How the plots are scetched

... two different mechanisms allow the output:

plotting with generic mapping tools

plotting for Google-Earth

using Google-Earth

the track as chart: disclaimer

... ebing helped by the generic mapping tools

The charts are plotted thanks to the Generic Mapping Tools - a collection of software, released with coherent maps under the GNU-licence.

Reference points (cities et al) are extracted from Earth-Info-Project of the US National Geospation-Intelligence Agency.

We developped scripts to map and edit on the base of the GenericMapping Tools - using unix-based apps as bash, perl, gawk, sed et cetera plus for the backend use mysql respectively in frontend apache with php

The developped scripts are releades under GPL as well and available upon request, please contact our webmaster. Hints & dodges given for Unix only, in case you insit on implementing on a windows-system, we're sorry.

Tracking Data is read from a purpose-installed GPS-system on board the ship, taking fixes in regular intervals. Collected data is collected from aboard using gardownd and transferred on land every time the crew sends off a diary entry. On shore, data are read into a database. In principle, mapping the track could be fully automated, were it not for optic convenience, as sometimes the calculated line between two spaced trackpoints fro example run straight over land ... thus, the small correction of setting intermediate wapoints for the ease of reading.

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Google-Earth-Overlays

Besides following the ship's wake on charts generated with gmt, you can capture the scenery in following her on Google Earth.

You need the proprietory software Google Earth and you´re just a click away from fascinating images of the planet. In case this will be the first time you´re using it, make sure to take half a day off or to have everything else done at home for the day and no urgent event sceduled - not that the use is complicated, on the contrary: it is too easy to get lost in the world of fascinating images, views and flabbergasting discoveries.

,-)

Google resp. Keyhole offer documentary and tutorial of the language KML used to display geographic data, and create an overlay for Google Earth.

Overlays with tracking data of the Roald Amundsen are availableDie Overlays mit den Trackdaten der Roald stehen ab sofort auf den Tagesmeldungsseiten und dem Tagesmeldungsarchiv zur Verfügung.

Howto ...

Using the GEO (Gogle Earth Overlay) data is pretty straightforeward: if you use Google Earth, simply doenload the respective GEO-file, doubleclickit - and voila!, the application will take care of the rest.

ok, step by step:

• download Google Earth

• install the application, following the install-tool

• right-click [or alt/option-click] the Google Earth Logo in the diary of the respective voyage to download the GEO/KLM-file to your computer

• open the file in Google Earth (open, file)

• do not hesitate to load several GEO-files as sequence

• sink into the world of images and let ourself take on a voyage - e.g. switching on 'terrrain' and changing height & perspective makes you discover the mountaind on the canary islands, the pier the ship was docking on, the vastness of the ocean ....

share and enjoy!

Output - and its errors: a disclaimer

... purpose of these charts, maps and course plots is illustration!

shown positions are imprecise (due to extrapolations drawn from few positions given through a day) and do not represent a real plot of the navigation. For example close to coastlines, the first rough extrapolation between the ship's positions could show the ship running over peninsulas - thus [since oct 2004] intermediate points for illustration purposes are manually set to calculate the charts. Hence the illustration on the web ist not truefully representing the ship's course. But a very good illustration of its voyage.