Raw data

[corjulo]

I was working on a Training DVD for our club and found this site. The files are big but they are up to date sectionals. I wish I could find them in PDF format (not a scan but actual vectored graphics and fonts)

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/

 

[fgcason]

I was working on a Training DVD for our club and found this site. The files are big but they are up to date sectionals. I wish I could find them in PDF format (not a scan but actual vectored graphics and fonts)

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/

Instead of downloading, why not order them on CD?

http://www.avn.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/catalog/charts/digital/Sectional_Raster

East/West/Alaska $11.70 per region. Not free but the hassle factor drops through the floor.

I haven't ordered them yet but someone else on the board, or at least from the AOPA webboard did a while back and apparently had no problems with them.

Beats the smithereens out of a gazillion hour download per file.

 

[river_rat]

I was working on a Training DVD for our club and found this site. The files are big but they are up to date sectionals. I wish I could find them in PDF format (not a scan but actual vectored graphics and fonts)

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/

There are several programs you can purchase that claim to convert .tiff
files to .pdf files. Just google "convert tiff to pdf".

greg

 

[Ghery]

Beats the smithereens out of a gazillion hour download per file.

Ah, the joys of a cable modem connection. About 5 minutes or so per file to download. Now, if I just had a faster processor to zoom and scroll through the files once they're downloaded... You'd think that I'd have something faster than a 1 GHz Pentium III system, given that I work for Intel...

 

[corjulo]

There are several programs you can purchase that claim to convert .tiff
files to .pdf files. Just google "convert tiff to pdf".

greg

The PDF format can incapsulate a tiff file. But it can't convert it to pure postscript with vectored graphics. It's still a huge bitmap file. In a Postscript file shapes, shades and fonts are all define with mathematic equations rather then bit-mapped information. Much smaller files that are much easier edit

Basically it Adobe Illustrator vs Photoshop. Apple OSX user interface is all postscript. If you want to change the size of something, change a value in the equation rather then re scaling the bitmap file. MUCH MUCH cooler but it takes a huge amount of graphics horse power to do it

 

[fgcason]

Ah, the joys of a cable modem connection. About 5 minutes or so per file to download.

Not that it matters since I'm about to move and likely to not have as much as a phone connection afterward but last time I looked cable modem connections around here, they were in the pay-off-national-debt territory by the time you could plug in.

I have a 5.2K modem average. They call it 56K for sales hype and technobabble but it's divide by 10 (ideal circumstances) for practical data loads and that's where it really counts. I often wonder what it's doing during that other 9 of the 10 cycles besides playing with itself. Letting my system sit idle while downloading doesn't speed it up. For that matter I can goof off locally as long as I don't shove more though the modem bottleneck and it doesn't slow the download rate at all.

Now, if I just had a faster processor to zoom and scroll through the files once they're downloaded...

Climb vs cruise props. You can climb but you can't cruise. I can cruise but I can't climb. (Funny how my computer is an exact opposite of my ideal airplane - I don't care about getting anywhere in a hurry, I just don't want to run into the trees at the end of the runway)
2ghz athlon 512K ram here with a motherboard that can handle more. Scary bit is that's not anywhere near fast enough in todays world. Someone needs to excavate the programming world and get some people in there that know assembly.

You'd think that I'd have something faster than a 1 GHz Pentium III system, given that I work for Intel...

No I wouldn't.
My dad had his own tv repair business. A tv in nearly every room but very rarely a working tv in the house.
My friends dad is a DPE and it was forever before he ever got a checkride.
You work in processor city, why would you think you would have the latest and greatest?

 

[gismo]

I have a 5.2K modem average. They call it 56K for sales hype and technobabble but it's divide by 10 (ideal circumstances) for practical data loads and that's where it really counts. I often wonder what it's doing during that other 9 of the 10 cycles besides playing with itself. Letting my system sit idle while downloading doesn't speed it up. For that matter I can goof off locally as long as I don't shove more though the modem bottleneck and it doesn't slow the download rate at all.

Are you sure you aren't confusing 56K bits per second with bytes per second? Ten to one is about the right ratio.

 

[fgcason]

Are you sure you aren't confusing 56K bits per second with bytes per second? Ten to one is about the right ratio.

What the heck am I thinking? No, don't answer that. Someone with a keyboard in this room is feeling real stupid about right now.

Way too early in the morning, way too much stress, not enough electronics design work (as in computers from parts and wire) in the last 14 years. Bad data on the backup tapes.

Point is it's too bloody slow.

I think I'll go do something I actually understand and makes sense to me for the rest of the day... like disassembling my motorcycle carburetor... It's yucky after 5 years of sitting.

Signed,
Dunce.

Danged electrons are a hoax anyway.