1:500000 printable DCS/FC2.0 Tactical Chart (WIP)

[igormk]

EDIT/UPDATE 11.06.2010:

Since I started the work on the map (see the original first post below this update) till the final version there has been a lot of work. You can find the list of upgrades/changes since the beginning in the next two posts:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?...0&postcount=98

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?...&postcount=132

 

The final version of the map is available for purchase here:

http://fighter-collection.com/pages/tfc/flight%20simulation/index.php

 

and for download in high resolution png file here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gyj44wnmdiz

 

Very useful additional information on how to laminate and use the map here:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=923030&postcount=1

 

THE ORIGINAL FIRST POST

\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/

 

Recently I’ve started working on printable 1:500000 scale chart that is covering DCS and FC2 area.

 

My plan is to print it and cover it with plastic foil so you can draw and write on it with marker which is then easy erasable with alcohol.

 

I was inspired by the announced integration of both DCS and FC in multiplayer with FC2.0. Then I imagined how it would be like to fly in a co-op mission where you have real guys flying fighters, strikers and attack helicopters.

Imagine having a pair of Ka-50s flying scout role on the front line, and having flight of Su-25Ts or A-10s waiting on strip alert to be called in. Fighters are providing cover all the time. And if you are in that Ka-50 and you spot a large enemy armor formation coming towards our borders, how would you call those strikers? In Ka-50, and (hopefully soon) in A-10C you have GNSS, INS, moving map, so you can be very precise with locating the enemy’s position. But how to pass the information to those strikers which doesn’t have any of those NAV devices. And possibly they have predetermined flight route that they can’t change in flight.

And if you go with “Large group coming in from east, just passing north of Bagdati”, it is question how many of us know the terrain so well that they would know where to go. And even if you know where Bagdati is, would you be able to find it visually if you take off from Sukhumi, and you have to fly low level due to enemy fighters and AD.

Therefore I made this chart in order to eliminate that DCS/FC “navigational” gap. Now if you are Su-25T pilot waiting for call, and you receive coordinates from scout Ka-50s, you can easily draw your target’s location on the printed chart, and if you have predetermined route loaded in your NAV system, just look for your closest WP, measure heading and distance from it, and it will be easy to navigate to the target area.

Off course, this is all applicable for servers that have disabled map and external views.

 

The chart itself is made of large number of screenshots, all joined together. I have tried to represent the Earth’s curve as it is IRL. Then I added Geodetic and MGRS grids. MGRS system is not checked for precision! I have decided to include it because I believe it will be present in DCS A-10C. Practically, this chart is a representation of real life TPCs (example). I didn’t try to invent anything. There are just few things that are different here with the real life TPC.

Then I added cities, villages, airports, NDBs, peaks, borders, river names, lake names… the result is here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm attaching lower resolution version here ~4000x3100pixels. If you think it would be good to have this chart, after I finish it I will attach full version (~16000x12000pixels).

 

 

500k low res (~6MB)

 

 

 

 

What I want to add on the chart are some good visual reference objects (for better orientation) like:

 

-Comms Towers

 

 

-TV Towers

 

 

-Large factory complexes outside of the cities

 

 

-Oil platforms

 

The problem is that I don’t know how to find all of them. Maybe there is some file that have list of all of those objects with their coordinates, but I’m not sure. So, if someone knows where or how to find them, I would be very grateful. And it would be nice if someone could double-check precision of the Geodetic grid. I have tried on several locations on different places of the chart, and I think it is very precise. Just be aware that chart is made relative to coordinates IN game, not in the ME.

 

I’m open for any suggestions.

 

S!

Edited June 11, 2010 by igormk
Update

[Distiler]

Holy moly macaroni, that's supah

 

I'm eager for the high resolution one :)

[TKMR]

Wow great work! Definitely looking forward to the final version!

 

Rep inbound!

 

The only thing I would suggest is just checking the grid against it's real life counterpart. Maybe with google earth or something? Would be cool to be able to look at the map, figure at latlng coords, (even if just a general area) for entering into the Rubicon. ;)

[Boulund]

Incredible! Love it already. Now gotta figure out a good way to get it printed

[159th_Royalman]

Looking nice! Any idea when the 16000p x 12000p version is ready for download??

[Nate--IRL--]

I suppose delving in to how the DCS terrain is created may help you, you may be able to extract co-ordinates of the objects you are looking for. Alternatively you could ask ED for help.

 

You may also (given permission from ED) be able to sell a few of the plastic coated maps on the forum, just something to think about.

 

Nate

[element1108]

Well done! Looks great!

[Boberro]

It looks superb!!!. I have printed another map created for myself and it has about 120 cm x 70 cm x 300 dpi.

 

What are your map dimensions at example 300 dpi if it is gonna to be large I'll print it to replace mine :D

 

Will you release JPG or PSD too?

Edited March 13, 2010 by Boberro

[MTFDarkEagle]

woooow!!! nicenicenicenicenicenicenicenicenicenice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks really good!

[GhostDog]

Suhweet!

[GhostDog]

Minor note: the text above the legend reads, "mean see level"; and in the aeronautical information section of the legend you have "two ranways". Not trying to be nitpicky, I know when you're working with so many details, stuff is bound to slip past you. Just thought I'd help you catch a couple of "bugs". Great work. :D

Edited March 14, 2010 by GhostDog

[Wags]

Outstanding

[igormk]

Thank you all for the support!

 

The only thing I would suggest is just checking the grid against it's real life counterpart. Maybe with google earth or something? Would be cool to be able to look at the map, figure at latlng coords, (even if just a general area) for entering into the Rubicon. ;)

 

Here is a test of how precise the chart is.

 

I took the dam on the Inguri lake as a reference point.

 

 

On the upper section there is a SS from Google Earth. According to Google Earth, the middle of the dam is 42 45’ 29’’N; 42 01’ 52’’E.

In the middle section I’ve took out coordinates of the same point from my TC-1 chart. They are 42 45’ 25’’N; 42 02’ 50’’E.

That means that there is 1.34km difference between Google Earth and TC-1 (at this particular point).

 

But it is more important how big is the difference between DCS and TC-1. So in the lower section there is a SS of a helicopter landed on the middle of the dam. Then I scrolled the marker on the ABRIS to the coordinates taken from TC-1 (42 45’ 25’’N; 42 02’ 50’’E) and you can read on the ABRIS that the difference is 0.31km, which on 1:500000 scale chart should be 0.62mm, and I think that is acceptable error.

 

 

What are your map dimensions at example 300 dpi if it is gonna to be large I'll print it to replace mine :D

 

Will you release JPG or PSD too?

 

The chart itself if printed to match 1:500000 scale should be 140x110cm :)

That is quite huge, and (when I was already near finishing it) I asked around printing offices to find out that 1m2 of color printing is 15-20EUR, so this map should cost 25-30EUR just to print it. :cry:

I’m planning to post just a .jpg file of the chart when is completely done. JPG itself is 55MB. Chart is made in CorelDraw, and I didn’t consider posting .CDR file, but if someone wants it, he can send me PM, and we will try to work it out.

 

Looking nice! Any idea when the 16000p x 12000p version is ready for download??

 

I hope to finish it these days, soon as I get info how to find those antennas, factories and oil platforms. I would really like to include them on the chart, since I think they would be very important. Also I would like to leave some time for you to find possible errors, and maybe some good suggestion will come up.

 

 

Minor note: the text above the legend reads, "mean see level"; and in the aeronautical information section of the legend you have "two ranways". Not trying to be nitpicky, I know when you're working with so many details, stuff is bound slip past you. Just thought I'd help you catch a couple of "bugs". Great work. :D

 

GhostDog, thank you! :thumbup:

It is corrected.

 

This is exactly what I’m talking about! Keep finding things like that, I would be embarrassed to release the final version with such errors.

[igormk]

Outstanding

 

Thanks Wags!:)

 

Is it possible that someone from ED could help me on how to find locations of all Comms Towers (Maykop’s “Mayak” is already in), TV Towers, Factories and Oil Platforms?

 

 

Plus if there will be something new and specific for FC2.0 and DCS A-10C that could be included in this chart. ;)

 

 

Thanks!

[Boberro]

The chart itself if printed to match 1:500000 scale should be 140x110cm :)

That is quite huge, and (when I was already near finishing it) I asked around printing offices to find out that 1m2 of color printing is 15-20EUR, so this map should cost 25-30EUR just to print it. :cry:

I’m planning to post just a .jpg file of the chart when is completely done. JPG itself is 55MB. Chart is made in CorelDraw, and I didn’t consider posting .CDR file, but if someone wants it, he can send me PM, and we will try to work it out.

 

Cool, it will perfectly suit my map and my wall available space :D

When I wanted to print my map..... the price was around 50 Euro so I rejected and printed 16 A4 sheets (before I divided it into pieces). I glued all together into one piece and it looks almost as one big sheet.

 

Can't wait for it :D

[Distiler]

Might be better to use PNG or TIFF with looseless compression, JPG might induce some artifacts with little numbers and letters in the map. Perhaps with the higher resolution JPG version is not noticeable, don't really know. Just a suggestion :)

Edited March 13, 2010 by Distiler

[Topo]

Great work, thanks!

[Ramstein]

for those that like having a map next to their computer, try this,

 

Take a map, put it in a pastic cover sleeve.

 

Use a grease pencil to mark it for missions.

 

You can also set a sheet with flight info, and other info and print it out with blank lines. put that page into a plastic cover. Use the grease pencil to write in the mission info.

 

erase the info when finished and reuse the maps and sheets.

[Gonzo01]

Nice work. Well done.

[Garfieldo]

Outstanding job! Thank you for your dedication and sharing its result with the community.

 

Although you might already know that, the Beacon locations can be found in "(...)\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Scripts\World\Radio". Maybe that helps at least for the Radio stations/towers.

 

The only Oilrigs I found at first glance were offshore from SOCHI and have the following coords, according to the mission editor:

43 32 15 N : 39 43 25 E

43 33 26 N : 39 40 25 E

 

First choice for coord gathering would be the raw data itself, if this does not work for some reason, we could maybe collect the data one "mapunit" (grid square, major city, etc...) at a time? Just a suggestion, but with enough people it might be doable? :helpsmilie:

Edited March 13, 2010 by Garfieldo

[enigma6584]

Beautiful work!

[104th_Crunch]

We have an excellent cartographer in the community! Thanks for sharing. It is excellent work.

 

Here is my thought on adding more visual references like towers etc. If a organized flight is using a common area as a Bullseye, like many squads do, there is no need for these extra references. You just call out a Bearing Range and Altitude from the common Bullseye.

 

Again. Very cool for you to share.

 

edit: may I also add that a version that is readable on a monitor when in full screen would be sweet if you can. Thanks again.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Crunch

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Excellent job!

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

In the Sea of Azov are two pairs of platforms, Crimea Tour (waypoints 44,45,36,47)

 

45.36.40N 35.57.33E

45.37.20N 36.01.30E

and

45.32.25N 36.26.10E

45.34.10N 36.30.00E

 

West of Sochi is a pair of platforms, Caucasus Tour waypoint 34

 

43.33.35N 39.41.00E

43.32.25N 39.44.00E

 

 

 

The three oil platforms that many folks dont know about are west of Crimea and pictured below.

 

45.33.50N 31.58.15E

45.21.30N 31.59.20E

45.18.00N 31.51.10E

 

 

http://images5.theimagehosting.com/westernmost-oil-platforms2.JPG

 

 

As for industrial complexes, the Caucasus tour will show you most of those. Read the briefing which tells you about extra industrial complexes not on the actual tour that are marked with static objects to make them easy to find.

 

Hope this helps......

Edited March 14, 2010 by Brit_Radar_Dude

[X-man]

Great work! :thumbup: