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The Verne Virtual Voyages Atlas Project?

From: Stuart Williams <captain_nemo~at~btinternet.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 07:13:34 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

Sean, Ron, Garmt et al:

1. QUALITY ISSUES

My impression is that there is nothing wrong with the quality of the scans
Sean has posted so far in jpeg - the larger scans print very well, so I
think on the present settings there would be no advantage in using another
format. Indeed, the 50% scale 349k jpeg file saves at 846k when converted
to GIF, so there are obvious disadvantages when downloading.

Frankly, I had never heard of PNG until reading James' helpful comments, and
though I note that Photoshop and Word both recognise it, I wonder if lesser
programs would?

1a. RESOLUTION

The resolution issue as applied to web pages is really down to the fact that
72dpi screen resolution cannot in all honestly resolve graphics of this
physical size on a single screen from a small file. It would be difficult
to present the maps adequately as a series of web pages other than as
thumbnails linked to higher res files that would need to be downloaded or
viewed bit by bit while scrolling back and forth.

2. WEB PRESENTATION/DOWNLOAD

I think the real issue is in what format the maps will be made available via
the web.

I suggest that they be made available both individually as jpegs and
collectively as a pdf file of the entire Atlas (how many pages are we taking
about in total, by the way?). That would keep the download time down for
those who are interested in just one or two voyages, but still make the
entire original available for completeness.

Perhaps the best option is to 1. Set up the Atlas Index online as a web
site with thumbnail hyperlinks to individual downloadable map jpegs of good
resolution (ie the full res version Sean has so far posted) and in addition
2. To make available the entire Atlas as originally printed as a separate
downloadable PDF file, with the pure text pages re-typed.

Without seeing the Atlas, I cannot tell how much text is associated with
each map or otherwise, so perhaps Ron or Sean can advise? And indeed, on
how many pages there are altogether?

3. THE VERNE VIRTUAL VOYAGES ATLAS PROJECT
(fancy that as a title, gentlemen? VVV instead of WWW :-)

Sean, thanks for your comments on my suggestions - we can work on the Atlas
linkup idea in more detail when you've had chance to get some scanning done
for your own needs - there is no rush. Meanwhile if you, Garmt and Ron are
happy for me to proceed on a preliminary basis, I will take a look at the
possible design of the portal site and advise you all when I have something
on line for your comments and suggestions. If you, Garmt and Ron have any
ideas on what might be included, and indeed how you would prefer you work to
feature, they would be welcome - after all I will be linking your work
together so all your input is vital.

I am prepared, with Ron's permission, to make available his entire
publication online, not just the maps, if he would like to see this done.
It sounds like a work every Vernian will want to see in full!

If you can scan the entire Ron Miller Atlas at the highest of the three
resolutions you used for these example scans, in jpeg, perhaps you can then
arrange to send me a CDR of the scans? If necessary I can then reduce the
size for the PDF version. I agree it would probably be best to re-type the
Foreword, Introduction, Index and extensive Bibilography with Annotations,
as well as any other non-map textual content (as you say, with Ron's
permission)- both from a quality point of view and to reduce the download
size of a PDF version. I am happy to do that re-typing in Word, then once
the whole Atlas is in Word format it can easily be edited and output as a
PDF. Obviously any OCR'd text you can supply with the scans would be a
time-saver.

There are other aspects to be considered - various people have offered info
on locations, tourist venues, Verne-related places, place names etc. All of
this can eventually be added into a project like this, or linked in from
other people's own web sites to form a world-wide virtual atlas of great
scope. Some might even contribute photos of the various locations, etc, and
it would be fun at some point to try out a couple of the voyages in the real
world :-)

This will be the core of a very exciting project I think many of us can
contribute to over time.

Stuart

--
Stuart Williams
The Jules Verne Society (GB)
26 Matlock Road, Bloxwich, WS3 3QD, England.
Personal Email:  captain_nemo~at~btinternet.com
Society Email:   jvs.gb~at~btinternet.com
Web Site:  www.julesvernesociety.f2s.com
~ 'MOBILIS IN MOBILE' ~

Received on Sat 14 Jul 2001 - 09:09:30 IDT

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