IPCT Introducing CCTV Mapper - Free design tool!

[Mike]

Hey everyone,

I've been extremely busy lately building this, which has been in the works for close to 3 years now (was on pause for most of that time due to life). I am happy to introduce CCTV Mapper, free to all IPCT members (with included premium packages for IPCT+ and IPCT Contributors), this tool will be part of the IPCT+ package and also available as a standalone service. As an installer, I got sick of paying to use other services to generate maps and I don't like the free versions, so I built my own. Please everyone check it out, just make sure to sign up with the same email you have on file with IPCT so you get the premium package if you're already an IPCT+ member or Contributor. You can visit the URL below or find the mapper under IPCT Tools.

CCTV Mapper - Security System Design Tool

Plan, document, and share CCTV layouts directly on the map with CCTV Mapper.

cctvmapper.com

CCTV Mapper - Security System Design Tool

Plan, document, and share CCTV layouts directly on the map with CCTV Mapper.

cctvmapper.com

Thanks for all of the support, I hope some of you find this tool useful.

-Mike

 

[33696933]

Cool. Playing around with it and how do you get a FoV lower than 10 degrees? thx

 

[bp2008]

This is great @Mike!

I really like that you can add switches, cables, etc.


Issues:

• Lens size dropdown box is full of resolutions, not lens sizes.
• This text is barely legible at lower DPI scales:
  
• Pressing keyboard keys has weird behavior, seems to make this box appear around things randomly with no apparent purpose.
  
  
  
  Logically, the delete key should bring up a dialog asking for confirmation to delete the selected device -- that is what I was trying when I noticed this.

Not to dump a lot of work onto you, but I already have a wish list.

Wish list:

• Let the map zoom in much, much, (much) farther. I want to be able to zoom in so far that device icons take up less space than the real-life objects. This will make it far easier to work with a dense layout of devices.
• Preferences page with choice of distance unit (meters/feet/yards/etc.).
• More camera color choices.
• Variable opacity for camera icon and FOV overlay (<input type="range">).
• Allow a larger range of camera FoVs. For example there are a lot of dual sensor panoramic cameras now that can reach or slightly exceed 180 degree view, PTZs or varifocals that can zoom further than 10 degrees.
• For a given target range and FOV, you should be able to calculate the frame width (in meters or other preferred distance unit) (and height if aspect ratio is known) and pixels per foot, to show somewhere, e.g. in that Simulated View window where you show the distance to target.
  
  I don't know the correct math for this, it isn't exactly trivial. Consider for example, a 180 degree cam would have a technically infinite horizontal frame width in meters at any distance from the camera.
  
  
• Consider using HTML5 history API to add URL parameters to the current URL that reflect the map's pan and zoom position. Currently the saved project system makes this not entirely necessary but it could be good for people to share locations easily.
• Consider putting an X in the corner of the device properties panel which can be clicked to unselect the device and return to the device list. I realize you can just click a blank part of the map to do this but it took a moment to realize that.
  
  
  
  
• In the Devices list view, items should be reorderable via click-and-drag. On touchscreens, long press to begin dragging. You can also make the device vibrate when dragging begins, as a nice form of immediate feedback to let the user know they've held long enough they can begin moving.
  
  
• In the Devices list view, have an "Edit Visibility" mode that injects checkboxes next to each category and device so you can toggle their visibility on the map. Kind of like how in mobile apps, gmail for example, you can enter a multi-select mode which causes checkboxes to appear next to each email in a list.
  
  Here's a very crude mockup of what I mean.
  
  
  
  Note the checkbox at the category level would be in an indeterminate state if the child objects are not all in the same state.
  
  Hidden items should still appear in the device list and be selectable (causing them to appear on the map while selected), but have lower opacity in the list when outside of Edit Visibility mode. E.g:
  
  

• An undo function (CTRL + Z or something) would be nice in case you accidentally drag something you didn't mean to. I know that is a can of worms to implement, and not a really big deal anyway.

 

[bp2008]

Another few things.

Double right clicking the map for some reason zooms out.

I created a distance line. I notice it doesn't appear in the device list (not necessarily a problem, just an observation that not everything you put on the map appears in this list).

The context menu does not open when you right click the vertices of the distance line, which makes it unnecessarily tricky if there are a lot of vertices. Vertices should have a context menu with the same options as the line's context menu, plus the ability to delete the vertex. Currently I can find no way to delete a vertex but I can create new ones by dragging a blue dot on the line.

Renaming the line via its context menu, the name change does not take effect if you click out of the box without pressing Enter.

Also the text input overflows its container.

 

[bp2008]

I cant connect a PoE switch to another PoE switch.