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Ontario Trail Maps for Garmin Units


northernpenguin

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Well, I finally made the leap from just keeping my track logs in a folder, to bringing them all together as a custom map for my Colorado. Not being the selfish type, I'm sharing. The map I've created is a transparent one that can be loaded on your GPS, and it will show on top of the other maps you already use.

 

I have a website setup now at http://trailmaps.torontogeocaching.com where you can download my work.

Take note - It's still a bit rough at this stage, and I have a few things I'd like to tweak already - like making a proper installer for the maps, and customizing the line types to identify what kind of trail it is (hiking, biking, multi-use, etc).

 

Now, it's going to take me a long time to hike and bike all the trails in Ontario, but if anyone sends me a GPX file / GPS Tracklog file, I'll be happy to add that information to the map.

 

Right now, it's a little GTA-centric, but I'd like to open this up to the rest of the Province.

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I found it !!!! :laughing:

 

DD

 

Yes, I'm still working on that site... for some reason Drupal keeps hiding the download link under "Read More".

 

Quick note - I released an update to the map today, including some new data from Tequila and a cycling enthusiast in Cambridge (thanks!):

 

New Trails added:

Coldwater Trail (Coldwater), Welland Trail (Welland), Freedom Trail (Port Colbourne) , TCT Woolwich Section, Portions of the Oak Ridges Trail, Caledon Trailway (Caledon), Cambridge Mill Run Trail, Cambridge-Brantford Rail Trail, Brewster Trail (Cambridge)

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This is great work!

 

I would love to be able to do this for Newfoundland for everyone that uses GPS including geocachers.

 

On a side note, you may want to reach out to snowmobile associations, cross country groups and Mountain bike clubs to see if you can get any other tracks added to your collection.

 

tBal

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Just a quick note that Trails project has been updated to v0.63 now.

 

The big change is that I finally got TYP customization working, which makes the trails appear as red lines on newer Garmin GPS units - the trails don't look like 'unpaved roads' anymore. I'll start identifying the trails by type (hiking, biking, ATV, etc) in a future release. For now, they're all red lines.

 

If you haven't been to the project in a while, we've had some large numbers of contributions and I've also merged in data from Creative Commons projects which include OpenStreetMap.org. The result is that we've got a TON of trail data in there now, particularly in South-Central and Southern Ontario. This includes everything from backcountry hiking trails to municipal walkways.

 

I have a new data source coming online shortly that should add a significant number of trails as well. Once this happens, and I get the quick installer built, I'll be releasing the 1.0 release.

 

http://trailmaps.torontogeocaching.com

 

or, an easy to remember url:

 

http://tinyurl.com/onttrails

 

I also announce project updates on my Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/northernpenguin

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I just downloaded the new version and it's fantastic! Very easy to see and I found the municipal pathway data particularily helpful when trying to find access to parks and greenspaces.

 

I used it on the Oregon today, and it was so simple... I found the closest access to the cache on the map, touched that spot on the screen and routed right to it. The days of driving blindly around subdivisons (and wasting gas) trying to find a park entrance may soon be over.

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What would really be useful is a comma delimited version of the data. Would it be possible to get each trail as a separate text file with the data formatted like this? If the text file had the trail name, the data could be parsed and converted by GPSBabel quickly and easily. This would also save on space and bandwidth as the files would be considerably smaller.

 

43.73472,-79.75434

43.73471,-79.75421

43.7344,-79.75358

43.73436,-79.75248

43.73458,-79.75201

43.73469,-79.75159

43.73445,-79.75116

43.73445,-79.75055

43.73412,-79.74993

43.73324,-79.74958

43.73315,-79.74938

43.73306,-79.74891

43.73313,-79.74847

43.73305,-79.74809

43.73283,-79.74789

43.7326,-79.74782

43.73249,-79.7476

43.7325,-79.74733

43.7326,-79.74694

43.73274,-79.74654

43.73294,-79.74613

43.73301,-79.74582

43.73294,-79.74539

43.73286,-79.74508

43.73279,-79.74455

43.73266,-79.74433

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What would really be useful is a comma delimited version of the data. Would it be possible to get each trail as a separate text file with the data formatted like this? If the text file had the trail name, the data could be parsed and converted by GPSBabel quickly and easily. This would also save on space and bandwidth as the files would be considerably smaller.

 

At the moment, no.

 

While the older data, and a lot of the GPS tracklogs, is currently kept in GPX format, the most recent data is kept in a Polish Notation file (.mp) since some of the larger datasets I've been pulling from are only available in shape (.shp) format. I can understand why, as it is useful when many of the trails are in segments, and the GPX/GDB formats don't take well to multiple tracks with the same name. Reference the Voyager Trail which is in about 17 segments and I have oodles of trails that are simply called "Trans Canada Trail", yet are not joined in any other way. Mapsource gets *very* upset when two tracks share the same name.

 

I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX. Eventually, I'd like to store the data in a GIS database (probably in MySQL), then pull it out for building maps - but I haven't had the time to properly research how to do that on my budget.

 

I will happily make the Polish Notation file available on the project website if there's any demand for that sort of thing. If you find an easy way to do the conversion, let me know and I'll add that to the project base.

 

Right now to break down every trail into separate files would consume way too much of my time. The non Shapefile data is available in the GPX file and you're welcome to download that and play with it.

 

--

 

On another note:

 

Also for the Apple fans out there, I've recently been shown how to convert the Garmin mapset over to Mac format for Mapsource, so look for that on the project site soon.

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Am I missing something??

 

The two files on the web page that I download were 299kb and 821kb respectively. That was kilobytes, not megabytes. They seem to have all the trails on them. Not sure how that makes for a bandwidth concern. I have seen (and appreciated) Fababoo logs that took up more space. :laughing:

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Am I missing something??

 

The two files on the web page that I download were 299kb and 821kb respectively. That was kilobytes, not megabytes. They seem to have all the trails on them. Not sure how that makes for a bandwidth concern. I have seen (and appreciated) Fababoo logs that took up more space. :laughing:

 

Bandwidth isn't a problem at the moment, nor is it forseen to become a problem in the near future. I do have options that I can deploy if I ever reach the point where I'm having bandwidth issues.

 

The Golden Horseshoe Geocachers website, which is also hosted on my server, creates a much larger bandwidth hit than the trail project downloads at this time.

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Am I missing something??

 

The two files on the web page that I download were 299kb and 821kb respectively. That was kilobytes, not megabytes. They seem to have all the trails on them. Not sure how that makes for a bandwidth concern. I have seen (and appreciated) Fababoo logs that took up more space. :laughing:

 

Yes you are missing something. As the project grows, the data will become larger. Also keep in mind that not everyone has high speed internet. GPX = XML = Well structured document = Large file. Remove all the stuff that isn't needed and only provide what is needed = smaller file.

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What would really be useful is a comma delimited version of the data. Would it be possible to get each trail as a separate text file with the data formatted like this? If the text file had the trail name, the data could be parsed and converted by GPSBabel quickly and easily. This would also save on space and bandwidth as the files would be considerably smaller.

 

At the moment, no.

 

While the older data, and a lot of the GPS tracklogs, is currently kept in GPX format, the most recent data is kept in a Polish Notation file (.mp) since some of the larger datasets I've been pulling from are only available in shape (.shp) format. I can understand why, as it is useful when many of the trails are in segments, and the GPX/GDB formats don't take well to multiple tracks with the same name. Reference the Voyager Trail which is in about 17 segments and I have oodles of trails that are simply called "Trans Canada Trail", yet are not joined in any other way. Mapsource gets *very* upset when two tracks share the same name.

 

I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX. Eventually, I'd like to store the data in a GIS database (probably in MySQL), then pull it out for building maps - but I haven't had the time to properly research how to do that on my budget.

 

I will happily make the Polish Notation file available on the project website if there's any demand for that sort of thing. If you find an easy way to do the conversion, let me know and I'll add that to the project base.

 

Right now to break down every trail into separate files would consume way too much of my time. The non Shapefile data is available in the GPX file and you're welcome to download that and play with it.

 

--

 

On another note:

 

Also for the Apple fans out there, I've recently been shown how to convert the Garmin mapset over to Mac format for Mapsource, so look for that on the project site soon.

 

I guess us poor Magellan users will have to wait and hope to get the new data in the future as it looks like the priority right now if for Garmin as I see on the home page.

 

I will monitor to see when new data becomes available that is compatible with Magellan.

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I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX.

 

Ptxt2shp to get the Polish format into a Shape file.

http://www.msh-tools.com/Ptxt2shp.html

 

Then use GPSBabel to convert from Shape to whatever. For some reason, the Shape format conversion in GPSBabel is not documented, but it is there......... Use "-i shape" before the input. Tested and works. It took me forever to figure out how to make the conversion.

Edited by Red90
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I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX.

 

Ptxt2shp to get the Polish format into a Shape file.

http://www.msh-tools.com/Ptxt2shp.html

 

Then use GPSBabel to convert from Shape to whatever. For some reason, the Shape format conversion in GPSBabel is not documented, but it is there......... Use "-i shape" before the input. Tested and works. It took me forever to figure out how to make the conversion.

 

Hey, that's great - thank you very much for the info. That'll let me get the most current data back into the GPX format, and perhaps some more formats.

 

--

 

For the Magellan users out there - I do have an eXplorist in addition to my Garmin GPS. I'd love to see some resources for making maps for Maggies, sure. I'm not aware of any (that I can afford), and in particular, I'm not aware of the capabilities in the newer Magellan units, like the Tritons (do they support multiple map sets at once? I know my eXplorist doesn't).

 

I'm aware that some people are able to splice the data into a DirectRoute map, but for obvious reasons, I can't create and distribute that map set - nor do I want to duplicate the work of the Magic Maps people.

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I convert my maps into Magellan formats. It is a bit of a convoluted procedure, but not too bad once you have done it the first time. They are not transparent, though, so it is not as nice as on the Garmins.

 

Read here: http://www.msh-tools.com/magellanmapseng.html

 

Wow, that looks almost painful. Worth checking out though, thanks for the linky. If the maps aren't transparent, I may have to go grab the counties and highways shapefiles to include with the trails so people can orient themselves.

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What would really be useful is a comma delimited version of the data. Would it be possible to get each trail as a separate text file with the data formatted like this? If the text file had the trail name, the data could be parsed and converted by GPSBabel quickly and easily. This would also save on space and bandwidth as the files would be considerably smaller.

 

At the moment, no.

 

While the older data, and a lot of the GPS tracklogs, is currently kept in GPX format, the most recent data is kept in a Polish Notation file (.mp) since some of the larger datasets I've been pulling from are only available in shape (.shp) format. I can understand why, as it is useful when many of the trails are in segments, and the GPX/GDB formats don't take well to multiple tracks with the same name. Reference the Voyager Trail which is in about 17 segments and I have oodles of trails that are simply called "Trans Canada Trail", yet are not joined in any other way. Mapsource gets *very* upset when two tracks share the same name.

 

I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX. Eventually, I'd like to store the data in a GIS database (probably in MySQL), then pull it out for building maps - but I haven't had the time to properly research how to do that on my budget.

 

I will happily make the Polish Notation file available on the project website if there's any demand for that sort of thing. If you find an easy way to do the conversion, let me know and I'll add that to the project base.

 

Right now to break down every trail into separate files would consume way too much of my time. The non Shapefile data is available in the GPX file and you're welcome to download that and play with it.

 

--

 

On another note:

 

Also for the Apple fans out there, I've recently been shown how to convert the Garmin mapset over to Mac format for Mapsource, so look for that on the project site soon.

 

I guess us poor Magellan users will have to wait and hope to get the new data in the future as it looks like the priority right now if for Garmin as I see on the home page.

 

I will monitor to see when new data becomes available that is compatible with Magellan.

 

I understand you are pretty good at reverse engineering things. Surely, converting a Garmin compatible file to a Magellan compatible file is not beyond your capabilities.

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What would really be useful is a comma delimited version of the data. Would it be possible to get each trail as a separate text file with the data formatted like this? If the text file had the trail name, the data could be parsed and converted by GPSBabel quickly and easily. This would also save on space and bandwidth as the files would be considerably smaller.

 

At the moment, no.

 

While the older data, and a lot of the GPS tracklogs, is currently kept in GPX format, the most recent data is kept in a Polish Notation file (.mp) since some of the larger datasets I've been pulling from are only available in shape (.shp) format. I can understand why, as it is useful when many of the trails are in segments, and the GPX/GDB formats don't take well to multiple tracks with the same name. Reference the Voyager Trail which is in about 17 segments and I have oodles of trails that are simply called "Trans Canada Trail", yet are not joined in any other way. Mapsource gets *very* upset when two tracks share the same name.

 

I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX. Eventually, I'd like to store the data in a GIS database (probably in MySQL), then pull it out for building maps - but I haven't had the time to properly research how to do that on my budget.

 

I will happily make the Polish Notation file available on the project website if there's any demand for that sort of thing. If you find an easy way to do the conversion, let me know and I'll add that to the project base.

 

Right now to break down every trail into separate files would consume way too much of my time. The non Shapefile data is available in the GPX file and you're welcome to download that and play with it.

 

--

 

On another note:

 

Also for the Apple fans out there, I've recently been shown how to convert the Garmin mapset over to Mac format for Mapsource, so look for that on the project site soon.

 

I guess us poor Magellan users will have to wait and hope to get the new data in the future as it looks like the priority right now if for Garmin as I see on the home page.

 

I will monitor to see when new data becomes available that is compatible with Magellan.

 

I understand you are pretty good at reverse engineering things. Surely, converting a Garmin compatible file to a Magellan compatible file is not beyond your capabilities.

 

Why put the effort into it when someone else has already written it? What would be nice is a clean simple solution that everyone can use.

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I convert my maps into Magellan formats. It is a bit of a convoluted procedure, but not too bad once you have done it the first time. They are not transparent, though, so it is not as nice as on the Garmins.

 

Read here: http://www.msh-tools.com/magellanmapseng.html

 

Wow, that looks almost painful. Worth checking out though, thanks for the linky. If the maps aren't transparent, I may have to go grab the counties and highways shapefiles to include with the trails so people can orient themselves.

 

I have been playing around with a program that can alter the MapSend map. So far it is looking good. It can read a structured text file or convert Polish Text files for the Garmin. Best part is it is free and fairly simple to use if fed the correct data. Have to verify the Polish Text portion of it still. I will update on the status and if it is a simple clean solution and the maps project can provide the data for simple import, I will write up a set of instructions.

 

The software is AddMagMap

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I guess us poor Magellan users will have to wait and hope to get the new data in the future as it looks like the priority right now if for Garmin as I see on the home page.

 

I will monitor to see when new data becomes available that is compatible with Magellan.

 

Just a reminder - since day one I have been distributing the trails as both a Garmin IMG file for loading direct onto a GPS, and also as a GPX file so owners of other GPS types can view the trails, or use whatever tools are appropriate to load the trails onto their GPS unit. I'll be happy to link to any derivative works from my site, or host maps produced for other units.

 

I'll likely be creating Magellan maps in the future, thanks to the information provided by Red90.

 

A reminder to Keith Watson that the trail project is a volunteer effort, like many aspects of Geocaching. Please keep this in mind when making demands for my time.

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I have been playing around with a program that can alter the MapSend map. So far it is looking good. It can read a structured text file or convert Polish Text files for the Garmin. Best part is it is free and fairly simple to use if fed the correct data. Have to verify the Polish Text portion of it still. I will update on the status and if it is a simple clean solution and the maps project can provide the data for simple import, I will write up a set of instructions.

 

The software is AddMagMap

 

I'll post the Polish Notation format on the site when I have time. Likely tomorrow due to my schedule today.

If you'll take charge of producing the Magellan Maps, that would be helpful and I'll happily host or link to your files.

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I have been playing around with a program that can alter the MapSend map. So far it is looking good. It can read a structured text file or convert Polish Text files for the Garmin. Best part is it is free and fairly simple to use if fed the correct data. Have to verify the Polish Text portion of it still. I will update on the status and if it is a simple clean solution and the maps project can provide the data for simple import, I will write up a set of instructions.

 

The software is AddMagMap

 

Ok, just read up on the site. Won't be hosting THOSE maps.... it's for merging the trail project with your existing MapSend maps. Neat info.

 

Keith, a set of instructions would be helpful for those interested in doing this sort of thing. Guess it's time to add another page to the site for projects like this.

 

I would suggest holding off on large changes to your MapSend map, until the 1.0 release of the trails, as I have one more big trail merge coming shortly and this doesn't look like something you want to be doing often.

 

I'll continue work on the Magellan standalone map for now - unless you beat me to it Keith.

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I want to applaud NP's initiative with this project.

 

It is a lot of work and represents a significant and POSITIVE contribution to the Ontario geocaching community.

 

Most of us have had portions of these trail tracks laying around on our PC for years. Now someone has taken the initiative to consolidate and make them available for everyone.

 

I have found them very useful. Currently I have taken advantage of the Oregon's Track capacity and load them as .gpx files. This allows me to color different trail systems and pick/choose which ones I want. It also allows me to add my own trails prior to NP adding them to the next release.

 

Good work NP.

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I haven't found an easy way to convert back from .shp or .mp to CVS, or GPX.

 

Ptxt2shp to get the Polish format into a Shape file.

http://www.msh-tools.com/Ptxt2shp.html

 

Then use GPSBabel to convert from Shape to whatever. For some reason, the Shape format conversion in GPSBabel is not documented, but it is there......... Use "-i shape" before the input. Tested and works. It took me forever to figure out how to make the conversion.

 

When going from shp to gpx, hwo do you get the names to show up in the gpx file? Right now I am just seeing this. The rte tags have no name attribute or tag.

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<gpx

version="1.0"

creator="GPSBabel - http://www.gpsbabel.org"

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"'>http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"

xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0/gpx.xsd">

<time>2009-06-17T14:41:21Z</time>

<bounds minlat="41.909510000" minlon="-94.591300000" maxlat="49.944830000" maxlon="-75.698050000"/>

<rte>

<rtept lat="44.388880000" lon="-79.684570000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT001</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.388910000" lon="-79.683410000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT002</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.388910000" lon="-79.681950000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT003</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.388950000" lon="-79.680880000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT004</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.389120000" lon="-79.679480000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT005</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.389230000" lon="-79.678930000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

<name>RPT006</name>

</rtept>

<rtept lat="44.389570000" lon="-79.677380000">

<ele>0.000000</ele>

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When going from shp to gpx, hwo do you get the names to show up in the gpx file? Right now I am just seeing this. The rte tags have no name attribute or tag.

 

 

Try working with the name attribute in GPSBabel, like so:

 

gpsbabel -i shape,name=3 -f trail_L.shp -o gpx -F output.gpx

 

I converted the file to Shape and re-imported it into my editing software, I can confirm the names make it to the shape file.

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..... and I have a few things I'd like to tweak already - like making a proper installer for the maps ....

 

I've been making auto-installers for my motorcycle trails maps for a while now and I've got the process down to just a few minutes work. If you'd like one for your trail maps, give me your e-mail address and I'll make it for you.

 

E-mail me at DualSport AT morphew DOT ca

 

Bob

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Shape to GPX to Text too much of a pain in the butt. The shape file works great. I have sent instruction to NorthernPenguin to post on the site. It works greta and I can see all the trails on my Maggie.

 

I've posted Keith's instructions on the site with a few links to it. You can find all the relevant info on the home page, or the downloads page now. This has been tested for Magellan eXplorist, using MapSend. Should, in theory, work for older models, like the SporTrak too but this is unconfirmed. No idea about the Triton series receivers, but I suspect it won't be the same process.

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... and version 0.64 is now released.

 

Added:

 

Support for viewing the Trails Project inside Google Earth (kml/kmz)

Support for export to Magellan MapSend products, using some third party software (via Keith Watson)

New Data Source - Ministry of Natural Resources / OTN via Land Information Ontario*

Municipal Trails - Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Dundas via OpenStreetMap

Burlington Waterfront Trail, Hamilton Beach Trail, via GPS Tracklogs

Rouge Park Trails, via Tequila

Tom Charter Park in Mississauga, via Avernar

Unnamed trails in Cambridge, via Avernar

Mitchell Park Trail in Guelph, via Avernar

Chinguacousy Trail in Brampton, via Chris-Mouse

 

* The license for this data requires free, non commercial use of the data. Used under UUL license.

 

Updated:

Bruce Trail Coverage is greatly improved

Oak Ridges Trail Coverage is greatly improved

Numerous sections of Trans Canada Trail

 

----

 

To get to the Ontario Trails Project site, use http://trailmaps.torontogeocaching.com

If you just want to take a look using Google Earth, here's a link for that http://tinyurl.com/viewtrails

 

----

 

We've added some new tricks. There's Keith's instructions for using the maps on a Magellan eXplorist (or perhaps an older unit.) I don't know if the Triton's use MapSend maps these days - if someone makes that work please let me know.

 

The biggest part of this release is the inclusion of trail data provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Take a look at the Bruce Trail on this release for an example.

 

You've seen above that I managed to get the trails over to KML format (Google Earth), and yes I've ported it to GPX but I want to make sure MapSource will play nicely before I update the links. That'll happen tonight or tomorrow.

 

I've also been provided information on making the maps Mac friendly, so look for that soon.

 

I'm now looking at the NRCAN topo products to see if I can get a bit more coverage outside the more populated areas of the province, or heck even cottage country.

 

I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed thus far, there's a lot more trails listed than I'll ever be able to visit.

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I downloaded and installed it, using the info in the readme it worked great.

 

I realize these are really meant for use on the GPS, but is there a way to overlay them in Mapsource, over, say topo maps? It would be handy to have when looking at a route to a cache for example.

 

Maybe it's tehre already and I missed it too.....not like I've never done that before... :D

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I downloaded and installed it, using the info in the readme it worked great.

 

I realize these are really meant for use on the GPS, but is there a way to overlay them in Mapsource, over, say topo maps? It would be handy to have when looking at a route to a cache for example.

 

Maybe it's tehre already and I missed it too.....not like I've never done that before... :D

 

Download the gpx version and use Mapsource to open the file. Tracks will show up.

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I downloaded and installed it, using the info in the readme it worked great.

 

I realize these are really meant for use on the GPS, but is there a way to overlay them in Mapsource, over, say topo maps? It would be handy to have when looking at a route to a cache for example.

 

Maybe it's there already and I missed it too.....not like I've never done that before... :D

 

Download the gpx version and use Mapsource to open the file. Tracks will show up.

 

Guess I wasn't clear...I did that, but when I opened it in Mapsource, it looks like squiggly worms on a blank page. Wondering how to overlay it on a topo in Mapsource (not just on the GPS.)

 

Though...when I transfer it to the GPS with the maps, could I then transfer it back and have the overlay?

 

Looking at the local trails, I suspect that if I go through some of my tracks, I can likely fill in some gaps...but having the existing portions on there would also be good, so that I can only focus on the sections that are still missing. Depending on what I find I'm still missing after looking through my tracklogs, it might be a reason to explore some sections.....especially if there's a cache or two nearby.... lol

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Greywynd,

 

Open the GPX file in MapSource, you'll get the squiggly lines show up. Then change your map at the top left to something like Topo Canada or City Navigator, as when you're looking at the GPX file in Mapsource, you're not looking at the map per se, rather you've loaded track data.

 

Also, don't forget, you can also view the project trails in Google Earth nowadays as well. It's best to grab the link off the Trails project website, but for convienience, here's a link to the v0.64 release to see it in Google Earth

 

Also note the GPX file that's available is actually missing a chunk of the newer trails until I get the shapefile -> GPX working in a way that MapSource will accept.

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I prefer to use the gpx file. In both Mapsource and my GPS. The Oregon allows at least 200 tracks.

 

I prefer to select which NP tracks I want in my GPS and by using gpx files, I can color code the tracks to differentiate TCT from BT or ORT etc.

 

Works great.

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I prefer to use the gpx file. In both Mapsource and my GPS. The Oregon allows at least 200 tracks.

 

AFAIK, there is no known track limit. The limit is the number of files. You can have multiple tracks in one file.

 

It would be out of hand with my maps as I have thousands of trails.

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I prefer to use the gpx file. In both Mapsource and my GPS. The Oregon allows at least 200 tracks.

 

AFAIK, there is no known track limit. The limit is the number of files. You can have multiple tracks in one file.

 

It would be out of hand with my maps as I have thousands of trails.

 

I think you are right about no track limit. I currently only have about 150 and that covers all of my normal territory.

 

Sadly most new caches are beside sidewalks, not trails.

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Got it going, I had used only the Garmin file and unzipped it. I went back and d/l the gpx, and opened it, that overlays perfectly on any map I select.

 

I'll take a look at what tracks I might have to fill in the blanks...there's an issue in this area, many follow abandoned rail lines, but the Garmin maps at least have the rail lines shifted out of position. (So they show on your GPS, but might be several hundred metres from the actual location. I should have track logs for portions of almost all the trails in this area, and should be able to fill in the gaps. If not, maybe some time on the seat of the bike is in order..... lol

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... and we're up to version 0.65 now. Uploaded that on Thursday night. Got some new tricks up my sleeve, which includes using some aerial imagery to fill in some of the more visible trails (from the air).

 

Still having some issues with GPX conversion, particularly some of the multi-segment trails but there IS an updated GPX file on the site now, just take what's in it with a grain of salt.

 

Most of the changes in this release center around Kitchener/Waterloo, London (around the Thames), Chatham, Mississauga and Collingwood. I'll be targetting London and Oshawa in the next release with the aerial maps.

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First off, huge thanks to all your hard work NP. Very nicely done and looking forward to future releases.

 

Second, not that important, but I was curious if there is a way to get the trails to appear in a different colour? I am using a Garmin 265, (soon, I'll have an etrex) but the lines on the GPS are grey and a little hard to distinguish between them and the roads.

 

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

Cheers!

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Second, not that important, but I was curious if there is a way to get the trails to appear in a different colour? I am using a Garmin 265, (soon, I'll have an etrex) but the lines on the GPS are grey and a little hard to distinguish between them and the roads.

 

The newer Garmin units support TYP customization, and the trails will appear as red lines on those units. The newer versions of MapSource will also show the trails as red lines. Older units, particularly the monochrome ones will show the trails as a dashed grey line, which unfortunately appears very similar to 'unpaved roads'.

 

I don't know if the (I'm assuming it's a Nuvi) 265 series supports this feature, but I don't see why it wouldn't. Might want to check the firmware is current on the device. While I've seen customization work on some of the Street Pilot units, I haven't received any feedback on using the Trails on a Nuvi.

 

I'm planning to break the trails out into categories like hikable, bikable, both, or unknown with different line types in an upcoming release.

 

--

A note on the TYP customization use, if the trails don't appear as red lines on your GPS:

 

- Check that 1033E.TYP exists in C:\ONTTRAILS

- Check that MapSource is the newest version - I use 6.15.5 for my testing at the moment

- If you've been using the Trails for a while, re-import ONTTRAILS.REG, as TYP support was added at the 0.60 release

- Make sure you load the map using MapSource - other methods like SENDMAP20 or copying the IMG file to your GPS won't setup the TYP customization

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- Make sure you load the map using MapSource - other methods like SENDMAP20 or copying the IMG file to your GPS won't setup the TYP customization

 

I should have clarified, my apologies. I am using the Nuvi 265wt. I prefer to have the maps separate from one another on SD cards, and then put them into the GPS for whatever occasion arises. I have always just copy and pasted the image file and if needed to insert the registration code for that specific map/.img file. I never knew I had to load them through Mapsource in order to see the red lines.

 

Got it working and can now see the distinctive red lines.... Must say, Awesome! Thanks again for all the hard work. :D

Edited by LSnake
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I'm planning to break the trails out into categories like hikable, bikable, both, or unknown with different line types in an upcoming release.

 

The problem with this idea..... People that have units that do not support TYP can only see default road types.

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I'm planning to break the trails out into categories like hikable, bikable, both, or unknown with different line types in an upcoming release.

 

The problem with this idea..... People that have units that do not support TYP can only see default road types.

 

Yup, I figure when I get to that point I'll have to do what some of the other projects do - two downloads, one for newer units that support TYP, and one for older units that do not.

 

I can always select all polylines and convert to trail before I build the "old" units map.

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