Kites

[Andrew Zaborowski]

Hi THS,
I visited you last week and mentioned kite photography, or KAP. Just
dropping some links if you want to learn more, and I might try some
KAP tomorrow Tuesday in the afternoon near Tokyo station. Wind
forecasts are looking good at the moment. Let me know if you want to
join, see how to lift a camera to the altitudes that imaging airplanes
fly at, as well as see some of the strongest materials available (to
civilians) pushed near their limits (if there's strong wind).

links:
* Plenty of howtos on making your own kites, camera rigs, converting
cheap cameras to infrared, lo-tech tools, etc.:
http://grassrootsmapping.org/

* The alternative open source firmware for Canon cameras if you don't
know CHDK already: http://chdk.wikia.com/ -- amazing capabilities
compared to the firmwares normally shipping on cameras, both compact
and slr.

* Some "pro" KAP gear with video downlink (heavier, less portable,
more expensive than what I use, easier to detect on radars):
http://www.swiatobrazu.pl/zdjecie/artykuly/77982/o-pasji-do-latawcow-i-fotografii-z-lotu-ptaka-specjalnie-dla-serwisu-swiatobrazu.jpg

* A 1906 kap pic of San Francisco where an ice cube was used as the
shutter timer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:San_Francisco_in_ruin_edit2.jpg

* My kite pics from Kawaguchi district last week:
https://plus.google.com/108793263944050035068/posts/LeVVY2fZDe4

* Some of my other pics that looked good, not particularly useful for
mapping: https://picasaweb.google.com/108793263944050035068/AerialShots

* The OpenStreetMap project I mentioned last week: osm.org -- register
& add your favourite food place (or your least favourite) or anything
that you reckon is missing.

* Other ways to DIY aerial photography ;)
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=julius+neubronner+pigeon+photography

Cheers

[Mikele]

cool!
details about tomorrow's event?

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[Torsten Wagner]

Very nice.
Guess the most impressive would be to climb Fuji san and make a kite
photography from there.
Mikele went recently, talk to him.
Heck, if you plan to do that Fuji-kite thing... let me know and I will
try to join !!!

Totti

[@japhigu]

I do not know how involved with OSM any of you are here, but I have to share this with you.

During the last 4 yrs I was in three similar situations - I needed offline maps of a specific region to take with me, without the need for GPS tracking etc, with known zoom levels. Each time I tried to "get shit done" with OSM it turned out to be a horrible waste of time (I kept trying around 7 hrs on avg). Why? 

There is no single usable (i.e. working) GUI that I can get in binary form for the Windows OS. Sure, I can compile the source - but not when you are in a hurry. 

The first time it was just bad. None of the apps worked on the two systems I was running. The devs must have been the only one's running their software.

The 2nd (1,5 yrs) and 3rd time (few weeks ago) I got my hands on around 3 or four different apps that were starting and not throwing exceptions.

Of course, all of them had a GUI that was just ... imagine the worst, most frustrating thing in your life times 10^2. 

Anyway - downloading maps was  fucking impossible. Only one of the programs ever initiated a connection, others didn't (or even attempted it). There, finding my location was no problem, but the map tiles being downloaded were from THE DEVELOPERS HOME AREA - after setting the target location specifically. Jeez! I am not the best GUI dev in the world and I never did a GIU in py or the other languages used - but that GUI was pure evil. I sent similar but defused comments to the devs - I doubt I will ever get a reply.

After all that I resorted to downloading the raw osm files myself. Then the displaying program I used - one of the recommendations from the OSM wiki -  crashed. Then I thought "GTFO" and used my old old Miscrosoft Mapping solution from 2009. Which works great. And was ridiculously cheap.But has old and not very detailed maps.

In a nutshell: what good is OSM if the only thing you can use it with is a SatNav that is open enough to feed it .osm's or with you compiling and tuning the source so that it it runs on your specific machine? Little good.

OSM is great, we need that open mapping approach to avoid censorship by the satellite-folks and provide competition to the commercial satimagery salesmen - but the usability is close to that of a phone without the keypad if you leave the trodden path.

Now I will get burned :o

[@japhigu]

Yes, that is a good idea. I can report that you have plenty of space after sunrise and loads of wind. Do that - it is going to be huge!

[Andrew Zaborowski]

Well it crossed my mind, but your hands would freeze pretty fast on
top. I climbed last Wednesday at night and there was almost no wind
and I also tried to have as little weight to carry as possible. Not
that the whole gear is very heavy (1 - 1.5kg), and yeah the pictures
might be great if you can manage it.

Cheers

[Mikele]

not the event, sorry, but what time will you be there tomorrow and where?
my schedule is quite busy already, but I'd try to come and see if by magic it fits before my other appointment and the THS meeting

[Torsten Wagner]

Hi,

going with a larger group, the extra luggage could be split among all
members. For the hand freezing... well it wouldn't be THS if we
couldn't find a good solution for it.
;)
The pictures could be spectacular.

Totti

[Andrew Zaborowski]

So I was thinking of starting near the paved area here:
http://binged.it/PzhA6t around 3pm. I'd be there for at least 2h if
the wind is good. If you can make it that'd be cool. Pulling the
kite down is quite an exercise for one person (I'd say equivalent of
hours at a gym)

I couldn't reply with a map link before because apparently the 7-11
hotspots (7SPOT) around Tokyo only allow free access to google search
& gmail, anything else redirects to the payment site.

[MRE]

Yo,

I feel you on OSM.. however, one thing I can suggest if you have android, that I know works, and works REALLY well:

On Android, nothing beats Maverick for raw mapping when out of service areas.
It does not do navi well (if at all... dont bother searching, etc)
But for "where am I now?" it is tops.
It gives you a choice of several map sources:
OSM base - Mapnik and OSMa
Google - Maps, sat, hybrid and terrain
Bing - maps sat and hybrid
Wikimapia - Maps, and ovi/nokia, plus the ability to config more

The best part is that so long as you have storage space, it will cache everything you view. So, when I know I will need maps when out of service, I follow the following procedure:
While in service (best done over wifi):
1: Open Maverick and run over where I intend to be.
2: Choose a zoom level deep enough that I can get a general idea of where I am, without too many details (my relation to major roads.. somewhere mid zoom)
3: Scroll around the entire city in that zoom level, caching all the map tiles
4: Go back and zoom deeper in neighborhoods around major areas of interest. I usually cache all tiles showing building outlines within a certain distance of major stations for example

I did this with most of southern Arizona about 2 years ago. I still use those tile caches every time I go home.

Sure, you cant look up an address, but can usually get yourself anywhere.  It also helps to add waypoints for any major landmarks before you leave.

You can also download tile packs and covert them as explained here:

http://help.codesector.com/MapsCache

[MRE]

http://lazydroid.com/2010/07/howto-offline-maps-with-maverick-from-code-sector/

That also helps.
Down towards the end, there are links for some prepacked maps, including Japan.

[Torsten Wagner]

Huuuu...

MRE are you proposing to read a map like in the pre-GPS, pre-digital map time?
No search, no little blue arrows and line which show your closest way
to your target??
No instant updates....
No zoom...
That's insane.....

Whats next printing a map on a sheet of cellulose and use a magnetized
needle to know how to align that cellulose-map thing in the real wold
....

Crazy

Totti

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[Andrew Zaborowski]

Sorry for replying with a delay, still travelling.

So poor user experience is I think the biggest issue with a lot of
open projects. Even worse than that people are being told "patches
welcome" and sometimes they do come back with patches to fix some
details and a they get into a long debate and their improvements never
get used.

Fortunately things are getting a little better in OSM. If you're and
Android user you might wanna try OsmAnd, I'm consistently hearing
positive opinions about it (haven't tried myself). I recently found
out my dad who's in his 60s is using another osm-based Android app.
Not giving its name because too many options is another thing that
scares users away, try OsmAnd first.

Though what is needed for the things to really get better is for the
manufacturers to switch to OSM for their default provider (or as an
option) in their stock map apps. Microsoft already has it as an
option in Bing, not sure about mobile apps. Apple used OSM data in
some iOS versions in some countries only.

Cheers

[MRE]

No no!
It uses the GPS on the phone to get your current location without network.
And, zoom exists. You just have to remember to precache or download the map tiles for the area and zoom level you expect to use.
It will also track your course.

It simply can not connect to the net and get street addresses, trip routing or NEW info without a network connection.
If you know where you want to go, just mark it as a point of interest before you leave the network.