Provincial / Town Borders, how to handle.

[ironbuttpinoy]

Sorry for the mix-up, i meant kml but i wrote kmz in my email. You really can't see a perfect fit outline of the islands when you zoom in closer. Remember, these shape files were around long before GE became that accessible. I'm even pleasantly surprised that it matches the island of the Philippines properly when you zoom out. It's good enough for ID purposes, i think...

Its not what I wanted it to be but its a good guide! Even so the borders would be off....

Your work is appreciated and will be useful. Ill dig more for provincial borders by long/lat points with the dept of transp.

[amf]

Thank you for your efforts guys!

I'm just a bit at a loss on how useful borders are in a routable road map. I guess it will also add to the slow screen re-draws of olders GPS units with low CPU ratings.

I suggested to ironbutt that WPs indicating provincial boundaries in roads may be useful as you can see that you are approaching a boundary.

Please enlighten me on this. Thanks!

[ironbuttpinoy]

Thank you for your efforts guys!

I'm just a bit at a loss on how useful borders are in a routable road map. I guess it will also add to the slow screen re-draws of olders GPS units with low CPU ratings.

I suggested to ironbutt that WPs indicating provincial boundaries in roads may be useful as you can see that you are approaching a boundary.

Please enlighten me on this. Thanks!

To me I find a dot on a road silly. Sure its efficient digitally but it does not deliver the absoluteness of a border or a "feel" for where you are in proportion to a Provincial border.

Also if there is another road built or found then another waypoint would have to be generated.

I think a good compromise would be to keep the provincial borders but not do the Town borders as that would REALLY clog up the refresh rates. I can even see in GE how bogged down the Provincial Maps are to me from when Borgie sent me them. (Not complaining Borgie. Wonderful maps, Im just saying the slowdown time on a redraw is surely noticable. But then again I think all 7100 islands plus some of Indonesia are in there as well. So no wonder!)

With that being said I feel that paths not poly gons of Provinces and not towns would be a really reasonable compromsie. Again Just like in the USA maps I have shown in one of my first few posts in this thread.

[amf]

Thanks ironbuttpinoy!

That would be interesting but again what would be the practical use of knowing the provincial borders in a routable Phil road map (as opposed to a topo or paper map)? I can understand its usefulness in the US (state boundaries) as laws differ from state to state.

In the Phil setting, as long as one is traversing the correct road/highway to his destination, would it really matter if he knows he is within the province of say Laguna or Batangas?

I am not questioning the wisdom of identifying borders in our map, I just don't know the reason why and how it will be useful in a routable or navigational roadmap (I can see its usefulness in a paper/printed map though). You may want to help me on this. Thanks!

[ironbuttpinoy]

Thanks ironbuttpinoy!

That would be interesting but again what would be the practical use of knowing the provincial borders in a routable Phil road map (as opposed to a topo or paper map)? I can understand its usefulness in the US (state boundaries) as laws differ from state to state.

In the Phil setting, as long as one is traversing the correct road/highway to his destination, would it really matter if he knows he is within the province of say Laguna or Batangas?

I am not questioning the wisdom of identifying borders in our map, I just don't know the reason why and how it will be useful. You may want to help me on this. Thanks!

Bottom line? Its information. In time I will know how long it takes me to get from here to there across one province to another. Its like if you race a 100 lap race. Wouldnt you like to have a lap counter? Reference points help me as I travel.

In essence... I feel strongly that I want them.

[amf]

Oh, Okay.

My Nuvi tells me how far and how long will it take to travel from one point to another but since you find it personally useful, it's really worth a shot.

[ironbuttpinoy]

Oh, Okay.

My Nuvi tells me how far and how long will it take to travel from one point to another but since you find it personally useful, it's really worth a shot.

My 2610 does as well, but still... I like to know where the borders are as a point of reference. Probably more for sharing with someone about a location. Like. Oh about 5km past the Camarines Norte Border etc. Things like that.

Also to be honest I will use it in a rally in the future to be sure that rally players have these maps loaded. If they dont have it loaded then they wont know what Look for the banana field on the right .2km after the border and go down that road 3km. This will promote this forum, and cause.

[Borgie]

That would be interesting but again what would be the practical use of knowing the provincial borders in a routable Phil road map (as opposed to a topo or paper map)? I can understand its usefulness in the US (state boundaries) as laws differ from state to state.

In the Phil setting, as long as one is traversing the correct road/highway to his destination, would it really matter if he knows he is within the province of say Laguna or Batangas?

I am not questioning the wisdom of identifying borders in our map, I just don't know the reason why and how it will be useful in a routable or navigational roadmap (I can see its usefulness in a paper/printed map though). You may want to help me on this. Thanks!

Hi amf. Yup you're right, in a way. But consider this, wouldn't it be nice to see what municipality/barangay you are in when you are navigating, esp. at night? Would help in making an ETA guesstimate. Would greatly help too if you're looking for a particular barangay. Imo, .img files in car and newer handheld GPS and smartphones/PDA's would not have that much of a problem with redraws, even with the added map data translating to a larger file size, with it's big phone memories and faster processors. Maybe Jan can generate 2 maps, 1 for older GPS, with fewer details but good enough for routing and navigation, and a complete 1 with enhancements for those units that can handle them.

If you have a companion when you travel, you can ask your companion (if you're driving) to go to the 2D map browser and see where (barangay) you are even without zooming out. Or if the boundaries are in the map as lines not polygons, maybe when you cross a boundary it'll appear with a label (ex. Carcar-Naga municipal boundary), much like seeing a perpindicular street name when you cross an intersection. It would add more functionality to our map, i think... ... don't you think?

ironbuttpinoy, please check your email. Sent you .kmz files for cities/municipalities...

[ironbuttpinoy]

ironbuttpinoy, please check your email. Sent you .kmz files for cities/municipalities...

got em Borgie! Ill play with them when I have time. Lots of search and destroying to do to get rid of island polys but thats ok. Its alright to take a while. Its awesome to have solutions.

THANKS AGAIN!

[ironbuttpinoy]

Borgie: I found the files you sent to be nice.
Other folks I need your opinion.

with the files attatched I would like to know a couple things:
A) Are the provincial borders close enough in accuracy?
B) Should I use the Polygon file or just the Path type lines?

Upon getting a consensus I will either continue with this project using these lines, or punt and find other options for the paths.

Also I will either use polygons or paths.

Please advise.

Robert

PS Borgie.. thanks a ton for giving me these files. At the very least the polygons were useful in GE for my own research alone.

[Borgie]

ironbuttpinoy: you're welcome. If you need the prov level maps to be polylines as well, i can convert them. I also have by region... and if you're up to it already, i can give you barangays...

[ironbuttpinoy]

ironbuttpinoy: you're welcome. If you need the prov level maps to be polylines as well, i can convert them. I also have by region... and if you're up to it already, i can give you barangays...

Thanks for the offer and I may take you up on the Povincial polylines. To me it seems the polygons would be heavier in file size hence slowing things down as to refresh rates. However you may need the polygons to hold the provincial name. I dont know on this level.

I think what I really need is for there to be a consensus of weather I should do the Provinces as lines, or gons. AND if the maps are good enough to create the lines.

It would be easy for someone to down load in GE the KMZ files I posted last night and look at the Municipal files in GE and zoom into their area and see how good or bad those maps are. Could someone do that?

[Borgie]

I think what I really need is for there to be a consensus of weather I should do the Provinces as lines, or gons. AND if the maps are good enough to create the lines.

For me both, lines and gons. Would be nice to click on anywhere on the map and label pops up to identify the place. Similarly, when you cross a boundary, a labeled line denoting the boundary would be there. Maybe this can be made a separate mapset and we have the option to include it when we compile our .img file in Mapsource, as well as the option to turn it on and off in our GPS devices.

The kmz maps are good enough to create the interior boundary lines until somebody comes up with more accurate maps. The coast lines can be taken out. Please check the kmz polylines file again, i think each line perimeter is still properly labeled and identified, maybe bec. the lines were generated from the labeled gons. They might even be overlapping...

[ironbuttpinoy]

For me both, lines and gons. Would be nice to click on anywhere on the map and label pops up to identify the place. Similarly, when you cross a boundary, a labeled line denoting the boundary would be there. Maybe this can be made a separate mapset and we have the option to include it when we compile our .img file in Mapsource, as well as the option to turn it on and off in our GPS devices.

The kmz maps are good enough to create the interior boundary lines until somebody comes up with more accurate maps. The coast lines can be taken out. Please check the kmz polylines file again, i think each line perimeter is still properly labeled and identified, maybe bec. the lines were generated from the labeled gons. They might even be overlapping...

Ill have to play with this a bit in GE. to see how the gons go. Ill do a couple sample paths/polys and send them to you Borgie and see if im formatting correctly. May be a few days, or even the weekend till I get to that. Thanks. Keep the input coming.