Capturing and printing a ground track

[+Iowa Tom]

I am going to have the kids in my geocaching class plan out a pattern onto an aerial photo of the school grounds. Then they'll try to create a drawing using the track feature on the etrex units that we are using.

 

The kit I borrowed comes with a serial adapter cord. Is there a free program that will allow me to download just the tracks to my Dell laptop and in turn print them off? Otherwise I will try to photograph the screens once they are done. I may be asking for some one-on-one help in making the program work for this.

 

Thanks,

-it

[+Timpat]

This free program called USAPhotoMaps will download your tracklog data using a serial cable connection and display it over both aerial photography and USGS topo. It's a handy little program.

[table/cache]

EasyGPS should do it, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to have the photo in the background.

 

The kit I borrowed comes with a serial adapter cord. Is there a free program that will allow me to download just the tracks to my Dell laptop and in turn print them off?

Edited June 13, 2008 by table/cache

[+EScout]

The program you want to use is called SportTracks.

 

It will import your current track directly from your Garmin. I would set up your tracking frequency to a low time interval, and have them walk slowly. Clear your current track and start.

 

After you import your track into SportTracks, you will see your track in the map window. Go into the settings and remove the arrows and change the color and width of the tract to what you want. Click on the route triangle and choose your background map (choose none and you will get a white background.) Click on the disk icon, choose pixels-size and name, and you will save the image of your track to a JPG file.

 

Here is a 3 mi hike I did this week in a park (I did not have my intervals very close):

Edited June 14, 2008 by EScout

[+Iowa Tom]

Thanks for the input. Now I am looking for a gender adapter to enable me to fit the female Garmin cord end to the female plug-in on the back of my Dell laptop. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to get one of those locally? I need it right away.

[+Timpat]

Check your nearest Radioshack. I've gotten one there by me in the past.

[+Iowa Tom]

Thanks for the input. Now I am looking for a gender adapter to enable me to fit the female Garmin cord end to the female plug-in on the back of my Dell laptop. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to get one of those locally? I need it right away.

Man that was a fast response! I was just there. The help didn't know what I was asking for. I found a cord that might work but may not have had the right number of pins. It was also 25 big ones. Best buy has a set of 4 adapters, one of which might work, for 15 bucks. I am going to call the tech guy from school tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the help.

[+EScout]

Your Garmin cord has a 9-pin female serial connector. It should connect to a 9-pin male serial connector on your computer. If you have a similar size female connector on your computer, it is a video connector (15 pin.)

 

Many newer Laptops do not have a 9-pin serial connector any more (my two do not.) What you need is a USB to serial adapter, also known as a: USB to RS232 9 pin serial cable/adapter. Ebay has a thousand of these for sale, but you need yours quick, so most electronic stores have these. I like Belkin brand.

[+Iowa Tom]

I just bought the wrong adapter at Best Buy. I wish I would have read the previous response first.

 

I have a USB to serial port cord that is part of a two piece cord that I use with my Meridian Gold Magellan. It has a choke (I think it is) in the cord. It enables me to hook up the etrex with my laptop. I didn't think of using it before because I didn't think of going to the USB.

 

I am going to try to get it to work. Does anyone think it will? Right now I'm trying to "find" any signal from the etrex using EasyGPS.

 

Tom

[+webscouter.]

You will need to install the Garmin drivers for the GPS. You can download them from www.garmin.com

[+Iowa Tom]

You will need to install the Garmin drivers for the GPS. You can download them from www.garmin.com

 

Thanks!

 

I just got it to work as is!

 

I finally found a help menu helpful.

 

Tom

[+JSWilson64]

You might also want to look at gpsvisualizer.com - it's a way to display tracks and waypoints on google maps. It has a LOT of functionality, like drawing a circle of a certain radius around a point.

[+Iowa Tom]

The program you want to use is called SportTracks.

 

I tried to download this but cannot find it anywhere now. I tried a second installation and still nothing.

 

I also tried downloading the .NET program just in case that might have been the problem. However I got a message saying that that version is incompatible with a version that is already on my computer. It then stopped that installation.

 

Any idea where I can look for sports track? As far as I can tell it's not listed in the programs that I get to via the start menu.

[rws]

The program you want to use is called SportTracks.

 

I tried to download this but cannot find it anywhere now. I tried a second installation and still nothing.

 

I also tried downloading the .NET program just in case that might have been the problem. However I got a message saying that that version is incompatible with a version that is already on my computer. It then stopped that installation.

 

Any idea where I can look for sports track? As far as I can tell it's not listed in the programs that I get to via the start menu.

 

You'll find it under

 

Start...All Programs...Zone Five Software...SportTrack 2.0...SportTrack

 

You already have a more current version of .NET installed

Edited June 15, 2008 by rws

[+Iowa Tom]

At the moment I am sticking with EasyGPS to download the tracks. I see that they come up as are dashed lines. No matter what setting I set up, like even maximum resolution, they are that way. Even when I walk very slowly. Is that something that I cannot get away from when moving over small distances, like within a couple of football fields?