Introduction on Downfallnotes

Batch Regex Replace Script

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Batch Regex Replace Script #

Disclaimer: This script is really niche, but has come in handy when dealing with lots of text objects that contain labels driven by multiple attribute fields. Ok, into the weeds:

Labeling with multiple attribute fields. Sometimes I’ll need to label a set of hundreds of points with multiple attribute fields. MAPublisher can do this easily enough, but I often don’t want them to be broken up into separate text objects. Aligning and moving them around accurately can be quite a chore. Luckily, it’s easy enough to concatenate attributes together into a new field and then label the points with that field. Other text can be added in as well. For example, to concatenate The Name field and Population field together into a newly created citypoplbl field, along with some other text (more on this later), we could do the following:

(Name)& "$Pop.$" &(Population)

Batch replace glyphs/font shields with ai symbols in MAPublisher LabelPro

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Batch replace glyphs/font shields with ai symbols in MAPublisher LabelPro #

Replace text glyph shields with your own Illustrator symbols en-masse! What is this magic? We’ll use a custom shields file, a selection trick, and a script to make it happen. If this is interesting to you, read on..

Overview #

When I make maps with Avenza MAPublisher, one of the common things that I need to do is place shield labels on roads. This is possible with an extra extension to the base MAPublisher license called MAP LabelPro. It’s worth noting that this requires an additional up-front cost and annual maintenance fee.

Custom Scripts and Shortcuts for Cartography

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Custom Scripts and Shortcuts for Cartography #

2017 NACIS presentation #

Back in 2017 I gave a presentation about a set of custom scripts and shortcuts for enhanced productivity in Adobe Illustrator. They have proven indispensable for me and my cartographic work. If you want to spend less time in menus and also have some special tools to help you make maps, check out the video below. There are also installation videos for Mac and Windows. I’ve updated the shortcuts and scripts for Illustrator 2020 on Mac and Windows. Download the scripts and shortcuts here.

Expressions in MAPublisher

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Expressions in MAPublisher #

A group of snippets to help you manipulate attributes in MAPublisher

Select Empty Fields #

The key here is to have an empty space between the quote marks

COLUMN_NAME=" "

Concatenate two fields #

Make a new, empty field with the type you want (string/text), and using the ‘Apply Expression’ option from the MAP Attributes panel menu, this will merge ‘column1’ and ‘column 2’ with a space in between and save it as the value in the newly created column.

Switch Between GDAL Versions

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Switch Between GDAL Versions #

I’m a big fan of QGIS and use it all the time. It’s gotten so stable and fast. It is such a joy to use now! On one of the recent versions that I upgraded to it went from using GDAL 1.11.x to using 2.1.x. This is great, but sometimes I need to be able to write to File Geodatabases. The FileGDB driver and the ESRI FileGDB API SDK that I installed for GDAL 1.11.x no longer works under GDAL 2.1, and as far as I can tell, there is no ESRI FileGDB API SDK that is compatible with GDAL 2.1.x.

Importing Natural Earth Data geopackage into PostGIS

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Tutorial Videos #

This covers the steps outlined below for those inclined to video.

Natural Earth Data #

The Natural Earth datasets are an incredible resource. If you’re a cartographer you probably already know about it, and if not, you should definitely check it out. It’s a project spearheaded by some fantastic folks affiliated with NACIS. NACIS is a great organization that does so much for the cartographic community–check them out! I use Natural Earth Data a lot so it made sense for me to get all of the data into a format where I could import/crop any dataset into my Illustrator/MAPublisher document without having to even touch a GIS.

OGR format conversion

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

OGR format conversion #

Find/Replace/Append #

From time to time I need to edit attributes in the MAPublisher MAP Attributes table. Typically this is for formatting the names of features before generating labels. This example is working with the WPDA dataset and labeling a subset of the polygons. In this case I wanted to label all of the National Parks. Some of the values in the NAME field had “National Park” somewhere in the name, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end.

ogr2ogr - working with file geodatabases (.gdb)

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

ogr2ogr - working with file geodatabases (.gdb) #

import a .gdb into a new, blank .gdb #

ogr2ogr -progress -f "FileGDB" canvec_250K_Hydro.gdb canvec_250K_AB_Hydro.gdb

import a whole folder of .gdb’s to append to the one just created (minus the one used to create): #

for f in *.gdb; do ogr2ogr -update -append -progress canvec_250K_Hydro.gdb $f -f "FileGDB"; done;

import a single gdb into postgis #

ogr2ogr -overwrite -progress -skipfailures -f “PostgreSQL” PG:“dbname=dm106 user=jrobertson port=5432” /Users/jrobertson/data/_Generic/DM10.6/ACA_DataMaps106_base.gdb –config PG_USE_COPY YES

Propex HS2000 thermostat: temperature setting chart

Thu, 22 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I just installed a Propex HS2000 heater in my truck camper and fired it up for the first time yesterday. The fan noise is a little louder and hi-pitched than I thought it would be, but it seems to sip propane pretty slowly and draws 1.8A @ 12v when running. It’s exciting to have warm air flowing in the camper!

One of my goals for the heater is to be able to keep the camper from freezing while i’m out all day doing an activity in cold weather, but not burn a ton of fuel in the process. Luckily, it looks like the thermostat that comes with the unit has a wide range of settings to allow it to maintain an indoor temp minimum of 39.2 degrees F. (4 degrees C). I’ve mounted a second thermometer with a temperature probe set right at the thermostat in order to see what the comparison is between the two. Here’s the chart for the temperature settings. I’ll report back later after some more use.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Buttons #

Buttons are styled links that can lead to local page or external link.

Example #

{{< button relref="/" [class="..."] >}}Get Home{{< /button >}}
{{< button href="https://github.com/alex-shpak/hugo-book" >}}Contribute{{< /button >}}

Get Home Contribute

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Columns #

Columns help organize shorter pieces of content horizontally for readability.

Example #

{{% columns [ratio="1:1"] [class="..."] %}} <!-- begin columns block -->
# Left Content
Lorem markdownum insigne...

<---> <!-- magic separator, between columns -->

# Mid Content
Lorem markdownum insigne...

<---> <!-- magic separator, between columns -->

# Right Content
Lorem markdownum insigne...
{{% /columns %}}

Left Content #

Lorem markdownum insigne. Olympo signis Delphis! Retexi Nereius nova develat stringit, frustra Saturnius uteroque inter! Oculis non ritibus Telethusa protulit, sed sed aere valvis inhaesuro Pallas animam: qui quid, ignes. Miseratus fonte Ditis conubia.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Details #

Details shortcode is a helper for details html5 element. It is going to replace expand shortcode.

Example #

{{% details "Title" [open] %}}
## Markdown content
Lorem markdownum insigne...
{{% /details %}}

{{% details title="Title" open=true %}}
## Markdown content
Lorem markdownum insigne...
{{% /details %}}

Title

Markdown content #

Lorem markdownum insigne…

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hints #

Hint shortcode can be used as hint/alerts/notification block.
There are 3 colors to choose: info, warning and danger.

{{% hint [info|warning|danger] %}}
**Markdown content**  
Lorem markdownum insigne. Olympo signis Delphis! Retexi Nereius nova develat
stringit, frustra Saturnius uteroque inter! Oculis non ritibus Telethusa
{{% /hint %}}

Example #

Markdown content
Lorem markdownum insigne. Olympo signis Delphis! Retexi Nereius nova develat stringit, frustra Saturnius uteroque inter! Oculis non ritibus Telethusa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mermaid Chart #

MermaidJS is library for generating svg charts and diagrams from text.

Override Mermaid initialization config
To override the initialization config for Mermaid, create a mermaid.json file in your assets folder!

Example #

{{< mermaid [class="..."] >}}
stateDiagram-v2
    State1: The state with a note
    note right of State1
        Important information! You can write
        notes.
    end note
    State1 --> State2
    note left of State2 : This is the note to the left.
{{< /mermaid >}}

stateDiagram-v2
    State1: The state with a note
    note right of State1
        Important information! You can write
        notes.
    end note
    State1 --> State2
    note left of State2 : This is the note to the left.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

First page #

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Second Page #

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tabs #

Tabs let you organize content by context, for example installation instructions for each supported platform.

{{< tabs "id" >}}
{{% tab "MacOS" %}} # MacOS Content {{% /tab %}}
{{% tab "Linux" %}} # Linux Content {{% /tab %}}
{{% tab "Windows" %}} # Windows Content {{% /tab %}}
{{< /tabs >}}

Example #

MacOS

MacOS #

This is tab MacOS content.

KaTeX

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

KaTeX #

KaTeX shortcode let you render math typesetting in markdown document. See KaTeX

Example #

{{< katex display=true >}}
f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty\hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}\,d\xi
{{< /katex >}}

\[ f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty\hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}\,d\xi \]

Display Mode Example #

Here is some inline example: $\pi(x)$ , rendered in the same line. And below is display example, having display: block \[ f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty\hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}\,d\xi \] Text continues here.