topografix

I'm glad to see others are reporting this. I'm one of the original authors of the GPX standard (along with Jeremy Irish), and I just came here to try to report that the new change is creating invalid GPX files (see below). In addition to breaking Garmin receivers, this is causing my software (EasyGPS and ExpertGPS) to treat the caches as waypoints, because all of the additional cache data is getting ignored because of the invalid Groundspeak schema. If anyone from Geocaching HQ reads this, you're creating broken GPX files, and you need to (as a minimum) add back the missing the <?xml...> tag at the top replace xmlns:Groundspeak="Groundspeak" with xmlns:Groundspeak="http://www.Groundspeak.com/cache/1/0"

I'm the author of ExpertGPS. Because your Montana supports Custom Maps, you can send a digitized USGS 1:24K topo map, scanned paper map, OSM street map, or aerial photo to your GPS to use as a custom basemap. ExpertGPS will prepare and send these maps for you, and they can be up to 10,000 x 10,000 pixels in size. That's enough to cover most multi-day trips. Personally, I find that sending a color orthophoto (high-res aerial imagery) to the GPS to be more useful in navigating for the types of activities I do in the field. I always print a large topo or aerial with UTM grid lines to carry along as well. There's nothing like a paper map to give you the big picture. Feel free to contact me if this tutorial doesn't answer your questions about custom basemaps on your Garmin Montana 650: http://www.expertgps.com/send-maps-to-gps.asp Happy caching! - Dan Foster

I'm hoping some Lowrance Endura owners can help me track down a problem with GPX files. I'm the author of EasyGPS and GeoBuddy, and I'm starting to see reports that the GPX files created by the Endura GPS receivers have a technical flaw in them that prevents their use in some software. If you own a Lowrance Endura or other model that saves GPX data, could you send Waypoints.gpx or any other GPX file created by the GPS to me at support@easygps.com ? I'd be eternally grateful. If there is a problem with the Lowrance output, this would give me a chance to report it to Lowrance so they can correct it in future firmware. [i need the GPX file as saved to the data card by the GPS - before it's been opened or edited in any software on your computer.] Thanks, Dan Foster support@easygps.com

ExpertGPS Pro will convert any shapefile to GPX format, and can send shapefile data, geocaches, and other GPS data to any Garmin, Magellan, or Lowrance GPS.

EasyGPS shows a plot of your GPS data over a white background. If you'd like to see your GPS data plotted over a topo map, aerial photo, or your own scanned trail map, try ExpertGPS mapping software or GeoBuddy geocaching software

EasyGPS is freeware that will send GPX files to any Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, or Eagle GPS receiver. http://www.easygps.com/download.asp

In EasyGPS, click Edit/Preferences/My GPS Receivers. Select or add your GPS, and then click the Geocaching button. This will allow you to specify exactly what data gets sent to your GPS. You can send hints and the friendly name of geocaches using this EasyGPS setting.

GeoBuddy doesn't provide the geocaching features on your GPS itself. GeoBuddy is geocaching software you can run on your Windows computer to view all of the geocaches in your weekly geocaching.com Pocket Query, map them over topo maps, aerial photos, or in Google Earth, and then choose which ones to send to your Garmin GPSMAP to go out and actually find. The advantage to GeoBuddy is that you've got all of your caches on a map, and it's very easy to plan how you're going to approach each cache - where you'll park, what route you'll take to get to the cache. Lots of cache hiders like to leave surprises for you, like putting the cache on the other side of a stream. With GeoBuddy, you'll be able to preview the terrain from the air before you ever leave home, so you can make the most out of your limited time out hunting for caches. More info and a 30 day trial is available at http://www.geobuddy.com/download.asp

If Garmin is shipping a GPS receiver that is creating invalid GPX files, this is something that ought to be brought to their attention quickly.

Pat, If you email current.gpx to me (support @@@ geobuddy.com), I can salvage what's in the file for you. Best wishes for 2009! Dan Foster, author of GeoBuddy geocaching software

I'm the author of EasyGPS. It seems extremely unlikely that EasyGPS could be altering coordinates - .loc and .gpx files use WGS84, decimal degrees, and EasyGPS uses the same coordinate format internally, so there's no conversion calculations to get messed up when EasyGPS reads or writes a file. What's more likely is that you've changed the datum or coordinate format in EasyGPS, and now you're comparing apples to oranges. For example, if you are looking at WGS84 deg min.min format on geocaching.com (the default format there) and you accidentally switched EasyGPS to display NAD27 datum, you'd get coordinates that are different. If EasyGPS is displaying WGS decimal degrees, the displayed numbers will be different than the deg min.min coordinates on gc.com The important thing to remember about the situation described above is it's just a display issue - the coordinates are still pointing to the exact same spot on earth. (Just like 2.2 pounds is the same as 1.0 kilograms) If you feel something's off in the future, please post the coordinates of the original geocaching.com listing, as well as the exact coordinates displayed in EasyGPS (and the coordinate format listed in the bottom right corner of the EasyGPS window) For the fastest EasyGPS support, contact me directly at the EasyGPS GPS Software Support Web site.

I'm the author of GeoBuddy. Click Send to GPS, and you should be prompted to save a file to the data card from your eXplorist. Geocaches are saved to a .gs file, waypoints are saved to a .upt file. If you need further assistance from me, ask on the GeoBuddy forum at http://forums.topografix.com

There are a lot of programs out there that consider "GPX support" to mean "if it opens a file from geocaching.com, I'm done". It's quite possible that Magellan hasn't done a thorough job of coding their GPX importer to handle both versions of GPX (GPX 1.0, and GPX 1.1). In either ExpertGPS or GeoBuddy, click on the Geocache or Waypoint List, and then click Export on the File menu. Change the file type to GPX 1.0 File - this will export your data in a very basic GPX 1.0 format for maximum compatibility with older programs or ones with incomplete GPX support.

For those of you who don't want to learn a new program, geotagging is now built into EasyGPS, ExpertGPS, and GeoBuddy. Click Add Photos on the Photo or Tools menu to get started.

I use PDF-originated maps from time to time in GeoBuddy. I zoom them to 300% in Adobe Acrobat Reader, and use the Select Image tool to drag a selection box over the entire map. Copy and paste into your favorite image editor, and save in JPEG format. I then calibrate it by identifying three obvious points (like street intersections) using the aerial photo view in GeoBuddy. It can be done. Once you get the hang of it, the hard part is just waiting for Acrobat to scroll down to the bottom of the image so you can export it at 300%.

That's unfortunate that the Onix 400 turned out to be a flop. I purchased the B/W Onix 200 and posted a very negative review as well. Great idea, poor execution.

The lastest version of EasyGPS has a Merge Files command on the File menu, specifically for combining multiple .loc or .gpx files from geocaching.com

I've never heard of any way to do this. It isn't part of the public Garmin data transfer protocol.

Instead of ExpertGPS, you should look at GeoBuddy, which is a specialized version of ExpertGPS specifically for Geocaching. Most of the cachers that I've talked to are using GeoBuddy or GSAK to output paperless data in a format ready to be used by CacheMate on the Palm. A GeoBuddy->POI solution is coming soon.

I switched to a new e-commerce provider for GeoBuddy credit card sales, and they were blocking yahoo and other free email accounts. They've made a change at my request, and yahoo, hotmail, and other free email accounts are now accepted for GeoBuddy orders. I sincerely apologize to any geocachers who went through the order process, only to have their order rejected. If this happened to you, send me an email privately and I'll make it right.

Most older GPS receivers had a fixed POI database (separate from user waypoints) that could only be modified by using MapSource to send a new map region to the GPS. Some of the newer GPS receivers have user-definable POIs (again, different from waypoints). ExpertGPS and GeoBuddy will be supporting these soon. ExpertGPS, GeoBuddy, and EasyGPS all support automatic waypoint transfer (as well as route and track transfer). I hope that clears up the confusion.

The raster (bitmap) topo maps and aerial photos that GeoBuddy displays on your PC aren't anything like the vector (line) maps that MapSource Topo provides. You're stuck with MapSource if you want to send maps to your GPS. GeoBuddy maps are used on your PC to help you plan your caching trip. Many cachers use MapSource Topo on their GPS but carry a printed GeoBuddy topo map or aerial photo for navigation. It's much easier to get your bearings on a 8.5x11 inch printed map than on the tiny screen of your Garmin.

GeoBuddy has a new geotagging feature that works with any digital camera and the tracklog from your Garmin, Magellan, or Lowrance GPS. The upcoming version of EasyGPS includes a geotagging feature as well. http://forums.topografix.com/index.php?showtopic=1236

http://www.easygps.com/windows98.asp (If your GPS says 4800 baud, it is because it is set for NMEA output. For transferring geocaches, you need to put it in GARMIN interface mode, which is always 9600 baud.)

The Import command in ExpertGPS lets you select multiple GPX files, which will be merged. GeoBuddy contains all of the same features as ExpertGPS, and adds full support for GPX pocket queries, a geocaching Web browser, and a number of additional geocaching-specific features. I'm going to try to put new geocaching features in GeoBuddy, and keep ExpertGPS a general-purpose mapping program.