Offline HiPS survey is not loading

[Quark-Coder]

No matter what I do, no matter how I configure HiPS survey, it just won't load offline.

Since I shoot in a place where there is never an Internet connection, it is simply impossible to use the standard survey, almost nothing is visible on it. TOAST survey also has few objects and they are poorly visible. That's why I want to make HiPS surveys work without the Internet.

The survey structure looks like this:

E:\SURVEY\NSNS_DR0.1_TC8
+---properties
+---Norder0
|       \---Dir0
+---Norder1
|       \---Dir0
+---Norder2
|       \---Dir0
+---Norder3
|       \---Dir0
+---Norder4
|       \---Dir0
\---Norder5
       +---Dir0
        \---Dir10000

The first thing I tried was to use the "file:///" attribute, which was written in the User Guide. No result. HiPS won't load and I can't even figure out why, in log.txt nothing is said about HiPS surveys.

[hips]
show                                          = true
surveys/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR0.1_tc8
surveys/size                               = 1

Then I wrote a python server that broadcasted the entire folder over http. No result either.

[hips]
show                                          = true
surveys/1/url                             = http://localhost:8080
surveys/size                               = 1

Why doesn't any method work? How do I understand what Stellarium wants? At least one stacktrace about why it didn't load the HiPS survey... I will be glad of any help.

[gzotti]

If I compare what's written in the Guide with what you are writing, I see the Guide has "sources" where you write "surveys". Use the documented syntax.

[Quark-Coder]

I've checked both options, both don't work.

[gzotti]

Works for me. Is the HiPS itself OK? look into the properties file. I think we only use hips_tile_format=png.

[10110111]

I think we only use hips_tile_format=png

No we don't:

		if (ext == "jpeg") return "jpg";
		if (ext == "png") return "png";
		if (ext == "webp") return "webp";
		if (ext == "tiff") return "tiff";
		if (ext == "bmp") return "bmp";

[gzotti]

Ah ok, all images then.

[Quark-Coder]

I used this script to download the survey
hips_downloader.py

[10110111]

You need to point to a valid hipslist, not just to a directory that contains properties.

[Quark-Coder]

The list doesn't load at all.

[10110111]

Well, then I wonder if your hipslist URL (and the properties one too) can be opened by a web browser. If a browser can't open it, Stellarium won't either.

[10110111]

Ah, yes, and have you fixed the surveys → sources key in the config file, as said in the other answer?

[Quark-Coder]

I changed the name of the survey folder, I thought that Stellarium considered the dot as an extension.

[Quark-Coder]

Ah, yes, and have you fixed the surveys → sources key in the config file, as said in the other answer?

Stellarium adds surveys by itself if I select them from the list. But yes, I changed to sources.
If I add sources/size = 1, the Surveys list in Stellarium will not load.

[gzotti]

the hipslist should not be in the HiPS data directory. It is a description of what's available here. Move it to your e:\SURVEYS.

[Quark-Coder]

size=1 is specified twice, and two different URLs for the only entry are given

All I wrote in the file was this:

sources/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/hipslist
sources/size                              = 1

After that, my local Survey appeared in the Stellarium Surveys list, I selected it and the stellarium itself added two more lines:

surveys/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8
surveys/size                              = 1

[10110111]

Ah, I didn't notice the difference between surveys and sources :)
OK, this is normal. Stellarium added the active survey according to its service URL to auto-select it on the next restart. If you deselect it, it will be removed from this list (the list of sources will be left untouched).

[Quark-Coder]

But if I remove sources/size = 1, then my offline Survey disappears for some reason, but all the others appear. If I leave it, then there will only be an offline survey.

[gzotti]

If you add the 2 default sources to the sources as shown on page 138 and increase size to 3, you get the default list plus your own.

[Quark-Coder]

If you add the 2 default sources to the sources as shown on page 138 and increase size to 3, you get the default list plus your own.

Yes. That's what I did =) Thanks @gzotti and @10110111 for help!

[hips]
show                                      = true
sources/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/hipslist
sources/2/url                             = http://alasky.u-strasbg.fr/MocServer/query?*/P/*&get=record
sources/3/url                             = https://data.stellarium.org/surveys/hipslist
sources/size                              = 3
surveys/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8
surveys/size                              = 1

[Quark-Coder]

A short summary on how to make the HiPS survey work offline (for those who accidentally found this topic).

Download survey using this script:
https://github.com/Quark-Coder/HIPS-survey-downloader
Add these lines to the config.ini file(%appdata%/Stellarium)

[hips]
show                                          = true
sources/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8/hipslist
sources/2/url                             = http://alasky.u-strasbg.fr/MocServer/query?*/P/*&get=record
sources/3/url                             = https://data.stellarium.org/surveys/hipslist
sources/size                              = 3
surveys/1/url                             = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8
surveys/size                              = 1

And add these two files to the root directory of your HiPS survey. (if the survey is different, you need to change the contents of the files, plus change the path to the root folder of the survey):
properties

obs_description      = Almost true-color composite without star subtraction as compressed 8-bit color HIPS for easy visualization. See http://www.simg.de/nebulae3/dr0_1 for other data sets.
prov_progenitor      = Calculated from 5" intermediate data of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey DR0.1, see http://www.simg.de/nebulae3/dr0_1
obs_copyright        = Northern Sky Narrowband Survey by Stefan Ziegenbalg. The material can be freely used and distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 license (CC-BY-NC-SA).
obs_copyright_url    = http://www.simg.de/nebulae3/dr0_1
obs_regime           = Optical
client_category      = Image/Optical
client_sort_key      = 02723
client_application   = AladinLite
client_application   = AladinDesktop
em_min               = 4.4e-7
em_max               = 7.0e-7
t_min                = 58432
t_max                = 59826
hips_service_url     = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8
creator_did          = ivo://simg.de/P/NSNS/DR0_1/tc8
hips_creator         = S. Ziegenbalg
obs_title            = NSNS Offline Survey
#hips_copyright      = Copyright mention of the HiPS
#obs_ack             = Acknowledgement mention
#bib_reference       = Bibcode for bibliographic reference
#bib_reference_url   = URL to bibliographic reference
hips_builder         = Aladin/HipsGen v12.119
hips_version         = 1.4
hips_release_date    = 2025-06-07T16:33Z
hips_frame           = equatorial
hips_order           = 5
hips_order_min       = 0
hips_tile_width      = 512
hips_status          = public
hips_tile_format     = png
hips_initial_ra      = 60.0
hips_initial_dec     = 60.0
hips_initial_fov     = 150.0
hips_pixel_scale     = 0.003579
dataproduct_type     = image
hips_rgb_red         = Northern Sky Narrowband Survey, DR0.1, Red [0.0 NaN 1.0 Linear]
hips_rgb_green       = Northern Sky Narrowband Survey, DR0.1, Green [0.0 NaN 1.0 Linear]
hips_rgb_blue        = Northern Sky Narrowband Survey, DR0.1, Blue [0.0 NaN 1.0 Linear]
moc_sky_fraction     = 0.651
hipsgen_date         = 2024-10-26T23:13Z
hipsgen_params       = inRed=./tc8-0 inGreen=./tc8-1 inBlue=./tc8-2 out=./tc8 id=simg.de/P/NSNS/DR0_1/tc8 "title=Northern Sky Narrowband Survey, DR0.1, True-color" "pixelcut=0 1" "datarange=0 1" "creator=S. Ziegenbalg" "target=60 60 150" "status=public master clonable" RGB ALLSKY CHECKCODE DETAILS
hips_creation_date   = 2024-10-26T23:13Z
hips_overlay         = overlayMean mergeOverwriteTile treeMedian
hips_estsize         = 7675351
hips_nb_tiles        = 10729
dataproduct_subtype  = color
hips_check_code      = png:465038343

hipslist

creator_did       = ivo://simg.de/P/NSNS/DR0_1/tc8
obs_title         = NSNS Offline Survey
hips_release_date = 2025-06-07T16:33Z
hips_service_url  = file:///E:/survey/NSNS_DR_01_tc8
hips_status = public 
hips_order = 5
hips_tile_format = png
dataproduct_type = image
moc_sky_fraction = 1

Your survey directory should look like this:

E:\SURVEY\NSNS_DR_01_TC8
+---hipslist
+---properties
+---Norder0
|   \---Dir0
+---Norder1
|   \---Dir0
+---Norder2
|   \---Dir0
+---Norder3
|   \---Dir0
+---Norder4
|   \---Dir0
\---Norder5
    +---Dir0
    \---Dir10000

After that, go to the Stellarium->F4->Surveys and find the offline survey!