DEM's of UP, etc.

[rwk]

I managed to find DEM routes on the DLS from Cheyenne, WY toward Nebraska as well as toward Laramie and Rawlings, WY. And DEM from Ogden, UT/Salt Lake area to Green River, WY. But I can’t find DEM between Green River and Rawlins, WY. Or west of where the Salt Lake route ends into Nevada. I have DEM from Sacramento to Reno/Sparks, and DEM to Oakland, CA. I’m trying to recreate the Big Boy tour route. I tried the Wayback archive for Fishlipsatwork’s DEM’s but some of them don’t have a working download.

 

[PhilChorusch01]

Not sure if this would help https://viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html
Click on 3" for a map of the world data, all data is 100% free without any logging into government websites

 

[JCitron]

Not sure if this would help https://viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html
Click on 3" for a map of the world data, all data is 100% free without any logging into government websites

This is a great website. He also needs to convert that to a Trainz usable format though. Without TransDEM, he's SOL.

I use the government EROS system via their Earth Explorer. There are many more options for worldwide data and I use the National Geologic Survey website for DEMs and imagery including old topographic maps. This information still needs to be distilled down to a Trainz format using TransDEM.

 

[rwk]

Are there any DEM's of UP east of Portola, CA into Nevada? Big Boy is currently running east on that route heading back to Cheyenne. It is in Nevada now according to the UP tracker. I have a DEM of the Feather River Canyon from Portola to Oroville as well as a completed route from the DLS but that route is not to scale and is much smaller than the DEM route by fishlipsatwork. I also have DEM's of the Donner Pass from Sacramento to Sparks, NV as well as to Oakland, CA. But I can't find DEM's through Nevada of UP but I found DEM's with Salt Lake City and toward Green River, WY and Rawlins, WY to Laramie, WY and I have a Laramie to Cheyenne route from TrainzItalia and DEM east of Cheyenne into Nebraska. But, I can't find Green River, WY to Rawlins, WY. Or east of Sidney, NE toward Omaha, Iowa, and Illinois and Chicago. I found a big Chicago area incomplete route which goes into Indiana.

 

[oknotsen]

https://forums.auran.com/threads/transdem-2-6-now-available.125857/

Buy that and you can make all you want.

 

[rwk]

How do I get a new version of TransDEM? Do I have to contact Roland? In the meantime I could just use flat baseboards raised up to the height to connect routes together but then I might run into the problem of one end having a different height and a huge cliff. Then I will have to use the slope tool and make a long gentle slope. Or use tracks to make a slope across the baseboards. Maybe a 2 mile long slope. I'm only missing Rawlins, WY to Green River, WY and west of Salt Lake City to Sparks, NV and east of Portola, CA into Nevada.

 

[JCitron]

How do I get a new version of TransDEM? Do I have to contact Roland? In the meantime I could just use flat baseboards raised up to the height to connect routes together but then I might run into the problem of one end having a different height and a huge cliff. Then I will have to use the slope tool and make a long gentle slope. Or use tracks to make a slope across the baseboards. Maybe a 2 mile long slope. I'm only missing Rawlins, WY to Green River, WY and west of Salt Lake City to Sparks, NV and east of Portola, CA into Nevada.

Yes, contact Roland.

On his website, he turned his email into text and you need to type that manually. He did this because he was getting lots of spam.

Flat baseboards and images are doable, but that's a lot of sculpting and really, really time consuming. You are better off biting the bullet and doing the former.

 

[rwk]

I found getting the data and selecting what you want too cumbersome in the past. I wish there was a way to just download what routes you needed without having to download whole chunks of route data. I guess there's no way to convert map data into Trainz format without TransDEM. How was the old HOG method done? Like the Fishlipsatwork or smooz maps with TIGER lines? I understand that HOG was really inaccurate with rail lines and roads in rivers and such but that was only because the TIGER lines were off sometimes. I need to buy TransDEM again, a newer version because I lost it over several years ago. How much is TransDEM now?

 

[JCitron]

I found getting the data and selecting what you want too cumbersome in the past. I wish there was a way to just download what routes you needed without having to download whole chunks of route data. I guess there's no way to convert map data into Trainz format without TransDEM. How was the old HOG method done? Like the Fishlipsatwork or smooz maps with TIGER lines? I understand that HOG was really inaccurate with rail lines and roads in rivers and such but that was only because the TIGER lines were off sometimes. I need to buy TransDEM again, a newer version because I lost it over several years ago. How much is TransDEM now?

It has changed a lot over the years and has somewhat settled down now. I put together a quick how-to guide but that process has changed on the USGS side about 3 times since I put that together. The old HOG method isn't accurate and MicroDEM doesn't work well if at all. The other problem is getting the route information because the old TIGER maps are now obsolete and no longer available as far as I know.

 

[rwk]

So now you are basically stuck with topo maps or satellite images? Or, you you could use a plain map overlay. I did a few DEM's like that several years ago. I find the topo maps and satellite maps too blurry in Trainz at close range. The thing though with plain maps is that the railroads and roads are inaccurate in spots. Topo maps and satellite images are more accurate because they use real world information. So you can't make plain DEM's with just gridded baseboards and lines for roads, rails, and rivers anymore?

 

[JCitron]

So now you are basically stuck with topo maps or satellite images? Or, you you could use a plain map overlay. I did a few DEM's like that several years ago. I find the topo maps and satellite maps too blurry in Trainz at close range. The thing though with plain maps is that the railroads and roads are inaccurate in spots. Topo maps and satellite images are more accurate because they use real world information. So you can't make plain DEM's with just gridded baseboards and lines for roads, rails, and rivers anymore?

In TransDEM you can use what are called UTM Tiles. These are high resolution images placed on terrain tiles, actually mesh objects that are built from the terrain, placed on a locked layer. With these in place, you then lay your track and landscape everything then remove the UTM tiles later.

The images are blurry due to how Trainz handles the textures. Roland has included a better color table which helps with the blurry nature of the textures, but it isn't perfect. Since I know the textures are blurry, I always have Google Earth or Google Maps, or sometimes a copy of the topographic map, open on my second display so I can view better details .