Trail Basics

[CodeJunkie]

I'm interested in building a trail file from track maps collected by a collection of users.  These track files are all in gpx files and I have a method to consolidate them.  What I'm trying to create is an overlay that can be used in conjunction with existing maps already on the site.  The overlay would contain the trail maps for local state parks, state forests, county parks, etc.  Ideally I'd also like to include the boundary lines for these areas as well which would be manually entered shapes of some kind.

I'm new to the whole process and am hoping there is some information here already, but I just can't seem to find it.

[Boyd]

gpx2img can create transparent maps from .gpx files so it's worth a look. I have not used it myself, but it may not have the full feature set you need: http://www.gpx2img.com/

For a more powerful all-around program that is still pretty user-friendly, have a look at Mapwel: http://mapwel.eu/

Or you could go the more traditional route and use a GPSMapEdit along with cgpsmapper:

http://www.geopainting.com/en/
http://www.cgpsmapper.com/

[BobT]

Code Junkie, I do exactly what you want to do, I think.  I take gps tracks and make transparent maps out of them that will overlay on top of what ever other map you have on your GPSr.  I make ATV riding maps.  There are several map making tutorials around the web but I went ahead and made my own which IMHO is the best for what you want to do.  Most of the map makers on this and other site make much more complex maps than what you or I need.  I like to overlay mine on top of theirs.  You can find my latest map "Moab Trails 3.0" on this site to see what the installer looks like and what the final map looks like.

This tutorial shows you how to make different colored and dashed lines, custom POI's, and I use Inno Setup for making a distributable self installer.  The tutorial has detailed instructions and screen shots for each step along with sample files.  The install program gives the user the option to install the original gps tracks along with other options.  You can change all of the options by making slight modifications to the installer. 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/b7mfd8rkabwzdd9/Garmin%20Map%20Making%20Tutorial.zip

[CodeJunkie]

This looks exactly like what I'm looking for.  Now time to download the recommended software and get busy experimenting.

[SAMM Clan]

So I have successfully used gpsmapedit, gpsmapper, and the toolkit to make a trail map using parallels on my mac and the tutorial above. It looks pretty good on the gpsr, but each trail shows it's name when zoomed in. Is there a way to get the name of the trail only to show up when someone selects the trail on the gpsr? Basically, I want all the trails without the trail names showing by default (but I also want the detail level to remain the same for all my other maps). I tried searching for this but couldn't find the answer. As I am a newbie at this, it is probably obvious to you guys on how to do it. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Seldom]

You could delete the labels from your trails in GPSmapedit, but then you wouldn't be able to see the names under any circumstances.  I think it's also possible to create a TYP file that suppresses the label of a particular type of object until you mouse over it, but the time I tried it, I didn't have much luck with it.

[Indrid Cold]

It's a setting on the gps to not dispay the names. They only show when cursored on.

[SAMM Clan]

Thank-you Seldom and Ingrid Cold for your replies. I tried to change the settings on my gpsr to get rid of the labels, but this only works on my gpsr when I also get rid of the road labels which I still want to see.

I tried to find a way to get rid of the labels in gpsmapedit, but I can't see an easy way to delete all the labels for the original gpx file. There are a total of 3700+ tracks in the file and deleting each will be onerous. The label itself provides no useful info since the original data came from my region's GIS website and each track is generically labelled by the local municipal government - ie: "Trail_1" all the way up to "Trail_3782". Do you know of an easy way to mass delete all the labels without harming the tracks?

Thanks for any assistance. The transparent trail map looks great otherwise on my gpsr.

[jbensman]

Select all the trails, right click, label, and give them all the same name like 6

Do the same and select label again and it will show 6 as the name for all the trails, delete the 6 and then all the labels will be gone.

[Seldom]

I tried to find a way to get rid of the labels in gpsmapedit, but I can't see an easy way to delete all the labels for the original gpx file. There are a total of 3700+ tracks in the file and deleting each will be onerous. The label itself provides no useful info since the original data came from my region's GIS website and each track is generically labelled by the local municipal government - ie: "Trail_1" all the way up to "Trail_3782". Do you know of an easy way to mass delete all the labels without harming the tracks?

Get a text editor like Notepad++ (not Notepad). You should be able to work out a search and replace that's fairly painless on the MP file to remove labels in trails.

[jbensman]

I tried to find a way to get rid of the labels in gpsmapedit, but I can't see an easy way to delete all the labels for the original gpx file. There are a total of 3700+ tracks in the file and deleting each will be onerous. The label itself provides no useful info since the original data came from my region's GIS website and each track is generically labelled by the local municipal government - ie: "Trail_1" all the way up to "Trail_3782". Do you know of an easy way to mass delete all the labels without harming the tracks?

Get a text editor like Notepad++ (not Notepad). You should be able to work out a search and replace that's fairly painless on the MP file to remove labels in trails.

My solution is MUCH easier and simple.  I do it all the time.  You could change them all in gpsmapedit like I said in about 15 seconds. 

[Seldom]

Indeed, your way is easier.  But if the SAMM gets a copy of Notepad++ he (she) will find lots of other useful things to do with it, like correct highway shields.

[SAMM Clan]

Thanks for the responses. I tried to select all the tracks (before conversion to polylines) as well as after conversion to polylines and for some reason gpsmapedit wouldn't allow me to relabel the tracks (or lines). I didn't realize that the mp file was text editable until Seldom's solution. I ended up using a grep search and replace using BBEdit on my Mac partition that worked out great.

Thank-you - I am now a happy owner of a transparent map showing all the GIS tracked trails in my region! This is awesome.

[Seldom]

Glad you got grep to work.  I don't know how to do that yet.  The process jbensman described works like this:

Once you have your trails as polylines,  Edit|Select|By Type  check 0x0016 (Roads - Walkway/Trail).  If you zoom close enough to see them they will be purple.  Select the Arrow tool and right click. In the dialog select Modify| Label  and add a dummy value (jbensman used "6" above) to overwrite all the trail labels.  Then repeat the process to substitute whitespace for the 6.

[SAMM Clan]

I would never have figure out that gpsmapedit process on my own. I had searched the wiki since there is no manual, but didn't come across that method. I will remember it for the future. In terms of grep, it was pretty basic. I opened up the mp file and searched for:

Label=Trail_[0-9]+\ r

where each line of code to be replaced was "Label=Trail_" plus the number of the trail, from 1 to 3571. The [0-9]+ captured the variations of the trail numbering and the "\r"capture the whole line of code.

I then replaced it with:
Label=\r

This removed all the trail labels in a few seconds. Grep searches are great on code files. Thanks for pointing out that I could open up the mp file in a txt editor. When I tried using a grep on the original gpx file, I kept messing up the file. I am sure something would have worked, but had not figured out which combo was best.