N&M Press Trench Map software and DVD

[ulsterlad2]

The bmp option doesn't work with the arithmetic of trying to get this into my grandfather's dossier.

3 x 9 = 27 which is way too big for Yahoo email limit of 25.

That's too bad. May be I'm not understanding what it is you're trying to do.

A 10 meg bmp file opened with 'Paint' and under File: Save As a jpeg turns the same image into 780K

[spof]

As I understand it, the 9mb ulsterlad refers to is for a complete map. If you are only interested in where your grandfather was, you'd only need a small section and that would be a lot smaller than 9mb

[Tom Lang]

That's too bad. May be I'm not understanding what it is you're trying to do.

A 10 meg bmp file opened with 'Paint' and under File: Save As a jpeg turns the same image into 780K

As I understand it, the 9mb ulsterlad refers to is for a complete map. If you are only interested in where your grandfather was, you'd only need a small section and that would be a lot smaller than 9mb

That's still a rigmarole, and not what the 'blurb' offers, which is a straight 'Save As' from the product.

A customer should not have to jump through hoops because of an error in the software.

I could just as easily order individual maps from TNA, take photos and load them up.

The N & M Press DVD gives me all the maps in one place, and was supposedly going to give me jpeg files to cut'n'paste.

By disabling the W7 Snipping Tool, it prevents me from taking a small 'snippet' from the map displayed on the screen.

So I'm 'snookered' and then accused of 'stealing' - that's a different matter.

And then I have to re-boot...

Kindest Regards.

[ulsterlad2]

That's right SPOF. I was only experimenting to see what level of percentage change could be gained going from bmp to jpeg.

The 9 mb map is the full map but that's a huge reduction from the original 160 mb bmp version.

[Tom Lang]

I wonder if "The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008" applies here.

http://www.legislati...7/contents/made

Since the product does not perform as described, I think I should ask the local Dept of Weights & Measures.

If N & M won't refund my money, maybe N & M Press should explain their case to those guys.

Kindest Regards.

[Guest]

It might be worth trying to take a digital photograph of the screen. you may get interference lines, but keep trying and you should get a decent image? Or post a request for the map you require, someone on forum will have a paper copy.

Mike

[Tom Lang]

It might be worth trying to take a digital photograph of the screen. you may get interference lines, but keep trying and you should get a decent image? Or post a request for the map you require, someone on forum will have a paper copy.

Mike

I love your suggestions but it's more rigmarole. A customer shouldn't have to do this.

The company should take responsibility, fix the problem and issue an update.

Every other company does that when told of a software problem.

N & M Press would rather avoid the customer and then later make wild and false accusations of theft and breach of copyright.

Claiming that they are a victim doesn't wash with me. They have a problem, and they need to fix it.

Others can judge, then decide to buy or avoid their product.

I have chosen not to use their product on my PC. I'm not going to jump through hoops because they are being irresponsible. I don't need to reboot my PC either.

My experience with them has been a bad one. I just hope others can avoid such difficulties. It seems that others have encountered the problems I've described.

If the company want to keep a good reputation, then they need to take care of their customers, otherwise they won't stay in business very long, and I will avoid them in the future.

Kindest Regards.

[ulsterlad2]

Tom. Can you tell us the map reference and section of that map that you need from one of your examples?

[Tom Lang]

Tom. Can you tell us the map reference and section of that map that you need from one of your examples?

In particular, my grandfather was killed on 24 April, 1917.

The War Diary for that day states:

ZERO 4.15 A.M. Barrage commences.

4.17 a.m. German barrage commences

11.30 a.m. East Surrey Regt report German trench captured.

5.15 a.m. E. Surrey Regt reports capture of VILLERS PLOUICH & call for reinforcements.

5.45 a.m. Batt moves forward to cross-roads R.13.a.8.3.

8.12 a.m. Germans bombarded the village & exits heavily.

Line taken up beyond village & consolidation commenced.

Defensive flank formed on left.

The night passed without incident.

The map is 57c SE2 Edition 3A Secret.

I have this map and I have created the appropriate snippet of the crossroads at R.13.a.8.3. But it took a lot of 'rigmarole' to get there (and a reboot).

Kindest Regards.

[Tom Lang]

I just found this on TNA website concerning their copyright policy:

"Most public records in The National Archives are in Crown Copyright.

There are no restrictions on the use of copies for non-commercial research or private study.

Copies, and copies of those copies, may be made and used for education purposes.

This covers both teaching and preparation for teaching and/or examination by either teacher or student."

http://www.nationala...cordcopying.htm

So that covers me and allows me to make digital copies to put into a digital dossier to teach my grandson about his g/g/grandfather.

It has taken 95 years since the death of my grandfather to put this dossier together, but my grandson can 'read all about it' at the click of a button when he's ready (he's 5 now).

Kindest Regards.

[ulsterlad2]

The map is 57c SE2 Edition 3A Secret.

I have this map and I have created the appropriate snippet of the crossroads at R.13.a.8.3. But it took a lot of 'rigmarole' to get there (and a reboot).

Ok. I've just jpeg-ed an image of this. It includes all of squares 13, 14 & 15 plus half of those above and below. It's 2295 by 1202 pixels and is 760k big. Would this be small enough for your email purposes?

Here is a vastly reduced version to show the area I mean.

[Tom Lang]

Ok. I've just jpeg-ed an image of this. It includes all of squares 13, 14 & 15 plus half of those above and below. It's 2295 by 1202 pixels and is 760k big. Would this be small enough for your email purposes?

Here is a vastly reduced version to show the area I mean.

Thanks ulsterlad2.

I've done that - and a re-boot.

The problem is that I want to build a document that shows the path(s) taken by the battalion throughout France and Belgium.

It all adds up. e.g. 2 maps like your example takes up around 1.5 MB

4 would take up 3MB; 8 = 6MB; etc.

And that's 8 times the 'rigmarole' too (or however many I need for the dossier - I haven't counted yet).

I'd rather not have the headache of going through such rigmarole every time (and a re-boot).

Kindest Regards.

[ulsterlad2]

That's a real shame that you're having to reboot everytime Tom.

Once you've got a jpeg then they're easy enough to reduce in total pixel size or to crop a close up thus reducing their size in documents.

[Tom Lang]

That's a real shame that you're having to reboot everytime Tom.

Once you've got a jpeg then they're easy enough to reduce in total pixel size or to crop a close up thus reducing their size in documents.

That's precisely what the W7 Snipping Tool does.

All you do is click a point on the screen and drag the mouse to create a rectangle, let go, then click Save, give it a name and Bob's your uncle - no 'rigmarole'.

I've also found that Microsoft has NOT certified the N & M Press DVD as being compatible with W7 - yet N & M Press claims on their website that it is.

Search for it at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

So if Microsoft say it isn't compatible - then it isn't.

Companies are supposed to submit their products to Microsoft for testing and certification, before claiming to be compatible with one of Microsoft's. Even hardware has to get certification to claim 'compatibility'

Looks like N & M Press are making unjustified claims for their product.

Kindest Regards.

[Tom Lang]

Here's an example of 'snippets' of the map reference R.13.a.8.3 showing near where my grandfather was killed.

This example ties in with the Bn War Diary

Small-size 'snippets' like this are what I'm after for my 'dossier', but I've had a lot of 'rigmarole' just to get this (and a reboot).

This is 24k in size and would allow me to add many such examples.

As they say, a picture tells a story...

[Tom Lang]

... and here's the crossroads today via Google Maps (it's a Y junction, but the Diary says a crossroads):

[Tom Lang]

... Fifteen Ravine Cemetery is in the bottom right corner of this photo.

Some of those who died with my grandfather were buried here.

[Tom Lang]

This one shows Villers-Plouich (to the North) with Fifteen Ravine Cemetery just to the SE of the village, and Gouzeaucourt village to the SSW.

Gouzeacourt New British Cemetery is just noticeable in the bottom left corner of this photo (southwestwards out of the village).

My grandfather and the rest of his comrades who were Killed, or Died of Wounds, or Died of Disease, that day are buried in this cemetery.

[Chris_Baker]

Tom, I have great sympathy with your position. That the N&MP map DVD disables a Windows feature is a complete pain. I fully understand the need to copy-protect and guard against complete copying of a disk but the method employed is not friendly to the user. I believe it stems from problems that the same company had in its early issues of the "Soldiers Died" CD, when counterfeit copies soon appeared.

I have several hundreds of pounds worth of map CDs from previous generations of Windows that N&MP did not upgrade beyond XP (I think). I may as well make them into beer mats. If you need cost-effective access to jpg trench maps without all the functionality offered by N&MP (or, a much superior and fundamentally different product, Linesman) I'd recommend the Western Front Association and their collection of "Mapping the front" products.

[Tom Lang]

... and here's Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery.

[Tom Lang]

Tom, I have great sympathy with your position. That the N&MP map DVD disables a Windows feature is a complete pain. I fully understand the need to copy-protect and guard against complete copying of a disk but the method employed is not friendly to the user. I believe it stems from problems that the same company had in its early issues of the "Soldiers Died" CD, when counterfeit copies soon appeared.

I have several hundreds of pounds worth of map CDs from previous generations of Windows that N&MP did not upgrade beyond XP (I think). I may as well make them into beer mats. If you need cost-effective access to jpg trench maps without all the functionality offered by N&MP (or, a much superior and fundamentally different product, Linesman) I'd recommend the Western Front Association and their collection of "Mapping the front" products.

Thanks for your response Chris.

It is unfortunate that N & M have had problems in the past.

I'm a new customer to them, and had no knowledge of this.

I read the 'blurb' and it looked good to me. I have W7 and their website claims 'compatibility'. This is not justified, as the Mickey$oft Compatibility website does not include the N & M product.

If they had tested this themselves before claiming 'compatibility' with W7, then they should know what I'm talking about.

So they are bringing more problems on themselves.

To then claim on the phone that I am attempting to steal their software, and breach copyright is a total insult and completely unjustified.

If this is how they do business, I wish that no other new customers go through what I've gone through with them.

But I'll take a look at these 2 other products you've mentioned.

Someone else mentioned Linesman.

Kindest Regards.

[Tom Lang]

If you need cost-effective access to jpg trench maps without all the functionality offered by N&MP (or, a much superior and fundamentally different product, Linesman) I'd recommend the Western Front Association and their collection of "Mapping the front" products.

Anyone care to offer their opinions (pros & cons) of either product?

[Phil Evans]

Tom,

I recently bought the WFA "Mapping the Front" set for Ypres. It is a general collection of maps (and arerials) spread over two CDs. No bells, no whistles, just a collection of JPEGs which I copied into a couple of folders on my hard drive to avoid continually loading the discs, which I can retain as a backup.

I run XP. Using Irfanview, I can do what I like with them, including crop and save extracts. The only downside is the lack of indexing. See this thread.

Their website gives a comprehensive list of what maps are included in each set.

Phil

[Tom Lang]

Very interesting information Phil.

I will have to give some thought to this set from WFA, though from what I've see on the websites, I'm tending towards Linesman.

I'm told that it is very sophisticated and the demos on their website look really good.

But I did read somewhere that saving a map as a jpeg file is a problem - so I'm still mulling this over.

Kindest Regards and thanks for posting your thoughts.

[ulsterlad2]

Tom wrote: "But I did read somewhere that saving a map as a jpeg file is a problem"

Is it possible to save an image from Linesman at all to your computer?