Tutorial for Using Google Earth & TransDEM for route creation

snip~ If you hide the Route before generating the UTM tiles, it will keep the tiles from having a dark line overlaying the actual route.

Bill
Is dat' a good ting' ... or a bad ting' ?

Hey ahh' ... What ever happened wit' dat' ting' wit' da' guy ? ... What ting' ? You know, da' ting', wit' da' guy ! ... Oh dat' ting', ya ya ya ya, at's all taken care a' !
 
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I just finished my first dem, and your tutorial was just great. I had some starts, stops, and redo but I did it, YEA. Your tutorial is a BIG help and now I can go and experiment some more.

Thanks you so much for sharing your knowledge with the trainz community.
 
Excellent, Kin3. Happy to hear that. If you make a large route (say, over 50 GE images) be prepared to generate around 250-270 UTM tiles, burning through your KUIDs pretty rapidly. :D

Bill
 
I have a question. In Google Earth, what is the purpose of the push pins and their locations?
I'm having trouble with a map (tracks) going diagonal from top left to bottom right.
 
The pushpins are a integral part of creating a route. If you don't have them, TransDEM can't create a DEM of the route because it doesn't know where the route is. They are located in the Southwest corner of the image because that is where TD looks for them.

For a Northwest to Southeast route, position GE at the upper-left. Depending on how many baseboards away from the track you plan to have images, move approximately that distance away from the track North. Put a pushpin in the lower-left corner of GE (the southwest corner). Use the down-arrow key and move the display down until the pushpin is at the upper-left corner. Put another pushpin in the lower-left. In a similar manner move south until you have reached your baseboard-away-from-tracks limit.

Go back to the topmost pushpin using the up-arrow key. Now, with the pushpin sitting in the lower-left, click and HOLD the mouse when it is hovering in the lower-RIGHT of the image. Drag the mouse to the left until the mouse pointer is approximately where the pushpin used to be (in the lower-left). Release the mouse and be sure to hit the "N" and the "U" keys before placing a pushpin where you left the mouse.

Using the "click-and-hold" procedure, you can move the GE image east, west, north, and south easily, always making sure you release the mouse in the lower-left corner and put down a pushpin.

To see how you are doing, use the mousewheel to zoom out until you can see all (or some) of your pushpins. Gauge where you need to go next and double-click the closest pushpin. GE will zoom back down and end up with the pushpin in the lower-left. Now you can click-and-drag the image in the direction you need to go.

It all sounds complicated, but give it a try in a dry run until you are able to figure out which way you need to drag GE in order to capture the next tile in line. Always remember that you need a pushpin in the southwest corner for the tile to be generated.

Bill
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll play with it some more. I'm having trouble where one image overlaying another image when opening the georeferenced Raster Map.
 
Images will get overlaid. It is the nature of the 1000M squares you choose when setting the bounding box. If you used my "default" value of 2.5KM in height, then the coverage of the images will be more than a single 1000M (1Km) square. So, images will overly each other. You don't have to use 2.5Km. You can choose any height you wish, but the higher you go, the less definition the tiles will have. The lower you go, the more images you need to cover a specific area of the route. Theoretically, if you choose 1Km in height, and make sure you only cover 1Km on the ground (image) you won't have any overlap. BUT then you might have small gaps in coverage..

Bill
 
Thanks HBaller, I am learning more and more as I go. I am loving the rolling hills and mountains that a dem gives.
 
know what you mean. For grins, I did a 15-mile stretch down from Darjeeling, India. The foothills of the Himalayas were spectacular.

Bill
 
DEM/hgt

I'm new to Trainz. I have been using another popular train sim to build a route and have had some problems with crashes. I am wondering if there is some method in Trainz to incorporate the terrain hgt files used in the other sim into the Trainz route building system?

Thanks,

Dave
 
I'm new to Trainz. I have been using another popular train sim to build a route and have had some problems with crashes. I am wondering if there is some method in Trainz to incorporate the terrain hgt files used in the other sim into the Trainz route building system?

Thanks,

Dave

Welcome to the forums, Dave.

Sadly the answer is no. The other train sim uses a file format that is not compatible with anything in Trainz.
 
John, I think Dave is talking about SRTM data. The standard SRTM distribution uses a files format with type name .hgt, for "height". It is one of two DEM file formats that RS/RW can read. The other should be tif, if I am correct, as originally used by ASTER GDEM.

@Dave: You will need a 3rd party tool to bridge the gap between DEM and Trainz. TransDEM is one of those. MicroDEM/HOG is another one, somewhat dated for the HOG part, and there was also MapMaker but I don't know about its fate. Regarding TransDEM you should receive an email shortly.
 
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You're right Roland! I should have recognized those because I just downloaded some SRTM files myself.
 
Questions about the tutorial

To Highballer, I anticipate putting my order in for TD this afternoon. In preparation, I've been playing with GE to get a feeling for generating the Images for the route building program using TD.

Questions regarding Google Earth & TransDEM:


1. In the setup instruction you indicate that the UAM should be meter, Kilometer. In the USA measurements are feet, miles. What is the correct measurment value for GE/images for routes in USA when using TransDEM with Trainz?


2. You indicate that the viewing heighth for GE to generate the images is 2.5Km. This translates to 8202 feet. I've noticed that the value in feet changes slightly when moving around the screen, as much as 100 ft. before noticing the change. Is this a problem? Or do I need to make sure that the value doesn't change more than a few feet?


3. What version of GE should be used with TD? I am using the version 7.1.5.1557 update. Screen descriptions don't agree with what you describe in the tutorial is why I ask.


4. Should image be made with or without the "MyPlaces" listing on the left showing?


5. Does monitor resolution have any bearing on the outcome of the images. Is there a specific resolution that should be used with GE & TD?

Thanks,

Dave
 
To Highballer, I anticipate putting my order in for TD this afternoon. In preparation, I've been playing with GE to get a feeling for generating the Images for the route building program using TD.

Questions regarding Google Earth & TransDEM:


1. In the setup instruction you indicate that the UAM should be meter, Kilometer. In the USA measurements are feet, miles. What is the correct measurment value for GE/images for routes in USA when using TransDEM with Trainz?

Both TD and Trainz use Meters and Kilometeres. To try and convert miles/feet to M/Km all the time can lead to madness. I suggest you always use M/Km when dealing with Trainz. Having lived outside the US for most of my life, I find it hard to think in terms of miles/feet any more.

2. You indicate that the viewing heighth for GE to generate the images is 2.5Km. This translates to 8202 feet. I've noticed that the value in feet changes slightly when moving around the screen, as much as 100 ft. before noticing the change. Is this a problem? Or do I need to make sure that the value doesn't change more than a few feet?

Once again, you should use Km as your height indicator. When you move the mouse around, the ELEVATION will vary, but as long as you do NOT move the mouse wheel the "VIEWING HEIGHT" should not change.

3. What version of GE should be used with TD? I am using the version 7.1.5.1557 update. Screen descriptions don't agree with what you describe in the tutorial is why I ask.
I am using version 7.1.5.1557, same as you. Please let me know what you see that disagrees with what I describe so I can make corrections if necessary.

4. Should image be made with or without the "MyPlaces" listing on the left showing?

I have 'My Places' visible on the left, but the vertical right margin moved as far to the left as I can get it. When you hover the mouse over the right margin of the "places' panel, it will show two small vertical bars. If you click and hold, you can drag the vertical divider to the left. It will stop of its own accord, leaving some of 'My Places' visible.

5. Does monitor resolution have any bearing on the outcome of the images. Is there a specific resolution that should be used with GE & TD?

I probably does, but I am not sure what effect it will have, Dave. My monitor is 1600x900 and I run GE in fullscreen mode, which gives me the greatest map window size while still having 'My Places' on the left. That sounds like a good question for Geophil.

Bill
 
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Questions about the tutorial

You asked: "Please let me know what you see that disagrees with what I describe so I can make corrections if necessary."



At Note: you mention a small blue circle in the lower left. I don't see it here. I do see it on the lower right.

In step 1 of the instruction you say to drag the yellow marker to lower left corner of the Main Display and release it in the space just above the black box with "Tour Guide" on it. I don't see the "Tour Guide" box. I have just dragged the yellow marker to the edge of the view.

These are minor things. Sorry, don't mean to be a nit-picker! I was more concerned about having the correct version of GE.

Dave
 
You are correct, Dave. The blue circle is on the RIGHT, not the left. I'll have to change that.

As for the "Tour Guide", you can toggle that on or off in the View menu. I just happened to have it on when I wrote the tutorial. Where you have the yellow marker is just fine. Exact placement isn't an issue, but it does have to be in the southwest corner of the display.

EDIT: Tutorial has been fixed and is now up on my site.

Bill
 
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(Re: accessing HiBaller's TransDem tutorial)
Anyone else out there having this problem?

Likely this is already a resolved issue, but the tutorial pdf loads fine for me in Firefox. Thanks HiBaller!

Thanks also to geophil of course! I recently purchased TranzDem, but I still haven't had a chance to go through the provided tutorials.

-dz
 
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