Parsa

I'm doing some preliminary research on selecting apps for hiking and location finding in the UK for my iPhone (Apple iOS). Preferably the app(s) would be able to do both mapping and turn-by-turn navigation. I'd need to be able to plot waypoints, find trails and rights-of-way, see topography, and guide myself to a location with a nav arrow. A navigation app with turn-by-turn is of secondary importance to me, however. It could be a separate app I suppose. The only app I've seen that will display OS maps is ViewRanger. Are there others? A vector simulation of OS-like topographic detail would be acceptable.

Are the 64s and the 78s really internally identical? Looking at the online specs, the 64s allows 5000 waypoints in the unit itself, while the 78s only allows 2000. The 64s has 4 GB internal memory, while the 78s is only 1.7 GB.

I'm considering an upgrade. I'm looking at the 64S, the Colorado 700, and the 78s. I'm trying to take one thing at a time into consideration. My current unit is a 60cx, and it's not bad, but it's not exactly easy to see the map in bright light.

It's often hard to see the map on certain GPS units when in direct sunlight. Which models provide the best bright displays in sunlight?

I believe there was is known bug with micro SD cards that are ejected in the normal way. Invisible files are created that mess things up. The solution is a little app called CleanEject. After using this every time I had to eject the micro SD card things worked fine. The app deletes the offending invisible files causing the problems. Read about it here: CleanEject from Javawa GPS Tools [if there is a pop-up, click the left button to remain in English].

Thanks sharant for your clear answer. I've looked at the 1:50k tiles that UK Ordnance Survey lets you download, and of course they are not standard Landranger maps. I mainly desire the traditional tourist-style maps (Landranger/Explorer/Outdoor Leisure) because I intend to visit a lot of historical sites like megalithic monuments and the like. Cairns, stone circles, barrows and other sites are often shown on the old style OS maps. The raster maps made from vector maps do not generally show them. I'm also making my own Google MyMaps based on Megalithic Portal data, but seeing the sites plotted on actual OS maps on my computer is very helpful to me. I was thinking that I could at least use Bing or Streetmap to take screen shots and construct my own maps. It's just a bit tedious.

Hi, I'm a Yank from California and have been caching since 2002. I may be visiting Britain this year (and Ireland a bit later in the future). I am interested in getting raster (pixel image files) of the Ordnance Survey maps. This would be the OS Landranger, Explorer, and Outdoor Leisure maps. I have quite a few paper OS maps of the UK and Ireland that are a bit old now, but I need digital raster maps that I can open in my computer's mapping program (MacGPS Pro). In the U.S. all government maps can be downloaded for free now (including all historic maps). This doesn't seem to be the case in the UK and Ireland. Is there somewhere that I can obtain TIFF or PDF versions of the maps? It would help if they were georeferenced, but I do have the ability to calibrate them from scratch. Same question about the Irish Discover and Leisure series. I may also be upgrading my GPS from the Garmin 60cx to a 62 or 64 that can read raster maps also. Thanks in advance for any help. Steve [aka "Parsa" on geocaching]

Marty, that's interesting. I suppose I could do that in command line app Terminal.

Let's say I had a document with entries like the following excerpt: How would I enter this into GPSBabel? What format would I chose? Or would I have to do a lot of editing to make it comma delimited?

I have GPSBabel, but I wasn't aware it would extract coordinates from a general text file full of other text.

I used to have a software program for Mac OS that would extract all the GPS or coordinate data from a text file and create a file with every set of coordinates on a line. I don't recall if it was comma or tab delimited, but either would be fine. I don't remember what app I was using. Does anyone know an application that will do this for me?

By the way, if you have a Garmin unit, you'll probably be seeing a different set of symbols. However some of the names are the same. Garmin GPS Unit Waypoint Icons Table Here's a MapSource list, which is pretty similar but in a different order: Garmin MapSource and text files

This is a list of all 248 waypoint symbols in Garmin's RoadTrip software with the names and images for each. If you want RoadTrip to display one of these symbols when you import a gpx file, you can insert a symbol tag with the exact name shown. You may also include a "type" tag with the same name. Example, insert: <sym>Campground</sym> into the GPX file to display a campground symbol in RoadTrip. This can be done with creative find and replace for large files. The type tag looks similar: <type>Campground</type> --------------------------- 001 Anchor 002 Bell 003 Diamond, Green 004 Diamond, Red 005 Diver Down Flag 1 006 Diver Down Flag 2 007 Bank 008 Fishing Area 009 Gas Station 010 Horn 011 Residence 012 Restaurant 013 Light 014 Bar 015 Skull and Crossbones 016 Square, Green 017 Square, Red 018 Buoy, White 019 Waypoint 020 Shipwreck 021 Man Overboard 022 Navaid, Amber 023 Navaid, Black 024 Navaid, Blue 025 Navaid, Green 026 Navaid, Green/Red 027 Navaid, Green/White 028 Navaid, Orange 029 Navaid, Red 030 Navaid, Red/Green 031 Navaid, Red/White 032 Navaid, Violet 033 Navaid, White 034 Navaid, White/Green 035 Navaid, White/Red 036 Dot, White 037 Radio Beacon 038 Boat Ramp 039 Campground 040 Restroom 041 Shower 042 Drinking Water 043 Telephone 044 Medical Facility 045 Information 046 Parking Area 047 Park 048 Picnic Area 049 Scenic Area 050 Skiing Area 051 Swimming Area 052 Dam 053 Controlled Area 054 Danger Area 055 Restricted Area 056 Ball Park 057 Car 058 Hunting Area 059 Shopping Center 060 Lodging 061 Mine 062 Trail Head 063 Truck Stop 064 Exit 065 Flag 066 Circle with X 067 Mile Marker 068 TracBack Point 069 Golf Course 070 City (Small) 071 City (Medium) 072 City (Large) 073 City (Capitol) 074 Amusement Park 075 Bowling 076 Car Rental 077 Car Repair 078 Fast Food 079 Fitness Center 080 Movie Theater 081 Museum 082 Pharmacy 083 Pizza 084 Post Office 085 RV Park 086 School 087 Stadium 088 Department Store 089 Zoo 090 Convenience Store 091 Live Theater 092 Scales 093 Toll Booth 094 Bridge 095 Building 096 Cemetery 097 Church 098 Civil 099 Crossing 100 Ghost Town 101 Levee 102 Military 103 Oil Field 104 Tunnel 105 Beach 106 Forest 107 Summit 108 Airport 109 Heliport 110 Private Field 111 Soft Field 112 Tall Tower 113 Short Tower 114 Glider Area 115 Ultralight Area 116 Parachute Area 117 Seaplane Base 118 Geocache 119 Geocache Found 120 Contact, Afro 121 Contact, Alien 122 Contact, Ball Cap 123 Contact, Big Ears 124 Contact, Biker 125 Contact, Bug 126 Contact, Cat 127 Contact, Dog 128 Contact, Dreadlocks 129 Contact, Female1 130 Contact, Female2 131 Contact, Female3 132 Contact, Goatee 133 Contact, Kung-Fu 134 Contact, Pig 135 Contact, Pirate 136 Contact, Ranger 137 Contact, Smiley 138 Contact, Spike 139 Contact, Sumo 140 Water Hydrant 141 Flag, Red 142 Flag, Blue 143 Flag, Green 144 Pin, Red 145 Pin, Blue 146 Pin, Green 147 Block, Red 148 Block, Blue 149 Block, Green 150 Bike Trail 151 Fishing Hot Spot Facility 152 Police Station 153 Ski Resort 154 Ice Skating 155 Wrecker 156 Anchor Prohibited 157 Beacon 158 Coast Guard 159 Reef 160 Weed Bed 161 Dropoff 162 Dock 163 Marina 164 Bait and Tackle 165 Stump 166 Circle, Red 167 Circle, Green 168 Circle, Blue 169 Diamond, Blue 170 Oval, Red 171 Oval, Green 172 Oval, Blue 173 Rectangle, Red 174 Rectangle, Green 175 Rectangle, Blue 176 Square, Blue 177 Letter A, Red 178 Letter A, Green 179 Letter A, Blue 180 Letter B, Red 181 Letter B, Green 182 Letter B, Blue 183 Letter C, Red 184 Letter C, Green 185 Letter C, Blue 186 Letter D, Red 187 Letter D, Green 188 Letter D, Blue 189 Number 0, Red 190 Number 0, Green 191 Number 0, Blue 192 Number 1, Red 193 Number 1, Green 194 Number 1, Blue 195 Number 2, Red 196 Number 2, Green 197 Number 2, Blue 198 Number 3, Red 199 Number 3, Green 200 Number 3, Blue 201 Number 4, Red 202 Number 4, Green 203 Number 4, Blue 204 Number 5, Red 205 Number 5, Green 206 Number 5, Blue 207 Number 6, Red 208 Number 6, Green 209 Number 6, Blue 210 Number 7, Red 211 Number 7, Green 212 Number 7, Blue 213 Number 8, Red 214 Number 8, Green 215 Number 8, Blue 216 Number 9, Red 217 Number 9, Green 218 Number 9, Blue 219 Triangle, Blue 220 Triangle, Green 221 Triangle, Red 222 Contact, Blonde 223 Contact, Clown 224 Contact, Glasses 225 Contact, Panda 226 Multi-Cache 227 Letterbox Cache 228 Puzzle Cache 229 Library 230 Ground Transportation 231 City Hall 232 Winery 233 ATV 234 Big Game 235 Blind 236 Blood Trail 237 Cover 238 Covey 239 Food Source 240 Furbearer 241 Lodge 242 Small Game 243 Animal Tracks 244 Treed Quarry 245 Tree Stand 246 Truck 247 Upland Game 248 Waterfowl ------------------- Cheers, Steve .

Well, as Emily Litella would say... never mind. It seems you can unlock the maps via Garmin's web site through their arcane device and product key entry system. Good to know.

I think Garmin promised Mac software about 2001 or so. To date, you still need a PC available in order to use Garmin products. Crazy. Garmin has at least made some software for the Mac in the last 10 years such as RoadTrip and BaseCamp, but the silly step of converting the maps using a PC needs to go. Are you listening Garmin? The maps are on the DVD. The installer is on the Mac's hard drive. RoadTrip is on the hard drive. So why is unlocking still done on a PC? How hard would it be to just unlock the maps using a Mac application and install them? Right now you still need to insert the DVD into a PC, convert the maps into a .gmapi file, load that file onto some sort of drive or disk, import it into the Macintosh, then open it with MapManager to make it usable for MapInstall. Then you can proceed choose maps and install them onto the device or card. Seriously Garmin, contact someone at Apple to work with you in making an install app for the Mac. By the way, the City Navigator DVD says it's Mac compatible, and nowhere on the case does it say you need to use a PC. It's very misleading. I knew you had to do this, but I can image it's extremely frustrating for folks new to using Garmin software with their Macs.

I uploaded the maps into the GPS, and now I'm seeing the caches in the Custom POI list. Weird that it works now. Of course they don't show up on the map unless you're zoomed in enough... the trouble with custom POIs. Has anyone figured out a way to do custom Garmin symbols for the Waypoint files (not custom POIs) on a Mac?

I can't seem to see the caches from my pocket query on my Garmin 60Cx. In some ways I kind of miss my simple 12XL. At least I could see each and every waypoint in the list. I upgraded to the latest version of Garmin RoadTrip. I upgraded the Garmin POI Loader. (It's annoying how instead of selecting files it selects a folder and grays out the files. It makes you think something is wrong.) I upgraded the firmware in my GPSmap 60Cx, which then erased all my maps. I'm uploading them again now. It's OK though since I needed to add some more. I uploaded via RoadTrip and POI Loader, but I see nothing. No geocaches in the Geocache POI section, nor in the POI section. Where the heck are they? I tried it with my 2GB card in the reader, which always used to work. It appears in both software applications. When I dragged the user file from the card onto my desktop, and opened it in TextEdit, sure enough the geocaches were listed with all their info. So what am I doing wrong? Maybe I just forgot the procedure. I've done it so many different ways in the past, and had other GPSs, so maybe I've forgotten. What is the procedure for custom POIs and for Geocaches?

Check this out: Virtuals "found" by The_Tom.

Engelmann Oak Trail was removed. Patriots Ever Mighty was removed. They left Crest Trail-Coyote Bait and Mallard Trail-You're Desthpicable. I have not received notice yet on East of Inlet, but it's in the Dixon Lake area. It's still the city, but different rangers I suppose. At least they had the courtesy to tell us and give us a reason, which is something I guess. It might have been nice to get a note first. Neither of the removed caches was a threat to the environment, or I would not have placed them where I did. Parsa

I had previously loaded a California and Arizona map into my Palm using Bluetooth Hotsync, and the wait was outrageously long... hours. Today I wanted to load several other states and state combo maps, and the first took a loooooong time to go from 0% to 1%. I said to myself there has to be a better way. So after a lot of Google searching, I came up with this answer for how to directly load to the SD card. Now perhaps your documentation tells you how to do this, but mine did not. Keep in mind that I'm using the Tomtom Setup installer for Mac, not PC, but the procedure should be similar. [The Macintosh Tomtom cd software is a joke. The setup software doesn't work, so you have to download one that does, and the CDs are buggy and keep switching the CD numbers the maps are supposed to be on so you have to do stupid back and forth CD shuffles.] How to load Navigator 5 maps via a card reader Tomtom Navigator 5 software must be installed on the Palm. Insert the Palm's card into a card reader and make sure the card appears on your computer. 1 - start the Tomtom Setup software [from your HD, not the CD, at least if using a Mac] 2 - insert a map CD 3 - agree to the EULA 4 - select Palm Powered-Handheld 5 - select Add maps 6 - select the map you want to install (you may have to change CDs). Remember there are many more choice via "Other." 7 - select the Choose button [or perhaps on PC: Other Location (Advanced) ] 8 - select your Palm storage card (SD card) [on the Devices list on Mac] 9 - select Choose [or whatever the PC equivalent] Do not select a folder in the card, just select the card. 10 - your maps should load much faster this way... a couple minutes rather than hours. Wait until all files load. There are about 11. The software will let you know when installation is finished. Bye bye loading maps via Hotsync! Good ridance. Parsa

The Tennessee Zero Milestone is located in the Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. Thank you. I know it's in the park, somewhere near the ground map of Tennessee, but I was hoping someone could narrow it down a bit more. It's a very big park. Coordinates, or a description based on an aerial photo, would be a huge help. Parsa

Does anyone know where the Tennessee Zero Milestone is located in Nashville? It replaces the original 1924 milestone, which was placed as part of the Lee Highway Association and AAA push to have zero milestones in each city. Other milestones from the early auto era occur in Washington, DC at the Ellipse, San Diego (Pacific Milestone), San Antonio, and St Augustine, Florida. The milestone should be near the giant map of Tennessee near the Capitol. Here's a picture I found online: Here's the original: Parsa

There's Anza Borrego DSP, there's San Diego County, then on the other end of the spectrum there's Columbus, Georgia: Columbus, Georgia Geocaching CacheCards Parsa

Thanks, that's what I needed. The button comes with the unit right? Seems funny that the belt clip comes with one too. Parsa

For caching, GeoJournal looks very good, but as a GPX editor, and for non-geocaching GPX files, I've found MacCaching a bit better. In fact GeoJournal has a tough time understanding non-cache GPX files at all. It substitutes weird stuff into the name field for instance. Bobcat is fair in this regard. Right now it does not seem to allow custom symbols, nor does it seem to be able to handle descriptions properly, only comments. It strips any descriptions, and substitutes the comment into the description field. Terrabrowser seems to so far be the best GPX editor, though it's not perfect. It also has both topo and street mapping, which Bobcat lacks. Of course I shouldn't complain too much, since there really isn't any dedicated GPX editor that I know of for either PC or Mac. Such a piece of software is lacking and badly needed for those of us who make custom waypoint/POI files. Parsa