Grid Assist Maps
The background Maps used in the Grid Assist Utility are graphic images of either Roadmap type or Aeronautical charts. Maps may be created from any source of a graphic map image in which the Latitude and Longitude of the map corners are known. The area covered by each map image should be at least two times the MAP RANGE used in the Grid Assist Utility to display the desired area. Maps should be created with at least one time the MAP RANGE overlap with other maps.
When a center point is selected in the Grid Assist Utility, the system will examine all available maps (as defined by the file "MapDatum.txt") and find the map with the highest scale factor (the number of vertical pixels per degree of latitude) that completely surrounds the coordinates of the display window. If the map physically exists in the directory containing the Mission Management Utility, it will be used as a background for the display. Maps may be saved in graphic formats of ".bmp", ".GIF", or ".JPG".
The author has created a series of maps which can be used as default backgrounds. These maps were created by copying Delorme maps to a graphic editor and saving them in ".GIF" or "JPG" format. These maps should only be downloaded by users who have purchased DeLorme Street Atlas USA, Version 4 or later and have a valid license for this software. Maps that have a "T" suffix to the map scale require the user to have the Delorme Topographical software package. Downloading without these licenses may be a violation of their copyright restrictions.
A standardized naming convention has been created for these file images. The format used is:
Map_<Scale>_<Center Latitude>_<Center Longitude>.GIF
Each map used should be defined in the "MapDatum.txt" file in the directory containing the Mission Management Utility. Open the file with a text editor to see details on the file layout and examples.
To download the latest MapDatum.txt file, click on
MapDatum.Maps exist for most wings (You must have a copy of DeLorme Street Atlas to download these maps).
Note: I have not finished moving all of the maps to the Pacific Region Web MMU site. If you are unable to load your maps that are shown from this web site, try connecting to the Arizona Wing site at http://cap.sedona.net/utilities/ESMaps.html
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Alaska |
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Connecticut |
Delaware |
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Hawaii |
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Maine |
Maryland |
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Massachusetts |
Michigan |
Minnesota |
Mississippi |
Missouri |
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Montana |
Nebraska |
Nevada |
New Hampshire |
New Jersey |
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New Mexico |
New York |
North Carolina |
North Dakota |
Ohio |
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Oklahoma |
Pennsylvania |
Puerto Rico |
Rhode Island |
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South Carolina |
South Dakota |
Tennessee |
Texas |
Utah |
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Vermont |
Virginia |
Washington |
West Virginia |
Wisconsin |
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Wyoming |
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Map_08T_4400_11500.JPG |
Map_08T_4300_12400.JPG |
Map_08T_4300_12100.JPG |
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Map_08T_4300_11800.JPG |
Map_08T_4300_11500.JPG |
Map_08T_4200_12400.JPG |
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Map_08T_4200_12100.JPG |
Map_08T_4200_11800.JPG |
Map_08T_4200_11500.JPG |
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Map_08_4300_11800.JPG |
Map_08_4300_12000.JPG |
Map_08_4300_12200.JPG |
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Map_08_4400_11800.JPG |
Map_08_4400_12000.JPG |
Map_08_4400_12200.JPG |
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Map_09T_4600_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4600_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4600_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4600_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4600_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4600_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4530_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4530_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4530_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4530_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4530_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4530_11800.JPG |
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Map_09T_4500_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4500_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4500_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4500_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4500_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4500_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4430_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4430_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4430_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4430_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4430_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4430_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4400_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4400_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4400_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4400_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4400_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4400_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4330_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4330_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4330_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4330_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4330_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4330_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4300_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4300_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4300_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4300_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4300_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4300_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4230_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4230_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4230_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4230_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4230_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4230_11630.JPG |
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Map_09T_4200_12400.JPG |
Map_09T_4200_12230.JPG |
Map_09T_4200_12100.JPG |
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Map_09T_4200_11930.JPG |
Map_09T_4200_11800.JPG |
Map_09T_4200_11630.JPG |
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Map_10T_4530_12315.JPG |
Map_10T_4530_12230.JPG |
Map_10T_4530_12145.JPG |
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Map_10T_4515_12315.JPG |
Map_10T_4515_12230.JPG |
Map_10T_4515_12145.JPG |
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Map_10T_4500_12315.JPG |
Map_10T_4500_12230.JPG |
Map_10T_4500_12145.JPG |
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Map_10T_4445_12315.JPG |
Map_10T_4445_12230.JPG |
Map_10T_4445_12145.JPG |
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Map_10_4530_12300.JPG |
Map_10_4530_12330.JPG |
Map_10_4600_12300.JPG |
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Map_10_4600_12330.JPG |
WAC_16_4530_12300.GIF |
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Creating New Maps for Mission Management Utilities
The Mission Management Utility, Grid Assist, provides a background map capability. This map may be either derived from Road Map formats or from Aeronautical Chart formats. A set of basic maps covering the United States (with detail in the Southwest) is provided on the Mission Management home pages. Users may generate their own maps to meet special needs or to provide detail on other areas. This document provides instructions for creating Road Map format maps derived from the DeLorme Street Atlas USA disk set.
Before using the maps from DeLorme, each user must purchase a copy of the software from a software retailer or from DeLorme and have this in their possession. This prevents copyright violations.
The Grid Assist Utility provides a window showing a portion of a map area. The size of this window varies according to the selected scale factor. When the window is changed, the system searches the available maps (from the file MapDatum.txt) to find a map that fully encompasses the window area. If more than one map meets the criteria, the map with the highest resolution will be used. Thus, each map created for the system must consider the detail to be available to the user (the selected scale factor) and the map resolution.
The process defined uses the screen bitmap to capture images. The display screen resolution should be set as high as possible to minimize the required map overlap and the number of maps required to cover an area. A rule of thumb is to use a minimum of 800 x 600 pixels. Many of the maps in the Mission Management web pages were made with resolutions of greater than 1200 pixels.
To create a new map, use the DeLorme program to select the desired detail level (zoom) of the area desired. Use the cursor latitude/longitude display to center on a coordinate (try to use minute intervals set to values representing coordinates that can be divided into even increments). Make use the map window is maximized. Use the cursor to determine the latitude of the top center, the bottom center, the longitude of the left center and the right center. Use the menu Edit - Save to Clipboard option to save the map.
Use a graphics editor such as Microsoft Paint or Corel Draw and paste the image to the work area. If necessary, adjust the work area to completely contain the pasted image. Note the x-pixel and y-pixel count of the image and divide the width by the height. This becomes the aspect ratio. Save the image as either a GIF or BMP file. The file name convention used has been:
Map_Zoom_CenterLatitude_CenterLongitude.gif
Where Zoom is the DeLormeā zoom factor associated with the map. It should be noted that users may specify their own naming convention with the only constraint being that names beginning with W or S are reserved for Aeronautical charts.
Use a text editor such as Notepad to open the MapDatum.txt file (found in the ES directory). Create an entry in the file where the line format is:
MapName,AspectRatio,MaxLatitude,MaxLongitude,MinLatitude,MinLongitude,Comments
If a chart shown in the MapDatum.txt file cannot be found, the system will ignore it.
Return to ES Homepage | Return to Grid Assist | Return to Mission Management
