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mapping and managing hikes with gps?


Kaboomcult

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I am starting to map my hike tracks and post them to my blog. I have been using mapsource, my maps google, to do everything. I was wondering if anyone knows of software that is good for working with tracks. Tips and tricks would be great too...

 

Also it would be completely awesome if I could add my track to my topo map so I could use it in the future to follow... I want to add it so it shows up on the gps like a trail or road. Is there a way to do this?

 

Jim

http://huskyhiker.com

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I like to map my tracks BEFORE I hit the trail.

 

I use the Path feature in Google Earth to create the track off the aerial map, then save the track as a kml. file. I then use GPS Visualizer to convert the .kml file to MapSource's .gdb file where I can rename the track, pick a track color, and download to my GPS.

 

This is a great tool for night hiking and for off-roading in the desert where it can be difficult to spot the right trail to a cache.

 

Somewhere around MapSource 6.12, you got a tracks menu to customize tracks. Go to Garmin.com to download latest version; it's free.

 

I do record tracks once I'm out on a hike and save all my tracks in one .gdb file. On occasion I will upload the tracks into Motion Based or some other website that accepts tracks for other users to download.

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If you are mostly in the US, then I suggest ExpertGPS or Geobuddy (ExpertGPS for geocachers).

See this link: http://www.geobuddy.com/

If you are outside of the US, then you can still use these, but you have to add your own base maps - not a big deal buy not nearly as nice as the US 'on demand' features. These also integrate with GoogleEarth so you can see your tracks as a layer there too.

Take care! Sav

Edited by Savoy
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We like to use TopoFusion to plan our hikes. You can mark your tracks then view them in 3D, Aerial, Satilite, Topo, 2m - 512m. Then download the tracks and waypoints to your GPS. It's a pretty easy program to use if you have any experience with other topo programs. There is a demo version that will let you use the program for free, It is fully functional except that 1/5th of the map tiles are obscured with the word DEMO and there is a limit of three files open at a time. The basic version is $40 and the pro version is $69.

 

Here are some examples.

 

Topo 2m

ship.jpg

 

3D

ship3d.jpg

 

Aerial

ship3daerial.jpg

 

Combo

ship3dcombo.jpg

 

Profile

profile.jpg

Edited by Arse&Hemi
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I don't know if you have Memory Map in the US, but in the UK it's the tool of choice for the serious hiker and Geocacher. It does all the 3D fly by stuff, profiling etc on a range of OS topo maps from 1:25K.

This is just a cropped section showing a route. Tracks work exactly as you'd expect too.

MM.jpg

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I don't know if you have Memory Map in the US, but in the UK it's the tool of choice for the serious hiker and Geocacher. It does all the 3D fly by stuff, profiling etc on a range of OS topo maps from 1:25K.

This is just a cropped section showing a route. Tracks work exactly as you'd expect too.

MM.jpg

 

The same for me, I've been useing Memory Map since 2004 and can't fault it. It's great for planning routes to upload to my GPS, and perfect for downloading Tracklogs and a trips waypoints so that I can see my hike overlayed onto an OS map. It's nice to be able to print off just the part of a map that's needed, and nice to be able to pick the map scale, although for me it's always 1:25k. It also does relief shadeing. My only gripe is one of my hiking friends has a later version and any tracks, routes, marks, etc saved on his PC will not load into my ealrier version of Memory Map :D I've sent a few emails moaning about this but so far I've not even had a reply :lol:

 

Memory Map is the way forward, you can even send it to a PDA and carry a digital map about with you, although for me I prefer to print a map and carry a real map and compass and not rely on my GPS and PDA incase they go t*ts up.

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