[GRASS-user] Odd scaling issue with ps.map output and ghostscript ps2pdf

[Tom Russo]

On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 04:32:09AM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <hamish_b at yahoo.com> flavor, containing:
> Tom Russo wrote:
> > On several occasions I've created
> > maps with ps.map at 1:24000 scale, converted
> > to PDF form with ghostscript's "ps2pdf" script, and sent
> > them off to a printer
> > (i.e. paid a shop to print them) only to find that they've
> > come back in
> > 1:25000 scale instead.  The first time this happened
> > was after I'd imported
> > the PDF into Inkscape to clean up labels, so I attributed
> > it to Inkscape.
> > 
> > This time, however, I cleverly avoided using Inkscape to
> > monkey with the map,
> > and found it came back to me in 1:25000 again anyway. 
> > And when I investigated,
> > found that the PDF file was indeed shrunk from the
> > PostScript --- when I 
> > viewed on screen at 1:1 scale, I found that my 1:24000 UTM
> > interpolator worked
> > great with the on-screen postscript file, but I needed to
> > create a 1:25000
> > interpolator for the PDF version of the same file.
[...]
> 
> (sorry about yahoo's broken line wrap)
> 
> 
> no idea, but from now on I'll keep an eye out for it. :)
> perhaps an A4 vs. Letter papersize adjustment?
> 
> how are you converting to PDF? "ps2pdf13" or another GS wrapper?
> 
> what does acrobat's "About the Document" say about the PDF paper size
> versus what is in the header lines of the .ps file?
> 
> does it happen for self-printed PDFs, or only ones from the print shop?
> 
> how are you/them printing? via Acrobat's File->Print? is the "adjust to
> fit on page" tickbox ticked?

I'm now convinced that there's nothing wrong with the PDF, and that this
is indeed a "shrink to fit" issue.  Contrary to what I said at first, there's
no scaling issue visible on screen when I view either postscript or pdf using
the same program (ghostview), and it's spot-on at 1:24000.  

My guess is that my map comes too close to the margins, and the print shop is
using "shrink to fit" to avoid cutting off content.  I'm going to give them
a call today to find out for sure.

Sorry for the noise I created here.

-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
 "It is better to live on your feet than to die with your knees."
  -- Mil Millington on running, in Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life