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posted: 18 Jul 2018 17:36 from: Martin Wynne
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Friends, It is a year since I introduced the tiled background maps in Templot, and the NLS API subscriptions are now coming up for renewal in the next few days. Unfortunately the current Templot donations fund is looking a bit thin, and won't cover it. The API for the superb 60"/mile maps of London in the 1890s is £99+vat. The API for the 6"/mile maps of the whole of GB in the 1900s is £199+vat. If you find the tiled maps useful, you might like to consider chipping in towards the costs. There is a Donate button at the top right of every page on Templot Club, or go to: http://templot.com/martweb/templot_donate.htm Thanks. Just to be clear, this is for the NLS tiled maps. The screenshot maps are free. The tiled maps are much easier to use, and can be extended to any size and not restricted to the size of your screen for making a screenshot. I'm hoping that when the NLS have completed their 25" coverage they will be making that map available as a tiled API too. But it will be expensive. The 6" maps are not too useful by themselves for track planning, but being GB-wide they do provide a very useful means of scaling non-NLS maps by overlaying transparent and aligning structures such as bridges, churches, etc., (which tend not to move around much). However, if the funds don't run to it I may decide to let that API go. The 6" maps would still be available as screenshot maps. cheers, Martin. |
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posted: 18 Jul 2018 18:46 from: Rob Manchester
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Martin Wynne wrote: Friends,Hello Martin, I am quite happy to donate to a global fund that allows you to develop Templot without impacting on you personal finances but as you have asked for donations to (effectively) support the provision of a service I likely won't use it doesn't have the same justification to me. Maybe it is wrong of me to think that way . Interesting to see what others think. Any way you can tell who has used the tiled maps facility to see if it is worth continuing ? If you had just asked for donations as the kitty was nearly depleted, without mentioning the tiled map subscription, it would have been fine. As users of Templot we don't expect you to provide a list of what the donations get used for, just to use the monies as you think best in supporting the development. If the kitty is rather empty how will/do you pay for the web-hosting that Templot needs ? (Typed of course with a rather than a ) Rob |
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posted: 18 Jul 2018 19:35 from: Martin Wynne
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Rob Manchester wrote:Hello Martin,Hi Rob, I wrote: "If you find the tiled maps useful...". If that doesn't apply to you, there is no reason for you to support the tiled maps if you don't want to. Donations are entirely voluntary by definition. Sorry, I don't have any stats for tiled map usage. I find them very useful myself, and several others have said the same. It's the one feature in Templot I'm most pleased with, and which isn't available in any other track planning software as far as I know. But how much others have actually used them I don't know, Templot doesn't transmit any user data back home. It's worth bearing in mind that NLS is a non-profit, and the API subscriptions are helping to fund their mapping projects. I suspect that if and when a 25" API becomes available, usage would shoot up. On the other hand, some might see the tiled maps as a luxury when the screenshot equivalents are available free. The tiled maps are just so much easier to use, one click gets an extra row or column of tiles and expands the map in any direction. And they zoom and pan much faster than screenshots. If the kitty is rather empty how will/do you pay for the web-hosting that Templot needs ?Since making Templot2 free 7 years ago, so far the donations fund has kept ahead of the hosting costs. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed, some more than once. If the fund runs dry I would likely make a song and dance about it on here. If no-one responded, the web site would go down after a while. Or more likely I would move it to lower-cost hosting, possibly supported by advertising. Without a web site, Templot2 would stop working, although of course there is now the alternative of OpenTemplot. I enjoy working on Templot, but I don't feel it would be reasonable that making it available to others should leave me out of pocket. Fortunately there is no immediate risk of that. cheers, Martin. |
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posted: 18 Jul 2018 20:12 from: Rob Manchester
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Hi Martin, Yes, all fair enough. Look forward to the song and dance......... Rob |
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posted: 19 Jul 2018 14:46 from: Martin Wynne
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Many thanks to those who have already made a donation. One point I forgot to mention, is that the tiled maps work fine on Linux/Wine and Mac/Wine/CrossOver. That's not the case for the auto-scaled screenshot captures, which rely on the Windows embedded browser component (essentially Internet Explorer). I haven't been able to find an equivalent component which will run on Linux/Wine. If you make screenshots manually on Linux/Mac/Wine, you can scale (resize) them by temporarily making them transparent, and then scaling them manually over the top of the tiled 6" NLS map. cheers, Martin. |
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