AlpineQuest & OfflineMaps

I'm creating my own set of GB OS maps in AQM format.

In the latest version of AlpineQuest, an adjacent AQM file is automatically loaded when I scroll off one file and into the next. That's great, thank you for adding that.

However, the display past the edge of the 'current' file is still blank on the screen, rather than seamlessly displaying the map/file adjacent to it. When the next file is scrolled into and displayed, the first map area now goes blank. Does that make sense?

If I was working near the border of the two files, I would only ever be able to see one half at a time and the other half of the screen would be blank. Thinking about it, If I go to the very corner of a file, then I will only see a quarter of the potential map area.

Would it be possible to get data from the two to four files to load simultaneousness when the edge is reached, to give a seamless map view in the cross-over area? Even if that had a performance hit, it would be better than only having a partial view of the area.

Of course it's easy to say 'just load the four files' - I've no idea how hard that is from a programming viewpoint. I think it would be a very worthwhile improvement though.

The only workaround I can think of if it's not possible is for me to overlap all of my files' edges but that will dramatically increase the size of the set.

I'm going to pause my map-making in case you say this is possible in the near future...

Hi,
I understand your concern. It's true that once a new map is loaded, the other one is "closed".

This auto-load feature needs improvements anyway. It was removed long time ago following requests from users, then added back recently following requests from other users, and now I already received requests to remove it, especially because the work-around you suggest doesn't work anymore (the auto-loaded map removes all previously selected maps and layers).

To be more precise concerning your request, it would be difficult to handle the automatic loading of up to four maps. Large maps request memory to be loaded, and it can lead to memory issue. MM can do that because the only map format it uses is the MM format, but this is not the case for AlpineQuest.

I'll see what I can do, but it seems that MM users and non-MM users have very different habits that aren't unfortunately compatible. The on-board will be updated soon anyway, I'll try to keep this overlapping problem into account when working on it.

Finally, I've just made a test using the 'Favourite maps and set' feature: you can display your four maps, then save them as a set, so you can display them just like a single map. I think it's the easiest way to proceed for now. But be sure to change the folder in the Maps Explorer to disable the 'auto load' issue as explained before.

Best regards

Thanks for the reply. I understand the issues and you're right, I'm used to using MM, lol. I *much* prefer AlpineQuest even if I do have to work around this myself somehow.

I'll have a go at the favourite maps feature and see how that works for me before committing time to doing the whole UK.