STraTOS 1997 April & May

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ROUTE FINDER v2.2 ----------------- THIS PROGRAM IS SHAREWARE IF YOU USE THIS PROGRAM REGULARLY YOU SHOULD REGISTER YOUR COPY BY SENDING ú10.00 (CHEQUE OR POSTAL ORDER) TO :- BRIAN HENDERSON 32 ARCHERS AVENUE BROOMRIDGE STIRLING FK7 7RJ YOU WILL RECEIVE IN RETURN A CODE WHICH WILL REMOVE ALL LIMITATIONS (ROUTES OF ANY DISTANCE CAN BE FOUND AND NO MORE 15 SECOND DELAYS), A LIST OF ADDITIONAL COMMANDS FOR THE SETUP FILE, INFORMATION ON HOW THE ALGORITHM WORKS AND DETAILS OF ANY FUTURE UPGRADES, BUG FIXES, MAP UPDATES ETC. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 3. DISPLAY 4. MENU OPTIONS 5. SETUP FILE DETAILS 6. MAP INFORMATION 7. DISTRIBUTION METHOD 8. CHANGES FROM EARLIER METHODS 9. DISCLAIMER 1. INTRODUCTION Route Finder is an electronic map program which can be used to find the shortest or quickest routes avoiding specified places and roads en route. The route found by the program is displayed either as a table or can be shown graphically. To calculate the quickest route average driving speeds can be entered for different types of roads. It has been impossible to include every place in Britain in the map therefore an option to insert, amend and remove places and roads has been included in the program. This will also allow new roads to be added when they are built. In addition to simply finding a route between two places the program can be put to a wide variety of uses. For example it could be used to quickly calculate a fairly accurate mileage between two places. It can suggest alternative routes if you are tired of the same route or if there are major delays on your present routes. This can be achieved by entering place(s) to avoid or by making the program find the shortest route (the shortest and quickest routes are rarely the same). The road building program has increased dramatically in recent years and there have also been changes in road names. This program is a much cheaper alternative to purchasing a new road map each year. Note that Route Finder now has its own World Wide Web page at:- http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nbsh/ 2. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS The program should run on any ST, STE, Mega ST, Mega STE, TT or Falcon with at least 512K free memory although I have been unable to test the program on all these machines. It will work with external drives, both hard and floppy, and epson compatible printers. The latest version of the program has been designed to take advantage of the screen resolution it is run on therefore Falcon screen resolutions should work although it must be run in a mode with at least 80 columns therefore ST low res cannot be used. The program should run in a multi tasking environment note however that GFA Basic programs reserve all but 16K of the computer's available memory. 3. DISPLAY The screen displays a standard menu across the top of the screen. If a map with more than one place is in memory a window opens, the title is the name of the file (minus the extension) and the info line contains details of the number of places and roads in memory and the zoom factor along with the distance and the time of the journey if one has been found. The contents of the window can be either a table of the route found or a graphical display of the map and the route. 3.1 GRAPHICAL DISPLAY A graphical representation of the position of the places and roads in the current map are shown in the window. Places are shown by dots and roads are represented by different line types. Solid line Motorway or dual carriageway (urban or rural) Long-dashed line Good condition single carriageway (urban or rural) Dotted line Ferry routes Dot-dashed line Poor condition single carriageway Dash dot dot line Single track roads In order to see the map in more detail the user may zoom in on any area by pressing and holding the left mouse button in the top left corner of the area to be zoomed and then dragging the mouse to the bottom right corner of the area. When the left mouse button is released the area is almost instantly zoomed in on showing more detail. Initially with larger maps only cities and motorways are shown ensuring the screen does not appear cluttered. As the map is zoomed in smaller places and minor roads are displayed. To show the entire map on the screen again choose Reduce to Max from the Graphics menu or press CTRL+R. Note that the map can be scrolled in the usual way using the slider bars. The map can also been zoomed by pressing the + key to zoom in and the - key to zoom out. Place and road names can be toggled on and off using the F5 and F6 keys respectively. Note that road names should only be displayed when the map is satisfactorily zoomed. When a route has been calculated using the Find Route option the route is displayed by a series of thick arrowed lines. When an area is zoomed the correct aspect ratio is calculated therefore the zoomed area may be slightly different from the defined box. The box defined by the mouse must be larger than 10 pixels by 10 pixels. 3.2 TABLE VIEW When a route has been found with the Find Route option a list of the places, roads to be used along with the distances on the roads is given in the form of a table. The final column may contain an asterix, this means that you may be unable to take this section of the journey since you have to use a ferry (which may not run at the time of the journey) or it may be a limited access intersection which may not have a suitable slip road). If the suggested route is longer than one screen then the table can be scrolled in the normal way. If no route is in memory then a list of the number of each type of place and road is displayed on the screen. 4. MENU OPTIONS A standard GEM menu bar is displayed at the top of the screen. Most menu options also have a keyboard shortcut. Each option is explained below. 4.1 DESK 4.1.1 About Route Finder If the program is in registered mode then a dialogue box appears with the copyright notice and general information about the program. If the program is unregistered then a dialogue box appears with general information and prompts the user to enter a unique code which removes the limitations. This is available when the program is registered (see section 7). 4.1.2 Desk Accessories Desk accessories can be accessed in the normal way. Note that the program may not always perform a screen redraw after the accessory is terminated. In this case simply press F10 to clear the desk accessory from the screen. 4.2 FILE 4.2.1 New CTRL+N Clears the old map from memory. Note that the previous map should be saved since once a map has been cleared it cannot be retrieved. 4.2.2 Load Map CTRL+L Enter the name of the map file, eg BRITAIN.MAP, into the fileselector box. If the file is found, is a valid file and there is enough free memory the file will load into memory clearing the previous map. When loading a map file the program checks the integrity of the file. If there is a problem with the file a dialogue box appears after the file has loaded with the message "FILE STRUCTURE NOT VALID" this will probably be due to the roads being out of sequence. Roads must be in ascending order by the first number in each row. 4.2.3 Save CTRL+S If a filename has not already been specified a fileselector box appears and a filename should be entered. If an extension is not entered then .MAP is automatically appended to the filename. If the file already exists on the disk then it is renamed with a .BAK extension. If there are no places in the present map then the map will not be saved. A cannot save map alert box appears if the disk is write protected or there is not enough free space on the disk. 4.2.4 Save as CTRL+A Same as above except a fileselector box always appears on the screen. 4.2.5 Quit CTRL+Q If the map in memory was changed but not saved then an alert box appears with three options, Quit (the map in memory will not be saved and all changes will be lost), Save (the changes will be saved to disk before the program is terminated) and Cancel (you are taken back into the program). 4.3 Edit Map 4.3.1 Insert Place F1 A dialogue box appears and the name of the new place should be entered (note that no two places can have the same name). The x and y coordinates should be entered to position the place on the map (the coordinates must be positive integers less than 32000). The place type should also be selected (the place types are Village, Town, City, Terminal, Limited access intersection, Complete access intersection, Roundabout and Junction). If there is more than one place in memory then the Insert Road dialogue box appears (see section 3.2). It may be difficult to calculate the exact position of the place on the map therefore a second method of inserting places has been added to the program when the graphics view has been chosen. Simply click on the part of the map with the left mouse button of the position of the new place, this will cause the insert place dialogue box to appear with the x and y coordinates already inserted. For greater accuracy the map should be zoomed firstly. Place details can be amended using this option. Simply enter the name of the place to be altered then select the new place type and enter the new x and y coordinates. An alert box appears asking the user to confirm the changes. 4.3.2 Remove Place F2 Enter the name of the place to be removed and hit Okay. All roads connected to the place are also removed. Places cannot be retrieved once they have been removed. 4.3.3 Insert Road F3 Enter the starting place, finishing place, the distance between the places, the name of the road eg A876 and the road type (the road types are motorway or dual carriageway, good condition single carriageway, poor condition single carriageway, single track road, urban dual carriageway and urban single carriageway). There can only be one road between two places and the starting and finishing place must exist in the map in memory. If a road already exists between two places an alert box appears asking whether you want to change the details of the road which already exists. 4.3.4 Remove Road F4 Enter the starting place and finishing place into the dialogue box and the road will be removed forever. 4.4 Route 4.4.1 Find Route CTRL+F This options allows you to find a route between two places. Simply enter the starting and finishing place (remember and use the down key or the tab key and not the return key to move between fields) and click on Okay. In addition places and roads to avoid and whether to find the shortest or quickest route can be entered. The program will then attempt to find the best route, this may take some time, during this time if the escape key is pressed the option is aborted. If the starting or finishing place is miss-spelt then an alert box appears suggesting the correct spelling. Note that with v2.2 the previously entered Start and Finish place are now redisplayed when this option is chosen. This makes it easier to try out a variety of different routes. 4.4.2 Set Preferences CTRL+P Enter your average speeds for each of the road types listed along with whether you want distances calculated in miles or kilometers. The average speeds are used to help calculate the quickest routes with the Find Route option (see section 4.4.1). 4.4.3 Show as Table CTRL+T Shows the current route as a table (see section 3.2). 4.4.4 Show as Graphics CTRL+G Shows the current route graphically on the screen (see section 3.1). 4.4.5 Print Route CTRL+W If a route has been found then the route can be printed to an epson printer in the same form as the table view. The number of lines per page and the form feed character can be set in the setup file (see section 5). The format of the printed route is the same as the table view (see section 3.2). With v2.2 a bug which prevented printing on the Falcon has now been removed. 4.5 Graphics The following options have no effect when in table view. 4.5.1 Reduce to Max CTRL+R If the view has been zoomed then this option redisplays the entire map again. 4.5.2 Show Place Names F5 Displays place names on the screen. 4.5.3 Show Edge Names F6 Displays road names on screen. This option should only be chosen when the map is sufficiently zoomed. 5. SETUP FILE DETAILS When Route Finder loads it looks for a file called FINDER21.INF which is used to setup various defaults including the average speeds for the different road types, the name of the map file to load automatically and whether to use miles or kilometers. Note that additional commands are given when the program is registered (see section 7) and that the program only reads the first four characters of each command. The syntax and descriptions of the commands is given below :- MISCELLANEOUS FILE=<filename> Load the map file <filename> automatically when Route Finder loads USE=[miles|kilometers] Force the program to use either miles or kilometers DEFA=[shor|quic] Set the default route type to either shortest or quickest route DEFAULT ROAD SPEEDS Note that speeds must be entered in miles per hour MOTO=<speed> Set the default average motorway speed to <speed> GOOD=<speed> Set the default good condition single carriageway speed to <speed> POOR=<speed> Set the default poor condition single carriageway speed to <speed> SING=<speed> Set the default average single track road speed to <speed> FERR=<speed> Set the default ferry speed to <speed> URDU=<speed> Set the default urban dual carriageway speed to <speed> URSI=<speed> Set the default urban single carriageway speed to <speed> PRINTER PARAMETERS SETU=<setup> Before the suggested route is sent to the printer a setup string can be sent, eg to put the printer into NLQ mode enter SETU=27,120,49 for epson compatible printers. Note that the setup command can be used more than once. FORM=<character> Contains the ASCII value of the character which is used to form feed the printer, this is normally 12 for epson compatible printers. PAGE=<page length> Contains the page length, usually set to 66. 6. MAP INFORMATION The program includes a map of Britain which comprises the British mainland (Scotland, England and Wales), the inner Hebrides, Anglesey and the Isle of White. The map includes over 2300 places including motorway intersections, airports, terminals and of course towns and cities. Note that the map uses English names for Welsh towns. The naming conventions for the junctions for the enclosed map are given below. Motorway intersections : Name of the motorway followed by intersection number eg M9 J5, M74 J5 Road junctions : Name of the two roads followed by junction eg A91 A905 JUNCTION, A9 A85 JUNCTION 7. DISTRIBUTION METHOD This program is shareware. Route Finder v2.2 has taken a considerable time to write and creating the map of Britain has been a very slow process. If you use this program regularly you should register your copy by sending ú10.00 sterling (cheque or postal order) to the address below please enclose your name and address. In return you will receive a code which will remove all the limitations in the program (you will be able to find routes of more than 200 miles and there will be no more 15 second delays) and includes details of how the algorithm works, details of other commands you can use in the setup file and you will also receive information on future upgrades and map updates. In the long term this is a much cheaper alternative than buying a new road map regularly. Note that bug fixes and support will only be offered to registered users. Brian Henderson 32 Archers Avenue Broomridge Stirling FK7 7RJ You can also email me at:- B.S.Henderson@ncl.ac.uk This program may be freely distributed as long all associated files are also copied. The files are :- FINDER22.PRG Main executable program FINDER21.RSC Resource file required by FINDER22.PRG FINDER21.INF Setup file (see section 5) FINDER22.TXT Program documentation (this file) BRITAIN.MAP Map file of the British mainland (see section 6) BRITAIN.SEA The sea border for the map of Britain 8. CHANGES FROM EARLIER VERSIONS 8.1 CHANGES FROM v1.8 TO v2.0 I have tried where possible to retain a similar structure to previous versions of the program, for example many of the dialogue boxes remain unchanged. However there are a number of important changes, the file structure has completely changed therefore v1.8 files cannot load into v2.0 and vice versa. In response to earlier criticism the program has been significantly speeded up, the latest version is now more than twice as fast at finding routes. The program has been made resolution independent to some extent although it should still be run in an 80 column mode (eg ST medium or high res) although modes more than 80 columns can be used. The main reason for this is to take advantage of the Falcons better screen resolutions. A number of bugs have also been fixed since the previous version. For example the program would crash after finding certain routes. It would also crash if it tried to print road names of more than five characters. 8.2 CHANGES FROM v2.0 TO v2.1 A sea border has been added to the program. A number of updates to the map of Britain have also been made. New options to allow easier zooming of the map have been added. Routes can be printed to disk as well as to a printer. This option was added for users who had printers which were incompatible with the program, routes could be printed to disk then printed from a word processor. 8.3 CHANGES FROM v2.1 TO v2.2 A bug which causes the program to crash when printing on the Falcon has been removed (this has not been checked thoroughly). The start place and finish place entered in the Find Route dialogue box are now stored. The main Find Route option has been speeded up. This option would be slowed down on computers with more than one megabyte of memory. Updates to the map of Britain were also made. The names of the data files have not been changed for greater compatibility. Note that registered users can use their unique code number in any of the versions mentioned above. Also map files are compatible with v2.0 to v2.2. 8.4 UPDATES Latest information (including details of updates, Links to other Atari ST sites and Frequently Asked Questions) concerning Route Finder can be found on the Internet at the address given below:- http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nbsh/ 9. DISCLAIMER To the best of my knowledge there are no bugs in the program however I cannot guarantee this, I can also not guarantee that the program will find the "best" route or that the maps are complete and upto date. I cannot be held responsible for any loss of data. Note that absolutely no warrenty is provided with this program.