set file=http://www.reconbyfire.net/cgi-bin/getpic?photo/tilepic/image.tjp
set Path=C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-6.4.5-Q16\;C:\Program Files\Wget-1.11.4\;%Path%

cls
wget %file% -q -O - > info.txt

type info.txt | find /I "width" > width.txt
set /p width= < width.txt
set width=%width:width=%
set width=%width:~1%

type info.txt | find /I "height" > height.txt
set /p height= < height.txt
set height=%height:height=%
set height=%height:~1%

type info.txt | find /I "tilewidth" > tilewidth.txt
set /p tilewidth= < tilewidth.txt
set tilewidth=%tilewidth:tilewidth=%
set tilewidth=%tilewidth:~1%

type info.txt | find /I "tileheight" > tileheight.txt
set /p tileheight= < tileheight.txt
set tileheight=%tileheight:tileheight=%
set tileheight=%tileheight:~1%

type info.txt | find /I "numfiles" > numfiles.txt
set /p numfiles= < numfiles.txt
set numfiles=%numfiles:numfiles=%
set numfiles=%numfiles:~1%

set /a cols=%width%/%tilewidth%+1
set /a rows=%height%/%tileheight%+1
set /a first=%numfiles%-%cols%*%rows%
set i=%first%
set j=0
:loop
set /a i+=1
if %i% gtr %numfiles% goto :doneloop
set image=temp-%i%.jpg
wget %file%^&%i% -q -O %image%
echo.%i% of %numfiles%
goto :loop
:doneloop
:loop2
set /a j+=1
if %j% gtr %rows% goto :doneloop2
set string=
set /a start=%first%+(%j%-1)*%cols%
set /a last=%first%+%j%*%cols%-1
set /a k=%start%-1
:loop3
set /a k+=1
if %k% gtr %last% goto :doneloop3
set string=%string% temp-%k%.jpg
goto :loop3
:doneloop3
montage %string% -tile %cols%x1 -mode concatenate row-%j%.jpg
goto loop2
:doneloop2
set string=
set j=0
:loop4
set /a j+=1
if %j% gtr %rows% goto :doneloop4
set string=%string% row-%j%.jpg
goto loop4
:doneloop4
convert %string% -append final.jpg
del width.txt
del height.txt
del tilewidth.txt
del tileheight.txt
del numfiles.txt
del info.txt
del temp-*.jpg
del row-*.jpg

The above script will download and reconstruct most TilePic images without problems. Some modifications may be required to handle exceptions, e.g. when all tiles have exactly the same dimensions, as this is just a first attempt to make a script running on a Windows machine.

Downloading the high-resolution image from the Tilepic file requires some knowledge on the location of the file on the server. This information can be found in the source code of the webpage and may for example be /photo/tilepic/image.tjp. The following script will download all tiles from all levels of the Tilepic image defined by $file.

file='http://www.reconbyfire.net/cgi-bin/getpic?photo/tilepic/image.tjp'
images=`wget $file -q -O - | grep numfiles | awk -F= '{print $2}'`
for ((i = 1; i <= images; i++)) do
wget $file'&'$i -q
echo $i' of '$images
done

After downloading all tiles, the number of tiles ($cols and $rows) of the highest level can easily be determined. The $first parameter is the file number of the tile in the upper left corner in this level. The following script will stitch the tiles of the highest level to re-create the high-resolution image. The tiles in the last column and last row will not have the same dimensions as the other tiles, because the resolution of the original image is unlikely to be an exact multiple of a single tile. The programs montage and convert are part of the ImageMagick package.

file='getpic?photo%2Ftilepic%2Fimage.tjp&'
cols=30
rows=20
first=208
for ((j = 1; j <= $rows; j++)) do
string=''
for ((i = ($first+($j-1)*$cols); i < ($first+$j*$cols); i++)) do
string=$string' '$file$i
echo $j' of '$rows' image '$i
done
montage $string -tile $cols''x1 -mode concatenate row$j.jpg
done
string=''
for ((j = 1; j <= $rows; j++)) do
string=$string' 'row$j.jpg
done
convert $string -append final.jpg

The satellite photographs provided by Google Maps are also served in tiles and a similar script can be made to download the images of a particular area. However, the tiles have been named in a quadrant-like structure, which requires a more complicated script to stitch the tiles with rows and columns.

Since that post, I have managed to restrained myself from shooting cats and from taking a crap in someone’s garden. Instead, I have tried pepper, used coffee grinds and other eco-friendly plant extract chemicals. However, for some reason the cats in my neighborhood like their food spicy, are addicted to caffeine and have lost all sense of smell. Non of the so-called household solutions appeared to work here. Eventually I bought a battery-powered ultrasonic cat repelling device and this actually works like a charm. The cats even remind me when the battery needs to be replaced. Electronics to the rescue! Let me know if you have ideas on how to boost its power to include the other side of the house.

These two excerpts from old posts show it was not straightforward to maintain a weblog with just some ideas in mind, but without enough free time to collect the content for the posts. My objectives for this blog have changed in the past three years. I have made the decision to remove all previous posts and to start over. The amount of free time has improved and I should be able to find enough content from daily nuisances, ongoing projects and new experiences.