Hillwalker News 2004/08
Explorer maps now available
In this Newsletter
- Product News
- Christmas
- Mailing Lists
- Support News - Notification of discontinuation of Support
- Computer News
- Hints and Tips
- Ancient Nags
- Humour?
Explorer maps on CD are now available: LAKE DISTRICT or select your own TWENTY TILES from anywhere in the country. Details were printed in last month's Newsletter. If you are new to the circulation or just want another copy, email support@isysoutdoors.com and we will send it to you. The website will be updated but probably not this year.
Alan Gordon is now a well-established outdoors photographer. Now in its third year, his calendar is quite simply the best Scottish mountain calendar printed. The 2005 Calendar is available now for £12.50, delivered to your door. The format is panorama so the calendar is 600mm wide. There is one superb photograph per month. To order, either call or use the webshop on www.isysoutdoors.com. If you use the webshop, use the Special Instructions. You will not be charged extra p&p within the UK.
We have a small number of copies of The High Alps signed by Martin Moran and myself. You can order on the web but please specify that you want a signed version in the Special Instructions. This offer will not be repeated. As they say, "When they're gone; they're done!"
The Explorer maps have proved to be very popular. The TWENTY TILES selected by users have been mainly countryside areas rather than the open muirland where the Landranger maps provide quite sufficient detail. One user's comment was that he really liked the way that you can switch easily between Explorer and Landranger to see detail or a wider picture. The same thing applies with the Travel Maps if you have MapWise 250.
A full list our products is appended.
The last Second Class posting date for Christmas is 18 December and 21 December for First Class post. We will try to meet the dates for all orders received up to 8 am on the day but why not give us as much time as possible? Also our Webmaster's offer of a free Gmail account on orders over £100 still stands.
Incidentally, Boxing Day this year is on 27 December. Just thought you would like to know. Only two weeks until the day after Christmas, the day before Boxing Day! Never mind, by then the days will be getting longer.
Whilst on the subject of Astronomy (days getting longer is Astronomy), have you read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown? This is a wonderful book with all kinds of deep intellectual architectural and religious intrigue. Did you notice that whilst at Roslyn, the hero and heroine observe the new moon rising in the evening? Obviously this is a typo for full moon. Ever seen a new moon rise in the evening? Maybe Roslyn has something special!
ISYS now have several mailing lists. These have been in existence for some time but will be used more fully next year. This Newsletter is sent on the Newsletter distribution list. Here are our outdoors lists:
Newsletter - ISYS Product News, Hill News, Outdoor News, Computer News, Hints and Tips, Personal Comment and of course, some Humour?, often quite dreadful but usually at least reasonably tasteful and, very occasionally, funny.
Product - Designed for resellers or those who just want our product and support information.
Minimum - As Product but this is sent about once per year or when there is something very special to say.
We also have a couple of other specialist mailing lists. If you are interested or want to be on a different list, please ask.
Version 4 support will cease on 31 January 2005 and the free upgrades from 4 to 5, currently in all version 5 programs will cease 1 January 2005. To upgrade all your version 4 programs to version 5, buy any version 5 program before 1 January 2005.
Support on versions 1 to 3 is already discontinued.
Many years ago when the world (and the rest of us) were younger, ISYS launched The Munros through Windows, the very first outdoors CD. The year was 1996. There was a floppy disc program before that but it was just the SMC tables copied, probably illegally, and displayed on a computer screen. The SMC produced a Munro CD and then a Corbetts CD. Both were essentially an SMC book on a CD and did not provide much extra functionality. Neither runs on Windows XP.
So why the history lesson? Version 1 of The Munros through Windows had a button called Load GPS. I couldn't get the GPS interface working in time for the launch in 1996 and so just made the button invisible. Over the years, I have asked what extra functionality users wanted and GPS interface was always near the bottom of the list. Suddenly this changed and the world wants GPS interface. This was provided and is available in all programs in version 5.3.3 and above.
We thought that the GPS interface was so easy to use that we did not write a user manual before release. Experience has taught us that this was not a good idea. Support calls about the GPS interface have been high: 4 or 5 calls on one subject in the past three months!
I know that we have many users successfully using the GPS interface and up and downloading routes to the GPS but if you are having difficulties, do not despair we are about to make this a lot simpler, possibly just by writing a short manual!
Always at this time of year, we consider what extra features to add or what new products we will introduce during the next year. If you would like to see some new feature, or some new product, this is a good time to tell us. We are not offering a pick list this year but your input is still welcome.
The long threatened Longhorn (Microsoft's new 64-bit Windows) is now scheduled for Beta testing in 2005 with release in 2006. Just announced is that it will support IP6, the new internet protocol. Currently TCP/IP uses an address in the form 127.127.127.127 but this is limited to a mere 4 billion addresses, just not enough for tomorrow's internet. The new protocol uses 6 bytes for the address, multiplying the number of available address by 64 thousand. This gives a unique address for each square metre of the planet; surely enough for a wee while yet! Your fridge will indeed be able to email the dairy department of the supermarket to warn that its milk supply is low and could the supermarket please end some more.
Do you have a firewall? Of course you do! (You really do, don't you? If not how do you survive in the internet world of today?)
Do have a virus checker? Of course you do! (-ditto-)
Do you have anti-spy software? What? Only 26 percent of computers have anti-spy software. Spyware comes with spam. It invades your computer and can really slow it down. If you don't yet have anti-spam, then I can recommend Spybot, free from
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button
or search on "Spybot free download".
The bot of Spybot is from robot. Does this mean it should be pronounced bo, like a tie or the Gaelic for cow? Perhaps robot is not pronounced that way any more. Are its French origins completely lost? I think you would get strange looks if you pronounced it Spybo. If you then explained why, you might find an increasing circle of emptiness around you in the crowd. Why not try it at your next Christmas party and see what happens? Post your experiences on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker so that we can all share your discomfort.
The height and position of Beinn a' Chroin has always caused discussion. There is a lot of stuff on the web about it and suggestions that someone (presumably someone else) should take a theodolite up there and check it out. The problem is that Munro's Tables list the summit at 940m at NN 39390 18580 (well actually the Tables only quote 6 figures) whereas there is a point on the Landranger maps 2m higher at NN 38759 18584, just 631m to the west. This is borne out by the Explorer map of the area. So, perhaps it is time to update the Tables to remove this error. As reviews seem to happen every ten years or so and the last was published in 1997, it suggests that the next revision is at least being considered now. (Theodolite is not in Microsoft Word's lexicon. I wonder what they call a theodolite in America?)
Knight's Peak is another controversial height, but not even the Explorer map helps here, as no spot height is given. Those who know the area will appreciate that contour information, even at Explorer detail, is difficult but at 1000 pixel per km, the 910m contour is shown, so if Knight's Peak does miss 3,000ft or 914.4m (which is the generally accepted view now) then it does not miss it by much. The only solution would be for OS to add a spot height on Knight's Peak. I will suggest that for the next revision, but don't hold your breath.
Less than 10 percent of GPS users understand how to set up a GPS and more than 50 percent of GPSs are set up incorrectly. Understanding how to set a GPS is non-trivial, but to check your GPS, just go to a trig pillar and read its position. The locations of over 6,000 pillars in Britain are given in every ISYS OUTDOORS program, so you can find a pillar near you. If your reading is more than 15m out, then your GPS may not be set correctly. Trig pillars are shown as grey circles on the Vector Map.
I have received GPS readings which are nearly 1km wrong. Is your GPS set correctly?
Please put your User Number in the subject line of emails to ISYS.
Please tell us your new email address.
Please tell us about duplicate Newsletters.
Walk long and safely,
Iain R White
ISYS OUTDOORS Support
http://www.isysoutdoors.com
support@isysoutdoors.com
0845 166 5701 (UK local call cost)
+44 141 943 1533
Well why not? But just short ones this month!
"The difference between theory and practice is larger in practice than it is in theory."
"When a woman makes a fool of a man; it's usually an improvement." Bob Gardner
PRODUCT LIST
MapWise
25 - Ordnance Survey Explorer maps on CD (Print 1:10,000 to 1:25,000)
- - LAKE DISTRICT Explorer maps of the Lake District including all Wainwrights £49
- - TWENTY TILES Choose any area of twenty squares in a rectangle; tile is 10km x 10km so 40km x 50km is popular £49
- - TWENTY TILES PLUS The actual mapping chosen using Twenty Tiles or directly. Call if you need help. £49 (free with TWENTY TILES)
50 - Ordnance Survey Landranger Maps on CD (Print 1:20,000 to 1:50,000)
- - GREAT BRITAIN and MAN Includes Gazetteer, Travel and MiniScale maps £185
- - SCOTLAND £65
- - ENGLAND £99
- - WALES and MAN £25
- - ENGLAND NORTH £65
- - ENGLAND SOUTH £65
- - MUNRO MAPS An area with all the Munros with a generous surround. 28,000 sq km £25
- - SOUTHERN UPLANDS Joins both Lakes and Pennines and Munro Maps £25
- - LAKES and PENNINES Lake District, Flamborough Head to the border £25
250 - Ordnance Survey Travel Maps (Print 1:125,000 to 1:250,000)
- - GREAT BRITAIN and MAN Includes Gazetteer and MiniScale maps £20
Other - Add your own scanned maps
- - STANDARD Add maps with British or Irish Grids £10
- - INTERNATIONAL Add Maps with British, Irish, Swiss or UTM Grids; display Vector Map of World in various projections £40
Hillwalker
Hillwalker Max - Interactive Guides to Hill areas. Routes, Full Route Cards, GPS, Walks, Log, Diagrammatic Panoramas, Quiz, Culture, Pronunciations, Musical Slide Show, Video Clips, Music, Printable Landranger Maps
- - The Munros £40
- - Lakeland Fells £40
- - Mountains of Wales £40
Hillwalker Info - Interactive Guides to Hill areas. Routes, Full Route Cards, GPS, Walks, Log, Diagrammatic Panoramas, Quiz, Culture, Pronunciations, Musical Slide Show, Video Clips, Music, Harvey Maps, add your own maps
- - The Munros £20
- - The Corbetts. Lists Grahams, Donalds and others: 2,000 hills in total. £20
- - Lakeland Fells £20
- - Mountains of Wales £20
Hillwalker Lite - Full Route Cards, GPS, Lists of Hills, Log, Diagrammatic Panoramas, Quiz, add your own maps
- - Hills of Irelands Routes up 3,000ft hills, 98 photographs, some music £15
- - Peaks, Moors and Dales. England outside the Lake District £15
- - Hills of Man £15
Alpinist
- - The High Alps. Co-author Martin Moran. Interactive Guides to all 4,000m peaks and several others, Routes, Full Spider Cards, GPS, Walks, Log, Diagrammatic Panoramas, Quiz, Culture, Pronunciations, Musical Slide Show, Video Clips, Music, Import Maps. £29.99
Net
- - Hillwalker.net email address from £1 per month
- - Webspace and websites from £2 per month for 20Mb
Note: You cannot add your own maps to any program that is integrated with any program which can display Ordnance Survey maps. This is an OS licensing condition.
