Any map drawing utilities out there? (Full Version)

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richlove -> Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/23/2014 10:56:30 PM)

I've spent a few months writing down locations of TK sightings in my current grand campaign, and I have about 200 or so entries of stuff like this:

- [ ] TK Nisshin Maru
- [ ] 88, 61 on 7/2
- [ ] 79, 67 on 7/7
- [ ] 91, 63 on 7/22
- [ ] 94, 57 on 9/16

What I'd like to do is be able to visualize that data on a map, ideally in an automated fashion, as a means of sniffing out the IJN convoy routes. Does anyone know of any tools that can do any part of that process, or is 'by hand' the best I can do? I'm hopiing someone has built a program that can take a list of map hexes and crank out a map w/ dots on it.... long shot, I know.
Thanks!



topeverest -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/24/2014 12:07:46 AM)

Unaware of anything like that, but back before my tracker stopped working I believe there was a signal intel function and map that did some of what you may want to do.

If you are coding type, C++ can easily set up a grid and data table you can use for a map. In excel, you also could create a tab to hold the data (227 x 202). You need to put a little thought into the excel grid, because each 'cell' probably would have 3 columns (date, type, and description) and then you need a row for each entry that occurs in the hex. I'd probably use a data table and macro to place the data.

In any event, eminently doable in a variety of formats if you are handy, but not if you are not.



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/24/2014 8:31:53 AM)

Hmm, thanks. It's been a while since I've done any C++. Are you saying I can decorate an image from excel, or are you saying I can represent the map in excel?



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 2:58:13 PM)

Hmm, this little project finally flipped from frustrating to fun. More to come.



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 3:22:05 PM)

OK, here's what I've got so far. I'm not sure I'm going to keep working on this, but I'll certainly explain how I generated it later today:

[image]local://upfiles/31763/CBC0985340F7400DB0C6E8E06D74D764.jpg[/image]



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 5:47:48 PM)

The first thing you want to do is to capture the data you want to graphically represent. I use OmniOutliner for everything, which is a Mac program. See attached.

One thing to note is that if you actually want to do this, you should store the data in such a way as to immediately feed it into the next step. I spent a very boring 20 minutes transforming it into the x,y grid locations you see in the spreadsheet in the image. Were I to do this again, I would probably enter TK sightings directly into a spreadsheet. I occasionally re-observe TKs, so I sometimes try to plot out their routes, but in 9/42, that data is sparse.

[image]local://upfiles/31763/0257FC8881D54F3683AB839D0B64CC08.jpg[/image]



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 5:55:51 PM)

Next step is to find an image manipulation program and a good map image. I used ImageMagick (visible here) because it had a command line interface. I used the MapRev1024.bmp included in the game. Next time I'll use one of the 45MB planning map files.

Then you need to figure out how to turn your x,y coordinates into pixel coordinates to draw onto the map. Using essentially hunt and peck circle drawing, I figured out the following mapping: 
Diamond Harbor
Hex 52, 38 on the map corresponds to a circle drawn at this pixel on the image: 
--> 278, 168 

Rabaul 
Hex 106, 125 on the map corresponds to a circle drawn at this pixel on the image: 
--> 478,457

Pearl Harbor 
Hex 180, 107 on the map corresponds to a circle drawn at this pixel on the image: 
--> 749, 398


For the record, the command to draw a dot using ImageMagick is:
convert MapRev1024.bmp -fill red -draw "circle 749,398 750,399"
That draws a circle on 749,398, which is PH on the image.



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 6:36:02 PM)

Next step: translate your x,y coordinates to pixel coordinates for your drawing program. If you look at the comment above, you see I plotted three pairs of "grid coordinates --> pixel coordinates". If you assume that mapping is linear, you can ask Wolfram Alpha to figure out the translation formula visible here, and in the attached image. Using this formula (one for the horizontal and one for the vertical (the one shown)), you can have excel translate all your map hexes into pixel points.



[image]local://upfiles/31763/E8F19588772A4DDF9F2E26ACDEFC7748.jpg[/image]



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 6:59:29 PM)

Penultimate step. Using excel, generate a huge command line command to generate your map. Take the generated commands, slap them into your CLI, and out comes the image w/ the little red dots I posted above.

SO: would I do this again? Maybe?

- The data collection is a pain, every turn
- I think it would take a LOOOONG time to amass enough data to have a really good sense for the standard TK routes.... and one routing switch destroys a lot of your work.
- You run the danger of reinforcing your biases. I'm seeing ships there because my subs are there; who's to say what other TKs are running around, unseen?

Anyway. A fun exercise even if I'm not sure I'd do it again.

[image]local://upfiles/31763/E4822530916241A2A2759F47B9B4F1F0.jpg[/image]



chemkid -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 7:43:54 PM)

.



Dili -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/28/2014 10:00:51 PM)

Yeah thanks for explanation.



tc464 -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/29/2014 9:59:02 AM)

oops



richlove -> RE: Any map drawing utilities out there? (7/29/2014 2:47:13 PM)

One last example; here's a track of the 5th Division's known locations through my game (Malaya to Singapore to Toungoo to the Akyab area).

You could do this for each unit, but staring at this image, I'm not sure it's very useful. For sussing out convoy routes, maybe... but do you really need to know the movement history of every enemy LCU? I am starting to think that it's better to just know their current position. Maybe there's value in decorating a map w/ known big LCU locations, but I'm not convinced.


[image]local://upfiles/31763/19652F5503EF40AE8F6D2EB3E3BDD00D.jpg[/image]



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