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New Tile Server function

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:34 pm
by luisfeliztirado
SBuilder X no longer needs to obtain background images by using the Manifold tool bar. There is a tile server function integrated directly into SBuilder X.

SBuilder itself will not access any particular tile server, however, without the use of specific server dlls, as outlined by Luis Sá in this forum. There is a package of third-party image server dlls, that are in the public domain, that can be used by the SBuilder tile server in order to download images from various image server web sites: Ask, Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and Yahoo. These dlls allow access to both the aerial (or satellite) image and map image servers of these image providers.

These third-party server dlls will be made available to all users of SBuilder. Please note that all images are licensed copyrighted material and may not be used without the permission of their respective owners.

To use the tile server function within SBuilder X, place the various image server dlls in the SBuilder X\Tiles folder.

After launching SBuilder X and starting a new project, or loading an existing project, go to the Edit-Preferences menu and you will see this:


Image



Select the image server of your choice and make sure to check the "Use xxx server" option.

Then, select the View-Show Background menu, and if you have an active Internet connection, SBuilder X will immediately start downloading images at the location and zoom level indicated in the status bar.


Image



As before, you would do well to pan around and obtain the images for the entire coverage of your project. Also, it will be easier to zoom in to your area, and to create custom ground textures, if you obtain images of your project at various zoom levels.

If for some reason certain tiles are not downloaded, SBuilder X will display a "Failed to download" image in its place.



Image



This can arise for different reasons:

- there are no images for that area, or at that zoom level;

- some problem while downloading. If you are sure that there are tiles available, you can force SBuilder X to re-load those areas by going to the Preferences window and confirming your choice of server by clicking "OK".

- certain image servers, such as Google, limit the quantity of images downloaded, probably for reasons of cost. In this case, just try again some other time.