Any TransDEM users out there?

[Veristek]

Hey all!

I just finished my college semester and all my final exams. I'm now able to do some serious Trainz'ing over the next four months. I thought I'd fire up the TransDEM I got from GeoPhil, but I'm a bit baffled despite the tutorials. I'm using Trainz 2006 / Trainz Railwayz version for my Trainz.

Here's my problem:

I followed the tutorial for GoogleEarth maps. I tried to do a 2 kilometer eye-view of South Station in Boston to see what's the whole "Automatic Track Laying by TransDEM" feature was about. I did the Raster stuff- the "Places" and the "Image", then converted to UTM. Then thats where I got lost. How do I make that map into a new route from that point?

Also, is there a decent way to map over 200 baseboards with a wild variety of terrains? I'd like to divide my route into flat urban terrain, hilly forests, rugged mountains, a canyon, and a desert. My route's gonna be one of these 200 mile-long ones.

Sorry if I sound really newbish or dumb when it comes to TransDEM- I really want to learn how to use it and make great routes with it. Is anyone willing to walk me through the steps necessary for TransDEM to make routes out of GoogleEarth converted UTM's? Or is there a better way to make long route maps with a reasonable degree of terrain consistency?

Please let me know!

 

[Pencil42]

OK, back on topic....

Veristek,
I haven't played much with the new version, so I could be wrong, but I believe Google Earth is just used for the basemap image. That's the image that gets applied to 1km x 1km squares in surveyor to help you place objects. You will need to get the actual DEM data from somewhere else to actually make your map.
Look in the TransDEM manual on page 16, under the NED heading. What you'll do is go to the link there, use the selection tools to get an area of land, save it to GEOTiff format, and then import that into TransDEM. Start with a small area first, just to get the hang of it - some of the steps can take a long time and take a lot of space if your are doing something large. Start small, and it will be much less painful.

HTH,
Curtis

 

[Veristek]

I'll try what you said, Curtis and see if that works. I know TransDEM has a lot of potential, and when I heard that it could transfer real world terrain into baseboards, I was like "Awesome! Gonna save me a lot of work!".

Then I heard about the track laying feature of TransDEM. I remember hearing that it takes train tracks from GoogleEarth maps and puts it onto a new Trainz route. I'm a bit confused on that, since I recall seeing a couple of screenshots of this- probably in the TransDEM thread from a month or two back. The tutorial + manual also mentions this.

Could someone shed light on this?

 

[Pencil42]

You can use the polyline feature of transdem to trace out a rail line you see in Google Earth (although some of the WMS services are easier to use; such as terraserver).

 

[geophil]

Hey all!

Here's my problem:

I followed the tutorial for GoogleEarth maps. I tried to do a 2 kilometer eye-view of South Station in Boston to see what's the whole "Automatic Track Laying by TransDEM" feature was about. I did the Raster stuff- the "Places" and the "Image", then converted to UTM. Then thats where I got lost. How do I make that map into a new route from that point?

Just to make sure you are aware of the 2nd TransDEM manual. It's called "TransDEM Trainz Edition" and it's accessible either from the TransDEM main menu: Trainz | Help on Trainz Exporter, or from the Windows Start menu : Programs | Ziegler-Tools | TransDEM | Documentation | TransDEM Trainz Edition.

Starting on page 34 there is "Tutorial 1: Using the TransDEM Trainz Exporters" which gives you step-by-step instructions to create a Trainz route from the DEM and map data, including the "track-laying" option.

Also, is there a decent way to map over 200 baseboards with a wild variety of terrains? I'd like to divide my route into flat urban terrain, hilly forests, rugged mountains, a canyon, and a desert. My route's gonna be one of these 200 mile-long ones.

200 miles of route will require building in modules and merge the modules in Surveyor. TransDEM allows seamless merging as all baseboard borders will be multiples of 720 m, based on a common UTM zone coordinate origin. Depending on the width of your route (lateral extension), DEM raster width and map details (topographic maps and/or large scale orthophotos), a module size of 30 or more miles may be feasible.

geophil

 

[Veristek]

Thanks for the advice, GeoPhil. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Looking forward to making full use of TransDEM!

 

[PawloA]

how do you get transdem. The website does not say much and what to download or how to buy it?

 

[jrfolco]

how do you get transdem. The website does not say much and what to download or how to buy it?

Send an E-mail to geophil Here: info@rolandziegler.de and he will send you info on purchasing Transdem.

Regards, Joe

 

[matches]

Web site

ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version1/

I found this web site to be good but you have to know the latitude and longitude settings to get the right DEM. I too had trouble with this. I used Google Earth for my raster file.
I only purchased TransDEM late last year and have managed to construct about 100kms of layout and also used the automatic track laying feature in TranzDem. Now all I have to do is add all the detailing. Once you master TransDem it will open up a new field in layout design.

regards
Matches

 

[kdlehel]

well i just buyed transdem from Roland. You can pay by paypal. He gives a personalised key and alot of tutorials. read the manual. has a lot of posibilities.

Now i leraning how thinks to do. All the bests.

 

[firemanska_2nd]

sorry if I'm allowed to know, how much transdem 2.0 ???