I haven't really got anything to say, but it's something like 6 weeks since I last posted anything up, which feels like a bit of a poor show.

I guess the exciting topic around at the moment is British politics. Extraordinary (and very encouraging IMO) developments in the political world. I have to say I was disheartended by the Tory majority. I am a significant distance away from Conservative policies, and I thought another Tory government would be disasterous for the country as a whole.

At present, I'm eating my words. I'm stunned that David Cameron has so effectively and decisively formed a collalition government. I'm surprised at the compromises he has made to form it, and his willingness to enter a new era of politics. Any any leader who can stand in front of the press and say:

And if it means swallowing some humble pie, and if it means eating some of your words, I cannot think of a more excellent diet.

makes me sit up and take notice.

On the subject of food, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - but I'm genuinely optimistic that politics is changing (for the better), and that in Cameron and Clegg we may have a safe pair of hands...

With the announcement that Ordnance Survey have released OS Open Data (basically, most of their map data for free (as in speech and beer), I decided to see if I could supercharge my Magellan Explorist 210 with street level mapping.

Turns out to be non-trivial, especially on 64 bit Windows 7!

That said, I have managed it, and what I had to do was as follows:

1. Obtain MobileMapper Office. You can download v3.40 from ftp.promagellangps.com, or version 2.70 if you search the net hard enough. The chief difference is apparently that 3.40 requires the GPS device to be plugged in.
2. Install it, then tweak MMOffice.ini to add the line Byte_Order=1 in the [DEVICE_DEFAULTS] if you have an explorist.(refer to msh tools for more info).
3. While you're on msh_tools, download MMOCoverter
4. Pop across to OS Open Data, and download Meridian 2 in ShapeFile format.
5. While you're waiting for the e-mail from the OS, download and install FW Tools - you'll need it for a data transform later.

That's the easy bit. You now have all the data and software required. The next bit is to transform the data to WGS84, import into MMO, export as a detailed map, convert to Explorist, and chuck onto the device.

I decided I wanted the entire set of roads in my GPS - you may decide otherwise.

1. Extract the Meridian 2, and take a copy of
   • a_road_polyline
   • b_road_polyline
   • minor_rd_polyline
   • motorway_polyline
   In each case, you need all 5 files with the same base name.
2. Fire up an FWTools command window, and run the following command for each of the 4 files you just copied:
   ogr2ogr -t_srs WGS84 wgs84 a_road_polyline.shp
   This says transform the source file (a_road_polyline) into WGS84, and save the new file into a folder call wgs84.
   This step is required because MMO doesn't seem to handle British National Grid properly - I was getting errors of around 50 to 100m in my street locations when I did a straight import from the OS supply.
3. Fire up MMO.
   1. Tools / Background maps
   2. Vector Maps
   3. Map Editor
   4. Layer / Add
   5. Choose one of the 4 road files.
   6. Double click on new layer to bring up the properties, and change the Display Attribute to be ROAD_NAME
   7. Fiddle with the scale if you want. I found that for minor roads an appropriate setting was 1:25k. On my device the colour, width, etc, don't seem to make any difference, but it's nice to do for display in MMO.
   8. OK
   9. Repeat from step (iv) for the other 3 files
   10. Save if you want to
   11. Operations / Create Map (and go and make a cuppa)
   12. Close the Map Editor window.
   13. Highlight the new map, and Attach Map
   14. OK
4. You should now be able to see the full street set (you may have to zoom a long way in if you set a large scale).
5. The whole road network is too large for my GPS, so I had select a region to export.
   1. Tools / Create Region
   2. Draw the rectangle of the subset of roads you wish to upload.
   3. Right click to make it stick
   4. File / Upload to GPS / Background Map
   5. Store on Hard Drive
   6. Finish (and make a cuppa)
6. Now fire up MMOconverter.exe
7. Input/output file on my machine is C:\Program Files (x86)\MobileMapper Office\Export\Images\NewMap.imi
8. Plug in your Explorist, select USB transfer, and copy the file NewMap.imi into the "Detailed Maps" folder.
9. Unplug the Explorist, go to Menu / Active Map / Detail Maps / Select Map and choose "NewMap"
10. Enjoy!

All due credit to the OS for giving away their data, and also to msh-tools, without whom I wouldn't have been able to even get started.

I've finally got to grips with Twitter and OAuth, and made myself an updated twibot.

It's actually not that hard - read all about it at weatherbot.php

Ash Wednesday rolls around once more. I'm sure it's quicker each year!

Each Lent I try and be a bit creative about giving something up. Without intending to be pompous, I think that self-denial is an important discipline, and Lent gives us a little opportunity each year to practise. I generally fail miserably in my Lenten disciplines, but usually because I forget I'm not meant to be eating chocolate (or whatever), rather than lack of willpower per se.

This year my wife challenged me to give up "escapism". Interesting idea, but for me not really specific enough. What would this include, or not include? I suppose an ideal Lent would be giving up something that had a specific intention behind it - so I eat chocolate to make me feel good when I'm down, so I'm giving up that "crutch". On that grounds it fits, but too hard to work out in practice, I feel.

So instead I've decided to give up Science Fiction! I'm a bit of a sci-fi nut, and am always glued to Dr Who etc. It puts Avatar out of the frame, for example (really should have seen it by now anyway).

The other point of giving something up is Bigger Picture stuff. If you deny yourself something you quite like, not only does it strengthen your resolve, but it also reminds you of why you're doing it every time you don't have it. So on a less esoteric note, I'm also going to give up milk in tea and coffee. I really like milky coffee, so each time I have a bitter black one, it will remind me that it's Lent, and all that Jesus gave up when he was around.

The other movement I think is fab is taking something up for Lent. Like smiling to 3 people a day, or talking to a neighbour once a week, or picking up litter everytime you see it. This is a far more positive approach, and in one sense you are giving up some habit or pattern you'd got into.

Every New Year I try and do a little blog post about the year that's past, and sometimes look forward to the one to come.

This year has been interesting precisely because it has been almost entirely boring!

No (family) births, deaths, or marriages (although Penguin's wedding almost counts). No job or career changes. No moving (or plans to move). In fact, no major projects at all. It has been a challenging year from a work perspective - what with the credit crunch, and A.'s work relocating to a new building. But in terms of Big Life picture nothing really happened.

I guess lots of little things happened. We had a lovely summer holiday in Northumberland, and No. 1 son has more or less learnt to swim and ride a bike this year. I've stepped back from the youth group, but started leading worship again.

To be honest, 2010 looks like more of the same.

If it was the rest of my life, I'd get a little bored - but for a year or two it's very nice not to have any major changes!