[aprssig] UIview Lives On! Announcing Precision Mapping 9.0 & new PMap Server for UIview

[Stephen H. Smith]

Around the end of this month, Undertow Software will release Precision Mapping 
9.0, the next major version of this program widely used with UIview 2.03 for 
fully scrollable, zoomable maps of North America WITHOUT an Internet 
connection. the new version incorporates  significant updates in the road 
database and many useful added features.

Further, Undertow Software has gone out of their way to acknowledge and support 
the UIview developer community.  They have  explicitly provided 
"UIview-awareness" in the program's  internals to facilitate mating it with 
UIview/Precision Mapping.


An new Precision Mapping Server 9.0 plugin, also to be released around the same 
time, will be required to use the new version of Precision Mapping with 
UIview32.     Earlier this year, there were some fears that the next release of 
Precision Mapping would be incompatible with UIview, and mark the end of this 
program.   However, the new 9.0 versions of Precision Mapping and the Precision 
Mapping Server plugin for UIview will extend the life of UIview yet again!



Some random observations from beta tests so far:

The PMap Server 9.0 plug-in will be provided in a standard Windows 
"wizard"-type installer that will install and work on Windows 7 with no 
hassles; i.e. without the clumsy workarounds required for Win 7 installs of the 
previous PMap Server 7.07 .

Precision Mapping 9.0 and the PMap Server 9 plugin install and run on Windows 
2000, Windows XP and Windows 7.  Go to
. <http://wa8lmf.net/pics/PMap9-Preview.htm>
to see a screenshot of all three OSes running UIview in separate virtual 
machines at once.

The installed footprint, on the hard disk, of the main Precision Mapping 
program has increased from about 2.4 GB for Version 8.1  to around 3.3 GB for 
Version 9.0. Despite Undertow's stated requirements of a 2 GHz processor, I am 
running the UIview2.03/Precision Mapping 8.0/PMap Server 9.0 combo quite usably 
on a 866 MHz Pentium III with 512 MB RAM.  Zooms and scrolls are a bit 
sluggish, but it works.    The new versions should well within the capabilities 
of 1.66 GHz Intel "Atom"-powered netbook PCs.

Part of the increased bulk of Precision Mapping is the set of colored textured 
relief images that can be displayed under the main road map display.   (This is 
similar to the relief images you see under the road map in newer Garmin Nuvi 
car navigators when you zoom out to larger areas.)

The new Precision Mapping 9.0 main (stand-alone) program now allows you to draw 
in new streets, and add them to the database.    If you have an live Internet 
connection, you can download and underlay the map with a real-time NWS radar 
image of the entire United States with two mouse clicks!

Both Precision Mapping stand-alone and the UIview running the PMap Server 9 
plugin allow you to underlay images in a variety of formats including .GIF, 
.JPG and .PNG .   (Previous versions only allowed underlays in .BMP format, 
causing images stored on disk to be up to 10 times or more larger.)       
Support of these other formats means that topo and satellite images downloaded 
from the Internet can now be used as-is without conversion to .BMP format.

Precision Mapping has always supported a set of drawing tools to create 
user-drawn overlays and markups on maps. These include point, line and area 
objects.   In the past, these were used in UIview displays for highlighting 
parade routes, marking patrol or search  zones,  adding points of interest like 
field day sites, aid stations, or SAR base camps, etc.

Versions of Precision Mapping after Ver 6.0 used a file format incompatible 
with UIview/PMap Server to store these overlay files.  You had to have access 
to an ancient Precision Mapping 6.0 setup to create overlay files compatible 
with PMap Server 7.07.     The new PMap Server 9.0 now accepts the native 
overlay format of Precision Mapping 9, and can make these markups show inside 
UIiview again!   (Note that this only affects what is seen in the local UIview 
setup -- none of these overlay markups are transmitted over APRS networks to 
other stations.)

A new "PMap9_Notes" page will be added to my website alongside the existing 
"PMap7_Notes" and "PMap8_Notes" pages before the end of the month.

Existing pages:

. <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/UIview_Notes.htm>
. <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/PMap7_Notes.htm>
. <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/PMap8_Notes.htm>


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--

Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
=== Now relocated from Pasadena, CA back to 8-land (East Lansing, MI) ===
Skype:        WA8LMF
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.net

=====  Vista & Win7 Install Issues for UI-View and Precision Mapping =====
     http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/UIview_Notes.htm#VistaWin7

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