JBOnce you have two places selected, you can perform distance, bearing, time and fuel calculations. Psi-Mapper gives you either 'as the crow-flies' distance in miles and km, or an estimate of the 'on-the-road' mileage, based on a well-averaged 'fudge' factor. You can tell Psi-Mapper which mode you want it to work in by making the appropriate selection in the first 'Settings' dialog.
Note that if the 'crow-line' intersects any sea, any on-the-road estimate may be some way out.
The time and fuel figures are based on your own figures, which can be changed under 'Personal settings'.
4AThis dashed line appears when two selections have been made, to give an indication of the 'as the crow flies' line between the two. Optionally, it can also display the 'crow-flies' or 'on the road' distance in miles, for quick reference, to save you having to go into the 'Distance between selected' screen.
yBThere are many ways of moving around in Psi-Mapper:
- You can use the arrow, page keys etc. to scroll the map
- You can use <Enter> or the pen or the 'Centre select' menu option to choose the map centre (very useful for zooming in on one spot)
- You can 'Find' places or overlay items and jump to them
- You can step through overlays, selecting particular items
- You can jump to specific known geographical positions
- Under control of a GPS unit, in 'moving-map' mode
The interface will hopefully be intuitive, and you'll soon find yourself whizzing round the map! You don't usually have to wait for the screen to redraw, either.
}CIn an effort to save you work, each distance that is calculated by the program is also logged to the "Route Log", for your convenience, for example, when filling out a report of where you've been. The route log can contain details of journeys to and from any towns or overlay items.
The estimated journey time is calculated using the average speed you have defined in the Personal Settings dialog. Thus, if you want the calculations to reflect different average speeds for different legs of the journey, just set the speed you want for that leg before you do the "Find" etc.
The Log is restricted to up to 5 journey sections. When the log is full, or if you just want to start again, you can clear it with the appropriate menu option.
The key to constructing a useful Route Log is skilful use of the Control-f (Find), shift-Control-f (Find in overlay) and Control-w (Swap selections) keys.
DIf you own a Global Positioning Service (GPS) unit, you can plug it into your Psion running Psi-Mapper to get a very nice moving-map display, which updates in real-time. For more details on exactly how to physically connect the two, see the GPSNOTES.TXT documentation file.
Once things are up and working, you'll find there are some extra settings you can play with in the "Moving Map Settings" dialog.
Note that for the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) feature to work, you need to have selected something (in selection slot 2, the 'To' field) as your destination. For its calculations, the program takes your average speed defined in 'Personal Settings', as this tends to be more accurate than trying to predict ETA from your current GPS speed, which will probably be zero whenever you look at the screen, as you'll be stopped!!
Note that the only two keys which work when using the moving map are the <Esc> key to quit back to the normal Psi-Mapper interface, and the <Enter> key to mark a spot and append it to an item overlay.
APsi-Mapper/Ireland's documentation is more or less all on-line in this help file. Browse through the help file and the program itself and experiment with the functions you discover, especially the wealth of overlays, town plans and the many customisable settings.
BPsi-Mapper is really a Geographical Information System (GIS), and is not intended to do route-finding. But before you delete the program in disappointment, it does include many roads, railways, hotels, sites of interest and many, many other overlays, and can do basic 'on-the-road' distance calculations, route logging, moving-map display and a host of other useful informational tasks.
Psi-Mapper is also not intended to replace proper electronic or paper maps, as the resolution has been deliberately limited to +/- 1km in each direction and most roads etc are very much approximations of their actual paths etc.
This deliberate restriction enables Psi-Mapper to fit comfortably within most people's Psions, without taking up too much space!
BWhen asking Psi-Mapper to find a place, you can just give it part of the name if you like, and it will search for any place names containing the phrase you asked for.
This can be used to advantage when you are not sure ofthe exact spelling of the place you're after, e.g. Amlwich, you could ask for 'aml'.
You can also search for items in an overlay.
Both places and items that have been 'found' are classed as 'selected'. For more information on what this means, please read the help section on 'Selections'.
Table1
ColA10
ColB10
ColA11
ColB11
GYou can zoom in and out with either the side-bar Zoom buttons, the menu options or their short-cuts, the drop down zoom level box or even with the number keys 1 to 7, to go to specific zoom levels in one keypress.
You can have seven levels of zoom. Any selected towns will be shown in bold on all detail levels.
Note the auto-detail feature, which sets the detail level according to the degree of zoom you're using. You can fiddle with the density of auto-detail according to your taste in the 'Settings' menu option. There is the facility to temporarily raise or lower the detail on any particular map view by using the '+' and '-' icons in the information window or the appropriate menu options, but the auto-detail will kick in again next time the map centre is moved or zoomed.
Note the scale ruler along the bottom of the screen, showing graduations every 10 miles. This can be turned off if desired. Ditto the 'crow-line', which appears when you have two places selected.
Note the information window proudly displays to the world if you haven't registered, this will change to your name when you've typed in your personal registration code.
By using the Annotate function, you can use the pen to draw directly on the map display. In later versions of Psi-Mapper it may also be possible to print these annotated maps directly from the program. In the meantime, you can grab the screen with Shift-Control-Fn-S and merge into a Sketch file for printing etc.
Psi-Mapper often takes a few seconds to display a map or scan its database, but you don't have to wait if you don't want to, using the pointer or pressing Menu, Help or any other valid key should interrupt the program and give you control.
The <Esc> key will redraw the screen at any time and (optionally) turn off any 'sticky' overlays you've turned on.
$KThe idea of the overlays is that having worked out where you are and where you're going (bold type towns and crow-line etc), you can zoom in and overlay the roads, railways and any other sites or items of interest in the vicinity, depending on which overlays you have installed or created.
There are three main types of overlay:
(i) Built-in overlays (towns, roads)
(ii) Item overlays, either found in the main .ZIP archive or within one of the add-on specialist packs. These are specific items which can be represented by an icon, e.g. a peak, an airport, a place of interest etc. In addition to a name, each item may have a reference field (e.g. Phone number details) which can be turned on or off in the 'Overlay settings' dialog.
You can display item overlays in two ways. Either a simple 'display them all in one go' approach, or a 'step-through' method where each displayed item is detailed separately as the overlay is drawn. This latter approach is best used when there are lots of overlay items very close together...
Overlays of this type have a file name ending in .mp3.
Note that you can construct your own overlays using Psi-Mapper itself, so there's no reason why you couldn't have, for example, ACME Ltd's sales outlets, with the company logo etc
Create a new overlay from within the program, e.g. ACME.mp3 (the .mp3 bit is added automatically). Next go into SKETCH and make a new graphic, 17 by 17 pixels. Export if to an EPOC picture file called ACME.MBM in any convenient folder. The last stage is to use Control-c (Copy) and Control-v (Paste) to paste a copy of this file in your \System\Apps\MapperIR folder on your default disk. (You may have to alter your system preferences to get the Series 5 let you see the \system folder). All being well, you'll see your new icon right next to the new ACME.mp3 file in that folder.
Adding to custom item overlays within the program can be done by manually adding items using the supplied cross-hairs. I also supply a small CustomEd.opo utility which allows direct numeric editing of created overlays.
Giving you even more options, if you have lots of suitable data in delimited text form (either from another program or as part of a conversion of an overlay from Psi-Mapper/Ireland for the 3a/3c) you can make a copy of the supplied MP3-Temp.lat template database and import your text data directly in. Name your new overlay such that it ends in ".mp3".
(iii) Vector overlays. These are sets of lines and annotations, e.g. railways, OS grid lines etc. Overlays of this type have file names ending in .MP4. Again, you can import custom vector data directly into a renamed copy of the supplied MP4-Temp.lat template data file. Name your new overlay in such a way as to end in ".mp4".
For both types of overlay, there are a wealth of customisable settings you can play around with!
CThere are numerous settings you can tinker with, and these are saved in Psi-Mapper's settings file. It should be fairly obvious what all the settings do from their names.
Note also the concept of 'sticky' overlays, whereby Psi-Mapper remembers which overlay of each type was last used and overlays it on each displayed screen. You can turn 'stickiness' on or off in the settings dialog for each type of overlay or in the actual overlay selection dialog itself. You can also set the ESC key to turn them off.
In addition to all this, you can add your own place names to the map, up to a maximum of 50 or so. These places are stored in a special custom database, which can be edited using the supplied CustomEd.opo utility.
Plus of course you can construct custom overlays of your own, or even town plans of local towns where one hasn't already been supplied using the Vectdraw utility (available from me on request).
8CIf you have a town or item selected in the either 'select' position, you either hit the 'hot-key' Psion-ENTER or use the menu option 'Plan for Cork' etc and get a full-screen plan of that town or item, if one is installed. Now obviously, not all towns and items have plans loaded on your Psion, for space reasons.
You can tell at a glance whether a plan is available for your selections by looking at the way the selection name is printed on screen in the info window. If the name is in Bold, there is a plan available!
Outside of Psi-Mapper/Ireland, you can use the small TPLIST utility to research what's installed on your Psion Series 5, which displays to screen and file exactly which towns are available.
Available on request is Vectdraw, a small utility which allows construction of custom town plans of your own.
,EPsi-Mapper/Ireland is (C) UK 1994-1997 Steve Litchfield
Despite being fully working, Psi-Mapper isn't free software, it's shareware, so if you continue to use it, you should register.
You can register by either
- sending
10 cash or equivalent in any major currency
- using Compuserve's SWREG service. Use id. 6567
- using a credit card on the web at http://www.swregnet.com/1222p.htm
Special thanks to the many registered users who have helped in this project in any way. Psi-Mapper/Ireland, as with all my shareware programs, is dependent for its future on registrations by Psion users.
The unregistered program is fully working in every way. I trust you to play fair with shareware and to fulfil the trust I've placed in you in trying the program before paying a penny.
To contact Steve Litchfield, write to the address in the last help topic.
DISCLAIMER
Steve Litchfield and 3-Lib accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained within Psi-Mapper or any of its overlays, and this program is used entirely at your own risk! Do not use this program while driving a vehicle, I'll not be responsible if you crash head-on into a Juggernaut! Please note that road and rail layouts etc are shown diagrammatically when appropriate. If you need really accurate map data, go and buy a real map!
AShareware is a different way of distributing software. You are free to copy it to friends, bulletin boards etc, but if you find yourself liking the program and using it beyond an initial trial period, you are honour bound to send the registration fee to the author of the program.
Shareware for the Psion Siena, 3a, 3c or Series 5 can be obtained from many places by modem (e.g. The web, CIX, Compuserve, Comp.binaries.psion etc), or from 3-Lib, the shareware library.
CSeasoned Psi-Mapper/Ireland users on the Series 3a/3c computers will be wondering just how compatible all of this is with your old versions.
The good news is that the program itself still uses the same grid system for all data, so nothing's changed in terms of the content of Psi-Mapper's data sets. Registration codes are also the same, so you won't have to register again.
The bad news is that ALL the Psion file formats changed drastically as part of the changeover to EPOC32. So the town plans, the overlays etc are ALL physically incompatible with their EPOC16 equivalents despite having (in many cases) the same file name.
In practice this shouldn't be a problem. If you're intending to maintain an overlay or town plan on both Psi-Mapper platforms, you'll have to either update both versions or make a note of which version is the 'master' and then export from this using TAB-delimited text as the intermediary etc.
Town plans are converted using a convertor utility, available on request.
Table1
Title
&Help text
Route-Logging2
Solar Compass2
There is a simplified solar compass, for use in aligning the map screen with due north even if you've got a lousy sense of direction. Just follow the instructions....
Radius Circle2
This feature allows you to answer questions like "How many airfields are within 30 miles of here?" The shown circle can be sized in miles in the Advanced Settings dialog or at display time within the shown dialog.
Psi-Mapper update information on the world wide web:
http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/
Compatibility notes2
Acknowledgements2
Thanks to all the various overlay and town plan contributors, past and present.
Thanks to Eddie Slupski for his hard work on overhauling some of the datasets.
Thanks to Simon Pooley for use of the opening photo.
GEvery time you Find a place name or overlay item in Psi-Mapper, it is shown in the selection area on the info window.
There are two selection 'slots' (shown separated by a '/'), the first is filled by your first successful find, and the second by your second find. Please note that the contents of the two fields can be swapped by pressing using 'Swap selections' (Control-w) or by tapping in the selection box at any time.
The crow-line and distance calculations are only valid when both selection slots are filled. If you Find another place name, it will overwrite the second slot etc.
You can use menu options to clear both selection slots or just the second one etc.
Once you have one or two towns 'selected', there are extra operations which become possible. Using the menu items found under 'Towns/Items' (or by using the Control-p short-cut), you can look up a street plan of a selected item. So, for example, you could find & select 'Dublin' & then bring up its street plan.
When both selection slots are filled, an entry is automatically made in the "Route Log", which remembers for your convenience all the distances calculated by the program using your chosen method of distance calculation, along with the average speed defined at the time.
Again, to preserve a certain order of journey, you may wish to swap the slot contents before doing the next Find....
Note that having found a place, you can set it up to be your 'home' town with the appropriate menu option, which will have appeared automatically on the 'Towns' menu. This enables you to more easily examine journeys etc from the same place each time you use Psi-Mapper, by simply using the "Journeys from Home town" menu option and thus selecting your 'home' town in the first selection slot, and moving any existing selections down one. The 'home' town can only be changed by selecting a different town in the first slot and using the menu option again.
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