Wales and West

Hello Roger,

Welcome abroad in our home away from home!!

Ishie

Hi Roger.

Welcome to the forums.

There is Dem data availble for pretty much most of the globe now, although apparently the better quality Dem data is not free.

I use the free data available, but I use the Payware program TransDem to create the terrain in Trainz.
TransDem also allows you to create basemaps using maps or Google images, making it much easier to place things in their correct position, although there is as lot of work to be done with the images taken in Google Earth before they can be used in TransDem.

To give you an example, using Google Earth, you move to the area you want, at a height of 500m, place a google marker, save a screenshot, save the georeferenced marker file, load the screenshot into TransDem, load the marker file into TransDem, convert to UTM gird format, save new georeferenced files.(phew)

You do this for every screenshot you take in Google Earth, as you move along your route.
As you can imagine, each one takes a little while, and my route has now extended to around 1050 Google Earth screenshots!.

Although a lot of work, and it seems like you're not getting anywhere after a while, when you've done all this preparation work, you then find the correct Dem data and download it, load it into TransDem, overlay all your georeferenced images in TransDem, export the Trainz terrain, and then export the basemaps with map images at around 5 or 10 a time, and before you know it, you have everything you need to make a realistic version of the route, along with basemaps with the google images on, all placed on the route in the correct place showing you the rough area of where things go.

A lot of work, and I'm still working on Newport to Cardiff at the mo (laying track that is, all the TransDem work is done now, and the whole route is available to look at in Surveyor), but well worth it.
Mind you, it's not surprising I'm still working on the Newport to Cardiff trackwork, because as well as building the route, I'm also creating landmark 3D models for the route, and writing script Rules that I need that aren't available currently.

Take a look at the TransDem threads on the Auran forum for details on it.
It depends on the size of the route you're going to build, but there was no way I wanted to manually build the terrain from Cardiff to Cwmbran to Gloucester to Bristol, so it was a must for me.

Have fun,
Smiley.

Welcome on board Nice to see more Trainzers from the valleys

Jamie

Thank you for the welcomes, and thanks Smileyman for your detailed reply - I can feel my grey matter melting. I suppose the thing is to try one screenshot first to see what happens. You say 'you then find the correct Dem data and download it' are we back to my first question? Where do you find the DEM data?
Good luck with the Wales and West route, it sounds like a massive undertaking.
Roger

Hi Roger.

Why not boot up Google Earth and try the first bit.
Zoom into the start of your area at 500m and then place a placemark, and name it "1", hit CTRL+S to save the current screen, and then hit ALT+CTRL+S to save the Placemark.

That part of the task takes 10-20 seconds, so it's not too bad.

The next part of the stage you'd need to purchase TransDem.
In TransDem you'd then hit:

SHIFT+O (Load the Google Earth image) - couple of seconds
ALT+R ( Load the Google Earth placemark) - couple of seconds
SHIFT+U ( Convert to UTM) - between 5 and 10 seconds to complete
ALT+S (Saves 2 files that TransDem uses in the final stage when it creates your route in Trainz) - couple of seconds

As you can see, converting to UTM takes the longest, and when you have a load of them to do, that's the one that becomes the bottle-neck.

I did all the Google Earth stuff first and only when I had all the pictures and placemarks I needed did I start the TransDem part.

You can get free Dem data from

http://netgis.geo.uw.edu.pl/srtm/Europe/

If the site is down, try searching on Google for "srtm dem" and you should find a link to the official Nasa site for Dem.

Have fun.

Smiley.