MAPS.txt ver 793          ALL ABOUT APRS MAPS

SUMMARY:  APRS contains a very powerful MAP making and editing program
called MAPFIX33.EXE.  In addition, there are three other important MAP 
README files:

   MAPMAKIN.txt describes the format of APRS maps and how to make them.  
   MAPS-CD.txt  tells you how to make maps from the USGS CD ROMS.  This
                is where all the action is.
   MAPS-HST.txt covers how to drive around, save a track history,
                and then use that track to add to an APRS map!
   MAPFIX.txt   describes how to use MAPFIX for editing and making maps
   ANYxxx.map   APRS maps are DOS TEXT.  Look at one!

MAP DISTRIBUTION:

The basic APRSxx.zip file contains the major regional maps that will 
cover the interstates and some major highways.  The APRS distro disk
also contains an additional XmapsVV.zip for your region.  APRS uses 
special MAPLIST files to tell APRS which map to use for any given cursor 
location and range.  The default is MAPLIST.USA.  Use the MAPS-CONFIG-
CHANGE command to select the alternate MAPLIST for your area.  To see 
the boundaries of all the maps in a given MAPLIST, use the MAPS-PLOTS-
BORDERS command.  I maintain all of the following MAPLISTS and distro 
files.

*********
*  NEW  *
*********

MAP DIRECTORY STRUCTURE:  Prior to summer 1997, APRS expected to find 
all maps in the APRS\MAPS directory.  Problem was that this turned in
to single directory with hundreds of files in them.  To clean this up,
now all of my distributions have all of the maps for a given disto,
in a subdirectory by that same name.  So all of my EAST coast maps 
will be found in the APRS\MAPS\EAST subdirectory for example.  To make
this work, the MAPLIST.EAS was modified to refer to all of the maps
with their full file-spec, instead of just their name.  I renamed all
of my distros with this organization to Xmaps16.zip or later....

For backwards compatibility, all of the regional USA maps that are
included on the basic APRSxxx disk will always stay in the APRS\MAPS
directory.  Also you will find a XmapsVV.TXT file there too, which
identifies all of the distributions you have loaded.  SImply do a MAPS-
CONFIGURATION-DISTROS command to see this list.

MAPLIST FILE  DISTRO MAPS   COMMENTS
------------  -----------   -------------------------------------
MAPLIST.USA   APRSxx.zip    World and regional maps
MAPLIST.EAS   Emaps16.zip   Virginia and north, and East of Ohio
MAPLIST.NEA   NEmaps1.zip   Northeast (New England)
MAPLIST.MID   Mmaps16.zip   Midwest Ohio through Illinois
MAPLIST.CEN   Cmaps16.zip   Dakotas, NE, KS, TX to Wyoming & Colorado
MAPLIST.WES   Wmaps16.zip   Idaho, Utah & Arizona and west
MAPLIST.SE    SEmaps16.zip  Arkansas to east and south
MAPLIST.EUR   EUmaps04.zip  European maps
MAPLIST.BOS   BOSNIAmp.zip  Bosnia maps
MAPLIST.SA    SAmaps05.zip  South American Maps
MAPLIST.AK    AKmaps02.zip  Alaskan Maps
MAPLIST.MD    MDmaps07.zip  Maryland maps
MAPLIST.UAE   United Arab Emerites
MAPLIST.MS    MSmaps03.zip  Mississippi
MAPLIST.JAM   JAMmaps2.zip  Boy Scouts Jamboree at Ft. A.P.Hill 

OTHER DISTRIBUTION PACKAGES BY STATE COORDINATORS:  There are numerous 
additional map distributions for many states which also have their own 
MAPLISTS.  Look for them on your local area BBS's.  Here are a few:

Alabama    Maryland  Massassachussetts
Arizona    Michigan  Pacific North West
California Minnesota
Florida    Missouri
Georgia    North Carolina
Hawaii     Ohio
Illinois   Texas
Iowa       Virginia

APRS STATE MAP COORDINATORS!

The following list of individuals has either volunteered or been drafted
as a point of contact for APRS in their area.  All have demonstrated
their acumen by having figured out how to make at least ONE APRS map.

KE4EER Bill Nolle    Huntsville    AL ke4eer@ro.com (lots of streets!)
N7QVU @K7BUC.AZ      Tuscon        AZ 602-492-2545(w) jwyatt@amex-trs.com
WC7R  @KB7FRV.AZ     Prescott      AZ BBS 520 778-9198. alanwc7r@primenet.com
KD6MKS               Silver Lake   CA
W7KKE @KA6EYH#nocal  San Franciso  CA Wrote Digitizer and CONV100!
WA4MEJ               Jaxonville    FL Lots of street maps by N2YGK!
                                      Counties of Clay, StJhns,Nassau,Putnam
                                      Baker and Bradford
KD4UYR               Clearwater    FL
G3ZFJ @W4DPH.#TPA.FL Tampa         FL has digitizer
N4NEQ                Atlanta       GA Ralph Fowler rwf@mindspring.com
WH6YC                Honolulu      HI Dave DObbins (ex KB5UBW fm TX)
KG0DW & N0YKX & KI0Q IOWA          IA
N9LCI                              IL David Chesser
AD4CR @WB4HFR.#MIDKY.KY            KY
KB5YRZ@N5SSY#METLA   New Orleans   LA
W1KRU @KA1TUZ.MA     Boston        MA
WB4APR               Maryland      MD  aprssig@tapr.org
KD1E  @N8NNN.#SEMI   Michigan      MI
W8VPD                Michign UPPER MI
KU0G  @KU0G#NWMO.MO  Kansas City   MO  Lots of maps!
KC5AUG                             MS  601-325-8553 cll4@ra.msstate.edu
W4NMK                Black Mtn     NC
WB0WNX               Nebraska      NE  dkaplan@pionet.net
WA1VJH               Keene         NH  digitizer
N2FET                New Jersey    NJ
G3ZFJ/W2             Long Island   NY  Bob W2G3ZFJ@unix.asb.com
KB8JXO@W8CQK.#CMH.OH Columbus      OH  Did all of Ohio
KG8GE                Narion        OH  wrote CAD APRS map program!
N7ZKL @K7IQI.OR                    OR  Oregon 
KD1HA @KA1RCI.RI     Rhode Island  RI  (new england)
KN4IM @N4CII#CHS.SC  Charleston    SC  803-552-0654
KC5EJK               Dallas        TX  kc5ejk@onramp.com
WB5DTW               SanAntonio    TX
N5JXS                Houston       TX
N5ZXD @N4QEP.#WTX.TX Lubbock       TX  good with Mapfixer! N4WJQ  @
N4WZR @WD4MIZ.VA     Norfolk       VA  Dan Valez djv@gte.net
W8KVK                West Va       VA
KB4XF @KC4ASF#NOVA.VAFredericsburg VA  Wrote MAKEMAP! and MK100K prgms!
W9LZQ                Onalaska      WI
WA7NTF@WA7NTF#TAC#WWA.WA           WA  gkohtala@halcyon.com

ZR6ABC@ZS0DLD.TVL.ZAF.AF           South AFRICA
VK4TAB               Brisbane      Austrailia (digitizer)
VE3SVE               Ontario       ON  ONmaps01.zip @ 905-792-7890
PA0RYS               Netherlands   EUROPEAN APRS DISTRO. See REGISTER.DOC
Mike Tyrrell         England       100321.1327@compuserve.com


ALL APRS STATE MAPFILES SHOULD CONFORM TO THE FOLLOWING RULES:

INDIVIDUAL MAPS:  If you make a disk or FILE with individual maps in it,
send it to your state map coordinator and include a piece of paper with 
the exact LAT/LONG/RANGE and insertion instructions so that he can edit 
it into his MAPLIST.  Include instructions on where to insert the new 
map(s) in the heirarchical list.

NEW IN VERSION APRS793!  Inspired by a comment from Mike Musick, 
APRS can now include SUBdirectories in your MAPLIST files so that all of 
your maps can be in a single subdirectory in the MAPS directory.  WIll 
make for faster loading and easier maintenance... Note, that is is not 
backward compatible, so please label your new distro package distnictly..

STATE MAP COORDINATORS:  Please, DO NOT modify MAPLIST.USA, or any of
my standard distribution MAPLISTS.  Their integrity is my responsibility.   
Also, do not make any changes to MY maps without CHANGING the map name.   
When users unzip your files, there should be NO FILES in your files that  
can unknowingly replace my original distro files.  I WELCOME your changes  
to MY maps, but send them to me (with a unique name) so that I can be the  
one to make the change to the distribution copy...

     ALL mapnames should begin with your two letter STATE abbreviation.
Your distribution files should contain ONLY YOUR maps, and NO OTHERS for 
which you are not responsible.

     Build your MAPLIST.XX to include your XX state maps and all larger 
maps that contain your state all the way up to WORLD.map.  Use my MAPLIST
.USA as the beginning point and add your MAPS to it.  This is so that 
users of your maplist can still zoom to other areas of the country and 
still see the detail of the USA distribution without having to load 
another maplist..

     All XX state map distribution packages should be named consistently
as XXmapsVV.zip, where VV is the version number.  Everyone can use that
list to see the extent of your efforts and responsibility. The version
number lets everyone know whats new, and lets BBS SYSOPS know whats OLD
and can be deleted.

     Distribute interim UPDATE files as XXaftrVV.zip.  This file will
contain all of the NEW maps and changes for state XX, AFTER version VV.


FINALLY, to build your zip file, perform the following steps:
1)  Create a temorary file (lets call it TMPMAPS)
2)  Make MAPS and MAPLISTS subdirectories
3)  Now make a MYMAPS subdirectory in the MAPS directory
4)  Copy all of YOUR maps in to the MAPS\MYMAPS subdirectory
5)  Copy your MAPLIST.XX into the MAPLISTS directory
6)  Then use PKZIP -rp XXmapsvv.zip to zip up your package.  
This way the directory structure is preserved and when the user uses 
PKUNZIP -d XXmapsVV.zip, he will get the MAPLIST and the MAPS in the 
right places.

If we are all consistent in our distribution packages, then the users
will have a lot less troubles...


CAUTION:  When adding MAPS to any MAPLIST.xxx file, the location of the
map in the list is VERY IMPORTANT.  Your new map must go AFTER any other
larger map covering the same area, and BEFORE any smaller maps which
overlap or may be included in your map.  THis includes the edges of
surounding areas and states.  Use the MAPS-HEIRARCHY or MAPS BORDERS
command to see the effect..


I HAVE WRITTEN A PROGRAM CALLED MKmapLST.bas which will scan a given
directory and will BUILD a maplist from the data in the files.  This
list will NOT be in the proper heirarchical order, but can be used with
an editor to cut and paste together a list for your area.  This program 
will only be useful to dedicated map makers.  It reads the map CENTER 
coordinates in the various MAP files and builds a simple list of them.  
If SOMEONE would like to add to this program to give it the intelligence 
to properly overlap the heirarchical structure, PLEASE DO SO!


COMMERCIAL MAP MAKERS:  I would encourage anyone that has the time and 
the energy to consider going into business making APRS maps for hire.  
Since APRS maps are intended for the public domain, do not expect to get 
per-copy fees or royalties, but there should be many HAM clubs or groups 
that might like to HIRE you to make a map for them.  If you are going 
into this business, please contact me.  John Baum KB8JXO in  Columbus 
Ohio is making detail street maps for acomparable contibution, see his 
2 mile map around my house. 3909N 07636W.

SEE ADDITIONAL FILES on how to make maps listed at the top of this file.

