Missouri State Park Waypoints

[moparks]

I am the Web master for the Missouri State Parks Web site. We are in the process of gathering waypoints for various locations in our state parks and would like to make these available in a format that users can download to their GPS units. Can someone point me in the right direction? We have several collected and are trying to figure out what format they need to be in to work for the majority of users.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[+Jhwk]

Not sure what you are asking for? do you mean like .loc or gpx format or the format for the coordinates - DDD.DDDD or DD MM.MMM or DD MM SS.SS or UTM

 

Most cachers are used to the DD MM.MMM format if that helps

 

N 40 18.100 W 091 30.100

 

 

editted because I'm a dork who thinks faster than he types...

Edited October 6, 2005 by Jhwk

[+JC_Geo]

Let me know what exactly you need help with. This weekend I will be at Sam A Baker SP. Maybe if things work out I can help. LMK

Edited October 6, 2005 by JC_Geo

[moparks]

I guess I don't know really what I am asking.

 

We have both lat/long and UTM for all locations. I think first of all I need a suggestion for software (or can we just use a text editor). Secondly I was wondering if there is a standard file type and format that can be used by most GPS units. I have been trying to look around on the Web and it seems like there are serveral different ways to format the waypoint data.

 

Thanks for helping me out. We know that this is something our customers want we just want to make sure we supply it in a useable format.

[+Sputnik 57]

The short answer is that are two fairly common file types. .loc files have bare data, and .gpx files have more details. You can download .loc files from the Geocaching.com site for free, or .gpx files if you pay a modest $3/month (or $30/year) membership fee.

 

You can create your own .loc files or .gpx files. Robert Lipe will probably stop by and help you with that.

 

You then need sofware on a PC to load the info from these files onto your GPS receiver. The two standard choices are EasyGPS (free, and available from the Geocaching.com web site) and Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (not free but very reasonable, with lots more horsepower for filtering and sorting data).

 

Now that I think of it, I know you can use GSAK to directly type in waypoint data and load it into your GPSr. You may be able to get EasyGPS to do the same thing.

 

I know this is not too much help, but as I say, folks smarter than me will drop by to give you better info.

 

Edit: Link to GC.com waypoint software links.

Edited October 6, 2005 by Sputnik 57

[Major Catastrophe]

The most versatile file type is GPX. Practically all software for GPS applications can support the GPX format.

 

You can find the entire specification and much more at:

http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp

[+Olar]

I am the Web master for the Missouri State Parks Web site. We are in the process of gathering waypoints for various locations in our state parks and would like to make these available in a format that users can download to their GPS units. Can someone point me in the right direction? We have several collected and are trying to figure out what format they need to be in to work for the majority of users.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Moparks, one thing you may be unaware of is that no matter what file format(s) you choose to provide on your website the user will still need to download to their PC and not directly to their GPSr. Your alternatives would be to provide multiple files. One for each unit manufacturer as most users would have the necessary application for their particular brand. An example would be Garmin's Mapsource. A free copy is shipped with each unit. The same holds true for Magellan and probably most others.

An other alternative is the apps mentioned in posts above. EasyGPS, GSAK and a few others are all well known and used extensively by Geocachers but would be an unknown by others outside of caching so using manufacturers formats may be the way to go in order to cover all users.

 

Good luck and I'd like to say it's nice to see someone outside of geocaching actually recoqnize the benefits of GPS useage and what can be offered to assist the users.

 

Cheers, Olar

[CenTexDodger]

I don't have any technical info to provide, but as to your project, THAT'S AWESOME!!

 

My brother-in-law works for the state parks department here in Texas and I have suggested on numerous occasions how cool it would be if there were some way to do self guided GPS tours in the state parks--"Go to this location, see that..." type of deal. He thought it was a good idea, but that was about it.

[+RumJungle]

The most versatile file type is GPX.  Practically all software for GPS applications can support the GPX format.

 

You can find the entire specification and much more at:

http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp

I would second this -- GPX is most supported cross platform/application that I know of.

 

Take a look at Trabel by GPS. This website has lots of waypoints and provides them in GPX format. EasyGPS could be used to manage your GPX files.

[+dino_hunters]

www.easygps.com

 

free software that will create gpx files.

 

give everyone a gpx file to download, and then they can use the free program to transfer to and from their gps.