TravellerMap.com PDF Generation Now Live

[inexorabletash]

http://travellermap.blogspot.com/2009/08/now-serving-pdfs.html

The API docs have been updated. Basically, tack on "&accept=application/pdf" to the URL. Here are some examples:

Regina Subsector, color-on-black:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Spinward+Marches&subsector=c&accept=application/pdf

Reft Sector, in Atlas of the Imperium-style:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Reft&scale=32&options=2935&accept=application/pdf

Vland Sector, candy style:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Vland&options=4983&scale=128&accept=application/pdf

Remember - those links above are generating brand new PDFs on the fly as you click on them, just for you. So go to town with the options and try it out! The JumpMap and Tile APIs are updated too if you're an advanced user of the site.

Got your own data? No problem - use POST with the Poster API, or be lazy and visit the post page: http://www.travellermap.com/post.htm - there's now a PDF checkbox when you're uploading your own data.

Please report bugs using comments on the blog (I get those as email), but I'll be checking this post as well for comments and to discuss any issues or suggestions that come up.

 

[Sturn]

Awesome. Even a way to enter your own data to make a PDF.

 

[Commander Truestar]

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!?!?!?

Saved me one hell of a lot of work in Illustrator is what you have done!

Thank you!!!!!

Marc

http://travellermap.blogspot.com/2009/08/now-serving-pdfs.html

The API docs have been updated. Basically, tack on "&accept=application/pdf" to the URL. Here are some examples:

Regina Subsector, color-on-black:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Spinward+Marches&subsector=c&accept=application/pdf

Reft Sector, in Atlas of the Imperium-style:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Reft&scale=32&options=2935&accept=application/pdf

Vland Sector, candy style:
http://www.travellermap.com/Poster.aspx?sector=Vland&options=4983&scale=128&accept=application/pdf

Remember - those links above are generating brand new PDFs on the fly as you click on them, just for you. So go to town with the options and try it out! The JumpMap and Tile APIs are updated too if you're an advanced user of the site.

Got your own data? No problem - use POST with the Poster API, or be lazy and visit the post page: http://www.travellermap.com/post.htm - there's now a PDF checkbox when you're uploading your own data.

Please report bugs using comments on the blog (I get those as email), but I'll be checking this post as well for comments and to discuss any issues or suggestions that come up.

 

[lucasdigital]

Impressive! And very damned useful.
I'll definitely be making use of this excellent service...

 

[Gadrin]

Awesome as usual !

Question for the OP...

Have you ever thought about offering time/era sensitive data ?

I know that's probably a pipe-dream and I'm not saying you must
or should but I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

Milieu-Zero, Interstellar Wars, Virus era, etc, etc. Probably hard to
get "accurate" data for certain eras.

I'm sure you have better things to do, but if you get some time
go ahead and chime in with your views on it.

>

 

[JustinInOz]

Tried to post in the Blog

First off, the map generators for LBB style sectors is awesome.

Is there a way to get the maps to format for other paper sizes? They seem to be set up for 8.5" by 11". The paper in this country is A4 - 21cm by 29.7cm. It is nearly impossible to fit one into the other without chopping off bits of the map.

I could not get the anti-bot text to appear. So I have posted bere instead. Sorry about that.

J.

 

[aramis]

Justin: it's fine from a mod standpoint. Just realize the maps site isn't affiliated with QLI nor the board, so you might not get a quick answer, nor, possibly an authoritative one.

 

[inexorabletash]

Gadrin:

Allowing selection of data-sets is on the roadmap for the site, including specific time frames and variations of sectors (e.g. the Judges Guild sectors).

That said, other hobby projects are taking precedence lately, so I wouldn't bet on that happening this calendar year. Hold out hope for 2010, though. See the map site's blog (linked off of the "News/Feed" at the bottom) for the TODO list.

 

[inexorabletash]

Is there a way to get the maps to format for other paper sizes? They seem to be set up for 8.5" by 11". The paper in this country is A4 - 21cm by 29.7cm. It is nearly impossible to fit one into the other without chopping off bits of the map.

I could not get the anti-bot text to appear.

Sorry about the anti-bot text - not sure why it's being persnickety. The blog is hosted by Google; the anti-bot text is generic, not specific to my blog.

The LBB generator is a total hack and done as a demo of the APIs rather than a real "production quality" feature. On the TODO list is to make it generate LBBs in PDF format. Those would be printable on A4 paper (etc) c/o Acrobat's scale-to-fit functionality, at least.

Actually, that's how you could get it to work today:

* Install a "Print to PDF" driver for your computer. Mac OS X can do that from any app, and there are free ones available for Windows (Primo PDF perhaps?)
* Pull up one of the LBB pages in your web browser
* Print, but select 8.5"x11" paper, and select the PDF printer, so it saves as a PDF file
* Open the PDF in Acrobat and print, selecting "scale to fit page"

A bit of a pain, but that should work.

 

[aramis]

* Install a "Print to PDF" driver for your computer. Mac OS X can do that from any app, and there are free ones available for Windows (Primo PDF perhaps?)

On OS X, Almost any app... but NOT from Acrobat Reader. (you need CUPS-PDF to do it from Acrobat Reader.)

 

[ShapeShifter]

Yikes!
This is great in principle, but my head hurts from all the details.
Is there a tutorial that explains how to do this by inputting your own information? I'm not a professional computer programmer and I'd hate to have to give up for all the complexity.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

Good stuff.