This Newt's Cape example
generates an HTML document with
an overview map from MapBlast
for a specified location, with navigation to more detailed maps.
You can find this generator at:
http://saweyer.freehostia.com/newton/newtscape/exs/makemap.htm.
A posting by Dave Miller on the
NewtonTalk mailing list provided
the initial idea, example and sample code.
Dave wrote a : "Perhaps this will inspire [someone] to do
something similar on the Newton. Maybe a plug-in for Newt's Cape?".
This could certainly be done as a plugin, or might be built-in to Newt's
Cape, perhaps similar to how Notes' "Newt's Cape:Find" uses AltaVista or
other search engines. An HTML document with embedded NewtonScript is
more flexible/fun to create than a separate application or plugin,
allows me to stress test Newt's Cape in new ways, and allows others to
see and customize what I've done, perhaps inspiring other map or server
interfaces. I borrowed from Dave's versions (preserving variable names
and comments where possible),
and incorporated other Newt's Cape examples, e.g., location.htm
for LatLong and City pickers. After I released my first makemap,
feedback/suggestions flowed back and forth, Dave created a
map page with Perl CGI script,
and I created this second Newt's Cape version.
Other map options
Revision History
Future?
- add/use other map web sites in addition to MapBlast?
- other sources for location info, e.g., GPS?
- other Picture Size, Tile, Scale settings? metric scale for non-US users?
- other navigation approaches: tile-to-?
- override other Newt's Cape process/prefs settings?
- other suggestions?
6 Dec 99
- updated Find(US,Canada,World) to work with latest MapBlast server forms/scripts
11 Nov 98
- Scale refers to size of tiles, i.e., detailed maps; overview scale computed; added more Scale settings
- added more Tiles
- added Find forms to set latitude/longitude via City, MapBlast search, or from decimal format
- added H1 tag at beginning of each map/book page -- provides link to overview,
and TOC navigation via book overview
- included current form settings on overview page
- tiles link to adjacent tiles (via N/S/E/W triangles) or to overview (via center)
2 Nov 98
Map form |
Find forms |
Help
Notes:
- Newt's Cape preference: i:General:NewtonScript must
be set to Compile for this form to work properly. If the (Newton) City
or Latitude/Longitude pickers appear as regular text fields, you didn't do this.
- If you set checkbox: Next? Cache:process, images should automatically load.
- Check that the cache size (Newt's Cape preference: i:General:Images)
is large enough for number of tiles you've specified.
Use Map form if you know the latitude/longitude in degrees and minutes,
or once you have set it via one of the Find forms.
- Latitude/Longitude
- If you know this, you can set it directly via a latitude/longitude picker,
or set via Find forms.
If this appears as a regular text entry field,
you forgot to turn on NewtonScript:Compile preference!
- Number of Tiles
- default: 9. number of squares in overview with more detailed maps
- Picture Size
- default: MP2K portrait; MP130 landscape (= 320). specifies how many pixels across/down in the bitmap.
Depending on screen size and orientation, you
may see a 2D control for scrolling an individual map on a page.
These sizes optimize screen width to avoid scrolling; you can get more detail by
increasing number of tiles.
- Detail Scale
- default: 1" = 1/2 mi. how much area to show per inch in detailed map;
overview map scale is a multiple of number of rows.
- Book Title
- default: Map: city, region; country. title appears at the top of each book page.
- Book ShortTitle
- default: limited to ~18 characters. icon label if you Save as Package to Extras.
- Book ISBN
- default: 12 characters of city, 2 characters of region.
maximum of 14 characters. unique identifier for the book.
- Include maps for tiles?
- default: on -- creates an image map for each tile (center circle for overview;
triangles for adjacent 4 tiles). While you are modifying parameters to get the right location and scale,
you might want to turn this off to speed up generation and processing. This may
especially be desirable if you have a large number of tiles (>= 25) and are using
a version of Newt's Cape <= 2.0e. Once you have the images you want, you can turn
this on to generate the longer version
(and re-use cached images, assuming other parameters are identical) .
(this option always on for CGI currently).
- Next? Cache:process | Notes:display | CGI:process
- default: off
- if on for Notes, open Notes application and display source.
- if on for Cache or CGI, after saving source to HTML Cache, Newt's Cape processes the document
using its current i:Process setting, and other user preferences,
though temporarily turning on "autoload?" and turning off "scale to fit?".
- Save to HTML Cache
- save source to HTML Cache. If Next? Cache:process
checked, automatically load images and display document.
- Save HTML to Notes
- save source to Notes. If Next? Notes:display checked,
automatically opens Notes. This might be useful for
debugging, or transferring source to desktop or other Newton
(email,beam) -- though you could use parameters to re-create the source
using this form. Note: although Newt's Cape can Open this document from
Notes (and include any cached images), this does not currently support View:Load with Images
- Dave's CGI Script
- since this form collects basically the same input as
Dave Miller's maptiler form,
you could generate HTML using his server script. This is mostly for testing/interest,
since local generation (e.g., Save to HTML Cache) creates HTML
more quickly and more optimized for Newt's Cape.
If Next? CGI:process
is checked, Newt's Cape processes the document after querying and caching the result.
- Write to NTK Inspector
- Source appears in NTK Inspector (or other debugging tool) via the Write function.
This mostly for testing, but could be useful for testing changes or
to transfer source quickly to desktop to view in a desktop browser.
If you know the latitude/longitude of your destination in degrees and minutes,
you can go directly to the Map form.
Otherwise, go to Find forms; these will typically
set the latitude and longitude for you, along with default values for Title, ShortTitle and ISBN.
There are 5 separate forms:
- (Newton) City
- pick it from the local Newton city/country picker at top -- this defaults to your current location.
if this appears as regular text entry field, you forgot to turn on NewtonScript:Compile preference.
- US address, city, state, zip
- tap US MapBlast!;
Newt's Cape connects to/queries MapBlast web site; if it's successful/unique,
Newt's Cape automatically extracts&fills-in the latitude/longitude
and other information; otherwise, it pops up an error box. Since a result document is ~20K,
this can take a minute to query, transfer and parse.
- Canadian city, province
- tap: Canadian MapBlast!. same process as US
- world city (country optional)
- tap WorldBlast!. same process as US
- latitude/longitude (decimal)
- if you have lat/long in decimal degrees, e.g.,
from your own search of MapBlast or other map site,
enter these and tap Convert to convert/copy to the Map form
This assumes some familiarity with Newt's Cape and with the Newton book viewer.
If you selected Save HTML to Notes,
you can use File:Open Notes in Newt's Cape to view the document without graphics,
experiment with text-based links, or edit or email the source.
Otherwise, you selected Save to HTML Cache.
If beforehand you checked Next? Cache:process,
the graphics should have loaded automatically.
Otherwise, you would need to either select command: "View:Load with Images"
or turn on Newt's Cape preference: "i:General:Images:autoload?"
(and reselect the map document from cache).
To navigate among maps, it's best to start with the Overview map on page 1.
You can reach the Overview by tapping:
- Newton overview button to get a popup TOC (Table of Contents)
- the "Tile" heading at top of any detail page
- center of a detail map (if Include maps for tiles? is on)
- page number in book bar, and writing 1
- up scroll arrow (repeatedly)
- back arrow in book bar (after you have followed a link to a detail map)
Earlier, you specified a number of tiles.
The overview map is divided into that many squares.
Tap on a square to "zoom in" to that detailed map.
When you are at a detailed map, tapping the heading title returns to overview.
If Include maps for tiles? was off,
tapping on the detail map does nothing.
If maps were included, tap the center (approx. 1/2 inch diameter) to "zoom out" to the overview.
"Scroll" to an adjacent map (if available) via triangles on top,left,right,bottom, i.e.,
\ N /
\ /
W O E
/ \
/ S \
You can re-create the map book each time,
from document and images in cache. For frequently accessed maps,
you can save the book as a package. Assuming NewtPack plugin is installed,
you select File:Save as Package to save the current temporary book
to Extras. After checking that the book appears and works properly,
you can remove the document source from the HTML Cache,
and the overview and detailed maps from the Image Cache.
I would not recommend distributing these packages
since there are likely copyright problems beyond personal use.
Map form |
Find forms |
Introduction
This document (in all its formats) is ©1998-2004.
Steve Weyer. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
You are free to incorporate this into your own documents,
but I would appreciate an acknowledgement of Newt's Cape and makemap.
Last updated: Dec 2000