DEM help

[Irishrailguy]

Hi,

I thought I'd try making a real world route for railworks, but I'm having some trouble getting the right SRTM data. I don't really understand longitude/latitude but could someone give me some pointers? I'm looking for files for the Dublin area, I used google earth to try and identify the correct tiles but no luck. Is there any way of identifying which tiles cover which area and which files on the NASA site cover the area?

Thanks.

[Darpor]

I believe Eastern Ireland will be:-

N55W006
N54W006
N53W006
N52W006
N51W006
N55W007
N54W007
N53W007
N52W007
N51W007
N55W008
N54W008
N53W008
N52W008
N51W008

That should actually cover both eastern Northern Ireland and Ireland and also much of the middle. Should you want the west as well, it would be another set of N55-N51 but with W009.

There is no harm in putting them all in the SRTM folder, it will give you a broad area should you ever wish to extend. Just dont forget to set the correct co-ordinates in the template!

[dkightley]

UK 1 degree map grid for 90M DEM Route Builders [161124 bytes] - UK_1deg_grid.zip File ID: 7390 Date: 03 Dec 2003 - 1761 Downloads

[Irishrailguy]

Thanks guys thats really helped, but I have a problem, when I go to the world editor to go to the file's coordinates, I can only go as far as 10 north.
It won't let me go to 53N 009W for example. Also, I don't understand why the coordinates in google earth are set in North and West, when the DEM files are set in North and East. So when I go to align decals in RW, I have coordinates set in West when RW uses east, so how do I 'convert' from West coordinates to east ones?
Sorry if this sounds confusing I'm just getting my head around the whole lat/long thing.

Thanks.

[hertsbob]

Hi

Did you get this sorted?

Cheers

Bob

[Irishrailguy]

Yes, I sorted the coordinates out, I never knew that a new route template had to be made to get it to work.

But I went to my specified coordinates and pressed T but nothing happened. The file is .hgt formatted and in the DEM\SRTM folder.

Could someone help?
Thanks.

[hertsbob]

Hi

It seems to be quite common to get the long/lat entries swapped over in the route blueprint. Probably worth checking that for starters.

Good luck.

Bob

[Irishrailguy]

Thanks, but so much more problems keep popping up. I now have an issue where the ground has dissapeared, I've re created the route template but the process of going into the route, turning on the Kuju filters and re entering to get the ground to appear, no longer works. Upon re entering there is still no ground. I'm starting to lose my patience...

EDIT: I no longer have this problem. Geoff Potter was very helpful, now I can focus on my DEM problem...

Also Hertsbob, my route starts at N53 W006. In game: lat. 53 lon. 006, is that correct?

[FoggyMorning]

I think you might be missing a "-", ie it should be 53, -6

[Irishrailguy]

Thanks for the suggestion Foggy Morning, but I think that only applies to East coordinates, I'm using west. Anyways, I tried it out but to no avail.
It seems I've got to keep guessing.

[hertsbob]

Hi

West is definitely a minus.

The starting point for Leafy Suburbs is 51.5925 latitude and -0.3351 longitude, and Harrow is most certainly West of the Greenwich Meridian.

I reckon for Dublin you'd want something like 53.325 latitude and -6.25 longitude. In the blueprint editor for your route the top number needs to be the -6.25 and the lower number should be the 53.325.

Does that help at all?

Cheers

Bob

[Trainguy76]

If it is at around -6 then you need the DEM in

N52 E 006

[Irishrailguy]

Well I've edited the blueprint to -6 and downloaded the N53 E6 .hgt file but still nothing happens. But I did notice a significant drop in FPS while navigating and holding T.
Extra info might help solve the problem. I downloaded the .hgt file from the NASA SRTM version 2 Eurasia index. My route template is named Dublin-Sligo and positioned at N53 W-006 (without the letters). I go into railworks and move forward slightly as the N53 location is always off by a couple of fractions and then press T.

Is there a decent tutorial on DEM creation on the forums. I've already read Keith's one in the route building tutorial but I found it quite vague and the same as the wiki's explaination.

Thanks

[hertsbob]

Hi

You will get there in the end!

Couple of things. I don't know whether the file Trainguy had pointed you towards is correct or not (and I shall bow to his superior knowledge and assume it is), but he's mentioned N52 E006 and you've replied talking about N53 E006.

More importantly, by the looks of things if your route start point is N53 W-006 then that will put you somewhere around Boston in Lincolnshire... Try and lose the zeros in the W-006 (it should just be W-6) and you should find yourself in the right part of the world! The HGT file references aren't the same as the long/lat references you'll need to enter, which I think is where some of the confusion is creeping in.

Hope that helps. Stick with it!

Cheers

Bob

(P.S. I'm not sure if navigating around the whilst pressing T will actually work. Whenever I've done it I've always pressed T whilst I'm stationary)

[Irishrailguy]

I am certainly trying, the coordinate in RW don't include the 00's I just use -6. Also, according to google earth, the Dublin tile is located at N53 W-6. If anyone wants to check and has an appetite for proving me wrong, go ahead!