After two months in a row with a focus on web maps, we pivot our attention a bit for this Geospatial Tip of the Month (GTM) with what will be a brief article but hopefully one covering a useful topic! As part of purchasing satellite imagery from Apollo Mapping, we download and archive a copy of every order we deliver. In order to keep costs down, I store these large files in compressed ZIP files. And while it sounds like an easy task to compress these files, when you have 20 or more orders to process each week, the time it takes to do this seemingly easy task is surprisingly long. So this month, I feature a handy little script that will automatically compress a folder full of folders for you!
In order to make the script I share here work, you will first need to download and install the freeware compression software called 7-Zip. You can download the program files here. I am a Windows users with a 64-bit machine so I download the newest .EXE version of the install files which is listed in the first table. And as a quick heads up, to use the script provided here, you will need to be running a Windows computer – sorry to my Mac friends up front!
Now that you have 7-Zip installed, the steps from here are super simple! Just download the script I wrote from here and then uncompress the file. Place the tiny script in a folder that contains a set of folders you need to compress. Just double-click on the script and the process runs automatically for you! In the end, you will have one zip file per folder with a name that is the same as the original folder name. Once the process runs, delete your folders of uncompressed data and you are all set.
This is some serious time-saving stuff as I estimate it saves me at least 30 minutes of work a week alone!
Do you have an idea for a future GTM? If so, let me know by email at brock@apollomapping.com.
Brock Adam McCarty
Map Wizard
(720) 470-7988
brock@apollomapping.com
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