Google Maps - EBT's dot grid

[MDeen]

I've done some more testing and I've ran into some problems.

Loading an XML file with "ActiveXObject" does not work in Firefox, you have to install a separate package.
Additionally, I modified the "rectangle" functions so that they draw lines instead, and that breaks IE compatibility, apparently there is a minimum height for this thing in IE.
On top of that: you have to wait for the map to be finished loading before you can do anything with it.

Open http://maasluip.xs4all.nl/EBT/test-func.html to see what I mean.
Function "ShowLines" does not work when it is called in the html but if you wait until the map loads and then press "Show lines" it does work.

All in all: to display notes on the map does not seem to be all that easy.

[lmviterbo]

This is really amazing and I was waiting for it too since I can't use GEarth on this pc.

What about showing the EBT map borders, is it a difficult task to do? (They're small filled rectangles, not lines, I have no idea if that's easy or not to do. Also, I can't think of a way of doing it without manually placing all such rectangles...) I'd love to see it because I've been supspicious for long that there are still a few misplaced borderlines. Now, thanks to this wonderful Google EBT Dots Map, I have spotted at least one.

The test-func thing is indeed uglier and slower, I hope you or any of the programming mavericks on the forum think of a way of applying one's notes on top of this.

[MDeen]

Well, in fact I have made some progress. The progress is seen in http://maasluip.xs4all.nl/EBT/jsfile.html

I have a separate rectangle function for IE and Firefox. That is: for IE I draw rectangles and for all other browsers I draw lines. Please let me know if you are running some other browser (Opera) to see if it displays correctly.

Loading a file with locations remains troublesome. As mentioned before, Firefox needs a special addon. But I've also noticed that you can't open a file remotely. This means that when the page you open is on the internet, you can't place dots.

What you can do is download the files that are needed and run it locally. I've set a zip file that can this, you can download it here.
There is one html file and two js files to run the page, one (windows) exe file to convert EBT's cvs file to xml and an Excel file which can do the same (programmed in VBA). Why the Excel file? I downloaded the exe at work and it didn't work. I created it with Visual Studio 2005, maybe you need .NET runtime environment installed.
For everyone not running Windows, I've included a sample XML file so that you can make your own conversion if you want.
The routine relies on the fact that lat and long are the 12th and 13th XML tag in the <note> tag.

[lmviterbo]

Well, in fact I have made some progress. The progress is seen in http://maasluip.xs4all.nl/EBT/jsfile.html

I have a separate rectangle function for IE and Firefox. That is: for IE I draw rectangles and for all other browsers I draw lines.

Hmmm, for me (Firefox 1.5.0.7 on Win2K SP4) lines are much thinner and more elegant on the "old" EBT-googleoverlay than the new ones on jsfile.

What you can do is download the files that are needed and run it locally. I've set a zip file that can this, you can download it here.

I must be doing something wrong because I get an error message ("Index was outside the bounds of the array"). Here are the steps I took:

1. Download notes_entered_by_10680.csv to the dir where I unzipped EBT-googleoverlay (C:\unzipped\EBT-googleoverlay)
2. Run CSVtoXML.exe
3. Enter the full path of the csv file (C:\unzipped\EBT-googleoverlay\notes_entered_by_10680.csv) and click on the button Convert to XML file
4. Enter my number of notes on the box that shows up ("Notes" / "Max number of notes") and click OK (I also tried with smaller and bigger figures here, to no avail)

My system has Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 -- I have no idea if that is the .NET runtime environment or something else. Furthermore, the Excel file wasn't included in the zip file.

Here are the details of the error message (please tell me if I'm disclosing any private information I shouldn't publicize):

************** Exception Text **************
System.InvalidCastException: Conversion from string "" to type 'Long' is not valid. ---> System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseDecimal(String value, NumberStyles options, NumberFormatInfo numfmt)
at System.Decimal.Parse(String s, NumberStyles style, IFormatProvider provider)
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ParseDecimal(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat)
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToLong(String Value)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToLong(String Value)
at WindowsApplication1.Form1.CVStoXML()
at WindowsApplication1.Form1.cmdConvert_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
CSVtoXML
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/unzipped/EBT-googleoverlay/CSVtoXML.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINNT/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll

[MDeen]

Well, in fact I have made some progress. The progress is seen in http://maasluip.xs4all.nl/EBT/jsfile.html

I have a separate rectangle function for IE and Firefox. That is: for IE I draw rectangles and for all other browsers I draw lines.

Hmmm, for me (Firefox 1.5.0.7 on Win2K SP4) lines are much thinner and more elegant on the "old" EBT-googleoverlay than the new ones on jsfile.

That is right. I still draw rectangles, but for Firefox the rectangles now consist of two lines close toghether. So in effect you see a double line in Firefox.
Sorry, I don't know how to draw fast lines. If anyone does, please let me know.

What you can do is download the files that are needed and run it locally. I've set a zip file that can this, you can download it here.

I must be doing something wrong because I get an error message ("Index was outside the bounds of the array"). Here are the steps I took:

1. Download notes_entered_by_10680.csv to the dir where I unzipped EBT-googleoverlay (C:\unzipped\EBT-googleoverlay)
2. Run CSVtoXML.exe
3. Enter the full path of the csv file (C:\unzipped\EBT-googleoverlay\notes_entered_by_10680.csv) and click on the button Convert to XML file
4. Enter my number of notes on the box that shows up ("Notes" / "Max number of notes") and click OK (I also tried with smaller and bigger figures here, to no avail)

My system has Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 -- I have no idea if that is the .NET runtime environment or something else. Furthermore, the Excel file wasn't included in the zip file.

Oops, forgot the Excel file. It is now in the zip file.

About the error: I made one change: I added an extra check for the number you enter. If it's not a number, you don't get an error anymore.
But that would only happen if you entered an alpha character in the number of notes box and I don't expect that you've done that.
Try it anyway, if it doesn't help, can you send me a few lines from your csv file via PM (edit the note details if you want)?

One warning though: drawing markers is a slow process. If I draw all my notes (about 250 locations) it takes a while.

[Miles66]

Ok, no DOT-Grid but something for Google Maps:

Banklist from Germany and Europe

Didn´t know if it was already type here in the forum:

With GM you can find every bank or "sparkasse" with adress and more informations:

3 examples:

All different banks in germany:
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s ... 28.125&z=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sparkasse (Cassa di Risparmio, Spaarbank) international:
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s ... 28.125&z=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Volksbanken international
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s ... 28.125&z=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

change only the name of Bank in the link you are searching for...

a lot of fun when you zoom in

But I have no idea how old the informations are...

[Gnaeus]

I have used this feature in GM to find banks in Austria. If you just type in "bank" -- it will find every bank in the area, plus a lot of insurance companies, investment firms, etc. And typing in "Bank Austria" for example, delivers at least some locations that are now closed. So it is a case of user beware!

[dserrano5]

Hi,

I've tried to run the local version of jsfile (the zip file) and was unsuccessful.

I use Firefox on Ubuntu Linux. Given that MDeem was kind enough to provide a sample XML file (thank you!), I was able to translate the CSV with my notes into XML. Then I opened the HTML file in the browser, copy-pasted the full path to the XML file into the text box and clicked "Show markers", just to see that nothing happened.

I debugged the problem (changed the ActiveX stuff and a couple of other things) and got to the point that no errors appear in the Firefox's Javascript console, but nothing happens in the map, it only gets apparently reloaded and nothing else. Interestingly enough, if I click in "Show lines", the grid momentarily appears, but then the map is reloaded and reset again. So it may be actually working, but I don't get to see the results. Same in Chrome 4.0. In Opera 10.10 the grid doesn't even blink, but you can tell that the map is being reloaded because the Google Maps buttons and zoom bar do blink.

Using the Firebug extension I could trace it down to some GUnload/GLoad stuff but that's highly obfuscated code...

(By the way, if anyone is interested in the program I used to convert the CSV into XML, I will happily post it here. It's written it in Perl).