July 13, 2024

PDF page overlay with Go

Recently, I had a need to overlay 2 PDFs in Go.

Some background: I had a semi-complex PDF generated off-line with a Python program and I needed to overlay some simple drawing on top, on-demand using some parameters sent from a website. Since I wanted to deploy on Cloud Run (free for my low-traffic app), in order to avoid issues with cold start, I decided to develop the server in Go. The drawing part was simple: I used fpdf, which worked well.

However, I had a bit of trouble to find a way to overlay the generated PDF on top of the complex pre-generated PDF. Also, when I asked Github Copilot, it kept referring me to the Unidoc library, which is not free. At some point, I realized I could simply use pdfcpu and its watermark feature: It supports both images and PDF so it worked for me.

April 23, 2024

Migrating my blog from Wordpress.com to Hugo & Cloudflare

Migration

A few months ago, I decided to migrate my personal blog (former location) from Wordpress.com (free plan), where I had hosted it since 2008, to a static website (that you are reading now). The reason was that I noticed the ads really taking over the posts: There used to be a banner ad and ads at the end of the posts. But by accident, I browsed my website without UBlock and I saw there were so many ads in the body of the post. One option would have been to go with the paid Starter plan (currently $5, their cheapest paid offering). Instead, I decided to move to a static website.

April 25, 2020

My new hiking guide book: 25 randonnées autour du Lac d'Annecy

My new book is out and is available on Amazon! It was self-published through Amazon KDP and is called: 25 randonnées autour du Lac d’Annecy - Accessibles en transport en commun (25 hikes around Lake Annecy - Accessible with public transport). I finally received a proof copy yesterday (it took a while…) and I am pretty satisfied with how it came out.

Here is a sample PDF with a few hikes: Sample PDF. Also check out the companion web page for the book, with GPS tracks for download, as well as links to additional photos and alternate routes for the hikes.

April 12, 2020

I exist! (on Google Street View)

Last summer, while I was walking around in Annecy-le-Vieux, I saw a Google Street View car doing its thing. Since then, every couple of months, I had been checking that location on Google Maps for an update. After more than 6 months, it was finally updated recently and I am now officially on Google Street View! I appear on 3 photos.

September 17, 2019

Self-publishing a Print-On-Demand color photo book with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

Recently, I published a new book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It is a Print-On-Demand color photo book titled “Croix de Savoie” (Crosses of Savoie). Here are the product pages on Amazon: US, FR, UK, DE, JP.

July 25, 2019

Offline hiking maps with QGIS 3 and Geopaparazzi

In this post, I will show how to export background maps (as a set of MBTiles files) from QGIS 3 and import them in Geopaparazzi on Android to serve as backup offline hiking maps when far from civilization and mobile coverage.

It can be useful in France, where interesting maps to have while hiking are the IGN ones like Carte Topographique IGN (Scan 25) or their standard map (Scan Express Standard). They are accessible freely through the Geoportail mobile app. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t support offline mode.

March 17, 2018

Freehand Raster Georeferencer plugin updated for QGIS 3

A few weeks ago, I updated my Freehand Raster Georeferencer plugin for the newly released QGIS 3. I also included a few fixes for some issues as well as new features such as uniform scaling, a new “Georeference with 2 Points” tool (contributed by a user) or taking into account an existing world file. Those changes were backported to the plugin version for QGIS 2 so there should not be any difference between the QGIS 2 and 3 versions. See the updated doc for information.

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February 8, 2018

Self-publishing a book with CreateSpace and Amazon

Recently, I finished a book publishing project I started around last Christmas. The book is titled “12 Partitions pour Xylophone & Métallophone à 8 Barres” and contains sheet music of French children songs that can be played on toy metallophones (aka glockenspiel) or xylophones. To self-publish the book, I used CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon. It is now for sale via Print-on-Demand on all Amazon stores :

Update Jan. 2019: I have made an English version of the book, titled “12 Songs for Toy Xylophones & Metallophones: Vol. 1 - Children’s Songs from France”. It is available through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), since CreateSpace is being shut down by Amazon. Check out the Amazon US store, the UK store and the Japan store. The publishing process through KDP is pretty similar to the one with CreateSpace, with basically the same options and workflow.

September 11, 2016

Innov-Agri 2016

Innov-Agri is a large outdoor trade fair for agricultural machinery and equipment. In 2016, it took place in a field near Orléans. A lot of constructors were there and offered live demonstrations of their products. The company I work for was an exhibitor so I went there on the first day of the fair. I walked around and took a few pictures.

July 22, 2016

"Freehand Raster Georefencer" plugin for QGIS

Some time ago, I released a plugin for QGIS called “Freehand Raster Georeferencer” that allows interactive raster georeferencing. It implements some tools (move, rotate, scale, stretch…) to manipulate a raster directly on the map, on top of the other layers. This is in contrast with the standard raster georeferencing tool of QGIS, which needs control points and then an export to be able to check the georeferencing.

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