copying google maps

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Roy1
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copying google maps

Post by Roy1 »

Hi. I am trying out a new programme from ProDad which allows one to show an object such as a ship, plane or car etc travelling along a route between two points on a map. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to copy a google map onto a hard drive in order to insert it in the new programme. Does anyone know how I can make this copy. I was thinking of printing the map onto paper and the use a scanner to put it on the hard drive, hopefully someone knows how to do a copy just using the PC.
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Dave Watterson
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Re: copying google maps

Post by Dave Watterson »

When the map is on screen as you want it, hold down the Ctrl key and press the PrtScn key. That copies the image to you clipboard.
Open your Paint, PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop or other art program, hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter "v" - voila an image of what was on screen. You can then crop and adjust as you like.

Or have I missed the point somewhere? If you need more than just an image there are lots of APIs around but those are beyond my expertise!

Generally Google Maps are quite cool about use of their maps - see https://www.google.co.uk/permissions/geoguidelines.html for the formal stuff.
Roy1
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Re: copying google maps

Post by Roy1 »

Thanks Dave for your quick reply. I have followed your instructions and it works. Unfortunately for some reason the quality of the copied picture is so bad that it can't be used. I have tried all the FX available in photoshop and it doesn't improve the image.
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TimStannard
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Re: copying google maps

Post by TimStannard »

Roy, it will be exactly the same resolution as what you have on the screen in Google Maps. If you try to zoom in on it, even slightly, it will look horrible. Make sure you are viewing it within your Photo software at 100% zoom.
When you are in Google Maps and zoom in, you don't lose resolution because Google Maps redraws the image.

If you want a map to fill a 1920x1080 HD image in your video, you are going to need to do some jiggery pokery to get rid of the menus etc (eg get 4 images and crop and stitch them together) - unless you have a much bigger (in pixels) screen that you can view Google maps in.
Tim
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TimStannard
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Re: copying google maps

Post by TimStannard »

Had a quick search, Roy. You can use Google Earth Pro - which is now free and this will let you export images up to 4K, so I'm sure that would do you.
https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148146?hl=en

HOWEVER, I also checked out the Ts&Cs and the following applies whether you're using Google Maps or Google Earth (or Pro):
Attribution

All uses of the Content must provide attribution to both Google and our data providers. We require clear, visible attribution when the Content is shown. You may not move the attribution to the end credits or fade it out after a few seconds.


Do you really want to be advertising Google for the duration of any of the clips you show that are derived from Google Maps/Earth?
Tim
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TimStannard
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Re: copying google maps

Post by TimStannard »

Back again. I was sure we'd trodden this path before in this thread viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2944&p=16313&hilit=maps#p16313 Dave Watterson links to a great free resource (just a credit at the end required) for maps http://www.openstreetmap.org/and Mike Shaw links to a route generator program.http://www.routegenerator.net/
Tim
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Roy1
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Re: copying google maps

Post by Roy1 »

Thanks Tim for your very helpful advice. I have downloaded Google Earth and I have cropped the image and the quality is good. At first Adobe CS5 would not import the image from my pictures as it was a Tiff image, which I thought was strange. However I went back to Photo shop and resaved the image as a JPEG and everything worked OK. I am going to try to install it using Sony Vegas and see if Vegas will accept the Tiff version. I've always used Tiff as I was told that Tiff gives less or no loss in copying, true or not I don't know. If all failed I was prepared to do what I did 40 years ago when I filmed a page from a world atlas and zoomed in with the camera to get the size and content required and then used single frame operation to move a dotted line from A to B. which I then superimposed on the shot of the map. It worked well and I STILL SHOW THE FILM. Happy days when life was much more simple. Thanks again.
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TimStannard
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Re: copying google maps

Post by TimStannard »

Hi Roy, glad to have helped. As a Vegas user, I can tell you now that it will not ingest tiff files. What you have remembered is correct - tiff is lossless. However jpg is perfectly fine if you are not going to be editing it further. If it is just being copied, it will be an exact copy. Jpg is a delivery format rather than an editing format (in the same way as MP4 is really a delivery format in video.
I would recommend editing your image to the correct size in Photoshop and exporting as a jpg or png. If you want to pan and crop (eg Ken Burns effect) make sure your image is large enough so that at maximum zoom you will still have at least 1920x1080 pixels visible (assuming you're video will be HD) However do not be tempted to go for massive images. Some video editors (Vegas being one) will balk when presented with several 20MB images.

As an aside, if you are cropping in Vegas, make sure you do it in event pan and crop rather than track motion as, due to the processing order. P&c is applied to the original image, so if you have a 3840x2160 photo and cropping to quarter size in p&c, you still have 1920x1080 pixels. Track motion, on the other hand, takes the image in the preview, which is already 1920x1080 as its starting point and cropping (more accurately zooming) that to a quarter size means each pixel is now spread over 4 pixels.
I have an example somewhere which doesn't attempt to explain but shows the difference.
Tim
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John Roberts
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Re: copying google maps

Post by John Roberts »

TimStannard wrote:As a Vegas user, I can tell you now that it will not ingest tiff files.
Hi Tim, sorry to hijack the thread :lol:

I'm a little confused as to the above - by 'injest' do you mean import, as in place on the timeline and edit etc? If so, I'm doubly confused because Movie Studio, which as you know is the 'cut down' version of Vegas, definitely will import, edit and render TIFF files in exactly the same way as any other file.

Just to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I've just run MS, and happily imported TIFF files with no issues - in fact my 'production logo' at the start of (almost) all my films is made up from TIFF files.

Curious... :D
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TimStannard
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Re: copying google maps

Post by TimStannard »

John, hardly hijacking! Bu ingest I did indeed mean import. I used the term as a catchall to cover the several different means of getting data into Vegas. And you are correct - TIFF files are accepted in Vegas. Either I mis-remembered or I couldn't do so with an earlier version of Vegas. I've just tried it on Vegas Pro 13 and indeed it works. Many apologies. That'll teach me to post whi;st at work where I'm relying on memory rather than actually testing before I speak.

I'd like to claim I was posting "in jest", but that would just be silly.

Anyway, returning to the difference between zooming in Pan and Crop and in Track Motion, I've found the video I made. It's in standard definition so the difference is even more pronounced.

https://youtu.be/uHUQa9T1jzo
Tim
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Roy1
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Re: copying google maps

Post by Roy1 »

TIM. I looked at your video showing the difference between zooming with pan and crop and track motion. The difference is startling. With regard to Tiff files, John Roberts beat me to it, I was just about to report to you that I had tried the Tiff file cropped map with Vegas Movie studio and it worked perfectly. Memory is a wonderful thing when it works OK. At 88 mine doesn't so I have to be told or shown how to use new apps. and then I write my own instructions in plain English. Served me well lately. Trouble is these days some of the expert young people haven't got the patience to deal with us old uns. Anyway I expect to be making videos till I drop. Thanks again.
Terry Barton
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Re: copying google maps

Post by Terry Barton »

With the mouse pointer pointing to the desktop above the browser tabs click the right mouse button and a menu will appear.
Select Menu Bar from the list in the menu and a tick will appear next to it.
The menu bar will become visible at the top of the screen.
Select File .... Save As .... and a menu will appear for you to create a filename.
Choose a folder, create a filename and save the file.
I usually receive a message stating that the file was not saved, but it has been.
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