Hello to all. One is in a pickle has to finding a app, or something that will marry quite a few maps that I have. Most of them are A3 & above. I can use the A3 scanner at work to scan in two halves. I don't mind paying some money on a monthly bases has long has it does the job. I do use a lady in the local town has to where i live, but she will not give up her secret ( not surprised) that she is not telling me one. Any help on this matter would help me out. I can't find one on the tin-ter-net. Regards & thanks Stu.
Stuart Slightly different approach but why not just download a digital version of the maps from the Internet? That obviously will not be appropriate if your own maps contain other information you need.
Disclaimer: I've not tried it myself yet, but it has been recommended to me several times. (I'm still getting by with an old Photoshop Elements that came with a scanner.) There is a free image editor called Gimp which should allow you to import and align your scanned 'tiles'. If you know the size in pixels of each tile, calculate the size of the whole map and create a blank image the same size. Open each tile, copy it and paste it into the blank image. They ought to appear as individual objects or layers that can then be aligned. Practice with a couple first as large maps will make a PC chug. GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program Other image editors are available, as are other more interesting search results for 'gimp'...
Not sure what you mean SDP? These maps are not on the internet! They are from a rare Divisional History, FIRST DIVISION FLORENCE TO MONTE GRANDE. August 1944 - January 45. The scan below is one of about 20. I'm nearly half way there. I'm hoping to put all of them on this thread once I've found a app that does the job.Other people on the forum have done some maps for me which I appreciate. Nothing better than doing it yourself. SDP, I should have given more detail. Regards & thanks Stu.
idler- Andrew, that's a long way around to something that I would need to be simple. Copy & paste it, open each tile, copy into the blank image. I get the object or layers. Looks as if i need to go on a course. Would it be OK to e-mail yourself? Stu
Stuart Understood. Your maps fall into the category of what I meant by 'other information' in my first reply: your maps are clearly personalised as part of that Divisional History. The point I was trying to make - albeit not very well - is that there are many of the standard GSGS/AMS maps available on the internet for download. Getting back to your original question, have you considered getting them scanned at a commercial print shop?
SDP, she has recently bought again a A3 scanner after not having one for a long period of time. That's the lady that I use in my local town - shop. I would just like to add that she has had four scans = two maps since the end of September. I'm grate-full for you mentioning the GSGS/AMS series. I have downloaded a map or two in the past. Putting it in a nice way, one had to remind her that she was being some-what slow in helping me out. Regards Stu.
Microsoft ICE is free and I have been using it for years. Simply scan the original (with good overlaps) and ICE will sort and join them. I have used it to join even 100 tiles into one large image. The only problem I find is that the joined-up end result can be so large (over 500MB) that it will not load into any other editing program, Once you make it then that is it as far as editing is concerned. I copied this map yesterday http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/france_100k/txu-pclmaps-oclc-6477007-st-lo-vire-6-f.jpg and the large version took me over 120 screen-grabs with the end map being 12156 x 9235 and a 236 MB TIFF. ICE allows you to save in other formats and a 'superb' Jpg is the same size but only 22 MB. Colour maps are obviously going to be much bigger than B/W maps.
I've never used that Texas site but instead prefer the McMaster University site. They provide a download facility for files in JP2 and TIFF formats. Their maps collection is huge! Hopefully this link to the St Lo Vire map works ok. A download certainly saves a lot of copy/paste/stitching time. Scroll all the way down the page to find the download buttons. St Lô-Vire
The Manchester map has the colour shading for 'height' (the pink tint) but the Texas one does not. They are 2 different versions of the same map . The downloaded Jp2 version is 19 MB and the TIFF 908 MB. Both are 20000 x 15000
Cheers chaps. All of your advice is welcome. One will look into things over the weekend. I'm stuck in my wagon at the moment. I would just like to say a large thanks to James, aka Charley Fortnum of the 4th Indian Infantry Division. He has done a few maps for me. Regards Stu.
m kenny, its taken me a while to figure out how it works, but its a excellent app & its free to boot. Hats off for mentioning it.There is a use-full tutorial on You tube. Thank-you. Stu.
It has problems with large 'white' areas when doing B/W maps. If you are stitching a large number of scans together then it might be better to stitch a couple together and then use them for the full image stitch rather than the 4 individual frames. It works 95% of the time but correcting the recalcitrant 5% is time-consuming
I have had a go at putting four scans at once & it worked a treat. What a marvellous App this is.Below are two maps that came out seamless.These two where in two parts. Nice one m kenny. I can't thank you enough. Happy days. Regards Stu.
Chaps, more maps that I have managed to play around with this top draw app. I have also used another one that does the resizing part that is also free. Just too add, I have managed all of this on a A 4 scanner that I have. A roll of masking tape goes a long way. m kenny, do you mean B/W maps or illustrations? I have not yet tried the latter.The second map has turned out well. Regards Stu.
On the scale of your maps 'white space' does not really matter but on a larger map with maybe 90% of 1 screen grab being white space it does get difficult. On your second map above the top RH corner would be a problem if that area made up 4 or 5 grabs and there was an island in the middle and the nearest land was 1 empty square away-no reference point for a join..
This is what I would consider a fail. No matter how good you are sometimes the grabs just will not line up correctly and you have to accept some flaws. My final maps are quite large say 6000 x 4000 so I am making it difficult by going for that large a map. This will be where two sections of around 40 joined up squares are mated with another joined up group of 40. I am an addict for historic local OS Maps.
m kenny, this may well be huge map that you are having problem with. How big is it? I only ask because the last map in my previous post . MAP No 4 measures 22 inch in length by 18. Its some what cock eyed if you get my meaning? It was done in six sections. The other app that i have used is called picresize. Some of the maps where resized down from 10 MB to 1280 resolution. I include some more maps that I've done. You don't happen to have a copy of the last map in English text in your collection by any chance? Regards Stu.
