The Insider Where on Eartha? One of the respondents to the survey in April’s newsletter asked why the monthly challenge was called Where on Eartha and not simply Where on Earth. The name Eartha is borrowed from the world’s largest rotating globe, which happens to be in the lobby of DeLorme’s headquarters in Yarmouth, Maine. If your travels find you in this part of the world, Eartha is well worth a visit. April’s Where on Eartha Challenge asked you to identify the capital city and the corresponding country, and most responses correctly named Athens, Greece. The first entry pulled from the hat, and the latest winner of a copy of XMap 5.0 Professional with an Earthmate USB GPS receiver, belongs to Dr. Miriam Helen Hill from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. This month another capital and country. Think you know the where it is? Send your response in an email to contest@delorme.com before May 31, 2007, and you could be the next XMap winner. Click here to order 3-D satellite imagery of the world for XMap. Earthmate GPS PN-20 Winner Thanks to all of you who responded to DeLorme Professional Newsletter survey last month. Your comments, suggestions, and even criticisms are extremely valuable and will help us as we plan for the future. Please feel free to contact the newsletter staff at newsletter@delorme.com if there are any additional comments that you would like to submit. DeLorme offers this newsletter as service to our professional customers and each month it is delivered to over 50,000 subscribers. With your help, we will continue to provide information that is informative and useful. The winner of the Earthmate GPS PN-20, chosen at random from those who responded to the survey, is Carroll Green from Pathfinder Energy Services. Congratulations Carroll! Service Pack 1 Available for XMap 5.0 It’s time to renew your version of XMap 5.0 with Service Pack 1, a recently released package of updates and upgrades. Service Pack 1 corrects several technical issues with the software as well as adding new functionality. Included in this update are: • Improved viewing of MrSID and GeoTiff files • Additional DXF/DWG/DWF importing and registration options • Access to 1-meter color imagery for select states through the Netlink tab • Support for the Garmin X series For more information or to install Service Pack 1, click the Netlink tab in XMap 5.0 or click here. We Want to Meet You! Visit us at upcoming events: World Environment & Water Resources Congress 2007 Tampa Marriott Waterside Tampa, FL May 15-19, 2007 WindPower 2007 Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles, CA June 3-6, 2007 Stop by the DeLorme booth at any of these events and enter to win an Earthmate Blue Logger GPS receiver. May 2007 XMap Developments Idaho Fish and Game Department Chooses DeLorme XMap 5.0 GIS Editor as Key Wildlife Management Tool DeLorme is pleased to announce that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has selected the XMap 5.0 Enterprise Suite as a geographic information system (GIS) software solution. The Department will be using DeLorme’s XMap 5.0 GIS Editor to organize GIS data layers and to create wildlife management maps using multi-level base maps and aerial imagery sets. XMap integrates advanced geospatial data management into DeLorme's core GPS mapping framework. “XMap allows me to make high quality maps with our GIS data incorporated into an easy-to-use wildlife management tool,” said Jeff Short, Idaho Fish & Game Regional Wildlife Populations Biologist. Short indicated that he would be using XMap on a wide variety of key wildlife management projects, including: • Conducting habitat studies by cross referencing species activity data with land ownership records • Tracking and mapping radio-collared animal trails to monitor population health and to support capture and relocation programs • Analyzing wildlife survey methods and results • GPS navigating and planning for helicopter aerial surveys of wildlife populations • Designing surveys by layering significant landmarks, survey boundaries, past animal occurrence data, flight safety hazards, and refueling and landing locations against multi-level base maps “A very important aspect of XMap GIS Editor is that I can exchange data files with other GIS users by exporting and importing shapefiles,” Short continued. “This allows me to share my XMap data and use virtually any available GIS data. XMap is a powerful, fast and easy tool to use for a variety of GIS applications.” XMap provides easy-to-use GIS functionality that enhances productivity throughout an organization. Using XMap’s included in-vehicle GPS navigation capability, Idaho field agents can quickly and efficiently find their way to targeted areas of study. They can even add routable roads and trails to the base map that may reflect new logging or snow mobile trails. About Idaho Fish and Game The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Department is dedicated to protecting our wildlife heritage. They accept the challenge, responsibility and obligation to preserve this legacy for future generations and for all who value a wild Idaho. Headquarters: 600 S. Walnut, Boise, ID 83712. For more information visit: fishandgame.idaho.gov XMap Q&A In the Help menu of XMap I noticed a feature called Earthmate Image Tagger. Can you explain what this is? Earthmate Image Tagger, which is available free with all current DeLorme software titles, is a simple tool that automatically attaches digital photographs to the location on the map where they were taken. It works by assigning each photograph to a specific point within a GPS log file based on the time the photograph was taken. Ultimately, the tagged images can be displayed right on the map or accessed using a hyperlink. To use Earthmate Image Tagger, you must have a DeLorme GPS receiver and a digital camera that has the ability to embed a timestamp into each photograph. If, as part of the setup procedure for your camera, you were asked to set the time and date, your camera is compatible. Any DeLorme GPS device will work with Earthmate Image Tagger; however, the Earthmate Blue Logger is ideal because it is extremely compact and can collect the necessary GPS data right on the device. If you are traveling with a laptop computer, then the USB Earthmate works equally well because the GPS log file is automatically generated by the DeLorme software. After establishing a GPS fix, you can begin to take photographs with your camera, making sure that each image is captured within a reasonable distance from the location of the GPS receiver. For example, if you leave your Earthmate in your vehicle and you take a photograph several hundred yards away, it will tag the photo to the vehicle’s location. On returning from your trip, transfer the photographs from your camera, save your GPS log file (*gpl) and launch Earthmate Image Tagger. Use the browse buttons to find the folder in which your photos were saved and to select the GPS log file, then click the Process button. Depending on the chosen format, the resulting file can be imported into your DeLorme software as either a Draw layer or an XData dataset, giving you access to each photo at the precise point where it was taken. Tab Tip – Use ImageReg to Register an Historic Map One of the benefits of spending time speaking with customers who are using DeLorme software is learning some of the creative ways in which the tools are being put to use. The following example is an account of how someone with whom a DeLorme representative spoke at a recent conference is using the image registration tool to create a truly unique type of touring map. In previous newsletter articles, we discussed XMap’s ImageReg tab and how it is used to register or align scanned maps or photographs to an underlying base map. In version 5.0 of XMap, there are two varieties of ImageReg depending on which level of the software you are using. The Professional and Editor editions have a two-point registration tool that allows you to set the position, scale, and rotation of the imported map. The Enterprise version has a multi-point registration tool that offers more precise control of the positioning of each recognized point on the image. For the following example, either version will work. The first step in the process of registering an image is ensuring it is in the correct format. If the map or image in question is in paper form, you must first scan it and save it in an image file format. The ImageReg tool supports all common image formats, including .jpg, .gif, .tif, and .bmp. Import the image using the Load Image button and sequentially select identifiable points from the image and the adjacent map. Then click the Process button to create a new XMap data layer containing a geographically aligned version of the original image. You can now manage the data layer in the same way you manage other XMap datasets. Within the Map Data tab, new layers added using ImageReg are listed under Image Data Series and you can turn them on or off as needed. Furthermore, you can adjust certain properties, such as layering and zoom level extent. To establish these settings, right-click the name of the registered image and select Properties. To create a touring map of historic sites in Boston, the aforementioned XMap customer changed the layering sequence of the imported map so that the roads from the underlying USA Street Level Data appeared on top of the image. This perspective offered the best of both worlds: the routing and GPS-navigation capability of the modern map and the historic context offered by the imported map. The XMap user noted that it was interesting to walk down Beacon Street with this map on his PDA and to get to the point where the bank of the Charles River used to be. All the buildings in front of him were built on landfill. The next project that he intends to tackle is the battlefield maps of Gettysburg. If you are using DeLorme software for an interesting application and you would like to share it with others, send the details to newsletter@delorme.com. Using a Shapefile in PhotoFlight If you use any of the right-click functions in XMap, you’ll have noticed the Manage Draw option, and if you selected Manage Draw, you’ll have seen Copy to Draw Object. This little-known feature of XMap has a number of extremely useful applications, not the least of which is the ability to extract existing data for use within PhotoFlight. The optional PhotoFlight tool makes use of XMap’s draw functions to create an area or line feature within or along where a photographic mission is planned. The Copy to Draw Object function allows you to use any existing vector data, either user-added data or objects within the XMap base map, for this purpose. For instance, you can quickly and easily convert a shapefile imported into the GIS tab into a draw layer and use it for creating a PhotoFlight plan.

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