GPSFileDepot.com
 

News:

Welcome to GPSFileDepot!

Main Menu

Basic question on custom maps, before I go "all in"

Started by dellphinus, November 02, 2011, 12:13:09 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

dellphinus

Greetings,
  We have taken on a "lost cemeteries" project at our local county historical society.  There were many sets of hand marked county highway maps, hand drawn maps, and text descriptions of the location of our 100 or so lost cemeteries.  I obtained a pdf file of the official  DOT county highway map, and have been editing it in Photoshop, to consolidate and record the cemetery locations.  we are slowly confirming the gps coordinates of all these cemeteries with a handheld gps (Iphone, and more recently a Dakota 20)I recently took a copy of the consolidated pdf, transformed it to a gif, and imported  it as an overlay in Google Earth.  This has proven invaluable in precisely locating the markers in the pdf version of the map.  But what I'd REALLY liek to end up with is a copy of the County road map (pdf file + edits) that I can download into the Dakota, and use it to navigate to the cemeteries, and drop waypoints or POIs onto it as we find more/make corrections.

So, is it possible to somehow get the edited pdf into a form that I can download into the Dakota and use as a map?   Sorry this is so long winded, but I figured the background might help.

Boyd

This is Garmin's guide to making a very simple custom map for your Dakota. You should be able to convert a portion of your .pdf to a .jpg and see how it works for you: http://www.garmin.com/us/products/onthetrail/custommaps#fragment-3

Keep in mind that the .jpg can be no larger than 1024x1024 pixels and must be smaller than 3MB. If you like the results, then you can create larger .kmz files that contain a maximum of 100 individual .jpg's. To do this, you will want one of the various programs that are intended for that purpose.

I use Globalmapper, which is a powerful all-around GIS program costing around $350, but it would be overkill for a simple project like yours. Have a look at mapc2mapc and g-raster. They are freeware/shareware programs that might be well suited for this project.

If you can't cover as large of an area as you want, then you may need to look at making a vector-based map instead, as they can cover as large an area as you want. The Garmin custom maps are raster based - pictures basically. Raster and Vector maps each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Seldom

Quote from: dellphinus on November 02, 2011, 12:13:09 PM
So, is it possible to somehow get the edited pdf into a form that I can download into the Dakota and use as a map?   Sorry this is so long winded, but I figured the background might help.
The tutorial Boyd mentions covers this, but, generally, since Photoshop and Acrobat don't incorporate any georeferencing data they are pretty useless for map making.  The USGS produces raster graphics in geoPDF format which is georeferenced, but I'm pretty sure that there's no way to edit it.

Boyd

Yes, I played around with the GeoPDF topo's myself awhile ago - I think I may have posted about it here. Globalmapper can open them, but you can't extract the separate layers from the map and can't export vector data. You can only export as GeoTIFF I think.

USGS has an FAQ about these and there's a question about using the GeoPDF's with GIS software. Their response is kind of funny... they say it should be considered as the OUTPUT from a GIS program and not the INPUT.  :)  They say you should use their downloadable raw data instead of the GeoPDF's if you want to make maps.

Seldom

Terrago has an add on viewer for Acrobat.  It permits some layer manipulation (on or off) but no editing.

dellphinus

Thanks for the input guys.  Not the answer I was hoping for, but not unexpected. 

Seldom

#6
Then again, making a vector map might not be all that hard if you are in the US.
To get a shapefile of all the roads (and rivers) for your county go here:
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles2010/main
Select All Lines.
Select your State.
Select your County.
Download.
Import the shapefile into GPSmapedit.
SaveAs MP.
Compile it following this tutorial.  Don't bother with the installer.
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-create-garmin-topo-maps---part-9---compiling-data/
Install it following this tutorial.
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-create-garmin-topo-maps---part-9---compiling-data/

GPSmapedit is actually a pretty flexible mapping tool, but it doesn't come with much help info.  The best way I've found to figure out what it does is to run the cursor over the buttons and read the menus.

Once you get the base map completed you can ADD gpx data to it and convert it to polylines or points you can edit in GPSmapedit.

jbensman

I think you may be asking the wrong questions.  The way you are going about it does not seem to be the best way.  On your GPS, use City Navigator, the free routeable OSM maps, or a map from this site.  All of these maps are vector maps and your pdf would be a raster.  Vector maps have many advantages such as much easier to see on your GPS.

You should keep your cemetery locations in a gpx file.  For the locations you have the GPS cords for, put them as a waypoint in your gpx file.  You can do this in Garmin's MapSource while viewing the location on City Navigator, OSM, or a map from this site.  For the ones you don't have the GPS cords for, open you county map in GoogleEarth and mark thier locations as waypoints.  Export the waypoints as a kml file.  Use gpsbabel to convert to gpx (or mapsource) Open the gpx with MapSource, cut and paste the waypoints into your other gpx file.  Save the gpx file on your Dakota in the \Garmin\gpx\ directory.  Then they show up as Waypoints on your gps.  Then you can navigate to the waypoint.  If its in the wrong location, use the move waypoint here function.  (This is assuming the DA works the same way as the Oregons)  When you get home, you can open the gpx file with the correct locations in MapSource or GoogleEarth.

Boyd

How large is the PDF you want to convert to a map? Are you happy with the way it looks, and do you just want to put it on the GPS?

I suspect you can make this map pretty simply without getting into vector maps (I don't disagree that they have advantages, but if the OP just wants to turn an existing .pdf into a map, that's pretty easy).

Since you already have your map in Google Earth, just use steps 2 through 4 of Garmin's tutorial and save your map as a .kmz file on your computer.

http://www8.garmin.com/outdoor/custommaps_instruct.pdf

Now import that file into mapc2mapc. This program will let you slice and dice it optimally for your Dakota. One nice feature is that it lets you make irregularly shaped maps, which helps to get around the 100 tile limit.

http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/
http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/help/over.html

jbensman

Boyd, I could be wrong, but it appears to me, the problem is putting the pdf on his GPS cannot get the OP what he wants.  It appears to me what he is wanting to end up with is a map that has the correct locations of the cemmeteries on a map.  The process I described will get him a map with the correct locations.  I think he needs to be working with waypoints in a gpx file.

dellphinus, can you let us know what you are wanting to end up with.  I suspect your wanting the pdf on your GPS is a way you think can get you to your ultimate objective.  I suspect, putting it on your GPS will not help you reach your ultimate objective, but the process I describe will get you what you want to end up with. 

dellphinus

Ok, third times a charm (note to self- do NOT navigate off the reply page, it is NOT cached).
Let me ramble a bit to clear up some things:
We have a paper county road map with cemetery locations on it. And we have numerous other lesser quality maps and descriptions.  We are transferring all of them to the county road map, and verifying the locations and documenting GPS coords, and getting photos of all the cemeteries.

The Historical Society wants a consolidated 40 inch map on the wall, and I want a pdf on the website, with links to coords and photos.  The DOT has pdfs of scanned paper maps available.

To locate the cemeteries, I use Google Earth, navigate as close as I can by eye/landmarks (not easy without section lines), and get cursor coords.  This is painful, and several sources of section lines did not work out well (without buying something). 
I then "discovered" the image overlay feature of GE.  Did a quick export of the pdf to gif, pulled it in to GE, scaled it to line up roads, and I now have a VERY convenient tool for locating map features on GE and getting coords.  (The accuracy of the old paper maps is amazing when compared to sat images)

We do not enter a cemetery on the map unless we've had "boots on the ground" to confirm it and verify readings with the handheld.  When we go out to do this, it's convenient to have the paper map along to refer too and record coordinates on.  If I could get the image overlay into the Dakota, I would not have to drag around the paper map.  The Hist. Soc. has also expressed how nice they think it would be to provide future genealogists with a downloadable version of our cemetery map.

I tried to attach the prelim overlay kmz file- too big.  So I uploaded it to the Google Earth community's experimental/temporary forum, if you want to have a look.  Link is below.

I really appreciate the responses/feedback- I can see right now this GPS stuff is going to occupy a lot of my time this winter.  A new outlet/focus for my love of maps.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1449245#Post1449245

dellphinus

One more thought- we absolutely can use a waypoint file to let folks go find the cemeteries;  we will have/provide that regardless of how the overlay works out.

Seldom

Quote from: Seldom on November 03, 2011, 07:36:07 AM
Import the shapefile into GPSmapedit.
SaveAs MP.

I spoke WAY too soon about this.  Just tried importing a Tiger shapefile without the benefit of Global Mapper, and it brings in all the lines as a single line type.  Anybody have a fix for that?

leszekp

I downloaded your KMZ file, and converted it into a tiled KMZ overlay using my utility program G-Raster. You can download it here:

http://moagu.com/jerseycounty.kmz

Just copy it to your Dakota's CustomMaps folder, and enable it from the Maps Setup page.

You can download G-Raster here:

http://moagu.com/?page_id=155

Most G-Raster features are free (including conversion of GeoTiffs, raster files with worldfiles), but tiling of KMZ overlays only works for registered users ($5).

jbensman

#14
Wow, we are almost neighbors!  I live in Alton.

Here is one you don't appear to have:  N39 00.850 W90 32.729 Its a neat little historic cemetery in Marquette Park.  You have to bushwack back to it.

When you are done, I would like your data so I can update the cemeteries in my My POIs map. 

I still think the process I described to you is your best way.  The custom map can be very hard to read on your GPS.  If you do it the way I describe, you can open the gpx file in GoogleEarth and see where the cemetery is on the map while it is displayed in GE

Have you ever seen the historic cabin and barn at N39 00.680 W90 31.504? It is really getting in terrible condition and it would be great if it could be protected.

Here is something else you might be interested in:  N38 59.285 W90 29.624 Its an old stone structure that used to hold water from  a spring - the spring has moved about 20 feet from it.  No one in the park knows anything about it.  I suspect who ever built the old cabin at N38 59.254 W90 29.735 built it