Background maps for Local Studies?

[Alan Wallace]

I have just upgraded from PL 4 to PL5, and added the ‘local studies’ module, to allow for design of mobile coverage repeaters.
Is there a way to overlay a background map on the local studies output? I have 3D terrain data loaded, so there is a map of sorts, but we really need roads, and other geographical locations showing to make the coverage map meaningful?
How do we do this?
Many thanks
Alan

[Alan Wallace]

I have progressed further, and exported from pathloss as a .kml file, then imported into google earth with success. This produces a colour display on a full colour aerial photograph background, which looks impressive, but is not really useful – too much detail. I have tried dropping the pathloss .kml file into google maps, (where I am hoping to be able to reduce the detail of the map suitably) but google maps complains about the format of the .kml file:

“This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.”

Any suggestions?

Is there a way to reduce google earth display back to a flat low detail map? That would be a away to solve the problem ..

[Paul Gullett]

Hi Alan,

I don't know of a way to make google earth use a map display. I will look in to making the kml file work as an upload to google maps.

There is another option if you already have maps that you would like to use. You can load them in to your GIS inside Pathloss. Set up the map projection in the Backdrop imagery tab of the GIS setup dialog, then input the image filename and its edges in the file index. Pathloss will use that image as a backdrop for your network.

Paul G

[Alan Wallace]

Thanks Paul,

I need some further instructions to do this though...

I have saved a map as a jpg from a mapping programme. (This automatically saved a .jgw and a .tab file, with reference details that other programmes such as Autocad can pick up and self-locate)

In PL5 I go to Configure, Set GIS Configuration

I click on Backdrop imagery tab

Then clicked on setup, browsed to the directory I saved the map.

I am not sure what to do next.

I clicked on geo-ref, a window opens up, with a help button that does not do anything, so have no instructions.

With file-load I can load the map file in, but no other action is obvious.

If I then close the window (file/exit or black cross) PL5 crashes every time.

What should I be doing?