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adding routes and waypoints to downloaded custom map?

Started by TeleBruce, June 20, 2010, 12:08:51 PM

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TeleBruce

I downloaded the WV custom map from this site, successfully installed it into Mapsource, and can install the map onto my 60csx.
I have a map of the same area generated with Nat. Geo. TOPO! with routes and waypoints.

Is there any way I can copy these routes and waypoints from the TOPO to the WV map I downloaded, so the map I will install in the GPS will have both the topographic  info and the routes etc?
I can export the data in several formats, is comma delimited text, Garmin - Gardown, Garmin Waypoint+.
What software would I need to place the info onto the downloaded topo map?
Thanks!

Boyd

You are getting confused between the map and your user data. The map is completely separate from routes, tracks and waypoints. You can display your routes and waypoints on any map.

The easiest thing for you to do is connect your 60csx to your computer and run TOPO! Go to Handhelds > Change GPS Settings > Receiver type and choose your unit. THen go to Handhelds > Export to GPS Wizard and send your routes and waypoints.

If you then want to get the routes and waypoints into Mapsource, leave your GPS connected and run the program. Use the Transfer > Receive from Device menu to load the waypoints and routes. You can then save them as either a .gdb or .gpx file on your computer.

One thing to keep in mind however: the WV topo map is not routable, so any routes that you created in another program may not work as expected. You will probably just see straight lines connecting the via points in the route (the route will not follow the roads).

TeleBruce

Thank you for the reply.
I'm not really confused between maps and data.
I have Garmin legend, and am very familiar with loading the waypoints and routes into that unit.
I am not used to loading maps onto the garmin receiver because I have Nat GEo topo - which of course is not compatible with Garmin receivers; and I have never used MapSource either.
After playing with it a bit, I am delighted to be able to add my waypoints and routes from TOPO onto the downloaded map in Mapsource. Your comment was very helpful in that regard. It would be nice to be able to add the data to the map without having to upload to the receiver, then download from the receiver, but thus far I'm not whining a bit!

I don't use the GPS for driving. I use it for exploring WV backcountry, so the fact that the routes show up as strait lines between waypoints is OK.
I always print my map anyway, and still travel mostly by map & compass, using the GPS to either pinpoint exactly where I am ( or where that trout pool was), but being able to overlay the data onto the map might make me change my old ways a bit.
Do I really have to enter the 21'st century ???  ;D
Thanks again for the help.


Boyd

Quote from: TeleBruce on June 20, 2010, 04:13:32 PMI'm not really confused between maps and data.

Are you sure?  ;)

You cannot add waypoints and routes to a map. The map is not user-modifiable. Granted, we may be splitting hairs here, but the terminology is important. Waypoints and tracks are stored completely apart from the maps. You can display your waypoints and routes on any map that you like. Or you can display them with no map at all.

I have National Geographic TOPO but have really not used it very much. I just suggested one approach that you might use, based on a quick look at the help files. Is there a way to export a .gpx file directly from TOPO? If so, then you could open that directly in Mapsource. GPX files are sort of the "common currency" that allows different programs and GPS'es to work together.

Mapsource has a native file format with a .gdb extension. It will allow you to save any combination of maps, waypoints, tracks and routes in a single file for future use. But the trick is getting your TOPO data into Mapsource in the first place. I have suggested one way to do this; you may be able to figure out a better way.

TeleBruce

ALRIGHT I admit it!!! I'm confused!! ;D
But I think I get it.
The data (routes and waypoints) are more like a layer that can be applied to any map.
And thanks to your suggestion, I did export my routes to a .gpx file, opened it with MapSource and have exactly what I have been looking for.
But now I have another  question:
This map has over 1400 waypoints, more than my 60csx will handle. Other than deleting individual routes & their way points, any suggestion on how to weed it down to an amount that the GPS can handle?
I probably will divide the area I hike in into a North and South region, deleting all the routes & waypoints for a region, and save the file. Then I will have two maps.
Next thing to figure out is how I can switch between the two in the GPS if I need to.

Boyd

Cool - glad that it worked out.

Quote from: TeleBruce on June 20, 2010, 07:11:49 PMThis map has over 1400 waypoints

There you go again.  ;D It's a file... or a dataset... not a map! But seriously, the 60csx can only handle 1000 waypoints. I think that's an absolute limit, and the only way around will be to create datasets with 1000 or less waypoints each and switch between them using Mapsource on your computer. I don't think you can do this on the GPS itself.

If you run two separate instances of Mapsource (start the program twice), you can cut and paste between them to create separate versions with 1000 or less waypoints. By saving these as .gdb (Garmin Data Base) files, you can load the desired combinations of routes, waypoints, tracks and map segments on your 60csx as needed.

As an older design, the 60csx stores its routes/waypoints/tracks internally where you can't directly access them. Only the map is stored on the memory card.

alpine

Quote from: TeleBruce on June 20, 2010, 07:11:49 PM
ALRIGHT I admit it!!! I'm confused!! ;D
But I think I get it.
The data (routes and waypoints) are more like a layer that can be applied to any map.
And thanks to your suggestion, I did export my routes to a .gpx file, opened it with MapSource and have exactly what I have been looking for.
But now I have another  question:
This map has over 1400 waypoints, more than my 60csx will handle. Other than deleting individual routes & their way points, any suggestion on how to weed it down to an amount that the GPS can handle?
I probably will divide the area I hike in into a North and South region, deleting all the routes & waypoints for a region, and save the file. Then I will have two maps.
Next thing to figure out is how I can switch between the two in the GPS if I need to.

I think the problem you have is a lack or organization. For my off road adventures I download and save each track(in MapSource as a .gpx), and give it a name. I also download and save the Way Points I have made, and give that .gdb file a name. In MapSource you can edit your tracks and take out unwanted spurs. You can also make a route over the track to follow for the next time you want to go to that area.

Now you don't have to have all those tracks on the GPSr all the time. You can also organize your waypoints so that you don't have to store all of them, just the ones in the area you will be near, on the GPSr. That will leave more memory available on the GPSr to store tracks.

Hope this helps.

Jimbob

Anotyher way to work around placing waypoints/tracks into different groups is to use tha folder aspect that shows up in basecamp. Very simple to place things in different "groups" using this method and still easily see what included in each.

TeleBruce

#8
Maybe I should have explained more fully what I have and what I want to do.

Some time ago, I uploaded the data for a wilderness in WV, with all the route, waypoint, campsite,fishin'hole etc data from MapXchange - a now defunct public map sharing site. the data was generated with TOPO! and saved as a .tpo file. I could export some of that data into my Etrex Legend, and would have it to compare with my paper map.

I wanted to get that data on a map that I could use with the 60csx and see the contours so I could compare it with the printed topo I always carry with me.
OK, so I figured out how to do that. Installed the map into Mapsource. In TOPO! I  exported the .tpo information as a .gpx file, then loaded it  into  Mapsource and there it is. I have my map with all the data that I can now load onto the GPS.
Because the number of waypoints far exceeds the limit of the 60csx, I divided up the map & data into two maps, and saved them as individual files so I can load either one depending on where I decide to go.
WHICH LEADS TO ANOTHER QUESTION (y'all knew that was comin')
I have several .tpo data files from this area. Some of them have not only routes and waypoints, but campsites (usually a waypoint with a special image to define it) and other items (points of interest??) that I go looking for.

Would that information be included in a .gpx file?
If so how do I get Mapsoure to show it, and how do I get the GPS to show it?
Will I have to sort through the routes and change some of the waypoint images to reflect what they were intended to be (campsite, fishin hole etc)?
IF it was not included in the .gpx file, how do I end up getting that data into the Mapsource file?

Man.........I'm just full of newbie questions eh?
as long as ya don't say I'm full of something else - I'll be happy.

TeleBruce

thank you for your tip on Base Camp, I will download and play with it.