DarkSky image map not working

Martin:

The Dark Sky Map still works, but, it is no longer easy. I
checked it this morning to make sure it is still possible to use
it if you try something like the following. I only have a 56K
modem, so the times mentioned below should be faster if you have a
DSL line or other, fast connection.

If you go he

http://www.darksky.org/darksky/index.html

and get the Dark Sky Map page, ignore the Site Disabled message
and scroll down the page to the Dark Sky Java Applet Link. If you
don't have the free Java software plugin loaded already, you must
get that first.

or if, as mentioned below, you get a site not found error, try the
other link after reading through the info below. I sent the below
info to another with a similar problem to yours.
-----------------------------
April, 2003
Clickable Java version USA Dark Sky Map with links to limiting
Magnitude of locations within x miles of selected site and further
geographic mapquest-like links to get to downloadable maps from
the US Census Map Site.

First, some disclaimers.

I am not the hottest guy on the planet with this computer stuff,
but I have found this site to be very useful as it gives me a
sense of where I can drive to get to some dark skies...including
their lat/long and the maps I need.

Whether you can get into this site now that the .gif version is
not working may depend on what version of Windows you are using. I
have W95, Win98 SE, and WinXPH. I can only use the site currently
when I use Win98 SE or WinXPH to get there. I think this has to do
with how Microsoft has *******ized Sun's Java but perhaps I am
paranoid. As I mentioned above, I am also not the best guy to know
how to best use computers either, so if anyone can advise on how
to do this with W95, I am all ears. The first thing I would
suggest is to go to the Sun Java site and download the latest
version of Java for your OS.

Then...

Directions:

1) No Longer Works??http://www.darksky.org/darksky/index.html
When I tried the above link today, I was sent to the Dark Sky
Error Page. I had to pick the Site Map choice, and then go all the
way down the page to the IDA DarkSky Finder Link to get to the
Java Applet that starts the Map program. For a more direct
route...
Instead, use:
http://www.darksky.org/ida/darksky/darksky.html


2) At this point, you may get a box that asks if you want Active X
programs to run. Click on Yes or nothing will happen. You should
see a small window pop up with a loading bar to show you that the
applet is loading. On my Windows systems I have not allowed
certain things to work without my permission so I have to give the
OK twice for Java things to happen. Within about a minute on my
Win98 SE system (56 K modem) the penguin guy icon shows up on my
task bar. My modem icon shows loading activity for another few
seconds and then seems to shut down for about eight minutes. All
of a sudden, as my watch timer goes off at a pre-set 10 minutes
from the initial click on the java link, there is a flurry of
modem icon activity and a Dark Sky v1.0 box appears on my task
bar. It is text on a dark blue background. Click on it, and you
get a Java window titled "Dark Sky Finder" with a partial USA Map
in the window. The background of the map is black. The lights,
cities, etc. show up as red/orange/yellow green/blue/purple in
descending orders of brightness.

On my system, if you then use the bottom slide bar in this Java
window, you will move across the top of the USA map from west
coast to east coast. You have to sort of guess where you are on
the map. If you click on the "Open full window" square in the
upper right, you get a spread from Seattle to Lake Erie or so. You
can guess Chicago easily because of the shape of Lake Michigan.
You can also track most of the interstate routes across the county
using the little yellow dots that signify the bigger cities on the
route. I use the bright cities to orient myself. If you are not
sure, click on a big or small city and you will be put into the
Home position Chart for your chosen site. That page gives the
lat/long of your home position and a chart of up to 20 of the
darkest sites within 60 miles of your choice.

Clicking on the Home position link will then put you into the US
Census Map site at the location for the city you chose. This map
is very flexible and you can make just about any scale you chose.
I usually zoom in by a factor of 8 or twelve to get a map size
that shows the smaller roads. You can also add text and symbols
before printing out or storing your map.

On the old .gif map - that no longer works, I was able to download
all the info and maps after I had modified them or not, into Adobe
Acrobat (the full version). It is still possible to do that with
the Java version, but not as easily. This is a great feature
because you can store your favorite lat/long charts on your system
or a CD-R, etc. as a .pdf file(s) and also send them to your
friends. They can look at them and print them out using the
ubiquitous free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. This trick also
works for almost any web site material you might want to share.
You are basically creating a .pdf file with the Adobe Acrobat
program. The links from the web sites work when your friends click
on them with their browser open and they can visit the sites and
do whatever they want just as if they had gone to the site
themselves.

As an example, I will expand the map to full window size. I see
the shape of lake Michigan outlined as a purple shape in the upper
right. Thus, the big red blob on the lower left of the lake must
be Chicago. Looking left of that red blob, I see lots of little
yellow dots that correspond to smaller cites. I notice that the
magnitude of the area under my cursor is given a magnitude in the
magnitude box under the lat/longitude boxes below the map. These
little yellow dots are on a background of purple which translates
in the box to a magnitude of ~6.5-6.7. Then there is a large
stretch of black...that's the good stuff. There are two big city
blobs in the black area to the far west of Chicago. I don't know
which cities they are. I will click on the center of the one
nearest Chicago. Voila, the Home Site Chart window for the
location on which I clicked pops up and if I click on the Home
link at the top, I get thrown into the US Census map site and a
map of Denver shows up. Clicking on any of the dark sky site links
listed under the Home link will give me a map for those sites with
their lat/long and a pin symbol stuck in the map at the location
of that dark sky site. I can use the zoom tools on the map and
zoom down to the local county roads etc. for the area around the
site. If I remember to store the list of sites in Adobe Acrobat as
a .pdf file, I can save it on my system and go back to it at a
later time and get the maps I need or forgot, etc.

As Ever,
Orin


Snip


"Starstuffed" wrote in message
nk.net...
When I click on a location, no magnitude data comes up.
Instead, a link to
report the malfunction (to "Forrest") appears. . .but it is a
dead link.

Any ideas? Am I doing something wrong?

Here's a link to this normally informative site:
http://www.darksky.org/ida/darksky/darksky_map.html



Martin