10/18/2023 Map Stopped Working?
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Does anyone have any tricks for stitching together multiple sectionals? Where I live, I need parts of 4 of them, and of course the edges don't line up. I'd like to be able to stitch them together, then crop the area that I want, and then print to a custom size to match a frame that's already built.
For another whole US project, I'd like to take the wall planning chart and print it to a custom size without losing all the detail.
I've got a couple of maps built without frames from sectionals that are glued together that work beautifully, but am hung up on making an image that I can have printed, and finally finish these projects! Any advice?
Thanks!
Great question. I'll try to put together a quick tutorial and post it here and to the web site.
A couple of quick suggestions for now. Download the PDF versions of the sectionals from their web site. The scale and coloring are much more consistent across files for some reason.
Using a graphics editor pull in each sectional, keep the original size (it will be close to what you need to stitch them together) and crop off the edges.
Line them up with each other using the airports as markers. Then tweak the size ever so slightly to get them all to match. You may not be able to keep the original aspect ratio on some of the images, but try to if possible.
Then crop the entire image to the area you want printed. You can add a border at this time as well. I've used the typical border off of a sectional to make it look like a normal sectional map.
Print to a good quality paper, or e-panel. Some have printed to Plexi-Glass as well with good success.
As mentioned, I'll try to get something a little more detailed together to post. - Mark
I started down the road of doing this for the whole US originally. I got a few of them done before realizing the wall map was better due to size/resolution constraints with the sectionals.
Take a look at the following map and if the sectionals you need are done, let me know and I'd be happy to snip that area for you.
Otherwise, I would just comment that it involves a bunch of stretching/skewing to get multiple of them to fit seamlessly. I used photoshop and overlaid on top of the us planning map so they would layout correctly coast to coast. Additionally, if printing large, I would recommend upscaling the image to 600dpi and print it at 600dpi. It made a significant difference in testing.
Cheers!
Vance
Thanks, guys! I live in MI, so I'm looking for a portion of the Detroit, Chicago, Lake Huron, and Green Bay charts. With a lot of our weather growing as it comes over Lake Michigan, I like including about 30 miles west of the western shore of the lake. It looks like Vance has done the 2 bottom sectionals, but not the top 2.
I've got Photoshop, but am definitely not an expert. I've attempted to piece these together a few times, but so far it has just been an exercise in frustration. It was WAY easier to build the rest of the project, thanks to the tremendous work put in on this site. What a cool project, combining some of my loves (aviation and electronics). Unfortunately, art isn't my strong suit. Who would have guessed that this would be the stumbling block?
On a related note, Hobby Lobby sells some decent frames, with glass, in 36x24 and 40x27, pretty cheap. It's a quick and cheap method of speeding up the process, if I can get the print to fit.
Thanks!
Hey KB, I don't mind adding those couple sectionals. It's not a big lift, but it may take me a day or two to get to it. Sit tight and I'll be back in touch shortly.
Cheers.
Hey KB,
Here's a dropbox with a photoshop composite and a jpg clip. Good luck with your project, looking forward to see how it turns out.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/byslhijrxt78b8i/AAC6ViAOAiQPsOm8byonYwx0a?dl=0
Cheers,
Vance
As promised, here a link to a new page on the site that helps explain how to Stitch FAA Sectionals together;
https://www.livesectional.com/stitching-faa-sectionals/
This tutorial uses PhotoShop but there are many graphics programs that can accomplish the same things and the techniques discussed should be easily transferred.
Hope this helps. - Mark
Fantastic, thank you both!
What an awesome site and DIY guide! I was just getting ready to start researching sites that might exist where you can order custom sectional charts when I stumbled across this post 😀
Vance - any chance you are still willing to share your masterful photoshop work? I noticed FL is one of the maps you have completed, which is exactly what I was looking to do. A huge thank you in advance!
