To draw a new line, move the cursor to the new starting point and hit EDIT-NEW. After indicating a line name and the color, each movement and press of the right mouse button will add a new point.
This mode makes it possible to use the mouse as a digitizer tablet! Simply attach a cardboard pointer anywhere on the mouse. The location does not matter, since every movement is relative anyway. Then lay out the map to be digitized on a smooth surface. As long as the mouse is aligned perfectly with the up/down and right/left axis of the map, then it can be used to digitize a map. Here are the details:
1. Layout the map at a comfortable angle that matches the normal angle that you use the mouse. This will help assure that you always keep the mouse oriented with the axies of the map.
2. Next, OPEN the COMM port for digitizer operations with alt-O and select the POOR-MANS-MOUSE-DIGITIZER mode. You will be prompted to determine exactly how much mouse movement equals how much LAT/LONG. Ignore the visual cursor during this process and simply move your mouse (with cardboard pointer) between the two LATITUDE and then the two LONGITUDE marks as prompted.
3. Since all movements of the mouse are RELATIVE, you will need several locations on the map that you are building that are absolute reference points. If you are adding roads to an existing APRS map, then you can use any existing intersections as good reference points (although the accurracy of some of the USGS CD ROM maps is questionable below 16 miles scale). If you are starting from scratch, then mark 4 or more LAT/LONG intesections in the center of the four quadrants of the map you are going to digitize. Transfer these to MAPFIXER by moving the cursor on the screen to where the cursor LAT/LONG coordinates match as close as you can get to the coordinates of the reference points. Press F8 to add a marker at each of those points.
4. Begin building your map using the mouse and the alt-NEW command. Move the mouse to the start of a new feature, and press alt-NEW. After answering the line name (the name is only a reference and will not be used unless you do some TEXT editing on the file), and feature color, then move the mouse along the feature and press the left button each time you want to add a point to the feature. SEE STEP 5 !!
5. At the beginning of each feature AND AT ANY TIME you suspect that your mouse may have slipped, MOVE THE SCREEN CURSOR BACK TO A REFERENCE POINT. Then lift the mouse and move it also to the reference point on your map. Then roll the mouse out to where you are working and continue. This should keep your mouse calibrated to the reference point.
6. ALWAYS KEEP THE MOUSE PERFECTLY ALLIGNED up/down/left/right with the map LAT/LONG orientation during all movements.
7. NEVER MOVE THE MOUSE EVEN a HAIR if the left button is pressed. This will generate LOTS of unwanted and un-necessary points.
NOTES: You will notice that the POOR-MANS-MOUSE-DIGITIZER mode will work at all scales. In other words, as you zoom in, the mouse movement becomes amplified to match the higher scale of the map. Conversly, in normal mouse mode, the mouse movement remains the same at ALL scales, since its movement is NOT scaled to exact LAT/LONG coordinates.
The MAP reference markers are added to the map as typical features. If you want to remove them, use the normal MAPFIXER commands for deleting points...