ISYS OUTDOORS Newsletter 2008/05 Website restructured
This is the Newsletter for users of ISYS OUTDOORS Software: Hillwalker, MapWise, PhotoMaps and Alpiniste.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER, as it will not be read. ISYS OUTDOORS contact details are at the end.
Often I have commented on the frequency of the monthly Newsletter and how, perhaps, it should not be called "monthly". Well this is the fifth letter this year but I am not tempted to change the name!
As the downturn (recession, depression or slump) deepens, the £2.13 per £100 caused by the reduction in VAT is hardly going to make any difference at all so, joining in the sprit of the nation, ISYS OUTDOORS has halved the prices of most products for this week. Actually the week before Christmas is always our quietest week of the year. Shops don’t want to know us and there is very little Support. Don't worry about last posting dates for Christmas; you can download these programs.
If you have never experienced the detail of MapWise 25 Explorer Maps on your screen, ISYS have just released Explorer Tiles for £2 each. Each tile is 10km x 10km and is named by the grid reference of the bottom left corner eg NS2040. If you have a recent version of the program, you can select the tiles through the Vector Map by visiting Main Menu | Mode | Select Explorer tiles. Ignore the prices quoted – tiles this week are £2 each.
MapWise 50 Landranger maps – Treat yourself to the whole of Britain and the Isle of Man for just £75. This includes Travel Maps, MiniScale Maps and postcode data.
If you are a hillwalker and do not yet have the Hillwalker programs these are now just £14.99 each or £39 for Hills of the British Isles – Scotland, England Wales, Man and Ireland. Now look at the price of Hillwalker Max – just £19.99 this week.
Another map to consider is MapWise 250 – a Travel Map of Britain for just £10. You also get a MiniScale map and postcode data. The Travel maps can be crinkled, giving a wonderful 3-D view of a complete area of Britain such as the Cairngorms or the Lake District.
Add PhotoMaps (in England and Wales) for £7.50 or £15 per region – see the website for details www.isysoutdoors.com.
Finally, The High Alps, this week is reduced by one third to £19.99. The pictures alone justify this price.
If you can, this is the week to update your programs and get those that you have wanted but not yet bought. When this sale is over, prices will revert to normal!
As you might remember, ISYS recently revamped its entire infrastructure ISP, web host, telephone provider, the lot!
Well most things went remarkably well. The telephone provider switched over several days early and caused a loss of some calls but other than that, the disruption to service was minimal. We are now safely installed in our new home and, although, everything on the website looks much like before, that was the plan. 2009 should see us start to use the facilities the new ISP offers. If all goes well, it will be an exciting year.
The Scottish Government has announced that they will completely fund this service for the next three years: http://www.mwis.org.uk
Hillwalkers in Scotland should use this service every time they venture out. Constant use will ensure that the service is funded beyond the 3-year period.
If you send out an email newsletter, then secure the privacy of email addresses and use NarrowCast from ISYS. NarrowCast sends a separate email to each person on a list so that no one sees any other email address. Be safe under the Data Protection Regulations. Cost is £10 for one transmitting PC. Buy via Custome Payment in the webshop, and send details to Support.
2009 is designated the Year of the Homecoming by the Scottish Government. With the pound hitting new lows against the Euro and the Dollar, visits to Scotland have never been cheaper. Scotland Interactive is a CD by Càrn Productions and is now sold by ISYS. It is a photographic journey through Scotland with information and scenic images. Cost is £8, including UK delivery (add £3 for postage worldwide). Pay using the Custom Payment on the webshop and provide details separately.
After Sunday, the days start to get longer.
Our whole calendar is based on Christian beliefs. The traditional dates (now known to wrong by about 4 years) are that Christ was born on 25 December 1 BC. The dates were calculated by Dionysus Exeguus in what is now 535AD. The exact day was chosen to coincide with Yule, the pagan festival to celebrate the return of the sun after the solstice. It took the ancients a few days to be sure that the sun was coming back! So why the seven day delay from the birth of Christ to starting the calendar? The world’s calendar started on 1 January 1AD, not on the birth of the Christ, but on his circumcision!
The best site I have found for identifying stars and planets is stellarium.com. The site is completely free and the detail of the sky fantastic. Planets, sun and moon are positioned in real time enabling easy identification.
In all ISYS OUTDOORS Software (HMAP), you can set a Current Point. This is denoted on maps as a yellow and black circle. The point can be anywhere and is very useful to set up several maps of a location as all maps can be centred on the Current Point.
There are many ways to set a Current Point. The easiest is to right click on a map and select the point. Snapping to a point will select the closest nearby known point, (hill, road junction, bothy, river etc). Selecting clicked point will set the Current Point to the exact point clicked.
If you have GB maps, then you can set the Current Point to a Postcode (Main Menu | Tools | Postcode). In this case the point is the central point of the postcode.
In a Crinkle Map, the position of the sun is shown by a red dot in the compass. To move the sun, select the Sun button in the Crinkle Maps and drag the red dot. Usually the most dramatic effects are seen with the sun in the northwest, close to the horizon ie with the red dot close to the circle.
Perhaps you want a map with north not to the top. (Are you a Middle Earth fan?) Set the crinkle map so that you are looking straight down on it and set the sun directly overhead. This might be enough, but steep slopes will still show darker. To eliminate this, set the height exaggeration to zero. You can now spin the map to put north in any direction.
Everyone at ISYS wishes you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Iain R White
ISYS OUTDOORS Support
www.isysoutdoors.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker
support (at) isysoutdoors (dot) com
I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
- Alex Levine
My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.
- Rodney Dangerfield
Money can't buy you happiness .. but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
- Spike Milligan
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
My thanks again to Robert in Renfrewshire for keeping me supplied with a seemingly endless variety of humour (most of which I would not infict on you. So now you know just how bad the rejects are.)