How To : make a Mediascape using a blank map.
These are the rough steps required when making a Mediascape like the Gulbenkian Gardens, where you do not have access to a map and do not wish to use one of the wizards.In the maker: 1) Create blank map (see instructions below) 2) Create all the regions
3) Make a new folder in the State section (Saved_Game) and create number variables to store the x and y coords for all the regions. Also create two variables outside of the saved folder to temporarily store the current X and Y values. e.g
4) For the Map on the onLocationChange event add the following code so that whenever your location changes the new coordinates are saved into your X and Y variables so that you can use this information to set the new locations of the regions.
5) Create an image (placer) with hotspot for each region
6) For each hotspot, in the onTapped event add the code to move the relevant region and store the new coordinates in the variables. It is also useful to make a small sound play when the hotspot is tapped so that you know it was pressed OK. e.g
7) Add code to another hotspot to save the new values of the variables
8) Create another image (start) with a hotspot which when tapped loads the values from the variables in the saved store into the values for all the regions. E.g
9) Add code so that the start and placer images can be shown by pressing the hardware buttons (or you could make an additional image with hotspots which is shown when the Mediascape is first loaded or when the button on the MapDisplayer is pressed, which links to these two images)
Outside: 10) Load the Mediascape and bring up the image with the region hotspots 11) Walk to where you wish to place a region and tap the relevant hotspot, then repeat until you are happy with the positions of all your regions. 12) Save the variables by pressing the save hotspot 13) Exit the Mediascape and re-load it, this time press the start hotspot so that the saved locations are loaded making the regions move to where you placed them, you can then experience the Mediascape as normal.
In the Maker: 14) If you wish to make it so that the regions are fixed to their new positions so that you don't have to load the saved data every time you wish to play the Mediascape you will have to transfer the saved data from the device onto your PC. (Content folder for your Mediascape -> _stored -> Store00.xml )You can open the XML file in a simple text editor. Set the X and Y in the Properties box for each of the regions to the values that you saved in the xml file.
15) If you want to see where the regions are in the MapDisplayer add a Pin to the centre of each of the regions, and set ShowOnMapDisplayer to be true in each Pins Properties box. At the same time that the regions positions are moved and saved, you should make that same value the position for the Pin. This will also help to re-centre the map.
How to make a blank map: 1) Outside - Using a GPS device stand where you wish the centre of your map area to be and note the latitude and longitude. 2) At computer - Using a coordinate transform program e.g http://www.gps2cad.com/coordtrans/coordconvert.aspx convert the latitude and longitude into UTM data grid coordinates. 3) Imagine a square large enough to cover the area for you mediascape where the centre of the square is the UTM coordinate you recorded earlier. Calculate the coordinates for the corners of your square from the centre value. 4) Create a blank square image in a paint program. 5) Using the create map from image tool to create a map using the blank image and the coordinates you calculated. Here is the final blank map with all the regions in the correct places viewed in the maker
