Prototype route

PapaCharlie62

Active member
Is there a way to copy and paste from Google Earth to TRS19? I am working on a Maine Central route, and that would make a lot easier than trying to go back and forth from Google Maps to TRS19. It does help that I worked on Springfield Terminal Railway, but I am trying to include other retired Railroads as well, like the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Canadian National, Boston and Maine, and Portland Terminal (Portland, Maine).
 
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Is there a way to copy and paste from Google Earth to TRS19? I am working on a Maine Central route, and that would make a lot easier than trying to go back and forth from Google Maps to TRS19. It does help that I worked on Springfield Terminal Railway, but I am trying to include other retired Railroads as well, like the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Canadian National, Boston and Maine, and Portland Terminal (Portland, Maine).
 
The simplest way I do it, is to measure out 720m x 720m on Google Earth with the line marking tool.

Then I use Windows 'Snipping Tool' to capture the image from Google Earth.

Then I upload that image into 'Basemapz' which easily creates an asset that can be placed exactly where you want it on a baseboard. (I always use a named layer for the baseboards, so that once my scenery is placed, I can then delete the layer, which keeps the pixel level down).
Cheers,
Roy
 
If you want to make a bit of an investment in time and some money, meaning about $26 for TransDEM plus the learning curve, you can place topographic maps or images right in place on top of DEM elevation data. The results are quite rewarding. In the end all you need to do is place the track, and landscape.
 
IT seems these videos use a screen image which amounts to a rectangle to put on a square base map. Once you have the image file I would think you could use Irfanview or some other free program to crop it to a square, and then it would not get squished? Or maybe pate it onto two base maps to contain the rectangular overlap? Just curious, I don't actually have experience trying it.
 
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You need to adjust your view so that your camera angle is right overhead. Once adjusted, you screen capture the area and adjust the size so that the image is 720 x 720. You repeat this for as many images you need. Once captures, you then use basemapz objects. These are scenery assets that will hold the image by replacing the stock image with one of your own named exactly the same.

To use these basemapz objects, you place them slightly under the ground-surface and lock them in place on a separate layer to prevent them from moving. Once in place, you then lay your track on top and build up your landscape as necessary. While this process is great for small projects, it's still, by far, a long process that will take many, many hours of to perfecting and implementation. Your best bet is to spend about $26-28 on TransDEM. TransDEM (rolandziegler.de)

TransDEM will allow you to import DEM data, meaning the height information so you will have your hills, and allow you to import and place topographic maps, or orthographic images in place. Once placed, you can then export the package as a single rout ready for track-laying and road building. Using data from the National Server (USGS) you can access historical topographic maps, which will show abandoned ROW as well as current ones and ROW that are abandoned now, but weren't when the map was generated.


Here's Haverhill, MA Merrimack River bridge with a bit of artistic license using a TransDEM-generated map. I put in a scissors wye to connect the Georgetown branch from the north as well as the south from the actual connection. Looking at some historic maps, prior to 1910 when this bridge was put in, there was a wye there but that was removed when the grade separation was done. My wye takes into account the current alignment so the layout is different. The topographic map dates back to ca. 1944-45 and is superimposed over current DEM data.


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I have a couple of suggestions:

You could use multiple screens and run trainz on one screen and google earth on another. That is the easy way. No cut and paste though. If you want the google earth image loaded on your map you could do that with Transdem. You would have to take a picture of the Google Earth Image. Then You would have to in Google Earth see what the coordinates are in UTM of the NorthWest Corner of the image then The Southwest Corner of the image then the NorthEast Corner and Southeast corner. Once you georeference your image in Transdem you could load it as a raster map.
 
The classic TransDEM built-in function for Google Earth is the semi-automatic placemark georeferencing. In Google Earth you align the north axis and reset any tilt, set a placemark, save it, and make and save a screenshot. That sounds pretty easy and quick, compared to the aforementioned manual approaches, but is still rather tedious if you are going to do hundreds of images.

The far more efficient method is via so-called map tiles (or tile maps) which you can download and georeference from TransDEM itself, without leaving the program at all. Free ortho-image providers are Microsoft Bing or ESRI (and several others, often specific to a region). You can also use Google Maps imagery, same source as Google Earth, but you will need to register an account with Google and may need a credit card, although the typical downloads for route building would lie well within the free contingent.
 
I decided to try the approach by Roy3b3, because it's free and only so much memory on a laptop. I have been working on it since the beginning of this thread and would like to upload what i have done, but not sure because of Google photos are still being used for placement of scenery items.
 
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