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    Simple(?) Gpsbabel Question

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Cool, thanks!

     

    As much as I like MacGPSBabel, I find myself still relying on the command line version of gpsbabel - under Windows 98 in Virtual PC! I haven't gotten around to installing the various parts I need to build the command line version for Mac OS X.

     

    Is there any reason why sourceforge doesn't distribute a compiled binary for plain command line gpsbabel under OS X, as they do for Windows systems? I know I can open the MacGPSPackage file and use the executable that's in there, but that involves other complications...

    Looking For Specific Coordinates

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted · Edited by lee_rimar

    Does anyone have coordinate for the main building entrance and/or the main parking lot entrance for the relatively new Air & Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia?

     

    According to their website, the entrance is off of route 28, about a 1/2 mile north of route 50. Though the mailing address is given as "14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway," neither this address nor any maps I can find on-line show the area in detail. Just a big grey blank area off to the side of Dulles Airport.

     

    Looking at MS Streets & Trips, my best guess for the main entrance is 38.90379, -77.43435. Can anyone improve on this by actual observation?

    Simple(?) Gpsbabel Question

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Jeremy:

     

    Thank you! The Verbose mode is especially good to know about. I must have missed that when I read the documentation for MacGPSBabel.

     

    Regarding your remark about "that sort of thing is particularly difficult to include in a GUI" - may I offer a suggestion? On the popup menu for the list of file formats, could the first itembe "Custom XCSV..." and have that choice bring up a file selector?

     

    Thanks again for your help!

     

    Lee.

    Simple(?) Gpsbabel Question

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Robert:

     

    Thanks for the hints. A couple of comments:

     

    1) Where would I put that customized file if I'm using MacGPSBabel? That's probably a query for the bloke who wrote the Mac GUI for it, or maybe the mailing list.

     

    2) I think these questions don't get asked on the mailing lists because some people don't even realize there is a mailing list. Other people don't like mailing lists for a variety of reasons.

     

    Lee.

    Simple(?) Gpsbabel Question

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by lee_rimar

    I have a simple spreadhseet that contains only following the waypoint information in columns:

     

    Waypoint Name, Longitude, Latitude, Comment

     

    No other information is in this file, though I could easily add columns or re-arrange the existing ones. I could also export it to a simple tab or comma delimited file also.

     

    What would be the easiest way to translate this to a Magellan waypoint file? It looks like GPSBabel supports about a zillion formats, but I can't figure out which one to use - or how to coerce my existing spreadsheet into a format GPSBabel will accept.

    Mac Gps Connectivity (long, 4000+ Chars)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by lee_rimar

    You have to upload the data from your hard drive to GPS Visualizer.  It accepts data in a LOT of formats, including GPX of course.

    Sound good to me. I haven't looked at it yet -- does it accept the waypoint files directly read/written by Magellan's Mapsend (and/or whatever the Garmin native equivalent is)? That would save one conversion step - if I didn't have to make a GPX file first.

    Mac Gps Connectivity (long, 4000+ Chars)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Note: Much of this info has been provided elsewhere lately in Groundspeak forums -- but scattered among many posts interlaced with bickering. I put together these notes to share what I know on the subject in one place, with little or no editorializing.

     

    Here's a fact: Some people use Macintosh systems, but a lot more use Microsoft Windows. Due to that market reality, there are fewer software options available for Mac users, and niche applications (like GPS support) can be especially hard to find.

     

    What's A Mac User To Do?

     

    The "easy way out" is to simply buy an inexpensive PC for just those apps unavailable on the Mac. These are commodity items; a cheap PC can cost less than a good GPS. Because few GPS applications require high-end equipment, the cheapest PCs from Costco or BestBuy would suffice. So would many cheap used machines from eBay - or even local garage sales.

     

    If you can't afford the cash outlay or don't have room for a spare computer, most Macintosh systems can run Windows software using Microsoft's Virtual-PC. Performance is much slower than real PC hardware, but adequate for most GPS applications. Offsetting performance issues somewhat are Virtual-PC features that make it especially robust, resistant to viruses, and easier to maintain than a real PC.

     

    Though Virtual-PC lets your Mac run PC software, there's a missing piece of PC hardware it can't provide: The RS-232 port with a DB-9 connector. Older Macs had serial ports but used a mini-din connector; newer ones have USB connections. Fortunately, adapters for both types of connection are widely available and relatively inexpensive. A quick search on eBay or Froogle turns up a lot of choices.

     

    Not Enough Choices?

     

    If you don't have money/space for another computer, OR Virtual-PC runs too slow on your Mac, OR you just don't do Windows -- there are some Mac-native solutions. Note that even with a native solution, you'll still need the RS-232 adapter mentioned above.

     

    Here are a few GPS programs for the Macintosh. This list is in not all-inclusive, nor in any particular order. It's just how I came across them when I searched VersionTracker and a few other web resources.

     

    MacGPS Pro

    http://www.macgpspro.com/

     

    MagWayMan

    http://www.studiosoich.com/MWM.html

     

    TerraBrowser, GPSConnect

    http://chimoosoft.com/software.html

     

    GPSNavX

    http://gpsnavx.osxdownloads.com/html/index.htm

     

    TopoDraw, GPSWrite

    http://www.hiketech.com/

     

    FlightTrack

    http://flighttrack.sourceforge.net/

     

    GPSBabel

    http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/

     

    Route66

    http://www.66.com/route66/index.php

     

    GPSy

    http://www.gpsy.com/

     

    I haven't used all of those packages, but I have looked at a few. I haven't found one yet that can do exactly what I want, so I still rely on Virtual-PC for some things. Some do a good job with waypoints, routes, and tracking. Some let you view your waypoints and tracks overlaid on maps or aerial photos (either stored locally or via the web). But no single program handles all of those tasks equally well -- and not a one handles firmware or basemap updates.

     

    The ideal solution would be for the major GPS vendors to offer Mac specific versions of their software. This seems unlikely, considering the amount of development effort to service what is a very small segment of the market. So for the foreseeable future, Mac specific GPS software will remain the province of hobbyists and small niche developers.

     

    Please feel free to respond to this article with constructive comments. I'd be especially interested in

     

    - Comments, reviews, tips about Mac software mentioned in this post

    - Pointers to additional Mac-native GPS software not mentioned here

    - Sources, reviews, tips for RS-232 adapters on the Mac

    - Other Mac specific GPS issues

    - Software feature wishlist

     

    ...and any other kind of constructive feedback!

     

    .LDR

    The original multi / virtual ...

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Who'd have thought Ben Franklin was a geocacher?

     

    Published in this morning's NY Times. Available online but registration is required.

     

    SECTION: NY Time / Automobiles / DRIVING

    Published: October 24, 2003

     

    HISTORY ON EVERY MILE, AND SOMETIMES A STONE

    By Arthur Bovino

     

    A journey that begins among the Chinese storefronts and restaurant supply stores along the Bowery in New York City and that includes a pilgrimage to an Economy True Value Hardware store in suburban Boston more than 200 miles later may not sound like a road trip of much historical interest. (Or, to be frank, of any interest whatsoever.) But this road, which winds through the Bronx; Mamaroneck, N.Y.; and New Haven — veering off to Springfield, Mass., and Providence, R.I., and changing names probably more than two dozen times along the way — has an important pedigree.

     

    This artery, originally an Indian trail, became North America's first official mail route in 1673. A monthly postal service between New York and Boston was begun, with the road christened the Boston Post Road. (It was actually several roads in one. The road connected New York to New Haven, where it split in two; one artery went east along the coast through Rhode Island and the other north to Hartford, Conn., where it again split east and north.)

     

    But it is not the road itself that makes this route worth a journey. There are certainly faster links between Boston and New York, like Interstate 95, and more picturesque thoroughfares, like U.S. 1A.

     

    Instead, its appeal is in the small stone markers placed along its path. According to the 1913 book "The Old Boston Post Road," by Stephen Jenkins, the markers were one of the improvements instituted by Benjamin Franklin when he was a postmaster general for the colonies from 1753 to 1774.

     

    Though it is uncertain from which direction he started, historical accounts report that Franklin devised a mechanical odometer and attached it to a wheel on his wagon, marking each mile with wooden stakes. A second wagon followed him, replacing the stakes with the engraved markers.

     

    Searching for the remaining markers on a leisurely drive between New York City and Boston can turn the typical leaf peeper into a historian-cum-archaeologist for a day. You will travel a lot of local roads — some of them quaint, some not — all of which only roughly parallel the original route. The exact route of the Boston Post Road is difficult to duplicate; some of it, in fact, is buried under U.S. 1. But you can get an approximation by starting on what is left of it and navigating its many name changes and detours along the way.

     

    Some amateur historians, like Brian Hamill of Warren, Mass., have photographed the markers and tried to track down those that have been lost or stolen through the years. Mr. Hamill also has a Web site dedicated to these markers, www.samnet.net/esso/Fmm.htm, detailing one of the best stretches on the upper section of the route — from Spencer to Warren — on which to spot these artifacts.

     

    "I am just a small-time guy interested in my town's history," said Mr. Hamill, a member of what he calls the Thief Detecting Society, an organization chartered more than a hundred years ago to prevent horses from being stolen.

     

    Other Post Road sites include one maintained by Dan Moraseski, a senior at M.I.T. studying urban history who goes by the nickname Dr. Spui (pronounced SPOO-ee, meaning single-point urban interchange, an engineering term for a type of highway interchange), that locates markers in the greater Boston area. "Signs these days don't last that long," Mr. Moraseski said. "These have been here for a long time."

     

    The site www.historicpelham.com pinpoints the two markers within the borders of Pelham, N.Y.; and freepages.genealogy .rootsweb.com/~gentutor/boston.html is devoted to early American trails.

     

    The stones are of different colors and types, with many observers often mistaking them for gravestones. (Oddly, the numbering system seems to have started in both Boston and New York, meaning that the sequences switch into reverse at points along the various routes that make up the road.) Many faded markers are cared for, repainted and supported in walls and concrete hutches. Some, like the one in Mamaroneck (in a square just south of the intersection of Boston Post Road and Barry Road), have been moved to more prominent spots. This one's original location, 256 yards away, is noted in a plaque at the marker.

     

    There are not, of course, stones to mark each of the road's miles, and some stretches, such as Stamford through New Haven, are almost barren. One is said to have existed on 152nd Street in Harlem, but the first markers you are likely to find as you leave Manhattan are two in Pelham — one behind a chain-link fence at Pelham Memorial High School on Colonial Avenue and one at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Esplanade.

     

    AS you head north into Connecticut, the search for stones can turn into a lesson in local history. On the corner of Cross and Main in Norwalk, one of the many towns along the route where the Post Road takes on the name Main Street, a marker reads, "Near this spot on June 17th, 1789, Jesse Lee preached the sermon which marked the official beginning of Methodism in New England. His text: Ye must be born again."

     

    For years after the markers were first placed, taverns and inns prided themselves on being located near them for the prestige they carried and the business they offered from riders measuring the distance they had traveled and rewarding themselves with rest, hot food and entertainment.

     

    Now, in Norwalk, and elsewhere, some businesses nod to this tradition with names like Post Road Diner (on what is now called Connecticut Avenue) and offer sustenance that surely would have puzzled our forebears, like the deep-fried hot dogs at Swanky Franks, 182 Connecticut Avenue.

     

    Though the drive does feature other markers, rivers and scenic broken-down grain elevators, some areas are best served by driving through them about 20 times faster than Ben Franklin did. (Unless you are a fan of strip malls.) Getting to the markers themselves can take some ingenuity. In West Brookfield, Mass., on the south end of the common in a concrete hutch, is No. 68. Hidden in an almost full circle of shrubs in front of W. H. King Realty and Associates, barely legible, is No. 69. Marker No. 70 is near a large white house and red barn, amid a large clump of bushes. Marker No. 73, on heavily wooded Bay Path Road, is obscured by a clump of vegetation surrounding it. Get out of the car, hold the grass down, and watch the ants scurry away as you try to decipher the faded inscription.

     

    Those who follow the Post Road to its conclusion will journey to Cambridge and to the Old Burying Ground, where a double-sided eight-mile marker stands at Garden Street and Massachusetts Avenue, next to the First Parish Church.

     

    As you approach Boston, the seven-mile marker is just past Rena Street, under a tree in a residential area. The six-mile stone is in front of Economy True Value Hardware on Harvard Avenue, near Commonwealth Avenue, listing slightly out of the sidewalk. (Watch the car door as you get out.) The five-mile stone is on Harvard Street, under a shrub in front of the United Parish Church in Brookline. After Harvard merges into Washington, take a left onto Huntington Avenue, just past Colburn Street. On the left side of the street, the four-mile marker is built into a wall of the Mission Park apartment complex.

     

    The end of the journey — marker No. 1, or the Parting Stone — comes, rather ingloriously, at the Foreign Car Specialists auto repair shop in Roxbury. But the store's owners, Tony and Myriam Diaz, insist that the humble stone saved their business.

     

    Mr. Diaz said that a few years ago a car crashed into the stone, which is embedded in the sidewalk in front of his shop, demolishing the car and leaving the stone unhurt. "The whole building shook," he said. "I think the stone actually prevented the car from coming through into my office area."

     

    -30-

    Magellan Platinum

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    quote:
    EPE is not one of the options to customise a field on a Nav Screen.
    I think it is. Try this:

     

    On the Map screen, or practically any NAV screen that contains a few of data fields,. screen, hit the Menu button.

     

    One of the first few menu items (depending on which screen you started at) wil say Customize of Customize Fields. Hit it.

     

    This will take you back to the nave screen with the first data field's caption highlighted. You can use the arrow keys to select any of the data fields.

     

    When you've highlighted the field you want, hit Enter.

     

    This will pop up a menu of all the data you could put in the field. EPE should be available for just about ANY of these, at least it is on my SporTrak Pro with firmware 4.06.

     

    ---

    LDR.

    Magellan Units

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    quote:
    ...you would be happier with the Meridian. The ability to have multiple detail maps is great.
    Like so many things, it depends how you use it.

     

    If you travel a lot, the multiple detail maps (and ability to load them via SD card) could be a necessity.

     

    BUT if you typically use the GPS in one area, you might load your detail map once and never have to change it. In that case, the SD slot is simply an expense for something you would never use.

     

    I normally only have ONE detail map loaded in my SporTrak Pro, and it's only about 5 meg. Covers southeastern Michigan -- all of the thumb, down to Toledo, and out past Jackson and Lansing. This leaves a lot of free memory, yet it is a larger area than I would bike or hike in any given day.

     

    When I travel, I do pre-load the STP in advance. I've never been on a trip where I couldn't get the detail area I wanted to fit into memory.

     

    So why would I (or any other user with similar usage patterns / needs) want expandable memory?

     

    The only aggravation I've had is minor: It DOES take a long time to load from a serial port. But since I don't have to do this very often, it's not a big deal.

     

    So FORRESTH, I'm guessing you travel more than I do? icon_smile.gif

     

    ---

    LDR.

    Magellan MapSend DirectRoute

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    quote:
    Interesting... 108MB of Topo detail and only 16MB available for street level detail.
    Makes sense on a unit wth only RS-232 and no expandable memory.

     

    Memory is cheap, and big numbers look good on advertising lit. But no user will want to spend 4 hours downloading maps via serial port! So Thales preloads at the factory with the one kind of data least likely to change: topo. Costs little extra, appeals to a specific class of buyers, and looks like an awesome piece of equipment (on paper. Until you study it too closely :-)

     

    Personally, I'd rather see (in this order):

     

    1) ACCURATE maps

    2) Better designed user interface on the map software

    3) Hosting the map software on both PC and MAC

    4) USB or FIreWire Connectivity for the GPS

    5) SD card slot in something the size of the SporTrak.

     

    ---

    LDR.

    Sportrak Map and Topo lines

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by TotemLake:

    I checked that area and your features are very flat there.

     

    Hey, I shoulda thought about that when I mentioned where Quad Cities was.

     

    That's where I-80 and a few other highways cross the Mississippi. You ain't seen "flat" until you've driven I-80 from Nebraska to Illinois.

     

    ---

    LDR.

    Can a Garmin do this? Which models?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by wickedsprint:

    [quote...people are allowed to question your motivation...

    Sure, and you're allowed to ask for bananas at a hardware store--but you probably get much out of it. And I doubt you'd call the clerk "anal" for directing you to the nearest fruit stand.

     

    I just looked at the top of my screen. Surprisingly, I'm still in the "GPS Units and Software" section, under a specific thread about the availability of specific hardware features. Do you have any information to contribute under that heading?

     

    ---

    LDR.

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