astrocartographer\'s database

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Fri May 07, 2010 3:54 am

I would like to start up a place where pilots can go to find information on unknown or uncharted systems, and also where they can add their knowledge and experiences to the general pilot's knowledge pool.

Maybe the Universe Explorers already have something like this. If so, then I'll gladly join.

It would be interesting to create a database with the sector information, some basic information about the system, and, of course, credit for the discovery. It would also be necessary for each discovery to be verified, so there would be a column for the name of the pilot who verifies the finding.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Fri May 07, 2010 9:20 pm

I think this is a great idea, I'm happy to work on it and to host if needed.

I've often wanted to do a sort of google maps for evochron.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Sat May 08, 2010 2:56 am

I have to admit that I for one have not even kept good notes as of yet. I have concentrated on testing as I am not sure what would be included in the final version. I look forward to starting over and exploring the final universe. I will be glad to offer any information gathered at that time. Your project is a great idea.

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Sat May 08, 2010 4:43 am

Thanks!

Yes, we'll have to keep updating as the universe gets updated, so there's job security (I always find that the phrase "job security" makes tedious, difficult, and demanding jobs more palatable).

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Sun May 09, 2010 2:46 pm

I should have a beta build of this up in the next few hours..
http://www.verbsleagues.co.uk/Mercenary/cartography/

I've got a list of object 'types' please let me know if I've missed anything for the form
http://www.verbsleagues.co.uk/Mercenary ... system.php

the form is active, but not completely finished.........

The actual map display system is about 1/2 functional, I'll post its link once I've tweaked the graphics ( and grabbed images for each object, and the map backing), this will probably be some time this evening.

Please don't expect anything that special atm, it's only really had a couple of hours work on it atm, currently I'm working on a single sector and 10x sector and a quadrent ( with and w/o system overlay) zoom levels

[Edited on 5-9-2010 by verbosity]

[Edited on 5-9-2010 by verbosity]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Mon May 10, 2010 3:56 am

It looks very promising, Verb!

Is it going to allow users to enter data, or is an administrator going to have to do this?

It would be preferable if someone actually had to verify something before adding it to the database.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Mon May 10, 2010 7:29 am

How about a three level tier for verification:
"Rumored" requires one person to report it
"Reported" indictes that a second person has found it
"Confirmed" when three or more have seen it.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon May 10, 2010 8:06 am

I was going to go for a two tier system like nigel_strange mentions, and the framework is in place for that.

but MM's suggestion has merit too, and could easily be applied.

Also at which stage would items actually appear on the map? at the confirmed stage. or before with a qualifier?

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon May 10, 2010 9:17 am

thanks E - I knew i'd missed planets, but i forgot moons.I'll be leaving systems out for the moment though ( it's just a headache).

In regards to your post to nigel, you knew what he meant. currently my system is built to allow users to enter data in, but it needs to be verified by another user before it will appear on the map ( for ease lets call the DB the DB and the map the map eh? ).
I like the confirmed and unconfirmed colors idea, but will require me to make twice as many images, I'll add an option to show it in the sector details, and an option to only show unconfirmed options.

object input / verification code is finished ( at least at beta stage

), I'm hoping to have the first map beta ready shortly.......

( mostly my headache at this point it the image work, its really putting me back

)

-------------------------------------------------------------
ok small update,
zoom levels 1-10 are now in place and functional
http://www.verbsleagues.co.uk/Mercenary/cartography

For the moment I'm going to work on the content generation engine, should be finished this evening.

[Edited on 5-10-2010 by verbosity]

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon May 10, 2010 6:30 pm

sorry for the double post...

The map system page is now fully functional (YaY! ) , looks nice too imho.
click functionality and side-info now in place.

the actual generation of content images is going to be finished by tomorrow (I'm currently trying to minimise queries and image usage, un-optimised I'd use up to 50GB of disk space for images and up to 50,000 queries for a single page ( not to mention a table of over 35,000,000 entries ) )

[Edited on 5-11-2010 by verbosity]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
image generation system is complete
I'll begin testing of the current system tomorrow, if it works I'll try implementing the bigger zooms (50,100,500 and quadrant ) tomorrow.

[Edited on 5-11-2010 by verbosity]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Tue May 11, 2010 3:17 am

Looks good, though it does not include the new system map.

So, when are we going to be able to use it, and do you have instructions for us?

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:42 pm

@ nigel
I'll make up the quadrant map in the next few days

you can start to use it now:
http://www.verbsleagues.co.uk/Mercenary/cartography

use the link below to add a object, or to confirm one thats already been added, currently you don't need to log in/register though when the game launches this will be needed
http://www.verbsleagues.co.uk/Mercenary ... system.php

the larger zooms ( 50x , 100x and 500x ) are still a little buggy, I've decided to take a different approach which will use less cpu and a little more space, they will also look better, but it'll be a couple of days.
If the page starts to crash on you, please close your browser! window
It's an issue with what I'm asking the server to do rather than a bug in the code itself ( seems that some servers don't like rendering tables of 10,000 cells on occasion

), it won't hurt your machine, though your browser may become unresponsive, it'll take a bit of time to get to this point though ( 2-3 mins ) and you should realize that its gone wrong well before then.

I'm considering actually including a 'system' object for larger zooms, this will appear as a 'system name' option in the form rather than a seperate object ( the system will generate the rest). I'm also planning a mouseover effect to display system info. At some point I'll also need to redo the graphics, since they don't look great ( though if anyone else wants to help with it, it'd be really really helpful! )

[Edited on 5-11-2010 by verbosity]

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Wed May 12, 2010 10:24 am

another double post,

I've re-written the larger zoom code, it's all fully functional without the risk of browser crashing. This has been done by increasing the potential disk space for images It'll use.

I'm going to try and work on reducing the space taken up by the images for these zooms, which means for the moment these zooms are taken up by blank place holders. Of course I'll post here once the image generation system has been finished.

[Edited on 5-12-2010 by verbosity]
edit #34

I've redone most of the images to improve legibility, these will appear once I've re-written the image generation code.

[Edited on 5-12-2010 by verbosity]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu May 13, 2010 3:47 am

Just confirmed M571.

Just added Y670 and H904. They are in systems near Vega.

[Edited on 5-13-2010 by Nigel_Strange]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu May 13, 2010 4:21 am

It would be cool to be able to get credit for finding and verifying. I just discovered planet 0672.

The 3 planets that I added are all in different "systems" but are so close together that you can see them all on sensor range.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu May 13, 2010 9:30 am

Originally posted by Nigel_Strange
It would be cool to be able to get credit for finding and verifying. I just discovered planet 0672.

once the login system is in place there will be credit from the discoverer, I'll see if I can extend that to verifier as well

The 3 planets that I added are all in different "systems" but are so close together that you can see them all on sensor range.

Yeah I've had a look, and decided just to leave systems for the moment, and just focus on actual objects, systems are just too much of a headache.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll be posting later, but I expect to have finished the image generation system, at that point the actual functionality should be finished, any other work will mostly be bells and whistles or security based.

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:23 pm

Systems are arbitrary and invisible boundaries.

I do find it weird when I see a bunch of planets with no star around, though... I figure: if this is a system, where is its star?

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:28 pm

I wonder, though, if we should keep the crate locations secret.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:49 pm

Originally posted by Nigel_Strange
I wonder, though, if we should keep the crate locations secret.

I'm happy to go with public opinion, but I don't think it's a biggie if we're showing hidden planets.

In regards to planets, they may be formed when stars form, but they may be be 'thrown out' or even survive the death of a star, hence a star without a sun. It's possible also to have a brown star solar system, this would likely show up as a planet in-game

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu May 13, 2010 3:34 pm

I agree that we should chart uncharted systems. That was my original hope: finding "hidden" or uncharted systems is a horribly tedious undertaking that is almost never recognized or rewarded.

Crates, on the other hand, should remain, like buried treasure, for players to discover. Once you are in the sector, anyone with a science officer should be able to find them.

I suggest taking the crates out of the DB (even though I added some, I rethought this afterward).

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:18 am

another day of coding.
----------------------------------------------------

Design of the main page has been adjusted to allow for smaller resolutions, I might need to tweak this some more, but I'm aiming to keep the design true to the layout of the rest of the site.

The image generation system is in place for all zoom levels except quadrant, though I'm planning on doing another recode on the main index before content actually becomes available on the larger zooms ( 50,100,500), again this is to try and minimise the cpu/sql/disk trade off I've been working with.

Lastly, I've begun modifications on the existing login system for verbs leagues. Hopefully I can keep it as a single login for the whole site. Once I've finished with the login it will be required to be logged in to input/ verify a location, though not for viewing the map.

edit, zoom 50 has been disabled for the moment.......

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a last note, I looked at including unverified objects into the system in some way, but it doubles the amount of work the system needs to do, and thats not something I can feasibly do at the moment.
However it is possible for me to output the contents of the DB if people want to build standalone systems ( for instance a hitchikers guide type program ).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2
zoom 50 has been implemented again, I'm testing this zoom at the moment, and assuming that all is well with it I'll be using the same code on zooms 100 and 500.

Links have now been provided to and from the map and listing/verification pages for easier navigation.

[Edited on 5-17-2010 by verbosity]

[Edited on 5-17-2010 by verbosity]

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:43 pm

All zooms are now functional, accurate and active, the object Icons have also been increased in size for easier viewing ( will take effect on the next image rebuild - probably sometime tonight ).

Edit I forced this and found an issue with the image re-sampling procedure, I think this is now fixed, either way its just a matter of image quality and does not effect functionality in any way real way.

The viewing system is now pretty much complete, with only some small key and scale placeholders at certain zooms, and the quadrant map ( and options for that ) to be built.

( In regards to the quadrant map, this is taking me longer than I anticipated since it involves me doing a fair bit of graphics work, something I'm both rubbish at, and detest doing.... )

with this done I'll be playing with setting up the security and login and admin features, but my eta for this will be sometime before release.

Over the next few days I'll be working my way through the known systems to put some more content into the maps, to allow more extensive bug-testing ( and provide a better example of what it can do).

[Edited on 5-18-2010 by verbosity]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Wed May 19, 2010 2:24 am

Great! Thanks for doing this.

You're not including crates, are you?

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Wed May 19, 2010 7:09 am

I'm still holding off on that decision until I've got the admin back-end up and running, but I probably will end up removing them from the list of options.

I won't be doing any coding today, but hopefully I'll have a quadrant map base that I'm happy with.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:11 am

*bump*
double post.... (Sry)

I'm going to be finishing this off over the next week or so, there are only a couple of minor bugs to be rounded out ( some sectors displaying in the wrong place due to rounding), and a bit of Graphical improvement ( the hideous red target sucks).

I'm also going to plugin the user system. I'm going to try to use the same system I built for the legends stuffies ( which should be quick to add in ). I will need someone to help admin, preferably someone who is really interested in the cartography. it probably won't involve more than a twice weekly check to ensure that all is working and that crates haven't been added.

Lastly I've decided that removing crates is a good idea, this is partly since I feel certain crates can be considered a bit on an exploit, and it removes a bit of the fun.

Please post / U2U me if you fancy being an admin for this...