Useful Information

Q: Does anyone have any details (step by step) on creating maps from image (like how do you create the .MAP file)?

A: Step by step map creation from image.

To convert image to map you have to calibrate the image. See step-by-step instruction below the rationale.

Rationale:

Calibration process establish one-to-one correspondence between particular pixels of the image and geographical coordinates - latittudes/longitudes.

Because it is impossible to set such correspondence for every single pixel of image the calibration process utilize approximation algorithms to calculate latittude/longitude for every pixel knowing only a few points (also known as tie points).

To calibrate image you have to set at least 3-5 tie points. They have to be spread on the image to produce good approximation results for other image pixels.

Step-by-step procedure:

1. Run FrontMap application. On the left side Google Map should be loaded shortly.
2. Press "Load Image" button.
3. Find the same locations on the map image and Google Map (single buildings, road crossings, capes etc. are good candidates for tie points). Location near one of the image corner areas is preferred.
4. Select "Pin point".
5. Point the location on Google Map and drag-and-drop it on the map image. It will establish correspondence between map image point and geographical location. Latittude/longitude may have some error due to errors in calibration of Google sources and may be specified precisely later.
6. Repeat three more times steps from 3 to 5 for each image corner.
7. Repeat steps from 3 to 5 for a point in central image area.
8. Save result as a map file.