Let's be careful about pounding on StopWatchMaps too harshly. Any of you who
know me (I used to be a lot more vocal on this list until a job change over
a year ago), I am a HUGE proponent of free data and free utilities. Mr.
Bolian may have been a bit aggressive in his comments about the translator,
but I do not doubt the truth of what he says. If there are bugs in the free
version from Mr. Erickson (kudos for taking on the V&H effort, by the way),
then I say we should be thankful that someone took the time to discover and
announce the problem to the list.
What I do not want anyone to lose sight of is the wonderful service Mr.
Bolian has provided to MapInfo users over the years. Have we forgotten how
many times people here have gone into panic because they lost their MapBasic
source code? Mr. Bolian has the only MapBasic decompiler known to exist, and
I am not even sure if he charges people for this service (I know for a fact
that he requires proof that the code is your intellectual property and that
you have the right to decompile the MBX).
So, let us simply applaud the efforts of both Ian and Joe -- everyone
providing a service as well as providing checks and balances as to both the
validity and economics of each product.
Steve Wallace
Florida Farm Bureau Insurance & Directions Magazine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Roundill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "MapInfo-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2001 08:35 PM
Subject: RE: MI-L V&H Translator - A MapBasic Utility
> I agree with Bob,
>
> Comments like that from Stopwatch Maps just makes one feel like helping
Ian
> Erickson fix the couple of bugs, get the program into the public domain
and
> tell StopWatch where they can stick their $US695 translator!!!
>
> Martin
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frangooles, Bob [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Saturday, 18 August 2001 11:37
> To: MapInfo-L
> Subject: RE: MI-L V&H Translator - A MapBasic Utility
>
>
> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
> this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
>
>
> Anyone who offers up free code to this community deserves our review and
> input. I believe it is usually warmly appreciated.
>
> I for one, find it distasteful when surrounded by an advertisment, and
> written in such (at least in my interpretation)self-serving fashion. If I
> need a v-h utility, I won't be coming the way of stopwatchmaps.com.
>
> Bob
>
> All opinions expressed are mine, not my employers.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Bolian [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 12:05 PM
> To: Ian Erickson; MapInfo-L
> Subject: RE: MI-L V&H Translator - A MapBasic Utility
>
>
> A Review of the V&H Translator:
>
> This translator is free, and is worth every cent you pay for it.
>
> As a test, we used this translator to convert coordinates from Table 7 of
> the LERG to Latitude/Longitude. While most resulting numbers were within
> the error tolerance limits for V and H coordinates, many were not. Most
> spectacular were the latitudes/longitudes generated for Alaska and Hawaii
> wire centers ... they were on the wrong side of the earth. For example,
> the Honolulu wire centers showed up in the Sahara Desert of southern
Libya,
> and the Anchorage wire centers appeared near the suburbs of St.
Petersburg,
> Russia.
>
> But more pernicious were errors in the continental 48 states of the US.
We
> found several hundred of these which were grievously wrong. As just one
> example, the switches of the main Vincennes, IN wire center showed up a
> whole wire center away ... over 9 miles from where they should have been
> ... and this was not the worst example.
>
> In fact, the author's code seems to know it is in error. When one
> translates back his resulting Lat/Lon for these hundreds of erroneous
> switch locations, the translations do not produce the original V and H of
> the switches.
>
> We were somewhat limited in checking the Lat/Lon to V/H conversion. Any
> attempt to select an open table for conversion other than the author's
> default choice caused the program to bomb with a MapInfo-detected error on
> statement 705: "Variable DEF_V_PNUM not defined".
>
> It seems that you do get what you paid for.
>
> Stopwatch Maps has produced a properly working bi-directional
> V&H-Latitude/Longitude translator. For more information on this product
go
> to
>
> http://www.stopwatchmaps.com/services/products/software/vhtools.htm
>
>
> Joe Bolian
>
> Stopwatch Maps, Inc.
> 6353 North Rosebury Ave.
> St. Louis, MO 63105 USA
> Phone: (314) 863-4636 or (800) 348-6277
> Fax: (314) 863-6277
> E-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Web: www.stopwatchmaps.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Erickson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 11:53 AM
> To: MapInfo-L
> Subject: MI-L V&H Translator - A MapBasic Utility
>
>
>
> Ok folks...I've watched the "L" for years now, and I kept seeing =
> requests for a V&H Translator. So....I wrote one. I you have the need =
> for such a utility, feel free to download it from our site at:
>
> http://www.analygis.com/resources.htm
>
> Now I know this doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the other =
> utilities out there do, but it will get the job done. Any bugs, =
> problems, errors...just email me: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Ian Erickson
> AnalyGIS
> http://www.analygis.com
>
>
>
>
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