TransDEM and TS2010

[Toyguy]

Just bought TransDEM and I'm trying to get a grip on it with not much success. Hopefully someone here will have some advice for me

I am starting small with just a DEM file of my local area. All I want to do first is get that into Trainz 2010 for elevation purposes. I don't care yet about a base raster map, or automatic track laying etc.

Anyway, I thought I understood how to do it. I got the NED DEM from the USGS and got it into TransDEM with no problem as a GEOTIFF. I then used the Trainz Exporter to create a route and imported that through Content Manager. This is where I lose it.

In CM, it shows up as imported with no error. The Local and Modified icons are turned on, and it has the Route asset icon attached to it. The Commit choice for it is grayed out and unavailable. If I go into Trainz, it does not show up in the Routes section. How do I make this available in Surveyor so I can look at in 3D?

Thanks!

Dave

 

[Azervich]

Hi Dave,

You mean when you load the map it doesn't show the baseboards?
in TRS06+ I remember needing to rename dem's to

mapfile.bmk
mapfile.gnd
mapfile.obs
mapfile.trk

then it'll show after that, also in TS2010 you need to click the star off with routes
it only shows favorites, I had same problem at first with that too.

-Aaron

 

[geophil]

Hi Dave,

You mean when you load the map it doesn't show the baseboards?
in TRS06+ I remember needing to rename dem's to

mapfile.bmk
mapfile.gnd
mapfile.obs
mapfile.trk

Has been changed in TransDEM 2.0. Route files created for TRS2006 and higher will be named mapfile.* right away.

then it'll show after that, also in TS2010 you need to click the star off with routes it only shows favorites, I had same problem at first with that too.

Yes. That could be the cause of the problem.

 

[Toyguy]

OK, that's solved a few of my problems. I finally got a DEM loaded into TransDEM. Turns out that the NED downloads from USGS are in a format it doesn't understand by default. You have to drill down quite a ways to find the GEOTIFF option. After that it was OK.

And it was the Favorites star that was keeping me from seeing the created route. Thanks for that tip! I had no clue that was even a clickable button in the UI.

Now I need some advice on the base map images. I understand how to get them, I think. What I don't understand is how I make sure the DEM I download and the raster map I download are the same scale and area. Both the USGS and TerraServer downloads seem to send you predefined map chunks whose size you don't get to choose. What process is used to make sure that when they are loaded into Trainz the tracks are positioned in the terrain in the right places? I took a quick stab at it this morning and it was obvious that the scale of the DEM and raster map were way out of sync.

Thanks!

Dave

 

[geophil]

It's all down to geo coordinates. Every map image must have them as they determine position, scale or rotation. Load your maps via the TransDEM online "WMS" or "Map Tile" clients and the coordinate tasks are handled for you. You can also use GeoTIFF map images and TransDEM extracts the coordinates like it did for the DEM.

For a US route, TerraServer, now MS Research Maps, is the first choice for a map data source. Access it automatic via WMS (tutorial for Durango & Silverton in the TransDEM main manual). Don't bother making map screenshots in your web browser or download images manually, too much work.

An alternative source for offline data is USGS Seamless Server. The 1:24k topo maps are hidden in the download options, where you selected "GeoTIFF" for the NED DEMs. Make sure to select GeoTIFF again.

 

[Toyguy]

If I use TerraServer, can that provide me both the raster and elevation data? I didn't see how to get actual terrain shape data from it - all I got were the images.

Thanks!

Dave

 

[geophil]

No, you best stick with NED DEMs from USGS Seamless Server.

And for maps you use Terra Server/MS Research Maps via WMS.

The great thing with geo coordinates is: they always fit, if processed properly, completely independent of the source you get them from.

If the DEM features hills an dells for a particular area, your topo map will load on top and show contour lines matching those hills and dells of the DEM. It's not magic, it's pure math and one of the key features of TransDEM and other geo data software. This is also one of the main differences between the TransDEM approach to Trainz route building and a "Basemap" approach.