Hello,I just made a small modification to my web page "Exploring Google Maps for Flight Simulator". It works as before but now you can also start it using an URL like this:http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?La....471&Lon=-0.458Note the arguments Lat=51.471&Lon=-0.458. If you try it you will be placed in Heathrow, London, UK. You can change the Lat/Lon for the place you are interested in. I suggest that you save the link of the web page in your desktop for repeated operation. You can even save the file itself, in which case you do not need www.ptsim.com to be on the air (although you need it, if you want the larger new window).I hope this information is useful.Kind Regards,Luis

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this wonderful little tool. I've used it many times to make background maps for Sbuilder. It's invaluable! :(

Hello,I just made a small modification to my web page "Exploring Google Maps for Flight Simulator". It works as before but now you can also start it using an URL like this:http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?La...&Lon=-0.458Note the arguments Lat=51.471&Lon=-0.458. If you try it you will be placed in Heathrow, London, UK. You can change the Lat/Lon for the place you are interested in. I suggest that you save the link of the web page in your desktop for repeated operation. You can even save the file itself, in which case you do not need www.ptsim.com to be on the air (although you need it, if you want the larger new window).I hope this information is useful.Kind Regards,Luis

Luis,Forgive my ignorance, I see from your page that you have an overview of Heathrow but why is it called a background map and what is it used for? my guess is for photo scenery? I've only just recently started to learn Sbuilder so not aware of all the jargon.Thanks Luis

Luis,Forgive my ignorance, I see from your page that you have an overview of Heathrow but why is it called a background map and what is it used for? my guess is for photo scenery? I've only just recently started to learn Sbuilder so not aware of all the jargon.Thanks Luis

Okay I have realised what is meant by background now...thanks anyway.

Okay I have realised what is meant by background now...thanks anyway.

Hi,Yes, the image background can be used with many programs, not just for photographic scenery but also for precise object positioning. This web page was available for a long time and the reason I posted it here is that now you can start at any location. Say that you want to start at Paris CDG. You will use the following page. Note that you can save the page (the page not the link) in your desktop and allways start on the same location.http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?La...506&Zoom=14Since there are hidden characters in the url I repeat it here: "http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?Lat=49.004&Lon=2.5506&Zoom=14".Kind Regards,Luis

Hi,Yes, the image background can be used with many programs, not just for photographic scenery but also for precise object positioning. This web page was available for a long time and the reason I posted it here is that now you can start at any location. Say that you want to start at Paris CDG. You will use the following page. Note that you can save the page (the page not the link) in your desktop and allways start on the same location.http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?La...506&Zoom=14Since there are hidden characters in the url I repeat it here: "http://www.ptsim.com/sbuilder/gmaps.asp?Lat=49.004&Lon=2.5506&Zoom=14".Kind Regards,Luis

Thanks Luis, I do find I have a question or two, once I have the airport I'm interested in, do I just save the page using the browser "save page as" function, and secondly is the page shown in the standard size or do I need to adjust the size. I guess the bigger the map the more detail you can have, but the trade off will be frame rate I guess? Thanks for your time Luis.

Hello,I added the possibility to get backgrounds from Yahoo and LiveEarth in addition to Google. Please click on a link above and you will see 2 new buttons that take you to the other map providers.In order to capture the larger background in the "new" window I found the following plugin for Firefox to be a "must". With a single click I place the whole picture (even the hidden part) in my disk:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1146May be there is something similar for Internet Explorer but I rarely use it now.Kind Regards and Merry Christmas to all FS designers,Luisps: please report possible bugs

Hi Luis, another very nice gift to the community! Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Luis, I've tried your page and I like it a lot, but I have a question. Now that Google Earth, in its version 5.0, has some kind of "time machine", is it possible to access (in a future, or even better, now) the older images? I've found places covered of clouds in the current version that aren't covered in previous versions. I'm thinking of using this fact for "removing clouds".Best regards from Colombia,Luis Miguel

Hey Luis,How do you actually use the screen grab applet? In a nomal website window you can right-click with the mouse and then grab a screenshot.But when I am in your window one cannot right-click, or I have not found a way to get to Screen Grab. My curser always remains as a hand.Any ideas?Clutch

How do you actually use the screen grab applet? In a nomal website window you can right-click with the mouse and then grab a screenshot.But when I am in your window one cannot right-click, or I have not found a way to get to Screen Grab. My curser always remains as a hand.

If you look down in the lower right corner of the browser - above the time display in your windows toolbar - you should see some icons. One of those icons is for Screengrab! and you can click on it and get the same menu you would get had you right clicked on the page.

Revisiting this subject, has anyone noticed that if you try to use the Yahoo selection in a larger window ( say the 3200x2400 selection), Yahoo zooms completely out in the new window. It doesn't retain the lat/long and size dimensions. Or is it just me?

Revisiting this subject, has anyone noticed that if you try to use the Yahoo selection in a larger window ( say the 3200x2400 selection), Yahoo zooms completely out in the new window. It doesn't retain the lat/long and size dimensions. Or is it just me?

Hi,I just made a small test and it seems to work OK. I did not grab the 4X4 larger window and resize it by a 4x4 down factor to compare with the starting window (the one one the main page) but it looked as if they were right.One thing that I do not know is what happens when there are no images at the higher resolution. May be you could try to check if there are tiles at a 4x higher zoom before applying for the 3200x2400 window. It is just an idea.Regards,Luis

Yep, that was it my friend. I was zooming in too close at first so the larger window had nowhere to go I guess. Many thx,Clutch