Well I decided that I needed to check everything starting from Cromwell so that is where I have been busy for the last few days. As it happens I had two sets of aerial photo mosaics from Cromwell, and they didn’t match up, so I re-rendered both the full and part sets of retro images from the Gimp project file. A full image is displaying all of the retro aerial photo (1962 in this case) and a part image is displaying only what has been masked out of the base image (the present day coverage). So that has been going on in parallel with the Addington stuff, using a 2nd computer. And then I have got the aerials loaded into the map project to start checking them. So far I have worked my way down to the original Clyde station, using the originals to recheck detail.
The next step is to get the Clyde data ready for rendering the multi-generational maps. This means running filters on all the data tables and checking that they display the correct details, for each generation that I have the background images available for. After that it is a case of working down the line to Alexandra and doing the same thing there, in both cases the aerial photos for these areas were done some time ago and are assumed to be correct.
After that it will be a case of updating the photo album for Alexandra-Cromwell with the maps so that it is up to date, and the albums for major and minor stations as well. From there it is a case of working down from Alexandra to Ranfurly, and from Ranfurly to Wingatui. Alexandra to Ranfurly is mostly done already, except for Auripo station which I still have to finish off, so it will be mainly a case of checking the aerial photos are all complete. Except for the stations which nearly all have retros available, the imagery will be the recent/current LINZ stuff. Ranfurly to Wingatui is the part that needs the most work, as the only stations completed are the ones that were used to illustrate the Observer article.
That article has just been published and the magazine released. I am certainly pleased to have completed that series. Part 3 was the hardest to write, and this will be obvious in the style of writing, which is a bit more technical and less creative. I am planning to republish all three articles on this blog in due course, probably when the maps are complete or in about a year, and will exploit the ability to include much more illustrations in a blog than in the original magazine articles. Part 3 also includes a lot of detail about private sidings at Alexandra as this information was obtained when I visited Dunedin at Christmas 2017.