I've spent the day with microdem

[frogpipe]

...and I want to tear my eyes out.

I navigated the errors and got it in trainz 2019 (via Hog utility), but what a pain. Wish I had the $30 for transdem, because I think its still messed up. Hills seem too tall and I never got tiger lines to work. Big ditches between baseboards. What a mess...

Just thought I'd share.

[MP242]

Post Deleted

[clam1952]

Too tall hills? Probably the feet to meters conversion, long time since I used Microdem 11 years in fact.

[frogpipe]

As often happens posting got me thinking and that thinking made me realize that the highest point of my DEM should have been 2500ft. Well microdem said 2500 m which I took as meters.

I reran hog and changed the max height to 762 (2500ft in meters) and now I have a more reasonable looking landscape.

Still have tons of holes and spikes but now it looks like something I can work with.

[frogpipe]

Too tall hills? Probably the feet to meters conversion, long time since I used Microdem 11 years in fact.

Yes. I worked that out after consulting Google earth and seeing the actual elevations. Funny too because I distinctly remember thinking "this look like its 3 times too high" LOL.

Still no TIGER lines but I'll deal. Theres no railroad there anymore anyway. (Bristol VT)

[rwk]

I know a woman on facebook who is a Flat Earther. She believes the earth is flat, that there is a dome over the Earth with God above, and there is no pitch black outer space. You can't argue with her, or she will threaten to unfriend or block you. I guess the Earth really is flat in Trainz. I believe the real Earth is round.

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

The last time I used HOG and MicroDEM to create Trainz terrain was over 10 years ago, so I forget most of it. I made a map that included Mt. Hood and the Columbia River in Oregon. The mountainous terrain came out well, but gently sloping land came out like a series of steps instead of a continuous gradient. The stepped terrain was eliminated by using an ASCII data format somewhere in the process (I’m very hazy about the details, I just remember that “ASCII” data or DEMs were involved). The point is, if you run into the same problem of “steps”, look up ASCII and see if that can help.

[clam1952]

The Microdem / Hog Tutorials that used to be at the Wewain site have now vanished. However there is a pdf tutorial here https://docplayer.net/50509772-Conve...ainz-maps.html just need to remember the newer versions of Microdem apparently don't require the height conversion.

[frogpipe]

That's a good tutorial and the one I followed gave the same instructions although for the command line version of hog.

My problem seems to be with the data I got off Vermont's website. The lat and long seem to be off. Coordinates under my mouse are on the order of 1.5N by 117W which is out in the Pacific Ocean I suspect that isnt helping my issue with trying to get TIGER lines to show up. Not many roads out in the ocean. LOL.

I cant seem to figure out how to either correct the error or set the correct whatever so it reads it correctly off the DEM.

Microdem has the appearance of a highly powerful tool, developed over a long period, by a set of folks who use it, and therefore understand it - making it nearly impenetrable to an "outsider"

[ldowns]

...and I want to tear my eyes out.

I navigated the errors and got it in trainz 2019 (via Hog utility), but what a pain. Wish I had the $30 for transdem, because I think its still messed up. Hills seem too tall and I never got tiger lines to work. Big ditches between baseboards. What a mess...

Just thought I'd share.

I also started with MicroDEM and spent a great deal of time creating a large route. With TransDEM later I was able to redo the route (complete with topo map overlay and much more accurate placement of roads, tracks, rivers, etc.) in probably about a tenth of the time.

The $30 may seem a bit steep, but believe me it's worth it in the long run (though it also has a bit of a learning curve). I'd suggest you start saving for it. After all, how much is your time worth?

--Lamont

[frogpipe]

After all, how much is your time worth?

--Lamont

More and more the older I get If/when I do a for real road I'll definitely pull the trigger, but for now I managed well enough.

I figured out how to adjust the lat/long - it involved the "edit data" option under Files and editing the DEM header (I first merged the 4 topo files, then saved it as one *.DEM file, MicroDEMs native format) after a bit of trial and error, it now appears as an overlay in the right place in Google Earth (There's a button to export it to GE in MicroDEM)

I also found the "Trig Station" object which will help me trace the original route, but it's been nearly 100 years since the road was ripped up and the ROW is not really visible anymore.

This too is fine, as my intention was NOT to recreate the original Bristol Railroad, but rather to use it and it's terrain as a jumping off point for a freelance route. Hence less of a need to know where roads etc really are.

If I ever get the insane itch to go back redo the MA and PA I'll definitely need that tho.

[wreeder]

Use part of your virus check to get it.

William

[Basharat]

On the topic of MicroDEM, can anyone point me to any sources for DEM data which MicroDEM can accept? The few tutorials I've come across either point to sources which are now payware, or the pages on which the topic of acquiring DEM data was covered are now inaccessible.

[JCitron]

On the topic of MicroDEM, can anyone point me to any sources for DEM data which MicroDEM can accept? The few tutorials I've come across either point to sources which are now payware, or the pages on which the topic of acquiring DEM data was covered are now inaccessible.

This might be helpful:

https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

I downloaded information from here for Bermuda a few years ago. Login and an account was required back then, but I'm not sure anymore about that.

[MRLK]

i tried this a few years ago and it was ok but its not even possible anymore all links and DEMs have been removed