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Further Update on the Google Maps Situation

As you may have noticed, with the exception of the Live Bandscan which I didn't code, pretty much every map on the site is now off of Google Maps except for the main set of coverage maps designed for individual stations. Unfortunately, I have to reproject all 57,000+ (that's 25+ GB) Longley-Rice coverage maps for display in the new format. As such, I'm currently packing them up to download to a powerful local computer, where I intend to do the reprojection offline. I expect to start that reprojection later today, and anticipate it will take at least two days, probably more. When that is finished, I'll upload them back up to the server and make the move.

I considered reprojecting the maps on the server, but a test case took 29 seconds, during which the server was sluggish. When I ran it on the local computer, it took less than 10 seconds. Suffice it to say, I concluded the local computer was the superior option.

While packing and unpacking are in process, the server may be slow as the tar command is/will be hogging the hard drive. Additionally, I plan to make no new coverage maps (or move existing ones from permits to new licenses) while the reprojection is occurring, lest I have to make modifications to a handful of individual map files after the fact.

The good news in all of this is that I've been planning to make a backup of the maps for several months anyway.

EDIT (November 3, 2018 at 5:26PM ET): And, it's done. All the maps, except for the Live Bandscan, should now be off of Google Maps. If you come across a map that still uses Google Maps, please let me know so I can correct it.

Comments

1. On Sunday, November 4 2018, 03:13 by Mark

Your multiple-sourced maps are great! Many thanks.

2. On Tuesday, November 6 2018, 16:27 by Dennis Young

I am so glad you left Google! I needed the county lines and names for more precise designations in my research. Well done and thanks for a great site!

3. On Saturday, November 24 2018, 16:46 by Brian in CT

Trip, I wouldn't use the "Open Topo Map" as the default background map. The bright colors make it hard to read information plotted on it. This is especially true when used for the Longley-Rice coverage maps. All the colors blend together. If it was up to me, I would use the "ESRI Topo" as the default map. The colors are muted, and the map shows most structures at street level. Users would be able to find their house/building on it.

Just a thought.

4. On Sunday, November 25 2018, 21:00 by Trip Ericson

I'm in agreement about the coloration on the OpenTopoMap but I do prefer the amount of shading in it. I found a nifty plugin that looks like it removes color from underlying maps and I want to try using that to correct it. Should I find more than a few minutes at a time to sit at my desk outside of work, I want to try that first.

I'm inclined to avoid the ESRI maps as a default lest a situation like the Google situation emerge with ESRI as well.