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Maps

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Bryan, that is interesting and similar to my experience with GeoLocator when I tested it a couple of years ago. It didn't have streets in new sub-divisions that I had available on paper maps, which were two years old at the time.

I'm not too hip with using one that puts a smaller or lower quality map in either, however. I have a bootleg copy of Street Atlas 8, which I was using as a preview, to determine whether to buy it or not. It seemed to complicated to me - not as easy to use as I would have liked and seemed to be directed towards travelers rather than appraisers. Maybe I should look again.

Somehow, I managed to get full-sized maps into the form with Street Atlas, seems like I just saved the map as a jpeg and double clicked the map page, but without using any arrows or anything (I just rubbed them on after printing out the map).

I'm not too sure about your question concerning long-distance comps, but it seems like I used it for something that had comps in more than one county. I also don't know whether newer versions, or legal versions would work better.
 
Thanks for the post. It was an eye opener. I never thought about making the map a jpeg file. I have a program here called "Easy Screen" that I was turned on to by a friend who used it to copy pictures off the internet MLS. It takes whatever area on the screen you have and copies it into nearly any format you want. I use it frequently to make jpeg files. It allows you to make a file of the whole screen or just the portion you want.

I guess I could make the map a jpeg and save it into some predetermined directory I make up and then pull it into the map addendum. I will give this a try when I get the 2003 model and let you know if it works. As far as the "Easy Screen" program goes I recommend it 100% if you need to copy photos or anything else for that fact and its only $18 I believe if you get it through the internet.

Bryan
 
I was curious and just pulled up the Tool Box program to see if I could pull a jpeg photo into the map addendum. And what do you know it worked just as perfectly as the photo addendums do. The photo filled only about 1/3 of the page and was in a horizontal position. Double clicked the photo which brought up the edit box. I rotated the picture and it took up the whole page nearly when placed vertically. Man this will work great. Now I am sitting here wanting to know just how long I have had my head up my ***. :drinking: I did way too much of this during my college days and now I am paying for it.

I am always learning.

Thanks,


Bryan
 
One caveat about using JPEG's. If you make them really small in terms of file size, you can get pretty crappy output. On the other hand, if they are too large you may have trouble transmitting, if you're sending the file by e-mail. I read on a post in another thread that VA limits the size of the file they will receive to 2 MG. If that's true - THAT WILL BE THE DAY! when I let some government aX$#$#% dictate what the size of my appraisal file will be! (It will be whatever size it takes to do a decent job in compliance with USPAP and what I feel is good practice.) I can't believe how supposedly independent appraisers have let these types push them around. Okay, I'll get off my soap box (I don't work for those Bas#!%^$ anyway.)
 
Street Atlas 2003 is great but does take some getting used to as there are so many options. Adding streets that look like they are part of the program is IMO the best part. Bradford's interest is in selling the geolocator add-in so they have not integrated toolbox with Street Atlas like other vendors have. Still you can type in the subject and comps and have them automatically labeled. As with Street Atlas 5, I use a shareware program called Fineprint 2000 (there may be a Fineprint2003?). It behaves just like a printer (similar to Adobe PDF) so you can save the WHOLE output as a graphic file (your choice, I use JPEG). Then as stated before load it into toolbox as an image. Supeiror resolution and size as compared to the "screen copy" method. By the way, Street Atlas2003 has a "save as" BMP file but it is HUGE, about 13megs. I don't know why they don't have a jpeg option.
 
MD,

Save your file as *.bmp, call it into Imaging and re-save it as a *.jpg .. (then delete the *.bmp.)
 
Here's a GREAT way to make a GREAT improvement to your system! Purchase a RADEON Dual Monitor video card (around $75) and get a second monitor. That will enable you to open your Toolbox in one screen and your map (or photo, or scanner, or sketcher, or anything else) program in THE OTHER WINDOW (SCREEN).

This is the best to happen to computers since DOS. Just found out that....when using the DeLorme 2003 program....you get the map done and simply s t r e t c h the window to cover BOTH monitors before you save it to "clipboard." WAHLAH! it transfers to the map page in Toolbox filling the entire page with a perfectly proportioned map.

So....you will get a GREAT new feature (saving LOTS of time) and be able to fill the map page at the same time. Bless technology. Just ordered the DISTO, too (been a good year).
 
You're getting a Disto? I'm jealous! :mrgreen: Let me know if you like it.

I got the map thing figured out, no problem, been copying it to clipboard, then paste to my Location Map. Works great! But now that they have the new & improved Clickforms, I get an error message and my map won't save with the report! %$#%%#

They should never have released Clickforms until it was done. Nothing in it works!
 
Is anyone actually using clickforms in their business? If you have 9.xx its hard to justify the "upgrade" until it improves.
 
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