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Trails are being doubled, why

Started by xinull, March 30, 2010, 07:47:32 AM

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xinull

Hi everyone,

Newbie here :)  so bare with me.  I'm trying to make an invisible map of ATV trails to overlay on top of some TOPO maps.

When i create my map in GPSMapEdit, i select my ATV trails and set the polylines to Walkway/Trail.  I export my .mp file to an .img file.  At this point everything is fine. If i open up my img file in GPSMapEdit it still all looks good.

The problem occurs when i use MapSetToolkit to put my map into MapSource. The new .img created seems OK as well, but when i open MapSource, i get 2 sets of Trails.  I get my original trail, and i get a second trail that seems to be some sort of weird squared overview of my original trail.

Now i haven't tried to send the map to my GPS device to see if the 'squared' trail will be visible there as well.  But i'm assuming it will be, i'll test that in just a bit.

Has anyone have any ideas what's happening here?  I could include pictures of my trails as they appear in mapSource and how they should appear, if you think that would help

Thanks for all the help

xinull

#1
First of all:

I haven't been using the same name, my original map .img name is 43004000.img and in mapsettoolkit i'm putting "NBATVTrail" for mapset name

ok, i've dug a little deeper

here's a picture of my map in MapSource as it appears now.  You can see the real trail with it's obvious curves.  And you can see the straight edged trail that added itself on top

http://www.googleonlinestorage.com/show-image.php?id=8759f869077cc20263528abe3afb6fbe

Now, one thing i noticed, is that the straight edged trail is sometimes visible or invisible when i'm zoomed in or out.  I can't seem to make it happen in a consistent way, sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Maybe this has something to do with the Levels that are set in GPSMapEdit?!?  I thought i had followed the tutorial's instructions, but maybe i'm doing something wrong.

Also, i've just tested this map on my Garmin 60Cx and the straight edged trail isn't being transfered.  I can't see it at all at any zoom levels...but it's still anying in MapSource :)

Any ideas why this is happening?

xinull

Another thing i'm finding odd, is that when i'm putting my map into MapSource using MapsetToolkit, it's creating all these files from my 43004000.img

NBATVTrail.MDX
NBATVTrail.mp
NBATVTrail.TDB
NBATVTrail.img
NBATVTrail.img.idx

I'm not sure why it's creating another .mp file, but that .mp file is the one that contains the straight edged trails...and i'm sorry for the confusion, but i made a mistake in my first post.  The NBATVTrail.img that's created also has the straight edged trail, only that trail!  I'm so confused, i'm not even sure where my real trail's coming from!

xinull

#3
what's the overview for anyways?  And more importantly, why in the MapsetToolkit ver. 1.75 can't i change the "Blank Overview Map" ?  the caption/label is there, but the check box is missing :)

in any case, here's what i've got

43004000.img : Shows the real trail only
NBATVTrail.mp : Shows the straight Edged trail only, with some sort of red hashed square
NBATVTrail.img : Shows the straight Edged trail only

Here are my levels in my 43004000.mp file:
Level     Bits   Lat Grid  GPS Zoom       Mapsource Zoom
Level0= 24bit  2.4m     120m              Zoom0=0 (under 1.2km)
Level1= 14bit  2.44km  80km-120km   Zoom1=1 (1.2-3.0km)

When i look in the Statistics tab, i have data for the Level 0, but for Level 1 i have 0 values everywhere.

1. If the Overview is my problem, how can i set the map in MapSource without that overview?

2. What files is MapSource using anyways, i thought it was using the .TDB, .IMG and .IDX?  If so, where's my real trail located in.  The NBATVTrail.img seems to only contain the Straight Edge trail

Thanks for helping

xinull

More info to ponder...

If i go into MapSource View menu, and select the "Hide GPS Map Details", then my real trail dissapears and the straight Edge one stays...i'm not sure maybe this helps

Another things, if i take my NBATVTrail.img and replace it with the original 43004000.img generated from the GPSMapEdit software. Then i get the following results: the straight Edge trail is only displayed when the zoom is set between 2 miles and 30 miles.  If the zoom is closer than 2 miles, or further than 30 miles, i only see my real trail

And i though this was going to be easy :))

Jimbob

Just to clarify:
What data did you use to make your map? routes/tracks
Does your raw data show fine in mapsource?
You might try changing your level 1 setting to 22 instead of 14
You say there is two mp files created, can't have same name so what is the second called?
In GPSMapEdid under map/properites/statistics= all you should have is polylines, you might check for that when starting over which is what I would do. delete all left over files from previous attempts.
LUCK

maps4gps

I have not tried the lastest version of MapSetTook; however in the previous versions there seemed to be no way to get an actual overview map.  All it created ware outlines of individual quads with the 'map created ...' in the corner of each.

In a normal mapset, the overview map is a more generalized map that displays in MapSource when you are zoomed out farther than the actual data is set for (i.e. like a view of an entire state - makes it easier to select individual quads or all of them).

Send your finding on the missing check box to cypherman who is the author of that utility.


43004000.img is your trail data.
NBATVTrail.mp is a file MapSetTookKit created for the 'no data' overview map.  The red hashes usually indicate where there is no data.
NBATVTrail.img this is the .img file MapSetTookKit had cgpsmapper make from the NBATVTrail.mp file.

NBATVTril.tdb gives MapSource information about the mapset and the files which are part of it.
... .mdx and ... .idx  -- I have not seen these; however I do not use the lastest version of MapSetToolKit.  I would expect they are for indexing.

The upper level indicates where you want only the 'base' map to be displayed.  It should not contain any data.  Here overlay/transparent mapsets are also a little different.  I have found that I need to use two levels before the overlay/transparent mapset does not show; i.e. level1 = 15bit and level2 = 14bit.  Do you want your trail(s) to display on the GPSr when you are zoomed out that far?  The usual for mapsets use 23, 21, 19 & maybe 17 for there data - anything beyond that displays the built-in basemap if it is active.

As you have probably noticed, how things appear in MapEdit vs MapSource vs the GPSr are three different things.  






xinull

Jimbob:

1. My maps are made from track data.  But sometimes my tracks from my ATV rides get a bit mangled from turning around, or getting someone out of a jam. So what i do is with GPSMapEdit, i trace a new polyline on top of my tracks.  When i'm done, i delete my tracks and left with a custom polyline.

2. Yes my rawdata shows fine in Mapsource.

3. I just tried that, it seems to improve things.  Now my NBATVTrail.mp and NBATVTrail.img do not show the straight edge trail, they show the real trail.  But when in MapSource, the results are similar as when i switched the original 43004000.img over the NBATVTrail.img.  The straight Edge trail is only displayed when the zoom is set between 7 miles and 20 miles.  If the zoom is closer than 7 miles, or further than 20 miles, i only see my real trail.

So this is better, i'm going in the right direction, but that damn straight edge trail is still there.  It can't be normal, this has to be some sort of anomalie

4. Well the 2 .mp files are: the first one is my original file, which is where i make all my trails adn set the levels.  The second .mp file is a file that's generated when i put the map into mapSource using the MapsetToolkit

5. In Statistics i have the following
Code      Kind        TypeName          Count    ....
                            Total                    12  ....
            polylines   All polylines          12 ....
            polylines   All polyline Roads  12 ....
0x0016   polyline    Walkway/Trail       12 ....

everything else is all 0

Jimbob

For what it's worth you might want to use a heavier line to depict your trails rather than your present choice.
That aside, I have no ready answer for this.  However there is something you might try. Use mapsource to do the same thing you are doing in GPSMapEdit, (tracing- when done delete tracks) from mapsource & save as a .GDB file (or mps). Open that file in GPSmapedit (it should open) and go thru the process of your settings and so on, then save as .MP file, then export.
LIttle longer but if there is a quirk in map edit this may bypass it.
LUCK

Jimbob


xinull

Thanks Jimbob, i'll try out those suggestions and i'll also try playing around with the levels again

But does no one have any ideas what i'm seeing?  is it really the Map Overview or is this something that's just not supposed to be there?

maps4gps

#11
You could test that by making a test map (non-overlay/normal) and see what happens.  Overlay mapset are somewhat different than normal maps.  Stan reversed engineered all this, so we find out what can been done by trial and error.  

Jimbob

I'm  a far cry from good with this stuff but I have never run across it. However it seems that all sorts of weird things turn up. I have had mine for sure and received help here.

Seldom

Would it help his diagnosis if the OP selected all tracks in MapEdit and right clicked to Modify|Extend all elements up to level 0?  Might reduce the track to a single level object.

astewart

I've seen this problem mentioned elsewhere as a bug in Mapsource. I also have used the instructions at this site:

http://www.gpssledmaps.com/guide/quick_map.php

with success, and it has a workaround for the problem at step #7A. I have never tried to understand why it works.

Alan