Real world maps?

[mojos09]

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. Is there somewhere to obtain real world maps to modify to make a SMR scenario with? I remember recently seeing a wiki about using satellite maps but the links in it are now dead. I would like to try to create a map using my own little part of the world in Northern Ontario Canada but ideally I'd like to have a 'real' map to start with, rather than spent countless hours in the terrain editor doing a poor job mimicking one.

[bobby]

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. Is there somewhere to obtain real world maps to modify to make a SMR scenario with? I remember recently seeing a wiki about using satellite maps but the links in it are now dead. I would like to try to create a map using my own little part of the world in Northern Ontario Canada but ideally I'd like to have a 'real' map to start with, rather than spent countless hours in the terrain editor doing a poor job mimicking one.

That is ok It can be moved.

In which Wiki did you see the broken links. If it was the Old Hooked ON Gamers Wiki That is so out of date now and contains lots of broken and out of date Links, due to the fact that Warll doesn't know what he is doing and is unable to set it up right.
You can read Section on creating custom maps Using The Digital Elevation Maps in my Wiki media/index.php?title=Railroads:Creating_Custom_Maps#Getting_To_Work

Just scroll down in That Section On Getting to Work, from there down It has links to and about using MicroDem, Which is where you can get maps to use. Snoopy may be able to help a bit more but his father is very very sick and in hospital and Snoopy is there with him.

[mojos09]

Thanks Bobby. Yours was the very wiki I looked at lol. But unfortunately it seems the links within it no longer work. As for Snoop, I certainly send my best wishes and hope things work out ok.

[snoopy55]

Thank-you mojos09, time is our only enemy now.

As to the Wiki, yes, some of the site are gone.

For now download the MicroDEM.

For the SRTM30's, go to the following site and download all of the files you can at this time. You may not end up needing them, but the 'Delete' key will fix that later.

http://dds.cr.usgs.gov/srtm/version2_1/SRTM30/

As Dr Frag stated, the SRTM30 is all you should need. Each location will show 12 files. The ones you need are the .dem.zip and the .hdr.zip. Be sure to download the two PDF files also. They will use about 1.5 Gb of drive.

Follow the Wiki for the rest of the map creation. We will update the Wiki as soon aas we can.

If, in the future, anyone finds links that are dead, please let us know which one and we will try to find replacements for them.

[Gabriel Bakker]

Yes!! A good site to get DEM files.

Sadly, though, MicroDEM still won't open them. If I extract them myself and then open the DEM file inside the zips, I get the error "Invalid DEM". If I tell MicroDEM to open the Zipfile itself, it unzips it, and then crashes.

MicroDEM, I think, just set a new record for Buggiest Program that is actually in use. And I'm afraid the greyscale map of the earth I found and adjusted last night, looks like someone smeared their fingers on it while the paint was still wet. I'm gonna post it here under Map Building Blocks though, as it may still be useful for non-coastal areas, and even coastal areas will work if you clean them up yourself. And this seems like the natural place people will look for it.

I will try to keep it hosted on my website indefinitely, but anyone is free to use it in any way the want, or rehost it somewhere else.

At least its something to work with, until we figure out how to get MicroDEM working again.

[Batchman]

Just went through something like 2 hours downloading all the files, downloading all the programs, having to download python, having to fight to download a version of gdal that actually had the .exe files in it, and having to point the program to all of these files individually, just to have it still say the files were all bad. Is there currently any way to get this stuff, or am I wasting my time? (Sorry, I'm frustrated right now.)

[snoopy55]

Gabrie, try researching here - viewforum.php?f=28 You mat get some answers.

Or search the whole sub-forum - viewforum.php?f=6

[slider38]

It would be wonderful if someone could actually provide a step by step on how to setup and use MicroDem. Over the years I've spent hours on several occasions trying to get it to work and never made any progress at all. Finding decent topo maps on line is no easy task either. I wish I could get MicroDem going, but unless someone can provide actual working instructions, I've given it all the hours I'm going to.

[snoopy55]

I may have found something for all 3 of you. It's a tutorial for MicroDem called 'Making 1-meter Heightmaps for RT3'

"The following is a step-by-step set of instructions for making a heightmap for RT3 that will have 1-meter resolution . It assumes the reader has very little familiarity with Microdem"

In my search for the address given, I got 'no such thing, go away!!!' In my own search I did both usgs.gov and usgs.gov maps Someone will have to try to look for what you guys need in one of those.

I'm remembering something of that program, but then I messed with a lot of stuff having to do with this game. Sometimes I think to much as I was having dreams of it some nights...

This is the original site, https://msu.edu/user/bowlby/rrt3/tutori ... orial1.htm

The MD4RT is the updated program and complete elevation table as of the time the tutorial was written.

The second zip is the tutorial itself.

These are both available at the site, but they can be slow to download.