Important Notice before installing Depiction 1.4.1 Build 12242
May 20th
We have had a few folks report that 1.4.1 build 12242 is installing in the Reader or Prep directory if it exists. One way to avoid this from happening is to uninstall the reader first. Or alternately when you install build 12242 and it tells you what directory it is going to install in, make sure it is the 1.4 directory.
Release 1.4.1 is now available.
May 18th
We announced the release of Version 1.4.1 this morning. We held off a couple of extra days because of a bug that surfaced where Depiction would start to come up, the initial splash screen would show up and then it would close without any error messages. We had 5 people report this in the last week. It didn’t look like we were going to find the bug very quickly so we went ahead and released 1.4.1 build 12233 and then this evening our fearless developer Jason found the problem. So now there is another new release on the website (build 12242). This new build only fixed the bug and so if you have already updated to Build 12233 and haven’t experienced the bug then you don’t need to upgrade to this build, but you can if you like.
The main purpose of this release was to remove Topo as a tiling source, since the service that was feeding out the Topo map closed down on May 1st 2012. You may still see the Topo tiler with your depictions if you had used it before for your area and the tiles are still in your cache, but if you go to a new area they won’t be available. New customers of Depiction won’t have the Topo tiles in their cache and so would be confused by the Topo tiler option that doesn’t do anything. We know many of you will want to move to 1.4.1 for the few bug fixes and a few other enhancements, but will still want to use the Topo tiles in your cache. So for you we have created a free add-on that will put the Topo tiler option back in. You can find it here.
There are a few minor enhancements in this version.
- Now when you choose a new background tiling source you will be given a list of the available sources to choose from.
- The filter on manage and display content now takes regular expressions. Regular expressions allow you to do operations such as OR. For example the string “Apple” would match all elements containing “Apple” in the hover text. The OR operator is “|” and as such the string “Apple|Orange” would match all elements containing either Apple or Orange in their hover text. (This symbol is found above the “\” key just below the “backspace” key)
- When you do a CSV import with the address field in separate fields (address, city, state, zip) and the USC geo-coder reports back that it couldn’t do an exact match it places the icon in the center of the zip code. Now when this happens the icon will have a red border so that you know that the icon isn’t in the right place.
- We added the option to hide the world outline in the setting dialog.
By un-checking this box the outline of various countries will be turned off. You would only see this if you zoomed way out. However, turning it off should provide some minor performance improvements.
- Now when you select to hide the menu bar, the quick add content, the select option and tiler options are all hidden.
We also had a few bug fixes, which included:
- Multiple fixes for “send live report”.
- Fix for crash when zooming way out.
- Fix for printing the map without menus.
- In the Add Content dialog, the auto-detect element is now the default. Before you had to select an element before you could continue and this wasn’t always obvious especially when adding shape files.
- There was a bug that if two waypoints in a route resided at the same location, the program would add some random routes. This has now been fixed.
- Selecting the geo-locate element from the right click context menu is back.
- Antenna and Line of Sight elements should now work properly.
Apple starts using OpenStreetMap in Iphoto
May 3rd
Apple switched from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap a few months ago. Depiction has been using OpenStreetMap for several years. OpenStreetMap is a crowd sourced map of the world.
Check out this article about Apple’s switch.
The last three webinars have now been posted to the website.
Apr 25th
I finally figures out what I was doing wrong and was now able to post the last three webinars to the website. These covered:
- Tabletop Exercises
- What’s new in Depiction version 1.4
- Water Simulation Elements
You can find them here.
Topographical map background tiler going away May 1st, 2012
Apr 23rd
As we said in our Depiction 1.4 “What’s New” document:
Background Tiling SourcesAs you may or may not know, Depiction is not in the data business. Depiction was meant to be a mapping platform that could easily bring in available public data sources and then allow the end user to add their own data. We attempt to find public sources for QuickStart data to help folks get started easily. We also use these public sources for our background tilers. One of the sources we used for several maps was the Microsoft Research Map site know as Microsoft TerraServer. They provided the following background tiling sources: usgs black and white, usgs urban, usgs topo.Unfortunately they are going to stop providing these feeds effective May 1, 2012 and so in anticipation of that we have removed USGS Black and White and USGS Urban. We have other imagery sources that are just as good if not better than these. Unfortunately we haven’t found a replacement for the Topographic map and so we are going to leave it in for the moment. If you use this source a lot we recommend that you zoom and pan the areas that you use a lot in order to get these tiles in your cache. Around May 1st we will be releasing a new version (1.4.1) of the software that will have the TOPO background tiler removed since new customers would not be able to get any tiles from this source. We will also hope to release a free add-on for those that want to continue to use the TOPO tiles in your cache, that will allow you to still use them.
La Quinta Emergency Preparedness Kits
Apr 23rd
The City of La Quinta CA is a long time Depiction/DepictionPrep user and has a very active Neighborhood preparedness program. Paul Hess the emergency services coordinator for the city recently sent me info on some new kits they have available.
The City of La Quinta has now announced the release of the New La Quinta PREP Emergency Preparedness Kits:
The City of La Quinta is making it easier than ever to get prepared for an earthquake or other community emergency! Now, the new
La Quinta PREP Emergency Preparedness Kits are available to the public from our City web site:
http://www.la-quinta.org/Index.aspx?page=80
http://www.la-quinta.org/Index.aspx?page=670
We have worked hard with the great staff at More Prepared to create this family, vehicle, and Workplace
Emergency Preparedness starter kit that follows our PREP Neighborhood Preparedness guidelines including:
- Emergency Water Supplies (To be added by the purchaser according to PREP handout instructions)
- Bandaging Supplies for more than a dozen people
- Tools including Flashlight, Lantern, & AM/FM radio, pry bar, and hand tools
- La Quinta PREP booklets and handouts
We are very excited to have this La Quinta PREP Emergency Preparedness Kit available to the public commercially. You can add anything else you want to customize the La Quinta PREP Kit for your family, neighborhood, HOA, vehicle or work location. We believe it is reasonably priced and is a great convenience to all of our responders, volunteers, and residents. Just add water, and you are ready for any emergency! Remember to have a starter kit at home, in your vehicles, and at your work or day location. For more information on the La Quinta PREP Program and Kit please contact Paul Hess, our Emergency Services Coordinator at 760-777-7061 or at phess@la-quinta.org.
(Note: the City of La Quinta does not profit from the sale of these kits. They are provided as a public service to increase family and neighborhood preparedness)
New User Manual for Version 1.4
Apr 22nd
We have posted a new version of the Depiction 1.4 User manual on the website. It can be downloaded here.
Two New Depiction Add-ons Available Now!
Apr 17th
Created as accompaniments to the Recreation Add-on software both Add-ons are related to recreation. The Aquatic Recreation Add-on software comes with new point elements, which allow you to quickly map locations like kayak/canoe launches and diving points. You can easily draw vehicle ferry routes yourself or import them from a file. Of course areas can also be imported as swimming areas or drawn with the user drawn shape – freeform polygon tool. One element has a behavior; the Lighthouse. This element additionally requires an interaction (included) to simulate a potential line-of-site zone for safely traveling the waters. Use the Aquatic Recreation Add-on to create a simple map of your visit, or to plan and track the operations of a marina.
The Winter Recreation Add-on software also includes new point elements allowing you to map locations like warming huts and back country access points. Import various modes of transportation line data, such as snowshoe and cross-country ski trails or quickly draw them yourself; including elements based on the North American Trail Rating System for colorizing difficulty. Of course areas can also be imported as terrain parks and tubing hills or drawn with the user drawn shape – freeform polygon tool. Two elements have behavior; the first is the Avalauncher Site. This element additionally requires an interaction (included) to simulate a potential target zone for conducting avalanche control operations. The Snowmaking Equipment element can be used to show the intended coverage from a snowgun or general area of snowmaking operations by entering properties for a simple arc calculation (direction, distance, and angle). Use the Winter Recreation Add-on to create a simple map of your visit, or to plan the year round operations of a resort. Both of these add-on are now available for $12.95 each in the Depiction Store.
Depiction Reader 1.4 Now Available
Apr 4th
The new 1.4 Version of the Depiction Free Reader is now available on the website.
Go to www.depiction.com/reader to get your copy.
