TUMONZ 5 Review
By Barry Were TUMONZ 5 Issues TUMONZ 5 Tips SAR Icons
Last Updated 27/05/2010
Released in December 2009 TUMONZ 5 (T5) provides a significant step up in useability.
I installed this version as soon as I received it and I have been using it ever since. To be fair I have not been using it exclusively as I still have T3 installed and sometimes I still use that. Do I like T5 more than T4 and T3? Yes although the differences from T4 are not huge (apart from the datum).
How does T5 effect SAR users?
The key difference for SAR is the addition of the NZTM datum. Actually it is the reintroduction of this datum that used to be in version 2 but was removed from version 3.
The Google Earth screens
While the integration with Google Earth (GE) is nice it is not such a big deal for those who have been using TUMONZ for a while. If we want to jump into GE we usually make a Ruler (Measure) line on the map then use that to link into GE. This is quick and easy.
Actually I find myself using this feature quite a lot. This especially applies for areas where the GE maps are high resolution. I have been placing a whole lot of Icons on map features for a Rogaine events. With the GE integration it was possible to place icons on a whole lot of features that were not visible on the topo map. There are some aspects of this facility that can be improved though. See the T5 Issues pages. Also if using this feature you must be aware of the error in the Google Earth registration of the photos. They can be up to 30 metres off the real location.
GPS Manager
The old GPS Manager is not installed with T5. The TUMONZ people think that too much effort was needed to maintain the GPS Manager with all the different models of GPSs around. They recomend the use of a free program called Easy GPS. While this program (EasyGPS) is indeed very good the simplicity and ease of use of the GPSManager is hard to beat.
Now with T5 when you want to display a GPS track you have to create a GPX file from the GPS data. You then open this from within the Objects tree. This does have the advantage that you do not need to make the objects permanent as you bring them straight into the required place on the tree.
This works OK and does not take significantly longer than the old way as we always created a GPX file of the downloaded data as a backup of the data.
Why all the Change?
Core Functionality for SAR
I believe the critical aspects of any mapping program for Search and Rescue are:
1 Printing A4 Maps with and without object layers (Icons and lines)
2 Recording actual search activity during a search (using the object layer)
b.
Creating icons at specific locations using a 14 digit grid reference from IMan
c.
Draw lines and circles plus adding text
3 Downloading GPS tracks and printing an A4 map with the track for the team debrief
Key Points about T5
1
What do I like about T5?
a.
The Google Map Viewer
i.
This links to the current T5 map location so that when you move the map surface the Google Map moves as well. This is really awesome. The best part of this is that the Google Maps can display the aerial photos which, for a lot of NZ, are getting to be very good.
e.
GPS Manager
i. Now that I have used the GPX file import a lot more I do like it. Using Easy GPS the process is quick and relaible. We only recently worked out that the old T3 GPS Manager was not reliably downloading tracks from our Garmin 60SXs. These problems do not occur with EasyGPS.
f.
Icons
You can now change the Icon size. This can be very handy.
f.
Networking
i. You can grab a snapshot of the layer objects on a remote machine. Although this does not update with changes automatically it is still remote access. I have not tested this yet.
2
What do I Not Like about T5?
Apart from those things mentioned above:
Our Live Tracking application will not work with T4 or T5. The TUMONZ people have not updated the API that allows us to hook into the back of the program. We desperately need for them to release a new API.
3 Navigation
The shifting of the sidebar to the left of the screen provides for a more modern look. Although the functionality of the sidebar is very much the same as T4. It is cool that you can hide some of the sidebar options at the bottom of the screen so thhat you can have more of the screen available for object lists. Unfortuntely the program does not remember that you have hidden some of the menu options.
4
Ease of use
6
Should you rush out and buy it?
Yes - it is good and we are supposed to all be using NZTM for SAR now.
7
Installation
Things that changed during the install