevation to get an accurate map.

For example, to get a good map at 56.862112, 27.815323 (Russian/Latvian Border); I had to make a note that the elevation range was 80m – 133m in the upper right status window; and then make the elevation offset 80m. It's a little bit more work to do.