Overlay Mapper
The Overlay Mapper is at the heart of 'NAOMI'. Its 1020 x 650 pixel maps include 47 maps at 1:2,000,000 scale and 2 overview maps at 1:20,000,000 scale. Zoom is not available. When the program starts it will load the Overlay Map that contains your Home Position, if that position is represented in the map-set. To change this, click 'Config > Set Program Options > User Details'.
The tab-page layout shows (from left to right):
a/ The 'Map Select' button, which you use to select a new map. Clicking it will open a small window that shows a satellite photograph of North America. The map that is currently selected will be outlined in light-blue. As you move your mouse over the small window, it will show the available maps by outlining the area in a darker blue. Click any of these to select a new map.
b/ A 4x2 grid of buttons that are used to select the map background. Each map has 8 backgrounds: CQ Zones, ITU Zones, Time Zones, ARRL Sections, States and Provinces, Counties and Municipal Regions, Satellite Photo, Relief Map, plus a placeholder that is used when all backgrounds are off. If we are showing the OverView or the Alaska map, the Backgrounds have a 'Lights' layer instead of a 'Counties and Municipal Regions' layer.
c/ An 8x2 grid of buttons that are used to select the map foregrounds. Each map has 16 foregrounds: State, County, Areacode, Zipcode, Water, Urban Areas, Major City, Minor Town, Roads, Railroads, Prefix, Section, IOTA, Flags, Grid Locators, Lat/Lon 1 degree.
If we are showing the OverView or the Alaska map, the Foregrounds have a 'Hams' layer instead of a 'Zipcode' layer, and a 'LatLon 5 degree' layer instead of a 'Minor Town' layer.
When showing either of the two overview layers, a left-click will load the larger-scale map for that position.
You can choose which background and foreground layers are turned on automatically when a new map is selected by clicking 'Config > Set Program Options > Overlay Map'.
The Overlay Map has a right-click Context Menu. You can find out about this in the 'Mapping Right-Click Context Menus' help-page.
Background-overlays. (For more information). These are:
CQ Zones, defined by color, border and number.
ITU Zones, defined by color, border and number.
Time Zones, defined by color, border and number.
ARRL Sections, defined by color and border. Where there is no section, such as in Mexico, Greenland, or the Bahamas, the dark-blue background color is used.
State/Province areas, defined by color and border.
County/Municipal Region areas, defined by color and border. Canada and Mexico do not have counties, so municipal regions were used instead.
Composite Satellite Photo, with no added boundaries.
Colored relief or topographical map, with no added boundaries.
Points to mention about the background layers:
The 'Section', 'State', and 'County' background layers have no letters that tell you which zone or region is which. This information is contained in a separate foreground overlay. This lets you compare multiple layers at once, one of the strongest features of an overlay mapping system. You may for instance wish to see where the state boundaries appear on the satellite photo, or which county is in which ARRL section.
The borders between countries are indicated with a thicker, 3 pixel line.
All backgrounds are classed as either dark or light. The color of the foreground overlays will change, depending on which background overlay is currently showing.
You can only have one background overlay on at a time, or none at all. There is no need to turn a background overlay off before turning another one on.
The name of any background overlay that is currently on is indicated by its white text.
Foreground overlays. (For more information). These are:
State/Province borders and text.
County/Municipal Region borders and text.
Areacode borders and text, where available.
3-digit Zipcode borders and text, where available.
Rivers, lakes, water feature names, island and ocean names.
Urbanized Areas.
State/Province Capitals, and Major Cities with a population over 50,000.
Minor Cities with population 10,000-50,000 (bold color) and <10,000 (weak color).
Interstates and US Routes, with equivalent roads for Canada and Mexico.
Railroad lines and routes.
Amateur Radio prefixes, and prefix borders.
ARRL Section borders and text.
IOTA code numbers, corresponding to the RSGB system.
Flags of the World, modified in aspect-ratio to give a constant size.
Grid Locator mesh, with added grid locator information.
1 degree Latitude and Longitude mesh, with regular number idents.
Points to mention about the foreground layers:
You can turn as many foreground layers on at one time as you want, to compare how the data interrelates.
Choose the stacking order for best clarity.
Layers that are turned on are indicated by a lighter button background color.
The layer that is currently on top is indicated with white text.
To bring a buried layer to the top, simply turn it off then on again.
The Overview maps, mentioned above, have a few overlays that are different from the other 47 small-scale maps. The background overlays have one change: instead of the county background there is an overlay called 'Lights', which shows an actual satellite photo of the North American continent at night. The foreground overlays have two changes: instead of the Zipcode borders, there is an overlay showing the distribution of US hams, created from the latest callsign details on the FCC database. Also, instead of the Minor City overlay, there is an overlay showing a 5 degree Latitude and Longitude mesh. When looking at either the OverView or the Alaska map, a left-click will load the correct larger-scale Overlay Map.
Whilst a map is displayed, a variety of very accurate positional, distance, and bearing information relating to the current cursor position and your registered home position is displayed on the status bar, at the bottom of your browser screen. The units and format displayed can all be changed to one of a variety of possibilities, using the 'Set Program Options' menu. For more information about this, visit the Status Bar help-page.