Trail routing, is it possible? 60 or 76CSX?

[superduty1]

Please excuse my ignorance. I have done some reading and am still not entirely clear. Is it possible to route a hiking trail or a mountain bike trail from within the76CSX or 60CSX? When I say route it, can you "tell" the unit where you want to start and where you want to end and then it create a route that stays on a designated trail?

 

If so, is this difficult to do? Does it take long? I would like to do this from the unit itself, not on a computer and subsequently upload it to the GPS.

 

This might be useful if you are on an old hiking trail that is not clearly marked, in heavy fog, or on a trail which has snow and you cant clearly see.

 

TIA

[superduty1]

I forgot to put it in my original post, but is trail routing possible with the Colorado series of GPS?

[+Miragee]

The "auto-routing" capability is only found with the City Navigator maps and those maps do not have trails on them.

 

You can create a trail using Mapsource maps on your computer that you upload to your GPS unit to follow later.

[+embra]

The only model I know that can do this is the Delorme PN-20...and even there, it can't yet create the trail route on the device. I think they intend to add this capability, but for now the route has to be created in the desktop map program (Topo 7) and sent to the GPS. It can then be activated as a trail route (as opposed to a track).

[+Timpat]

On your 60/76CSx you can create a route by dropping waypoints at chosen intervals on screen for your "route", then use these new waypoints to create a route within the unit. In the 60Cx for example, you would go to Routes/New/<Select Next Point>/Enter/Waypoints/ and browse for the ones you created for this purpose. It takes some time but you add them in succession and get your complete route. You can have 50 routes saved with up to 250 waypoints each. I haven't tried it yet on my Colorado although the specs say it does have the same functionality.

[mtbikernate]

Like others have said, you have to create a trail file on your computer, get one from someone else, or create it yourself on a previous trip in order to follow it. You can use either route or track features to do it, but routes can leave out details of the trail's path.

 

Once you load the route or track into the GPS, you can then tell the GPS to follow it.

 

But, trail data is NOT included in the mapsource mapping products, and like Miragee said, autorouting (from point A to point is only featured on auto GPS receivers, so you cannot just punch in start and end coords and expect the GPS to tell you how to get there. You must have an existing file covering the path you intend to follow, and even then, you can only follow that path.

 

If that file is old and the trail has since been rerouted, or if the start and/or end points of that file do not correspond exactly with your intended path, then it won't work precisely the way you want.

 

The Colorado unit does not do this, and neither will any other GPS. As far as trails are concerned, they can only follow a path that you have loaded onto the GPS as a route or track and guide you from start to finish. I don't think you will EVER see a GPS that will let you insert any set of coordinates and will route you over trails from start to finish. Trails, by their nature, are far less permanent than roads, so by the time someone has recorded them, they are already out of date because trails change considerably over time.

[+Red90]

Whether or not you can auto-route has NOTHING to do with the unit (as long as it is an auto-routing model). The routing capability depends on the mapset.

 

Here in Canada, Topo Canada and Metroguide Canada are both fully routable and contain many trails. All of these trails are routable. The trail maps that I make (see my sig) are all fully routable.

[SiliconFiend]

For Garmin devices, I believe the National Park 24k Topos have routable trails, but obviously only in their coverage areas.

 

This has bugged me, too, and it's part of the reason I joined the OpenStreetMap project. Once I get routing working, we should be able to create routable trails as well as roads. No more switching to off-road navigation to get to the cache!

[+embra]

The only model I know that can do this is the Delorme PN-20

Hey, pass the salt. I have to eat some of my words.

[GeoBobC]

Interesting topic, and one I've questioned myself. I've created custom maps with trails, and have often wanted to know how far along the trail I am, and how far I have to go.

 

Red90: can you enlighten us on how to make a custom map trail routable?

[SiliconFiend]

Interesting topic, and one I've questioned myself. I've created custom maps with trails, and have often wanted to know how far along the trail I am, and how far I have to go.

 

Red90: can you enlighten us on how to make a custom map trail routable?

I know a bit about this. The easiest way is to use GPSMapEdit. Load up your custom map (in MP format), then select Tools->Generate Routing Graph->Using Coinciding Nodes of Polylines. This will create all the routes on the trails quickly for you. Then you can edit them manually as necessary. Then do a Tools->Verify Map and fix all the problems that show up. Then, once you have everything fixed, upload it to MapCenter (mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com) and in a short while you should be able to download your routable map img and upload it to your GPS and test it out.

[+Red90]

Red90: can you enlighten us on how to make a custom map trail routable?

 

Yes, just as SiliconFiend states. They need to be uploaded to mapcenter or you'd have to purchase the (expensive) cGPSmapper license.

 

One point.... If the map does not have coincident nodes at the intersections, GPSMapedit will be unable to automatically create routing nodes. In this case, you'll need to do it manually..... Also, if you need more complex routing such as right turns only, etc.. you would need to do those manually.

 

Oh one other point.... The default Mapcenter only allows 1500 routeable roads per map. You can ask Stan to relax this restriction, which he will do if you convince him it is not a commercial venture.

Edited February 1, 2008 by Red90

[bhj1]

I've got a slightly roundabout way to get accurate trail map routes in to my Colorado 400t. I produce the route using my National Geographic TOPO software and then export the route to either my Vista Cx or GPSMap 60CXs. The NG mapping software does not yet support exporting to the Colorado, but I'm sure this is in the works already and will be included in a software update soon.

 

Next I upload the route from my gps to mapsource. I have Mapsource Topo, although I'm not sure this software is required. The route can now be exported to my Colorado.

 

I use NG software for producing routes due to the greater detail it offers. I would imagine using Mapsource Topo would work as well, but I have yet to try it.

 

Bill

[gallet]

it's also possible to create routes in maps.google and upload using www.takitwithme.com

[+mtbiker278]

Wouldn't it be possible to use the track log to route a trail your on and overlay it to the map you have? All you would need to do is have your Track log cleared at the start of the trail, follow the trail for whatever distance, and then save the track log under whatever name you want.

 

Then when you go home you can upload the track onto whatever Mapsource software you have (Including the waypoint manager) and your trail map would show up on the screen.

 

Granted it wouldn't be 100% accurate, it would be close enough. You could even do as others have suggested and drop way points and using the averaging function to give the waypoints a little more accuracy.

 

Edit: I just saw that you wanted to route the trail map... well I don't think you can do this with the above method, but if you're watching your GPS every so often it'll at least give you an idea of what direction to go. Assuming these trails have already been created.

Edited February 1, 2008 by mtbiker278

[Slickheadhunter]

Wouldn't it be possible to use the track log to route a trail your on and overlay it to the map you have? All you would need to do is have your Track log cleared at the start of the trail, follow the trail for whatever distance, and then save the track log under whatever name you want.

 

Then when you go home you can upload the track onto whatever Mapsource software you have (Including the waypoint manager) and your trail map would show up on the screen.

 

Granted it wouldn't be 100% accurate, it would be close enough. You could even do as others have suggested and drop way points and using the averaging function to give the waypoints a little more accuracy.

 

Edit: I just saw that you wanted to route the trail map... well I don't think you can do this with the above method, but if you're watching your GPS every so often it'll at least give you an idea of what direction to go. Assuming these trails have already been created.

 

 

I just bought the Map60CSx and today was the first day in the woods.I bowhunt in a state park by the name of Bear Brook,Mapsource 2008 does a pretty good job at marking the larger trails, but within this state park there are three trails in the bow hunting only preserve that are not on the topo.What I did was start at the begining of each trail and I turned on the "Tracks" and walked from one end to the other on each trail and at the end of each, I turned the tracks off and saved the track and also turned on the feature that allows you to see the trail on the topo permenantly(you can also make the trail just about any color you want).It only took me an afternoon to get this done,now I know which spot on the trail is the closest to the 10 or 12 tree stand locations I have set up.This new unit Is awesome.

[-Oz-]

Hmm, if i can get good trail data for my Arizona map maybe i'll do routing for trails in version 2

 

Seems like its wanted.