Howard Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 In the fairly near future, a range of very high quality trench and other maps and aerial photographs will be available from the WFA on DVD. This project is in association with the Imperial War Museum and is called Mapping the Front. It is a strictly not-for-profit scheme aimed at making many of the IWM maps available to interested people. The DVDs will be themed with maps of different scales and some aerial photographs. Eventually, we aim to scan the whole IWM collection although not every map will be available on DVD. The museum also plan to make the scanned versions available via the reading room. Scanning is underway, DVD production should start after Christmas. The maps and photos will be 300dpi, 24 bit colour (16.7 milllion colours) .jpg format with low compression. That will give space for 100-200 files per DVD. More information and samples of image quality can be had at the temporary link below. Sadly, the WFA has had trouble with the website, it is effectively locked until a new ISP can be found and all the data transferred. Until that time, the temporary page on my website at www.anderh.com/wfa shows the detail. In case anyone wonders about what may be construed as an advert on the forum, I got approval to post this beforehand. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 Dont care if it is an advert, the non profit tag has me sold already. This sort of 'project' is brilliant. maps and the like are key to following the war. Look foward to this coming available. Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 £30 looks quite good value but I would like to see more info before I commit the family's Christmas box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 Well what a treat we are in for in the way of maps. Guy Smith's project involves 650 digitised maps. Marvellous that they will all be available for use in the field. The body exhumation map is a horrifying document ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Mackenzie Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 Howard. They look great!. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 30 November , 2006 Author Share Posted 30 November , 2006 £30 looks quite good value but I would like to see more info before I commit the family's Christmas box Oh I agree but we have only just started really. The first stage is to build up a set of scans and then launch the DVDs although we do not intend to finish the complete scanning first. There are at least 3000 maps in the collection we have been cataloguing so that would take a while! We must choose a theme as the first disc but of course, we have quite a choice. There are so many maps that have not been seen for a long time. We have been stuck with the WFA website aggro for a while now so no development has gone on there, when that is fixed, a better webpage will be put up. >The body exhumation map is a horrifying document ! Oh yes indeed. I started a thread about them a while ago, here. Since then we have found some more. I have sent scans to the CWGC and they have taken a great interest as they show all sorts of detail. There is also part of one at the back of Peter Norton's new book on the Somme. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hederer Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 I have been privileged to have been able to observe aspects of this project over the past year. There was a lot that went on behind the scenes for this to happen, and though he is too modest to say so, Howard was instrumental in getting this project where it is. This is quite a boon for Great War hobby historians and for those researching the war at a more serious level. Instead of these 1000's of maps and aerial photos sitting in storage as they have for many, many years, they will be readily available to the public--and at a bargain price--something like 30 pence a map. Howard accomplished this all as volunteer, giving a great deal of his own time, and all without recompense. Good on ya' Howard. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Thanks for the hard work Howard. Look forward to it's release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Howard Better informed and wiser; will open a seperate savings box Thanx for the info Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 A very valuable project and my thanks to all who have put their time and skills into providing 'enthusiasts' with this resource. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Cant wait..regular updates I hope. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Howard, Presume that you will make members aware when these DVDs are available (getting a bit excited here!). M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frajohn Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Howard The samples look great, what a great variety of images. Congratulations and thanks for a job very well done regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Presume that you will make members aware when these DVDs are available Only if an advantage is offered to Great War Forum members ... no advertising, remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 Certainly looking forward to the release of this project (more so than the release of the other one, to be honest as,personally, I think this will be of more use to me and (I suspect) more affordable). Please do keep us informed. Dave. (PS, Howard - a few questions if you don't mind - will the DVD's be indexed? Are there many 1915 trenchmaps available in this medium (and will I be able to obtain a DVD containing nothing but these?), what percentage of maps will be in 1;20,000 scale and, most importantly ( ), will I have to join the WFA in order to obtain them?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 3 December , 2006 Author Share Posted 3 December , 2006 Only if an advantage is offered to Great War Forum members ... no advertising, remember. Chris I fully intend to keep to the rules, indeed I sought and got approval for the original post before-hand. News will be on the WFA website but we have had a bit of a glitch with that. Until the glitch is fixed, I shall keep the temp map page on anderh.com/wfa up to date. The whole project is strictly not-for-profit, it sprang from cataloguing the IWM collection as a Friend of the Museum. So yes, if I say X is for sale, it is advertising, but the WFA is a charity, I do the stuff free of charge and the discs will be sold at little above cost. Even so, I shall be a Good Boy and not advertise. Honest guv! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 4 December , 2006 Share Posted 4 December , 2006 Psssttt. Got any petrol or stockings? Bernard ps looks a great development! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 4 December , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 December , 2006 Certainly looking forward to the release of this project (more so than the release of the other one, to be honest as,personally, I think this will be of more use to me and (I suspect) more affordable). Please do keep us informed. Dave. (PS, Howard - a few questions if you don't mind - will the DVD's be indexed? Are there many 1915 trenchmaps available in this medium (and will I be able to obtain a DVD containing nothing but these?), what percentage of maps will be in 1;20,000 scale and, most importantly ( ), will I have to join the WFA in order to obtain them?) PM sent with answers. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 December , 2006 Share Posted 4 December , 2006 Thanks for the PM Howard. I've sent you a reply. Cheers, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Best Posted 5 December , 2006 Share Posted 5 December , 2006 Thanks, Howard, that's me keeping my hand in my pocket in respect of the very exciting 'other venture'. I suspect I'll come to your offer first and then take up the 'other venture' once we've had chance to see user comments, glitches sorted, and I have enough cash to hand not to have to make a choice between beer or books/maps Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 5 December , 2006 Share Posted 5 December , 2006 I understand that Guy Smith's product is now available to buy and gives access to 750 trenchmaps with the added ability to load them to a PDA with sat-nav. I assume it is being referred to obliquely in some of the other posts on this thread. It is understandably considerably more expensive. I will give no more details for fear of offending the advertising rule but I was impressed when I saw the system in action last September. I look forward to seeing more independent reports of how it works in the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 6 December , 2006 Share Posted 6 December , 2006 Ian, I am very sure that G.Smith's product is superb, but very sadly the Weihnachtsmann (Father Christmas) signalled that the product by far exceeds his Christmas budget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 6 December , 2006 Share Posted 6 December , 2006 Egbert - I agree that Father Christmas is stretched here in the UK as well as in the USA and Germany. Unfortunately about £90 of the cost of Guy's product goes on the French mapping and other licenced software that Guy has to use. If you remove this part, the cost of his part of the product looks pretty reasonable. 750 trenchmaps @ 25p each ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hederer Posted 7 December , 2006 Share Posted 7 December , 2006 Howard, Will the maps on these CD's be accessible to the owner? I mean, will they be able to print them, copy them, save them, and manipulate them or geo-reference them for use with a GPS and laptop?? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 9 December , 2006 Author Share Posted 9 December , 2006 Howard, Will the maps on these CD's be accessible to the owner? I mean, will they be able to print them, copy them, save them, and manipulate them or geo-reference them for use with a GPS and laptop?? Paul Hello Paul. They will be JPG files, 300 dpi, 16.7 million colours (24 bit), sitting in a folder so you can do what you want with them. The compression will be set so that they are "near museum quality", i.e. the JPG artifacts will not show on printed copies even tough they are visible if you zoom right in on the screen. We do not intend to provide an all-singing-all-dancing interface, this is not a commercial project to make money. The sole aim is to make maps available that otherwise would sit there for another 90 years. Currently there will be some html pages with instructions etc., installation files for an optional viewer and the maps. It will take a little bit of computer knowledge to access them, nothing tricky but viewing will not be automated. Unless of course a volunteer takes three steps forward! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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