Brighton video

[andypat]

Maybe with hindsight a normal format event as the last event somewhere less difficult to access would be a better option?

I thought that Brighton deserved its day in the sun ( ) and given its timing it was always going to be the final event. No hindsight required to understand that the location and format wouldn't be great for some people. It wasn't chosen simply to counterbalance the 2014 final at Stirling!

Yes Roger - wasnt meant to be a criticism of the decision per se. It was the combination of the inaccessibility and the mass start issue for kids that kept us away. I guess I was unnecessarily concerned that for some of the reasons given in your post, Brighton might end up being the default choice for last event.

[RobL]

The official Brighton City Race Video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p95VPUuAkpA

[gg]

My understanding is that if a jpeg (for example) is opened as a background template in ocad (as opposed to a layout object) then it causes the map to export as a raster file rather than a vector file (or possibly the other way round - whichever is worse). Hence poorer quality. I think opening it as a layout object instead solves the problem.

[graeme]

I think opening it as a layout object instead solves the problem.

This may be true, but I don't think you can do that in OCAD 10.
Any idea how to avoid the problem in OCAD10 ? (apart from using CONDES, obviously)

[MIE]

When you have an OCAD file (any version after OCAD6) you can have a background set of JPEG's, GIF's or BMP's. These are usually imported bits of map used to work with when surveying and/or drawing.

You can also put in club and/or sponsors logos and print them on the map directly from OCAD. If you print directly from OCAD the output generated to the printer has the OCAD map data printed as WSYIWYG and the background JPEG's (or whatever) at the resolution that they were loaded into OCAD. This is frequently at 150dpi sometimes higher and occassionally 600dpi (but only exceptionally higher than this due to the size of the file). Most clubs and individuals will produce printed output in this way.

Both the professional printers I have used print using a, slightly, different procedure. As they have much higher resolution printers than I, for one, could afford, especially at SRA3 size, the file is firstly exported as a PDF. This is because to successfully produce a consistent output, both in terms of actual colours and colours across the page and to ensure the speed of output a PDF file is the best file to use. When exported using OCAD to PDF OCAD detects the presence of the rasterised (i.e JPEG, or whatever) file and requests you to specify the DPI for the "raster resolution". Unfortunately, the default presented by OCAD is 150DPI and if this is accepted, or not amended, then the whole map is produced at 150DPI which is considerably less than those professional printing devices would produce (2400DPI upto 4800DPI). If there are no JPEG (or whatever) files in the background OCAD produces the highest resolution PDF file that it can (?4800DPI?). On ocassion it has been known for the operator to "forget" to amend the raster resolution from the default (of 150DPI) to the max that OCAD will allow (600DPI) resulting in a somewhat grainy output. If the printer is not under pressure from
the client then this can be spotted during the checking procedure but, as tends to be the case these days, the client leaves the printer with a shortage of time AND then doesn't check the product after delivery (not that there would be enough time to do a reprint anyway!!)

I will admit to:
a). Not allowing the printer enough time to fully check
and
b). Not fully checking myself.

Off-set printing with background maps, be it rasterised -- JPEG etc or vector files,
brings in a whole new "can of worms" as OCAD seems incapable of outputting an EPS
file when one of the background maps is an OCAD file !!

[MIE]

My understanding is that if a jpeg (for example) is opened as a background template in ocad (as opposed to a layout object) then it causes the map to export as a raster file rather than a vector file (or possibly the other way round - whichever is worse). Hence poorer quality. I think opening it as a layout object instead solves the problem.

Just tried a test on one of my maps using a layout object instead of a background template and it gives the same result -- i.e it exports as a raster file with the default of 150DPI. (OCAD 11)

I guess, however, that using a layout object obviates the need to send the JPEG (or whatever) out to the printer, with the map file, to ensure it is incorporated on the map -- will try that next time I have a professionally printed map done.

[Paul Frost]

I thought the normal practice was to import a vector version of the logo directly into the map file. Steve Barrett (Stirling Surveys) usually asks me for a copy of the logo in vector format (usually Adobe Illustrator) for things I'm involved in (WOC, 6Days, SOA and BASOC stuff).
For the club we have an Ocad map file with just the logo and border, so it's easier to style new maps.

For those not clear about image formats:
Raster or bitmaps are made up of lots of dots that you see when enlarged (jpg, gif,png,bmp). They have a set resolution of dots per inch (DPI).
Vectors are lists of coordinates of lines and can be enlarged 100s of times with no loss of quality (ocad, ai, svg, pdf).

[NeilC]

This is all very interesting. I had a test print of Brighton Course 1a (without any jpg logos) done 3 weeks before the event and was very happy with the quality. A week before the event I got the final PDF files for checking - which looked OK on a PC screen. The maps arrived on the Wednesday before the race and I just had a quick flick through to make sure nothing was very wrong.

I've now had a closer look and can see that the quality of the race maps is lower than the first test print. Most noticeably the beach has this stippled effect and many of the wall/kerb lines are not clean but have gaps/blotches.

Although I had vector graphic forms of our club and BOF logos I only had jpeg versions of the SEOUL and Council logos. BML also added their own logo. This is definitely something that we need to wary of.

[PG]

This could be important information for many mappers and planners. Most are unlikely to spot it in a thread with this title. Can the thread be split or something like "and logo impact on map quality" be added to the thread title?

[paul]

NeilC, is it possible to attach a zoomed-in scan of part of the test print and final map to see what the impact was?

[NeilC]

I've uploaded a scan of the two maps to
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/Neil_Crickmore/BCRmaps.pdf

My scanner may not be the best but you should get the picture. The differences are quite clear around control 88
i) The beach
ii) The uncrossable walls (NE of 88)
iii) The kerb lines (NE of the walls)

For fans of Quadrophenia the small alleyway where the line is cut between 84 and 85 is the one made famous by Lesley Ash and Phil Daniels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrophenia_(film)

[DJM]

Not the Brighton map, but I reproduce below an equivalent pair of images for last year's British Sprints map which illustrates the issue well.

On the left is an enlarged scan of the BML proof whilst on the right is the same section of map printed from the OCAD file by my home inkjet (at 600dpi), then photoenlarged and scanned.

OK, the colours are different because the printers (and their settings) were different, but the 150dpi-ness of the pdf proof gives unacceptable fuzziness to the thinnest lines. I reckoned that if my inkjet printer could give far superior resolution, then something must have gone wrong with the professional printing - we now know that it did and what it was.

[GML]

Neil, looks to me as if the Race map has also lost the overprint effect on the control circles and course lines, or is that just the scanning?