Hi Ron Parker, you recently wrote in povray.general:

> You might try this one, though it looks like you'll have to do two
> HTTP requests and may have to further validate the results:
> 
> http://www.nima.mil/gns/bin/validate_query

Yes, I tried that one, but it's a two-step process and even passing
the same data to the second step as the form does, gives an error
message (sigh).

I really hate to do a two-step process, it's a pain to program and I
have better things to program.... oh well, we'll see if I can get
something going.

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Lutz Kretzschmar wrote:
> ...
> I also wrote a program that queries the online database at USGS for
> the lat/long of the US cities (don't fancy finding 600 pairs by
> hand<g>).
> 
> I'm currently looking for a website that can do lat/long lookup for
> non-US cities and that can be queried directly, i.e. with an HTTP
> request. No luck so far.

You might take a look at Home Planet at
http://www.fourmilab.ch/homeplanet/ - the lookup for nearest big city
(worldwide) might be extractable.  If not, perhaps the DB is.  Even if
you can't use the city DB, the program itself is pretty nice...

Xander

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On Tue, 14 Sep 1999 07:25:21 GMT, Lutz Kretzschmar wrote:
>Hi Ron Parker, you recently wrote in povray.general:
>
>> You might try this one, though it looks like you'll have to do two
>> HTTP requests and may have to further validate the results:
>> 
>> http://www.nima.mil/gns/bin/validate_query
>
>Yes, I tried that one, but it's a two-step process and even passing
>the same data to the second step as the form does, gives an error
>message (sigh).

Have you tried faking a referer header?

Alternatively, you might try this:

http://www2.gsoc.dlr.de/scripts/satvis/countries.asp

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Hi Ron Parker, you recently wrote in povray.general:

> Have you tried faking a referer header?
Nope, didn't try that.
 
> Alternatively, you might try this:
> http://www2.gsoc.dlr.de/scripts/satvis/countries.asp
Ahh, now that looks very promising....

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Hi Alexander Enzmann, you recently wrote in povray.general:

> You might take a look at Home Planet ...
Yes, I checked the website, but it didn't lookl like it could extract
the cities....

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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I've been doing some thinking (only thinking) about changing the
markers, however country-based colors was not one of the thoughts, so
thanks for suggesting it whether I do that or not.
Only real problem comes from making them very obvious, since red is
not present in the image_map that seems the most clearly visible from
what I've found.  One of the things I was going to do though is
increase the sizes for the overall world ones (in the zoom views they
are scaled down btw) because there's a few that are pretty obscure
since they are near edges of the planet.  Jpeg further reduces their
visibility.  Which is the problem basically, primary colors dissolve a
lot, and green blue or yellow would blend into the colors already
there leaving magenta as a possibility but think I tried that too long
ago and it blends in at certain places too.  White or black alone (or
any plain color dot) can also be difficult to see right if in a
certain place.  Another problem is the media atmosphere since it gets
hazy toward edges.
I might try to go back to little spotlights shone upon each position
but that tends to mean lowering the brightness of the rest of it.
Anyway, I'll be thinking some more and trying a few things out.  Also
that country idea.

Bob

smellenbergh <sme### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
news:1dy### [at] dialup146leuvenskynetbe...
> Hi,
>
> The Pov-world population is growing. Soon some countries will be
hidden
> under the markers :-)
>
> Maybe you could use coloured markers for each country. You really
don't
> need that many different colours so that no two neighbouring
countries
> have the same coloured markers. Then you could actually see how many
> users live in Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxemburg. Now it is one
> cluster.
>
> Also, linking the marks to counties might allow for corrections per
> country. If for instance a user of Christmas Island - is there
one? - is
> getting wet feet, you could place him back on land, without having
to
> correct the rest of the world.
>
> Smellenbergh
> --
> e-mail:sme### [at] skynetbe
>
> http://users.skynet.be/smellenbergh
>
> >Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote:
>
> >   The World Map of Pov-Ray Users has never had better accuracy, I
> > discovered a flaw in the markers which caused them to be elevated
> > above the globe slightly and at oblique viewing angles this
created a
> > position offset (thanks Antti!).  To summarize, they were once
more
> > spherical and then had later been flattened out, this left their
> > centers hovering.  It wasn't so noticeable before the "zoom"
views.
> > Plus there has been refinements made on a couple locations as
well.
> > Enough said. Check it out again everyone, if you will.  If you are
> > near a edge of the "world" you may be surprised at the difference
from
> > previous maps.
> >
> >  http://members.aol.com/wrld0rigin/povwrldjpg.htm
> >

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From what I've seen no one seems to have made a truly complete (or
nearly so)database of world cities/towns which also outputs Lat/Lon.
But I continue to wade through the masses of websites myself.  Will
keep you in mind should I stumble upon anything.

Bob

Lutz Kretzschmar <lut### [at] stmuccom> wrote in message
news:37df8600.39017033@194.174.214.110...
> Hi Alexander Enzmann, you recently wrote in povray.general:
>
> > You might take a look at Home Planet ...
> Yes, I checked the website, but it didn't lookl like it could
extract
> the cities....
>
> - Lutz
>   email : lut### [at] stmuccom
>   Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Lutz Kretzschmar wrote:
> 
> Hi Alexander Enzmann, you recently wrote in povray.general:
> 
> > You might take a look at Home Planet ...
> Yes, I checked the website, but it didn't lookl like it could extract
> the cities....

They are in the file sitename.txt, around 1400 cities referenced to
lat/long.  I'll zip and email separately.

Xander

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On Tue, 14 Sep 1999 15:56:09 -0500, "Bob Hughes" <inv### [at] aolcom>
wrote:

>I've been doing some thinking (only thinking) about changing the
>markers, however country-based colors was not one of the thoughts, so
>thanks for suggesting it whether I do that or not.
[snip]

Another option, of course, being to colour by quantity. If you can
work out how many dots are near enough to each other to obscure one or
more, have a different colour/shape to signify 1,2-5,7-10 etc.

Overkill ahoy!


Cheers,

Cliff Bowman
Why not pay my 3D Dr Who site a visit at http://www.who3d.cwc.net/

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Ah, but that is what the zoomed in views are for, so I don't have to
try and do that  : )  Anything is worthy of consideration though so
thanks for sharing that thought.

Bob

Cliff Bowman <c.b### [at] cwcomnet> wrote in message
news:37dfa0ff.178476677@news.povray.org...
> On Tue, 14 Sep 1999 15:56:09 -0500, "Bob Hughes" <inv### [at] aolcom>
> wrote:
>
> >I've been doing some thinking (only thinking) about changing the
> >markers, however country-based colors was not one of the thoughts,
so
> >thanks for suggesting it whether I do that or not.
> [snip]
>
> Another option, of course, being to colour by quantity. If you can
> work out how many dots are near enough to each other to obscure one
or
> more, have a different colour/shape to signify 1,2-5,7-10 etc.
>
> Overkill ahoy!
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Cliff Bowman
> Why not pay my 3D Dr Who site a visit at http://www.who3d.cwc.net/

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