help with maps

[gitarmac]

I can make a pretty funcional map using gpsvisualizer but I would like to know how to use garmin trip and waypoint manager and mapsource. I have found it to be all but useless, and I'm wondering what I am doing wrong.

 

Here is a sample of my tripandwaypoint data

 

Here is what happens when I try to use mapquest/google earth. I don't know how to get rid of the trackpoints. I can use the slidy thing and make them sort of invisible, which is handy when we are at home and try to find out where game trails and old roads are, but useless for making a map.

 

Here is what my maps look like exporting data in easygps, and using gpsvisualizer.

 

I have to print the maps using windows snip it to capture the part of the screen with the map. I'm just wondering how to use the software that came with my gps better.

Edited September 20, 2009 by gitarmac

[seldom_sn]

The question is too broad to answer. It looks like all the screenshots accurately reflect the same data, so you aren't asking about accuracy. If you want more data in your Trip and Waypoint/Mapsource program, you'll either have to buy a map, or download a free one from gpsfiledepot.

Edited September 20, 2009 by seldom_sn

[+fegan]

Here is what happens when I try to use mapquest/google earth. I don't know how to get rid of the trackpoints.

In Google Earth you can easily get rid of those trackpoints.

 

In the Places panel click the + in front of Tracks to expand the tree, you'll see Points and Paths which will both be checked...simply un-check Points and they'll go away, leaving the Paths displayed.

[Ken in Regina]

And if you want to get rid of, or edit, the trackpoints in Mapsource there are a couple of ways.

 

To get rid of the trackpoint completely just click on the TRACKS tab, select the track(s) and hit the DEL key. Poof, they're gone.

 

To selectively get rid of points in the track you can right-click the track in the TRACKS tab and click Track Properties... That will allow you to selectively delete individual points from the track or select groups of them to delete.

 

Or you can right-click on the tool bar and add the Track Editing Tools. Then you can use the track editing tools to mess around as much as you want.

 

...ken...

[+fegan]

And if you want to get rid of, or edit, the trackpoints in Mapsource there are a couple of ways.

 

To get rid of the trackpoint completely just click on the TRACKS tab, select the track(s) and hit the DEL key. Poof, they're gone.

 

To selectively get rid of points in the track you can right-click the track in the TRACKS tab and click Track Properties... That will allow you to selectively delete individual points from the track or select groups of them to delete.

 

Or you can right-click on the tool bar and add the Track Editing Tools. Then you can use the track editing tools to mess around as much as you want.

 

...ken...

 

Correct me if I'm wrong...I think the OP wants to keep the path and simply remove all the intermediate points. Getting rid of trackpoints in MapSource will alter the route.

[Ken in Regina]

Correct me if I'm wrong...I think the OP wants to keep the path and simply remove all the intermediate points.

Just like a couple of others in this thread, I have no real idea what the original poster actually wants to do. I'm just offering a generic approach to messing with tracks in Mapsource so the original poster can see if they are useful.

 

Getting rid of trackpoints in MapSource will alter the route.

Umm.. you lost me there. Tracks are tracks. If you remove some of the points in the tracks Mapsource will just draw a straight line to joint the points before and after the ones that were removed. Tracks are simply a list of data points that were captured as you travelled.

 

Routes are a different thing altogether and any discussion of messing with tracks and track points has no relation to Routes at all. Yes, if you have a route that follows roads and you remove some of the waypoints or POIs that you used in the route, the route might change, if that's what you mean. But that's Route behaviour and has no relation to how a track will behave when you remove points from the track. Because a Track is not a Route. Mapsource knows the difference.

 

...ken...

[gitarmac]

I don't need maps to chart the hunt club, I have a nuvi for the roads.

 

I am using my tracks to make maps, superimposed on some kind of satalite imagry. I'm going to try some of the ideas here. Thanks for replying.

[gitarmac]

I did it in google earth! I unclicked something and they went away! Yeah!

 

I make some pretty functional maps but I'd hate to not do something cause I don't know to try it.

[Ken in Regina]

I don't need maps to chart the hunt club, I have a nuvi for the roads.

 

I am using my tracks to make maps, superimposed on some kind of satalite imagry. I'm going to try some of the ideas here. Thanks for replying.

Thanks for the clarification, gitarmac. For that purpose you will most likely find fegan's suggestion to work the best. I also find all those square boxes (trackpoints) a distraction when displaying tracks on Google Earth. Turning them off makes a much nicer display.

 

...ken...

[gpsvisualizer]

If you use GPS Visualizer's Google Earth form (http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=googleearth) to create KML from your .gdb or .gpx file (rather than going straight from Mapsource to GE), the trackpoints will NOT be drawn by default. And if you do choose to have them (using the "Draw trackpoints as waypoints" feature), they will be small unobtrusive circles that are the same color as the track they belong to... NOT big white squares.

[gpsvisualizer]

(oops, duplicate post due to technical difficulties...)

Edited September 22, 2009 by adamschneider

[gitarmac]

So far gps visualizer had given me the best map results. It seems like the software that came with the gps would have more options.

[+fegan]

Getting rid of trackpoints in MapSource will alter the route.

Umm.. you lost me there. Tracks are tracks. If you remove some of the points in the tracks Mapsource will just draw a straight line to joint the points before and after the ones that were removed. Tracks are simply a list of data points that were captured as you travelled.

Sorry, I used the word 'route' which clearly caused you some confusion.

 

In MapSource I've altered tracks by removing individual points, rather than deleting an entire track (which you were describing in your previous message). If you delete individual trackpoints (which is what I was talking about, and you mentioned above), the track will change its shape (as you said, drawing a straight line between the previous and next point, what I called the route). In reality, MapSource always draws a straight line between points, even if you were walking along a curve...the more track points, the smoother the curve...but if you zoom in enough there are still straight lines between each pair of points. So my point was that you can't remove trackpoints in MapSource without changing the track's shape...sometimes drastically. However, in Google Earth the track and trackpoints are seperated in the tree of items sent from MapSource...so you can turn off ALL the trackpoints while still seeing the track (again, this is what I was calling the route, what Google Earth calls the path). So, I guess I should have called it a path, rather than a route...maybe that wouldn't have been so confusing?