Mapping the travels of our ancestors

[alcrighton]

Great map Paul and with the additions suggested by Denn I think we've got a format that will help us tell the stories we all want to tell.  I think the key to the issue of file size vs. image quality is in the level of detail in the original maps.  Starting with a map that doesn't show every road, lane, village and hamlet, the file size could be kept within reasonable limits and those obscure villages that our ancestors came from could be added manually.  The quality of the end result seems to be better using photo software rather than something like Powerpoint - I must give this a try when I've got some time!

Keep the suggestions and the examples coming - maybe I should offer some kind of prize?  Got any graveyard hunts planned in the near future Paul? 

Cheers,

Al

[dennford]

Al,
       The detail in any part of the picture wont alter the file size, however having said that a lesser file size will effect the clarity of the detail (edges will be more blurred as in the printing on pauls map).
       I would suggest that to display a picture on a 17inch screen, start with a fullsize file of 1024x768 pixels this will give a large file of 2.25 megabites, far too big to post on here, but I have just done a quick test and found that by saving as a 50% quality jpeg the file is reduced to 200k which is well within the 300 allowed here - the attached sample (only a portion of a full screen) is only 32k.
       All that being said if the picture is for printing rather than web use then you must use a minimum of 240 pixels per inch giving a massive 29 megabytes for an A3 size print - I did one recently that was 36"x18" or orver 100mb
                                                  Hope this all helps
                                                                Denn

[Paul E]

Denn

You should be a teacher - that's the first time I've started to understand the relationship between pixels, resolution, file size and image size.

HOPEFULLY (!) the attached revised map will come in under 300k and still be radable - it incorporates some of your suggestions, but theres room for more yet!

cheers

Paul

[dennford]

Hi Paul
     Your map is realy starting to take shape, it is giving a good impression of who (good old cloth cap people),what and where, it is also quite clear and readable. 
         Sorry to digress but did you ever wonder how your carpenter ancestors would have worked - we once built a house in Dagohoy, Phil's we started with mahogany trees that Tatay (Father) had cut down some 2 years previously, our carpenters then cut them into planks by hand and then proceeded to tongue and groove them using no more than chisels and hand planes REAL TRADESMEN. I often wonder how many people realise that not too long ago many tradesmen - our forefathers worked very very hard and had knowledge and skills that would compare and hold thier own against any of our high tech trades of today.
         Oh! and thank you for the compliment - the answer to teaching is a full understanding of your subject.
                                      Keep on with your project
                                                           Denn

[Lesanne]

  Been reading this post with such interest.
      Mapping them rather than pins on the cork board.
 Now your into the techno stuff, had to reply so I didn't miss the next instalment 

    As you know I'm forever asking for help on the technical side. 
    That pixies and revolution bit, is my downfall.

           

[dennford]

Lesanne
   It's quite simple, so long as you are wanting to post a picture on the net you suit the picture to a particular sized screen, or part of, but ALLWAYS at 72 pixels per inch.
   so for viewing on (and remember the screen dimention is on the diagonal)
    15"screen      the picture must be       900x600pixels
    17"                                                                 1024x768pixels
     to fill 1/4 of the screen you divide each side by 2 so you would have 450x300 for the 15"screen.
     
       To take it a step further your  personal profile photo size is also determined by no other than pixels - as said before every 72 pixels is one inch, so a picture 1"x1.5" will need to be 72 by 108pixels

     THE FOREGOING IS WHAT DETERMINES THE SIZE _ IT DOES NOT DETERMINE QUALITY


     Now having the Physical size correct you may still find that the filesize is too large to post. What you must now do is reduce the filesize by saving as a compressed file ( a jpeg ).
        When saving as a jpeg you should have a choice of what % compression you use - the more you compress the smaller the filesize but the poorer the quality. Usually 50% will reduce the file enough without too much reduction in quality.
                                           Hope this is of some help
                                                              Denn

[mc8]

thank you Denn-that info should be on a sticky
Monique

[Lesanne]

Thank you Denn very much. I think I could understand that , quite easily.

 Don't fancy helping Bob on the Web Space section.
             I'm sure he is fed up with me.  Bob will go into hibernation when he see's I'm back to have another go.   

    Thank's again and I hope to do a map of my own one day.    L.

[julianb]

I am adding a contribution to this topic on the basis of non-proliferation of topic strings!

The mobility examples above are great - but as already mentioned when you have ancestors living in a confined area, it's much more difficult.

I had loads of ancestors/relations living in a part of Croydon, and mapped them by using Photoshop (Elements) adding numbers on top as extra layers and having a key (separately, in text) as to who lived in which road.

You can see it here:

http://juliancbaker.rootschat.net/html/broad_green_whitehorse_lane_cr.html

The difficulty was in finding an old enough map which was legible, while keeping the file size down  (the picture file size is 111 KB, which is a bit big, so I hope it loads for others - it does for me).  I haven't succeeded entirely yet.  I expect, in time, I will have another go - and will consider some colour coding.

JULIAN