Three Rivers Region

[dedgren 830]

Trial must have taken more out of me than I thought.  I fell asleep on the couch...

Anyhoo, first things first.  I've promised a few folks a tutorial on creating "square" region maps, as my friend thundercrack83...

...can we call you thunder for short?  how 'bout 83?  tc83?  that'll do, that'll do...

...just reminded me.

In an earlier post, I'm not exactly sure where (page 52, I believe), asked a question about how you change the perspective of your maps to vertical and you responded that you have a mini-tutorial and that you would post it. I'm just curious if you've gotten around to that or not.quote>

...note to self- gotta stop making these promises at times when there are so many distractions...

Anyway, I have a stock "recipe" for doing this that I send out in PMs when people really need to know right then.  It's not really a tutorial, though- just a quick and dirty list of steps.

I've now tarted those up into a real tutorial.  Omnibus Gods- if you are listening, you are free to take the following and adapt it as you would see fit,

CREATING "SQUARE" REGION MAPS

This is the output we'll be creating in the following tutorial.

The first step is to open the region you wish to make a square map of in Region Census ("RC").  RC is a standalone utility created by sawtooth1178 that can be downloaded here [ linkie ].

n.b.:  There have been folks noting that the download link is broken.  The last time I tried several months ago I was able to download but received a "File Corrupted" message when I tried to run the setup.exe file the dowload installs.  I tried again this morning and it appeared that the failure was based on DLing about 3 of the 3.4mb total file size, at which point the DL would abruptly terminate without warning.  Running the setup.exe file generated the same immediate file corruption message.  Well, never one to submit gracefully to adversity, I tried the DL again.  The second time it worked!  I was able to install RC from the setup.exe file.  So, if you don't have RC, use the link I've provided and try a few times before you give up.  If you remain completely unsuccessful, PM me.

Once the region is open and displaying, select the "Save Image" menu choice from the "Edit" menu.

When the "Save file as" dialog box opens, navigate to where you want the file (i.e. a place where you can find it later on- you'll need it) and give the file a unique name.  The filetype default is to *.png- I don't change this as it produced great results as far as I'm concerned.

Next, open your graphics program.  In case you can't tell, I use an older, but beloved version of Paint Shop Pro ("PSP").  The steps I'll describe are specific to that program, but counterpart menu choices and tools should be in pretty much every full-featured graphics editing program out there.

Open the file you just created in RC...

...now, where'd I put the dared thing.

Note that it's quite large.  This gives you great detail, but might present a challenge if your computer is short on either processing speed or memory.

Once the file is open, you'll have output that looks like this- the standard "squashed rectangle" region view.  Notice that on my computer the image is displaying at 10% of full size.  This is one huge puppy of a region pic.

n.b.:  To all my Japanese friends out there- sorry for my occasional use of colloquialism.  Be assured that "large young dogs" have nothing to do with this process- PM me if I've created any confusion.

Navigate to the "Resize" menu selection of the "Image" menu and select it.  If you use PSP, you can press [ Shift ] and [ S ] to go straight there.

In the "Resize" dialog box that appears, first set the image resolution to the pixels per inc you use.  Everything on 3RR is always 150 ppi.

Next, uncheck the "Lock aspect ratio" checkbox.  This allows you to set height and width independent of eachother.

Set height and width of the image to be output at the same number of pixels.  I use a round number about 60% of the original image size- it gives me good results.  If you don't like what you get, you are free to experiment here- just remember that the height and width must be the same.

Click the dialog box's "OK" but to create the modified image.

Here's what you get...

...hey, it's a square tipped up on one side!  how'd you do that?

I dunno- computers...aren't they a wonderful thing?

For the next step, we'll return to the "Image" menubar choice and select "Rotate" from the menu that drops down.  This, in PSP, creates a popout submenu offering the choice to either select free rotation of the image or fixed 90 degree rotation either clockwise or counter-clockwise.  We'll select "Free Rotate."  If you use PSP, you can go straight to that submenu choice by pressing the [ Ctrl ] and [ R ] keys.

On the "Free Rotate" dialog box that appears, select "Left" (counter-clockwise) and then type the number 22.6 into the "Free" text field.  This means, in sum, that you'll be rotating your image 22.6 degrees counter-clockwise.  This number of degrees should be the same in any graphics program- I say this based on much trial and error on my part in arriving at it.

Click "OK" to do the rotation.

Your image now looks like this.  Square, and aligned with the perpendicular and horizontal planes.  But, we're not there yet.

On the left side of the PSP work area, we'll select the "Crop" tool from the "Tools" icon menu.

We then drag the selection box the tool creates around our image.  Note that you'll lose some of the mountains at the top and on the left side that protrude beyond where the edge of the image would be if the region was completely flat.  This is a loss, given the nature of RC's output, that is not avoidable.

Click to tooltip in the center of the image to complete the cropping.

What we now have is a region image that looks like this.  Perfectly rectangular...

...but we want perfectly square.

One last time, we'll return to the "Image" menu and select "Resize" ([ Shift ] and [ S ]).

A glimpse at the original dimensions noted at the top of the dialog box that appears confirms that all we have created so far is a rectangular image.  In the "Width" and Height" text fields, type in two identical figures that are the dimensions of the final region image you want to create in pixels.  I use the multiple of 1,024 that is closest but still under the smallest of the two original dimensions.  Why- well, that's complicated and beyond the scope of this tutorial to fully explain.  Suffice it for now to say that doing this allows for accurate scaling between the region grid and the image you are creating.  I'll revisit this topic in the future.

...uhh-oh- another promise.

Click "OK."  We're almost done.

The final step is to save your "square" region image in the output format you want to display it in.  If it is purely for your own use, save it in *.png or in your graphics program's native format.  If you are going to put it on the web, though, you'll want to use *.jpg format based on image size considerations.  That's what we'll do here.

Note that you should once again use a unique name for your image, and save it where you can find it...

...that's the voice of experience talking.

And you're done.  I can do one of these in about three minutes tops, so it's not that hard once you master the steps.

Here's a link to the "square" region image we just created [ linkie ].

Back again later with more responses to your posts.

n.b.:  I posted this as I went along out of an abundance of caution.  It's a good thing I did- about midway through a three hour session I lost 20 minutes of typing to this.

No recovery- no nothing.  Jeez, I'm sick of this happening.

[asturianu 4]

Hey, David!! I'm so happy to see that you are here again. I though that you wouldn't come again in days. The progress on the region is amazing! I registered in SC4 Devotion and i will visit your journal soon.

NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.

I'm very impatient to see the Anchorage and Wasila Beach snow pics....

Cristian

[Giligone 10]

hey, sweet tutorial. Thanks. That way is easier than how I was doing it before! haha. Good luck over on SC4 devotions.

[hondo42769 0]

David,

Just followed your link over to SC4Devotion. That's a beautiful pic to open up 3RR there. And, Jeronij solved my registration problem, so I will lurk all over SC4Devotion. Fantastic tutorial, BTW.

[dedgren 830]

Well, it was still snowing early this morning...

...and it's still snowing now.

[purpledaddy 6]

No question about a white Christmas for you this year, huh!

[thundercrack83 0]

Thank you for that excellent tutorial! It is a great resource for not only me, but all of those here that wish to make maps in this fashion. I must apologize though, for mentioning it at a time when you were busy with so many other things, though. And you may call me Dustin, if you like.

EDIT: Just went through a trial run on a random region using your tutorial and it worked perfectly. I was even able to download the Region Census Pool without a hitch. Thanks again!

[DanTso 0]

THanks a lot dude!

wondeful region!

keep it going =D

Dan

[dedgren 830]

A small post showing the current state of 3RR topo mapping is up over at its new home [ linkie ].  I'll be posting the promised responses to recent great comments over the weekend, so check back here as well.

Happy Last Three Shopping Days 'til Christmas!

David

[purpledaddy 6]

Wow! Get to learn about topos! Thanks for the link. Happy Holidays!

[dedgren 830]

Not real busy on this side of the fence, I see.

I've posted a "water features" map [ linkie ] and the current draft of the 3RR backstory [ linkie ] over at the new place- thanks in advance for checking them out.

I hope to do the collaboration announcement tomorrow.  I'll make sure it's posted here as well.

Have a great Christmas Eve!

UPDATE: (12-25-06) And a great Christmas Day as well.

No collaboration announcement today- I'm still working on getting it just right.  We'll travel to Texas tomorrow night for a week, and I'll be taking 3RR on another road trip- probably happen then.

In the meantime, the forestation of 3RR is ongoing.

I have a short post about the status of that effort here [ linkie ].  I also address some good comments I received about snow.

Later.

David

[dedgren 830]

...bump...bump...

3RR topo stuff

over at its new home [ linkie ].

The collaboration announcement may be up this weekend, or may be rung in with the new year- we'll see.

Later.

[thundercrack83 0]

As I said over at SC4 Devotion, the new topographic map looks great! See you over there!

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work my friend and pics

[bat 6]

fantastic work, see you at sc4devotion!

bat

[dedgren 830]

Well, I would have posted this last night

but ST was down for hours.  Anyway, I'm looking for help from one of you Reader Gods out there [ linkie ].  There's also, in the post, a bit of a sneak peek at what's up at 3RR.

I've promised a few PM responses- couldn't do that last night for the usual (sigh) reasons.  I'll try to get them out today.

Hope this is a great day for all, and every new day in 2007 is even better than that.

David

p.s.:  BTW, does anyone know the new NAM has been up at www.simszone.de [ linkie ] since December 28th?  Granted, it's in German, but, what the hey...Fahrvergnügen!

[asturianu 4]

Happy new year,David. I can't wait for my SC4 Devotion E-mail acrivaton to comment at your cj 3RR there. I had some problems in my registration and now I'm trying to solve it with jeronij. But I can talk Spanish with him. I'm glad to see that you are back again. The snowy pics make me feel impatient for our snow falls in January. But the past week we had -5

[Kalanc69 1]

Hello David, sorry to hear that you are moving to SC4Devotion, but I have already registered there and plan to follow 3RR as often as possible. I have really enjoyed your CJ here, and I have used it extensively as a resource as I attempt to create my first region in SC4. Thanks again for everything you do, and I also wanted to tell you that your work is unbelievable and a pleasure to watch unfold!!

Kalanc69

[asturianu 4]

HEY, thanks for the tutorial of satellite pics and for the link to the German NAM. I don't know anything about german, but doesn't import, I'll download it.

THANKS FOR ALL!!! This cj is very usefull.

Cristian

Edit:  

      WELCOME TO PAGE 54!!!

[dedgren 830]

It's snowing over at 3RR [ linkie ].

C'mon and take a look.  Nicer weather is never more...

...than a click away.

Later.

[RushHourFreak 1]

Great job here. You're right. Nice weather there. I like autumn.

Looking forward to more

[owenluby 1]

Wow, David, first development looks very, very nice indeed! Im curious about that rail curve. There is something different about it... Maybe I'm wrong, but, hey? Maybe I'm right?

Enlightenment would be great...

Owen

Oh my God! New NAM? Why the hell didn't I see it?

[dedgren 830]

I lost half an hour's work I'd done bringing the TOC here up to date last night.  I don't know where my edits posted, but it wasn't on ST, and they were gone when I went looking for them.  I haven't spent the time to do the work over, and don't know when I'll get around to it again.  I wish the folks who run ST would be straight with the community about what the problem is.  If it's money, I, for one, would be glad to pay for increased reliability.

Rant off.

__________________________

Check out A Field Guide to the Trees of Three Rivers Region [linkie], now up through the conifers so far at SC4D.

...excerpt

Black spruce (Picea mariana)

    

Black spruce is a tree commonly found on or near lakeshores and river and stream banks.  It has a straight trunk up to 12" in diameter with some-what drooping branches; mature tree usually reaches a height of 20' to 30', although under favorable conditions, it can attain a height of 70' to 80'; often associated with balsam fir. In cold swamps the growth is practically stagnant and trees 2" in diameter have been found to be 127 years old.  The bark is grayish- to reddish-brown and scaly.  The needles are bluish-green, short, pointed, four-sided; length 1/2"; found scattered thinly over branches.  It bears cones that are oval shaped, length 1/2" to 1 1/2"; young cones purple, mature cones dark brown, remaining on trees indefinitely; open in the fall to liberate seeds; seeds small, dark brown, and winged, mature in one season.

Black spruce is found near water throughout the region except for the area immediately adjacent to Hotham Inlet, where jack pine, locally called shore pine, replaces it.  The tree is shade-tolerant; common marsh or bog species.

Based on copyrighted work done by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2007. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Web Site (online). Accessed 2007-1-4 at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sitetools/copyright.html

[dedgren 830]

n.b.:  I note that I am bumping my own thread again.  3RR is down to a few 10s of page views per day here at ST since the recent move- If it is not helpful or otherwise desired for for me to post news of recent updates (I don't want to create any sense that I am soliciting traffic for another SC4 website) please give me feedback to that end in any way felt appropriate.  I remain committed to sharing my 3RR progress here, but do not wish in any way to overstep my welcome.

___________________________

The remainder of A Field Guide to the Trees of Three Rivers Region [linkie], this time addressing the deciduous trees

excerpt

Cottonwood (Populus deltoides var. occidentalis)

     

Cottonwoods are large trees, 50' to 80' tall, diameter 36" to over 48"; developing first a narrow, conical crown that with maturity becomes broad and open supported by a massive trunk.  The bark is light gray on young trees and dark gray and rough on older trees.  Leaves are simple, alternate on stem, 3" to 5" long, nearly as wide; broadly ovate or triangular, pointed, square at base, finely toothed or wavy on edges; covered with soft white hairs on underside; slender stems from 2" to 3" long are flattened; winter buds covered with chestnut-brown, resinous scales; turns yellow to yellowish-orange in autumn.  The tree’s fruit, in the form of a seed, is two to four, valved, thin capsules borne on short stock in drooping “catkins”; seeds, when set free in late May or June, are minute, pale, brownish-white, enclosed in a cluster of white cottony hairs that carry them for long distances. There are two kinds of flowers borne separately on different trees; female trees throw cotton.

Cottonwood is found throughout Three Rivers Region, often in conjunction with aspen.  The tree often forms extensive groves; will grow on dry locations but makes most rapid progress on moist sites; shade-intolerant, very fast-growing.  The region’s farmers frequently planted these trees in the late 1800s and early 1900s along roads and lanes and between fields as windrows.

___________________________

is now up at SC4D.  Hope to see you around.

Later.

Based on copyrighted work done by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2007. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Web Site (online). Accessed 2007-1-4 at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sitetools/copyright.html

[Narya 14]

Lovely, lovely and again lovely. Simply wonderful.

[choco1 4]

Well, it is sad to see I come back from my brief holiday to such sad news. It is sad to see another of the great City Journalists leaving for other sites.

Simtropolis won't be the same without Three Rivers Region, I wish you the best of luck with it over at SC4 Devotion. It is sad to see you leave but I respect your thoughts.

Cheers mate, choco. You know where to find me.

[dedgren 830]

I've posted more of the 3RR "back story" over at SC4 Devotion [ linkie ].  Here's an excerpt...

___________________________

Population

The only urban place in Three Rivers Region of any appreciable size is the city of Pineshore, which has a total population of about 1,200,000 inhabitants.  Pineshore is situated in the south-center of the region at the mouths of the Grand and Wind Rivers.

Suburban areas surrounding the city have a combined population of about another 500,000 people.  Small cities, towns and villages spread across the rest of the region bring the area’s total population to about two million.  The region's population growth is essentally flat, with deaths and a small outmigration roughly equalling births since the 1980s.  Life expectancy is substantially longer than the North American average at 89 years for women and 86.5 years for men.

Early History

The Three Rivers Region area was first explored by French and English trappers and traders in the early 1800s.  The abundance of fur bearing animals in the area such as beaver and fox led to the establishment of a trading post on High Island by 1820.  There were aboriginals, mostly Chippewa and Assiniboine, that frequented the area that ultimately became 3RR, but no permanent aboriginal settlements are known to have existed.

Pineshore was founded in 1823 as a fur trading encampment originally named De Pere.  The original name was not, as many believe, in honor of the French trader and explorer; rather it was the first thing said on resurfacing ('Deep here!') by the faithful Native American guide of the Rochamboullet party after stepping out of his canoe into what he thought were shallow waters near shore in preparation for setting up camp for the night.  The name De Pere was abandoned in favor of Pineshore some 30 years later in the fit of completely irrational anti-French xenophobia that swept North America’s upper Midwestern regions at that time.

By the 1830s, farmers had begun to move into the area attracted by its fertile prairies, ease of shipping, and, due to the configuration of the mountains to the north, west and south, relatively mild winters and long growing season for being so far north.  Situated, as noted, at the mouths of the Grand and Wind Rivers, Pineshore quickly grew into a local transportation hub the like of which was not again reached west of Duluth until at least Moose Jaw.  The old saying, now sadly forgotten, that “You can’t get to Kenora without changing canoes in Pineshore” originated during this period.

The week-long “War of Hickam’s Knee,” which arose over the rumor that the U.S. and Canadian governments were colluding in imposing a tax on local all-you-can-eat smörgåsbord-style dining establishments resulted in independence under the aforementioned Treaty of 1839 when each of those nations, on the mistaken notion that 3RR was on the other side of the national border, ceded all claims to the region without a shot being fired.  By the time this error was recognized, 3RR’s residents had taken the ball and run with it, establishing a regional government that stands today as a model of efficiency and just administration unique in the world.

By 1900, the population of Pineshore had grown to almost 60,000 inhabitants, about 80% of the 1,600 square mile region’s population.  The regional government had a total budget that year of 214,000 simoleans (the simolean, for obscure reasons to complicated to explain here, was formerly pegged until the advent of the Euro to the Portuguese escudo; it is now a free-floating currency on its own and currently trades at about par with the Canadian dollar), most of which was raised through library fines and moorage charges.  The Regional Council ('RC'), consisting then as now of 23 members, met monthly in spare warehouse space (if for no other reason, to play the national game: five card stud poker- jokers and one-eyed jacks wild) at the foot of Second Avenue on the Grand River in Pineshore.  These premises, now fallen into substantial disrepair, are the object of competing efforts to have them designated historic and to have them torn down as part of a waterfront freeway project.  The government has moved on, of course, to the new administrative complex constructed in West Pineshore in the 1960s.

___________________________

If you're interested, I'd appreciate you taking a look at the whole thing.

Later.

[Darmok 34]

I'll try to post more often at SC4 devotion David,

BUT, I must say that I'm jealous.....

First you have snow.... we have rain, yellowish grass, and some spot of iced snow all over the place...

and secundo....

YOU HAVE AN ORIGINAL TOYOTA LJ CRUISER !!!!!

I'm hurt.... yes I am!

Take care of it my friend, that's a very fine piece of automotive history that you have!

Have a great new year

John (green with envy...)

[Giligone 10]

wow, great history. Very well thought out. hehe, the war of hickam's knee.

[owenluby 1]

Fabulous on all levels...