Small issue understanding Part 3 Water Data. (Using Global Mapping)

[abro]

(Using Global Mapping)
I have finished Parts 1 and 2 with minimum issues. I've completed most of Part 3, including receiving the e-mails back from nhd.usgs.gov, extracted the zip files to nhd, combined all of the shapefiles together with GM. WHAT DO I DO NEXT. DO I GO TO FINAL DATA PREPARATIONS WITH GM OR DO I GO BACK TO PUTTING THE DATA IN A DATABASE AND PROCESSING THE DATA WITH PostGIS.  Thanks, Jim

[-Oz-]

Definitely go to Processing The Data (in postgis).  I can't find the typo though?

[-Oz-]

fixed, thx

[abro]

The typo was not really my problem. I just could not get it through my head, whether I should go to database and processing with PostGIS or go to final preparation. You guys answered that in replies 1 & 2. Thanks

[Shnick]

O.K., I used Global Mapper to combine the .shp files and i have them in my NHD folder.  when i veiw them in GM, they look like this. 

For example, this is Lake Winnebago, the largest water body in WI.  (see attached file)

When veiwed in Mapsource, the lines across the water are labeled as "roads", and the Garmin Legend Hcx shows the same, lines where there should be blue...

???I'm a little disappointed in my work, as my PC just spent 2 days processing .mp's to .img's... LOL

I didn't run the .shp files thru postgis, I tried that program and it crashed my PC...

Is that the cause??

Thanks, Shnick

[-Oz-]

that is the cause; what operating system are you using and how did it crash?

Since you didn't process the data with postgis it never set MP_TYPE so everything defaulted to roads.

[Boyd]

Interesting - those are really lines instead of polygon edges? If they are polygons I don't think it matters because on Garmin the polygons don't have borders. So if they are showing up on your GPS, I guess they must be lines.

In GM you can use the search function and only select lines in the dialog. You should be able to isolate those lines if you search for the correct thing, then delete them. Use the digitizer tool to select one on the map, then right-click to view the properties. That should give you an idea of what you need to search for.

O.K., I used Global Mapper to combine the .shp files and i have them in my NHD folder.  when i veiw them in GM, they look like this. 

For example, this is Lake Winnebago, the largest water body in WI.  (see attached file)

When veiwed in Mapsource, the lines across the water are labeled as "roads", and the Garmin Legend Hcx shows the same, lines where there should be blue...

???I'm a little disappointed in my work, as my PC just spent 2 days processing .mp's to .img's... LOL

I didn't run the .shp files thru postgis, I tried that program and it crashed my PC...

Is that the cause??

Thanks, Shnick

[maps4gps]

Those lines should be coded 55800 - Artificial Path.  They are used in water bodies to continue the path of flowlines (streams) so that the movement of water (and contaminants) can be modeled/predicted/traced.

[-Oz-]

All his lines are roads; he needs to process them so some are rivers, creeks, intermitten streams, etc.

[Shnick]

_Oz_: i was using Windows XP at the time, then did a windows update, and it didnt like postgis, so it misaligned the drivers assigned memory, and then BAM! reboot cycle... NDIS.sys, GIVEIO.sys, and many others were corrupted.  postgis just happened to take the blame since it was the last program i installed prior to updating... who knows, it coulda been something else...

mapsforgps: thanks for the info, and i didnt think of the flowline representation of current flow, but looking at the lake (or lack therof) the lines are perpendicular to the supposed flow of water... if i code them for "artificial path" will they still show up as visible lines?

Boyd: I'll try that after work...Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the quick reply and helping out a noob like myself...

Shnick

[maps4gps]

if i code them for "artificial path" will they still show up as visible lines?

What I meant was in the NHD that 'feature' is coded 55800 which means 'Artificial Path'.  I 'drop' them using GlobalMapper, but do not know what postgis allows.

[-Oz-]

Sweet, I'll add to it to drop the Artificial path; people hate the streams in the middle of lakes.

[Shnick]

GM says "<NO LABEL> Unknown Line Type" the lines go from one end of the lake to the other to plot the (deepest?) part of the water, then jut out to the streams and rivers on the edge of the lake...

when i combined all the layers and processed it all with cGPSMapper, i assumed the lines would be covered up by the NHDWaterbody.shp files, turning the lakes blue. 

my question is, how do i color in the lakes, rivers and streams a nice shade of blue? when loaded onto my garmin, they show exactly as displayed in global mapper...

did i compile the .shp files wrong? i pretty much followed the directions to a T, but i'm still too new at this to understand the inner workings of these programs and how they're supposed to process data...

Thanks, Shnick

[Shnick]

Nevermind guys... I found it... Tools/Control Center/Options/Classify Unclassified Area Features As/

NHDWaterbody.shp = Lake
NHDArea.shp = Major River
NHDFlowline.shp = Minor River

Now all 3 layers are blue and i am happy

LOL
Shnick

[Boyd]

my question is, how do i color in the lakes, rivers and streams a nice shade of blue?

Sounds like you got an answer, but just to expand a bit... if you don't like Garmin's default blue (personally I don't), you will need to use a custom line and polygon type. You will find info on this here, starting on page 29: http://www.cgpsmapper.com/download/GM8DocV2.pdf

Or you can use Mapwel which has a lot of powerful features - see my thread here for some info: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php/topic,152.0.html

One downside however. As soon as you define a line or polygon as a custom type, the lines will ALWAYS display ON TOP OF the polygons.