Making Custom Topo Maps w/ MapSetToolKit, Rev 3

[MtnHermit]

Oh I will finish his project if it kills me simply for the fact that $150.00 is insane and I would rather provide free maps to people in my region. Ethics

I'll venture that you've already spent a day of your life, maybe two, on this project. I can't imagine as a web designer you charge your clients less than $50/hr, so when put in those terms, $150 doesn't sound like much at all.

 

Hermit

[BoudreauxLA]

Yes, I am using gpsmapedit. Since I have changed the settings, could you be kind enough to share the defaults?

 

No prob:

 

 

Thanks!! I will now change mine to these settings and start exporting again.

It took 14 hours last time and the map would not work in Mapsource.

I hope for better luck this time. I will let you know tomorrow.

 

Thanks again,

[+Cobber99]

Success!

 

I have a perfectly working map of a 5 mi x 5mi area and it's amazing!

 

It took about 15 minutes total and now that I have this down? The Coachella Valley is mine

 

I believe that I will star slicing today to get my segments. What is a popular area to slice into? 15' (arc)?

 

Wow - thanks for all the help fellas and I will post again soon with results. Oh and the neat thing about web design? No one but me knows what I am doing so this isn't costing me a dime

Edited February 23, 2007 by Cobber99

[MtnHermit]

Just looking at your screen capture, I'd say your files are an order of magnitude too large.

You will have to forgive me, I am completely new to this so... when you say that they are an order of magnitude too large, what do you mean in terms of what I should be doing here?

Sorry, in a past life I was an engineer. An "Order of Magnitude" is a power of ten. In other words, 1000 is an order of magnitude larger than 100. Basically pick any number and add a zero to the left of the decimal point.

 

In filesize they are between 69 and 184MB per file.

In 2 I it said to keep file sizes under 50 MB. My first project was under 10MB. Now that I'm under way my max DEM DL is ~30MB, which yields a 15 minute map.

 

If you mean in coverage area, each is the same size and an example of bounds for one file would be:

N: N34°20.052'

S: N33°53.425'

E: W116°50.397'

W: W117°03.403'

You have very non-square proportions, that is inherently not a problem, just would look funny. From those numbers, I get: 28' N-S and 13' E-W, not sure why you don't trim to exact minute lines? With the trim tool clicked, RC > Properties > Type in the N-S-E-W bounds.

 

HTH

Hermit

[MtnHermit]

What am I doing wrong?

I don't have Mapsource, I use img2gps. You could try it.

 

Hermit

[+Cobber99]

Thanks Hermit! I'll be consulting you on good sizes you have found soon. Do you overlap your maps and if so by how much?

[+Cobber99]

What am I doing wrong?

I don't have Mapsource, I use img2gps. You could try it.

 

Hermit

 

Yeah, sorry. I edited my post (poor etiquette but I didn't think the thread was being watched that closely). It's working great now.

[MtnHermit]

Thanks Hermit! I'll be consulting you on good sizes you have found soon. Do you overlap your maps and if so by how much?

I've tested overlap and butted, both work well so no reason not to butt. Inside the GPSr as you scroll on the butt line, the unit will draw one side, then the other, amazing to see them match perfectly.

 

I've chosen 15' for three reasons:

1] For the memory contraints I've already mentioned. Besides in Hermitville my max DL is 40KB/s.

2] Once upon a time, their were 15' paper maps, so people are use to them.

3] It turns out that Garmin's Topo USA is using multiples of 15'. I've built 2 - 15' maps so far, they lay exactly on top of a Garmin 30' x 15' segment.

 

I assume "The Coachella Valley" and Palm Springs are one and the same.

 

Hermit

[+myotis]

I do not think anyone has answered the question about swamps/wetlands showing up as lakes. Unfortunately the data you download does not keep them separate. They are all the same. The solution is to manually change it. What I will do is look on the USGS map in ExpertGPS to see where the wetlands are. Then in gpsmapedit, right click on the lake you want to turn into a wetland. Select modify, then type, then select wetland swamp. Then it will show up as a wetland, not a lake. Its a pain but it works.

 

You can change anything like that. You can also use modify label to change the name or add a name. If it shows a stream and it is a wash, you could give it a label of "wash."

[+myotis]

I've been making custom maps for a while now and have lots loaded. I had it all set up so it is real easy to add a new map or install an updated map. If I add a map, I add it to test_pv.txt and then run a bat file with this command: cgpsmapper pv test_pv.txt This made it real simple so I did not try MapSetTooKit.

 

Then I heard about custom type files and wanted to use one. It was so complicated I could not figure it out. But rws made me a file and I tried and tried but could not get it to work. So when I saw MapSetToolKit now handled them I tried it out and it worked. I am so happy as now I can see the trails much better.

 

The problem is I update these files all the time and it is a pain to uninstall the set, then reenter all the stuff. Is there some way to save settings? Or is there some easy way to add to or modify an installed set?

 

Thanks.

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

Curious, I have not gotten started on doing a topo map yet. Just finished all of the downloads. But once you have a map made and go to upload it to your gps; mine is a 60 csx; is it like any other Garmin mapset and will overwrite what you already loaded on your gps if you don't upload everything you want on there at the same time?

Edited February 24, 2007 by Tactical Cache Marauder

[MtnHermit]

Curious, I have not gotten started on doing a topo map yet. Just finished all of the downloads. But once you have a map made and go to upload it to your gps; mine is a 60 csx; is it like any other Garmin mapset and will overwrite what you already loaded on your gps if you don't upload everything you want on there at the same time?

Yes!!!

 

However the custom maps are transparent so when you load them you can see the other maps through them or just like all Garmin maps, segments can be turned on/off in map setup.

 

Hermit

[smokingpipe]

Can I make a map better than Magellan MapSend Topo Canada? As I notice alot of mistakes, can I fix them? And can this program make Topo 3D maps or chage Topo into Topo 3D?

Edited February 25, 2007 by smokingpipe

[+Klatch]

Can I make a map better than Magellan MapSend Topo Canada? As I notice alot of mistakes, can I fix them? And can this program make Topo 3D maps or chage Topo into Topo 3D?

This thread is about making custom maps for Garmin GPSr's. It will not work for Magellan units.

[smokingpipe]

I went to the site for making Magellan (MapMag) but they want $35 for the program. This sucks. I would like to make makes for free for Magellans. There must be a way?

[MtnHermit]

I went to the site for making Magellan (MapMag) but they want $35 for the program.

Do you have a link? I spent 10-min Googling variations of "MapMag" and couldn't find the site you were referring to.

 

Thanks

Hermit

[smokingpipe]

This is for Magellan map making.

 

http://www.msh-tools.com/

[+Cobber99]

I've chosen 15' for three reasons:

1] For the memory contraints I've already mentioned. Besides in Hermitville my max DL is 40KB/s.

2] Once upon a time, their were 15' paper maps, so people are use to them.

3] It turns out that Garmin's Topo USA is using multiples of 15'. I've built 2 - 15' maps so far, they lay exactly on top of a Garmin 30' x 15' segment.

 

I assume "The Coachella Valley" and Palm Springs are one and the same.

 

Hermit

 

Hey Hermit! Yep - the Coachella Valley is where Palm Springs and the other Desert Resort cities are. The maps I am working on are not so much the valley floor (pretty much flat and anyways - who cares about topo on the floor) but of the surrounding mountain ranges (the Santa Rosa's to the South, the Indian Canyons to the SW, the San Jacinto's to the West, Big Bear to the NW and Joshua Tree to the North). There are over 150 documented hikes in these ranges alone and the ranges are quite complex in topography so the maps should be a great resource to the community. I asked about good web sites to upload map AND track data to in another thread as I would really like to make these maps easy to access. I would also very much like to track each of the trails using my GPS and publish those tracks for DL. Seems the least I can do to pay it forward for everyone's efforts in helping me here! If you know of any sites that will let me publish both maps and tracks, please let me know. My dream site would have an integration of maps, tracks/routes, and waypoints for photos - that would be a dream. I have been googling like wild and have found sites that will do one of the three, but an all-in-one would be amazing! I have done three 15 arc maps so far of the San Jacinto range and tested it out yesterday on a hike and it worked amazingly well! Beautiful contours and very easy to zoom/navigate. Getting to a tricky cache was so very much easier with that data!

[MtnHermit]

I asked about good web sites to upload map AND track data to in another thread as I would really like to make these maps easy to access. I would also very much like to track each of the trails using my GPS and publish those tracks for DL. Seems the least I can do to pay it forward for everyone's efforts in helping me here! If you know of any sites that will let me publish both maps and tracks, please let me know. My dream site would have an integration of maps, tracks/routes, and waypoints for photos - that would be a dream.

The answer is so obvious, I don't know why I'm suggesting it.

 

Cobber99.com

 

Hermit

[+Cobber99]

Ha Hermit! The thought had crossed my mind - seriously.

 

I got a good responce here so I will check these out:

I have been using Panoramio to share my pictures, tagged with coordinates. It made me wonder if there is a site that allows users to share their track files for others to use in their wilderness hiking.

 

Does such a beast exist?

 

http://trailregistry.com/trailregistry/newAccount.do

 

also

 

http://www.localhikes.com/Default.asp?MSA=ALL

 

I am sure there are more

[MtnHermit]

Maybe an even better one: GPSMaps.com

 

If you spend 2-min looking at the site, you'll see it never got off the ground. Likely for sale, cheap!!!

 

Hermit

[+Cobber99]

Maybe an even better one: GPSMaps.com

 

If you spend 2-min looking at the site, you'll see it never got off the ground. Likely for sale, cheap!!!

 

Hermit

 

You know, I bet if everyone pooled 5 bucks each, we could have a sweet site like that. Too bad it isn't doing anything, the site design is very appealing.

[+pdxmarathonman]

Cobber99 - Do you expect to have the contours and/or tracks uploaded in time for spring break?

 

 

Last week of March for us

[+Cobber99]

Cobber99 - Do you expect to have the contours and/or tracks uploaded in time for spring break?

 

 

Last week of March for us

Now do you want the whole planet by then or is just the Coachella Valley going to be ok?

 

Actually, I do hope to have my 15' maps of the valley done by then to be sure. I tried the Garmin TOPO out at a local sporting goods store this weekend - ugh. The lines were jagged and the detail not as good as the method described here.

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

I decided to try this and see how it goes. Getting the water data back does take some time. I got an email letting me know my data request had been received but not the data link email yet. A bit more than 24 hours too.

 

Question, if I want to make a large series of maps by letting the Seamless site break up a large area that I can download in smaller segments, when I get the water detail can I just get one large area that covers the whole area I downloaded from Seamless and plug it in each segemnt from that? Or do I have to have a specific water detail for each Seamless segment?

 

Hope that makes sense, am not real up on the technological terms and workings of this but I sure can follow directions until I do. I have a great looking mp file in front of me.

[+Cobber99]

I decided to try this and see how it goes. Getting the water data back does take some time. I got an email letting me know my data request had been received but not the data link email yet. A bit more than 24 hours too.

Be sure to check your Junk mail folder as my waterways got tagged as Junk mail when they were mailed to me...

[+Bus36]

I decided to try this and see how it goes. Getting the water data back does take some time. I got an email letting me know my data request had been received but not the data link email yet. A bit more than 24 hours too.

 

Question, if I want to make a large series of maps by letting the Seamless site break up a large area that I can download in smaller segments, when I get the water detail can I just get one large area that covers the whole area I downloaded from Seamless and plug it in each segemnt from that? Or do I have to have a specific water detail for each Seamless segment?

 

Hope that makes sense, am not real up on the technological terms and workings of this but I sure can follow directions until I do. I have a great looking mp file in front of me.

If your water data covers the area then you can use it for each of them. Here in Western PA I let the seamless break up my contour data for a county. So lets say for Allegheny county I have four sections. Then for the waterdata I download the allegheny county waterdata and use it for each of the sections. Just make sure to trim the area up because you will have water outside of the contours. Hope this helps. If not just ask.

[+Cobber99]

Hermit et. all,

 

So I am sitting here, ready to make pretty 10' maps as suggested, but before I begin I want to start out right.

 

This is the general area I would like to begin with:

 

Now, I can use the selection tool to sort of kind of select the area I want, but I am a stickler for details and organization and so I want to have maps that are perfectly gridded geometrically. It would seem that this is hard to do from the USGS site and that maybe I should just DL a massive file only to slice it on my computer. Question, then, is: what is the best logical way to accomplish a perfect grid of 10' maps over a large area?

Edited February 26, 2007 by Cobber99

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

I decided to try this and see how it goes. Getting the water data back does take some time. I got an email letting me know my data request had been received but not the data link email yet. A bit more than 24 hours too.

Be sure to check your Junk mail folder as my waterways got tagged as Junk mail when they were mailed to me...

 

Yeah, that crossed my mind and I have been checking it each time I check the email.

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

I decided to try this and see how it goes. Getting the water data back does take some time. I got an email letting me know my data request had been received but not the data link email yet. A bit more than 24 hours too.

 

Question, if I want to make a large series of maps by letting the Seamless site break up a large area that I can download in smaller segments, when I get the water detail can I just get one large area that covers the whole area I downloaded from Seamless and plug it in each segemnt from that? Or do I have to have a specific water detail for each Seamless segment?

 

Hope that makes sense, am not real up on the technological terms and workings of this but I sure can follow directions until I do. I have a great looking mp file in front of me.

If your water data covers the area then you can use it for each of them. Here in Western PA I let the seamless break up my contour data for a county. So lets say for Allegheny county I have four sections. Then for the waterdata I download the allegheny county waterdata and use it for each of the sections. Just make sure to trim the area up because you will have water outside of the contours. Hope this helps. If not just ask.

 

Thats good to know. Exactly what I was looking for.

[MtnHermit]

Hermit et. all,

 

So I am sitting here, ready to make pretty 10' maps as suggested, but before I begin I want to start out right.

Now, I can use the selection tool to sort of kind of select the area I want, but I am a stickler for details and organization and so I want to have maps that are perfectly gridded geometrically. It would seem that this is hard to do from the USGS site and that maybe I should just DL a massive file only to slice it on my computer. Question, then, is: what is the best logical way to accomplish a perfect grid of 10' maps over a large area?

Why now 10' instead of 15'?

 

Not sure you're aware of this, but the USGS will allow you to DL 15' DEM datasets. If you do this, all you will be trimming is the water lines for each 15' map. Also, these 15' DEMs will have USGS assigned names, makes life pretty easy.

 

As before, Click the trim tool, RC > Properties > type in the NSEW values to trim to exact 15' values. If you don't understand how to select exact values, ask that question.

 

HTH

Hermit

[+Cobber99]

Why now 10' instead of 15'?

Why? I'll tell you why:

 

So yeah, 15' is what I meant

 

As before, Click the trim tool, RC > Properties > type in the NSEW values to trim to exact 15' values. If you don't understand how to select exact values, ask that question.

I am asking that question sir. So I go to the USGS site, draw a fat boundary around the region I want to map in, then I can chose 15' at the next screen? There is no water here in the desert so my life is considerably easier...

[MtnHermit]

Why now 10' instead of 15'?

Why? I'll tell you why:

 

So yeah, 15' is what I meant

Brain Fart, Been There, Done That!!!

 

As before, Click the trim tool, RC > Properties > type in the NSEW values to trim to exact 15' values. If you don't understand how to select exact values, ask that question.

I am asking that question sir. So I go to the USGS site, draw a fat boundary around the region I want to map in, then I can chose 15' at the next screen? There is no water here in the desert so my life is considerably easier...

If you look at your sig:

33°55'35.10"N This shows 33 degrees, 360 and you go all around the earth, 55 minutes is just like a clock, 60 minutes equals one degree, seconds again take 60 for one minute. The "N" indicates D M S north of the equator, its even hotter than Palm Springs at the equator.

116°11'15.66"W Here W means degrees west of Greenwich (Pronounced Grenich) England, blame the brits, they invented the whole system. Since D M S is a little unhandy for a computer, we have integer degrees and decimal minutes, no seconds.

 

So a 15' quad where your sig is inside would be written like this in the Properties dialog:

N33° 45.000' N34° 00.000' W116° 00.000' W116° 15.000'

 

HTH

Hermit

[+Cobber99]

PERFECT Hermit! Thanks! I am using the USGC site tool for specifying coordinates and find that I am having to draw it out by hand here - but its coming along none the less. Garbage in, Garbage out .... I am a firm believer in that adage and so I want the source material good from the start. MANY MANY thanks! I will bug you again

[MtnHermit]

PERFECT Hermit! Thanks! I am using the USGC site tool for specifying coordinates and find that I am having to draw it out by hand here - but its coming along none the less. Garbage in, Garbage out .... I am a firm believer in that adage and so I want the source material good from the start. MANY MANY thanks! I will bug you again

I thought you were a suave computer user. There is a tool on the USGS site to specify EXACT coordinates, hover that mouse of yours. Furthermore, there is a template tool to specify 15' Quads. By name, group? I haven't used it yet. When will you ever learn!!!

 

You know there is an FAQ on the USGS site, who'd thunk. I think it time for the student to become the teacher . . . grasshopper.

 

Hermit

[+pdxmarathonman]

Cobber99 - Do you expect to have the contours and/or tracks uploaded in time for spring break?

 

 

Last week of March for us

Now do you want the whole planet by then or is just the Coachella Valley going to be ok?

 

Actually, I do hope to have my 15' maps of the valley done by then to be sure. I tried the Garmin TOPO out at a local sporting goods store this weekend - ugh. The lines were jagged and the detail not as good as the method described here.

I made a couple of maps of my home area (not of much general use I suspect), so I know how awesome they are.

 

If you don't think you'll have the entire western U.S. done by then, I guess I'll be happy with just the destination

 

Thanks! I'll keep tabs on your progress

[+Cobber99]

Furthermore, there is a template tool to specify 15' Quads. By name, group? I haven't used it yet. When will you ever learn!!!

 

Wh wh what? Well then prepare to laugh at the rest of my post because while I thought that it would be logical to have such a tool, I didn't see it.

 

You know there is an FAQ on the USGS site, who'd thunk. I think it time for the student to become the teacher . . . grasshopper.

 

Well yes, but FAQ's are so very impersonal and you sir have pazaz lol.

 

Q. Can quadrangles (i.e. 7.5 min) be downloaded?

A. There are templates that can be used to cut out specific size areas, like a 7.5 min quad. The template download option is under the Download Tool section on the left side of the map interface. There is a single template or multiple template options. The single template allows, from a drop down menu, for a single download. The multiple template allows a user to choose several areas and then download. As more templates are developed, they will be added to the map interface.

That's talking quads, but none the less, there is all about the template tool

 

Think of it this way - this is a great tutorial in going from stupid to stellar for future newbies to read

 

K man, here's my current phase. I gridded out what I want for 15' maps in Google Earth:

 

 

I wish I could do multiple 15' selections (Alaska only), but doing one 15' at a time with teh coordinate tool isn't too bad.

 

And anytime you need me to write some PHP, HTML, mySQL or Ruby let me know because while I can think in code, this graphical stuff makes my brain hurt

 

If you don't think you'll have the entire western U.S. done by then, I guess I'll be happy with just the destination

 

Thanks! I'll keep tabs on your progress

So you are coming out here when exactly? I will have it done by the time you get here - no worries

Edited February 27, 2007 by Cobber99

[+pdxmarathonman]

If you don't think you'll have the entire western U.S. done by then, I guess I'll be happy with just the destination

 

Thanks! I'll keep tabs on your progress

So you are coming out here when exactly? I will have it done by the time you get here - no worries

We'll be there from late on March 25th to early on the 31st. We're driving

Edited February 27, 2007 by pdxmarathonman

[Fishysdad]

I do not think anyone has answered the question about swamps/wetlands showing up as lakes. Unfortunately the data you download does not keep them separate. They are all the same. The solution is to manually change it. What I will do is look on the USGS map in ExpertGPS to see where the wetlands are. Then in gpsmapedit, right click on the lake you want to turn into a wetland. Select modify, then type, then select wetland swamp. Then it will show up as a wetland, not a lake. Its a pain but it works.

 

You can change anything like that. You can also use modify label to change the name or add a name. If it shows a stream and it is a wash, you could give it a label of "wash."

Thanks myotis. This is just the thing I need.

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

Well I actually made a map. Looks really nice too. My thanks to all involved in this. This is almost to good to be true. Not hard at all. But I have some questions.

 

1. Is the only reason to download the 50 meg or less map sizes from Seamless because of the time it takes to convert them and build the final map? Or is there an actual problem working with larger sizes? And the thinking behind that is, can I make the map any size I want if I don't care about the time involved to make it?

 

2. I hope this wasn't answered above, didn't see it. Is there a way to view these new topo maps overlayed on City Navigator in Map Source? Or can they only be viewed by themselves. Would be nice to see the area with the roads, etc, in place if I needed to.

 

3. Any way to have the program auto trim the water detail edges. Hey, never know til you ask.

 

Working on a second one right now of a State Park I hike in. Converting now.

[+Bus36]

Well I actually made a map. Looks really nice too. My thanks to all involved in this. This is almost to good to be true. Not hard at all. But I have some questions.

 

1. Is the only reason to download the 50 meg or less map sizes from Seamless because of the time it takes to convert them and build the final map? Or is there an actual problem working with larger sizes? And the thinking behind that is, can I make the map any size I want if I don't care about the time involved to make it?

 

2. I hope this wasn't answered above, didn't see it. Is there a way to view these new topo maps overlayed on City Navigator in Map Source? Or can they only be viewed by themselves. Would be nice to see the area with the roads, etc, in place if I needed to.

 

3. Any way to have the program auto trim the water detail edges. Hey, never know til you ask.

 

Working on a second one right now of a State Park I hike in. Converting now.

I will try to help out.

1. I have heard reports of larger fragments either stopping during conversion, or I have heard of large .imgs not being able to be loaded through mapsource. I have .imgs of about 4000kb and they work fine. I have .mps about size 159,000kb but I download them to mapcenter and have them make the .img files for me. I would imagine it should work fine on your computer too but not positive.

2. Not that I am aware of.

3. Not that I am aware of.

 

Hope this helps and glad to see so many getting involved in this process.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Bus36

[+Tactical Cache Marauder]

Thanks Bus36.

 

So if I can not do #2 above then I guess I could always download the seamless data and dot the roads and highways options. Might have to make two sets; one for uploading to my 60 csx without roads and one for Mapsource with roads; because I would imagine that those topos with roads might look a bit odd in my GPS with CN already in there.

 

I think I will just try a big grid on the next one and see what happens. I won't know the file size until I try. Will post back. Basically I am going to try to get the Hill Country and Lakes around and way West of Austin, Texas and way out to near Johnson City. If that works I will go for the Big Bend Area in West Texas next.

[RenHoek]

So if I can not do #2 above then I guess I could always download the seamless data and dot the roads and highways options.

 

Hi, All-

This is AWESOME - but what am I missing? How do you get roads included in the maps? I see that when I select an area to download, there are TONs of options available (including things like "National Atlas Roads"). Is that what you mean by "dot the roads and highways option"?

 

Any way to pull in other goodies like cities, etc?

 

Thanks

RenHoek

[MtnHermit]

That first map is so cool.

 

2. Is there a way to view these new topo maps overlayed on City Navigator in Map Source? Or can they only be viewed by themselves. Would be nice to see the area with the roads, etc, in place if I needed to.

If in Mapsource you mean on your PC, I don't know. However, I have overlaid my custom map with Topo USA on the GPSr. Because of two sets of topo lines that don't exactly match its a bit wierd. I would think it would overlay CN much better since CN has no competing info. Try it, lets us know.

 

3. Any way to have the program auto trim the water detail edges. Hey, never know til you ask.

I assume you are aware you can numerically trim.

 

Hermit

[+Bus36]

So if I can not do #2 above then I guess I could always download the seamless data and dot the roads and highways options.

 

Hi, All-

This is AWESOME - but what am I missing? How do you get roads included in the maps? I see that when I select an area to download, there are TONs of options available (including things like "National Atlas Roads"). Is that what you mean by "dot the roads and highways option"?

 

Any way to pull in other goodies like cities, etc?

 

Thanks

RenHoek

You can download and add as much data as you want. We simply have instructions for topos with waterways. If you find roads, cities, waypoints, trails(that you find and that you have mapped) you can add all of these to your maps. The easiest for roads would be to download them as .shp files the same as the waterways. The sky is the limit here for your maps. Autorouting on the other hand is a story for another day.

[+Cobber99]

I finished my first 15' map - perfect!

 

It took 5 hours 15 minutes to complete the cGPSMapper export.

 

Question: Can I export 2 maps at the came time using cGPSMapper export? It would seem that I can (opening two 15' polish format maps and having them export individually at the same time - I am doing it now). Anyone tried this? I am doing 2 simultaneous exports now just to see if it works and what kind of total export time I get doing it, but wondered if anyone else has tried it. If my threaded processor is a champ and I get both exported in roughtly 5 hours total well then yay for me. If it simply doubles the total time at roughly 10 hours, that's ok too as I can load it up and walk away. However if this causes cGPSMapper to throw errors this will not be a good thing so just wondering if anyone else has tried this.

 

Wow - 15' is big! These maps will be such a sweet resource for people in my area! I am not doing waterways because its the desert and I really don't care about dried spillways, etc., however I am keeping all the original file sin the event that I want to go back and add waterways in the future.

[+Bus36]

I finished my first 15' map - perfect!

 

It took 5 hours 15 minutes to complete the cGPSMapper export.

 

Question: Can I export 2 maps at the came time using cGPSMapper export? It would seem that I can (opening two 15' polish format maps and having them export individually at the same time - I am doing it now). Anyone tried this? I am doing 2 simultaneous exports now just to see if it works and what kind of total export time I get doing it, but wondered if anyone else has tried it. If my threaded processor is a champ and I get both exported in roughtly 5 hours total well then yay for me. If it simply doubles the total time at roughly 10 hours, that's ok too as I can load it up and walk away. However if this causes cGPSMapper to throw errors this will not be a good thing so just wondering if anyone else has tried this.

 

Wow - 15' is big! These maps will be such a sweet resource for people in my area! I am not doing waterways because its the desert and I really don't care about dried spillways, etc., however I am keeping all the original file sin the event that I want to go back and add waterways in the future.

If you have a highspeed connection(it saves time this way) you can upload your .mp file(zipped) to http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/ and they will compile your file to .img. I load a bunch of .mp files in the evening and then the next day I download the .img file from them. Just another way to do it and saves time and shares your maps easily.

[+Cobber99]

I have a T-1 conection so yeah - this would save massive time for me! I'm all over this - many thanks!

[MtnHermit]

I have a T-1 conection

Figured as much.

[RenHoek]

 

You can download and add as much data as you want. We simply have instructions for topos with waterways. If you find roads, cities, waypoints, trails(that you find and that you have mapped) you can add all of these to your maps. The easiest for roads would be to download them as .shp files the same as the waterways. The sky is the limit here for your maps. Autorouting on the other hand is a story for another day.

 

OK, I figured as much for the roads (via .shp files) and I knew autorouting was flat out, but I'm still clueless on how I'd do some of the "sky's the limit" things, like adding the following to my custom maps:

- trails that I capture (by walking/riding around with the GPSr logging them)

- POIs or Waypoints (l know...probably best to keep em outta the map file, but I'm curious if this is possible)

- User-defined Polygons (to mark Public Hunting areas, for example)

- others...

 

From going through this once, it seems like in general you download a bunch of data, batch-process it with about 3 or 4 tools, then load it into the GPSr. I don't see/know how to edit the data to do these things. Is there some point where you'd do something graphically? Like add a rectangular boundary around an area, or pull in a stored track file, or plop in some waypoints?

 

What am I missing?

 

Thanks for helping out a newb-

RenHoek

Edited March 1, 2007 by RenHoek