TYP file compiler

Another recent feature added is the ability to compile TYP file from the .txt format.

There is no special option needed, just place the .txt file on the command line wherever you would normally put a .typ file and it will be compiled to a .typ file with the same name and processed as though you had put that file on the command line.

A TYP file has a family id, and this must match the map it is used with. To make this easy, the family id is set automatically by mkgmap to the family-id that is being used to compile the map set. This will override any family id that is set within the TYP txt file itself. If no family-id option is given then the one in the txt file will be used.

The compiler supports some of the newer features in the TYP file:

• images with single colour transparency (gif-style)
• images with partially transparent colours (alpha channel)
• true colour images (16 million colours)
• true colour images with transparency
• Icons containing the same image in different resolutions, that can be displayed at a high resolution on newer devices.

The .txt files are best created with a graphical editor such as TYPWiz or the ati land web based editor.

There is a wiki page that describes the language that is accepted at mkgmap typ compile if you want to write software to create such files or even create them by hand! The compiler also attempts to read files produced by all the major know editors in addition to the recommended syntax described on that page.