Techy Stuff

Ghost PLUZ Google Map

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I’ve spent the last few days turning the Government of Alberta PDF map of the Ghost Public Land Use Zone, into an actual functional map, that can be viewed on Google Maps, or downloaded as a KML/KMZ and then converted for use on another GPS system. (To download KML/KMZ, open the Google My Maps link, click the 3 dots at the top of the legend, and select the “Export” option.)

For reference, here is the link to the AB Government PDF map.  It can only be viewed with the georeferenced (GIS) context on the Avenza PDF Maps app for IOS or Android. As this is an incredible pain to use, I took it upon myself to recreate the map by making it an overlay in Google Earth, and then individually tracing out each line.

Here is the link to the version I’ve created, using Google’s My Maps feature. If you want me to make additions, or fix something I got wrong, contact me at my email and I will do my best to respond.

I take no responsibility for you staring at this map and driving off of a cliff; this is only provided as a navigational aid. Some lines may be slightly inaccurate. I created this using the May 2018 map, but as of the April 2019 map nothing has changed. I will take efforts to update this as each year passes.

There are individual layers for public highways, 4×4 trails, OHV trails, motorbike only trails, information kiosks, and various other things I don’t feel like listing.

If you are going to link to this map elsewhere, please leave credit to this page as I spent a long while recreating every single line.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1QM_Ve3nkKx03QhbImXX4r9ScTWIpMa2b&w=100%&h=900]

How I’ve made this site what it is

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Nobody gives a damn, probably, but this can at least be used for my own personal abilities to refer back to.  

The computers I edit this site with are:

2011 Mac Mini 5,1 – 8GB RAM, 240GB SSD + 4TB external storage, MacOS 10.13.3

2012 Mac Mini 6,1 – 8GB RAM, 240GB SSD + 4TB external storage, macOS 10.14

2015 MacBook Pro 15” – 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD + 500GB external SSD, 2.2GHz i7, MacOS 10.14

Both Computers, Currently on High Sierra, run iWeb 3.0.4. Refer to my other blog post on iWeb tips & tricks to know how I sync the iWeb document across computers. This site uses the “White” theme. Font for most things is Helvetica Neue Light, or Regular.

iWeb Advice

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Syncing iWeb files across Macs

It probably is no secret that I use Apple’s 6 year discontinued software iWeb to create this website, but that has created some issues for my modern needs. I use this site for hosting of many things, but one of them is recording all the ridiculous quotes that my friends say. 

This means I need to have access to the site from anywhere, even though I started out creating this on my Mac Mini server at my house.

Instead of trying to use Back to My Mac to screen share the Mac Mini, I set out to find a way of syncing the Domain.sites2 file.

There are a lot of tutorials out there that recommend just dragging the file to the Dropbox folder, and double clicking that to open the site. That doesn’t work, because iWeb will only read the file from it’s native directory.

There is an app, called MacDropAny, which supposedly creates symbolic links and allows you to sync files with any cloud source, but it seemed to only recognize them as an alias, and couldn’t sync the files back. 

In the end, my solution was a bit of terminal work. First, on the source computer where the original file resides, create a symbolic link of the .sites2 file to iCloud drive. (Or whatever hosting solution is best for you.) Paste this command into the Terminal app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

ln -s ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2 ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/iWeb/Domain.sites2

Then, on the other computer(s) that you would like to access the file from, create a symbolic link from iCloud Drive to your local iWeb folder. (make sure there is not already a file with the same name in the local iWeb folder.) Paste this command into the Terminal app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

ln -s ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/iWeb/Domain.sites2 ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2

Caution:

Do not use this for collaboration, or attempt to work on this from two computers at the same time. This could severely corrupt your entire Domain.sites2 file. Make sure that you make regular backups, as well. I am not responsible for if your multimillion dollar corporation’s site crashes, or if you have a severe breakdown because you couldn’t blog the latest gluten-free, vegan, free-range, organic kale salad that you just ate.