GPS and Maps

alanmo said:

Hi to all - I'm new on here!!
Just entering the wonderfull world of GPS and considering which digital
map format to buy; so one or two questions to the experienced please.
Are the Explorer based ones so much better than Landranger for setting
up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?
Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?
Any other advice/comment would be much appreciated.

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map (or a print from a computer-based
digital map). An option worth considering is therefore to ignore
digitial maps, and buy a non-mapping GPS which you intend to use in
conjunction with a paper map.

You might be surprised at how useful non-mapping GPSs can be. In many
cases you may not even need to consult the paper map while
walking. Non-mapping GPSs are a lot cheaper, and sometimes rather
pleasingly faster at updating their map page displays.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm said:

alanmo said:

Hi to all - I'm new on here!!
Just entering the wonderfull world of GPS and considering which
digital map format to buy; so one or two questions to the
experienced please. Are the Explorer based ones so much better than
Landranger for setting up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?
Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?
Any other advice/comment would be much appreciated.

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map

eh ? memory map 1:50k on a pocket PC works just fine for me.

In article <[email hidden]>, news
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Malcolm said:

alanmo said:

Hi to all - I'm new on here!!
Just entering the wonderfull world of GPS and considering which
digital map format to buy; so one or two questions to the
experienced please. Are the Explorer based ones so much better than
Landranger for setting up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?
Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?
Any other advice/comment would be much appreciated.

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map

eh ? memory map 1:50k on a pocket PC works just fine for me.

eh?

Do you not find it hard to get an overview of an area on that small
screen?

--

Dominic Sexton

"Chris Malcolm" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

alanmo said:

Hi to all - I'm new on here!!
Just entering the wonderfull world of GPS and considering which digital
map format to buy; so one or two questions to the experienced please.
Are the Explorer based ones so much better than Landranger for setting
up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?
Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?
Any other advice/comment would be much appreciated.

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map (or a print from a computer-based
digital map). An option worth considering is therefore to ignore
digitial maps, and buy a non-mapping GPS which you intend to use in
conjunction with a paper map.

I'm not sure the OP was talking about mapping to upload to the GPS. I read
it as which maps and software to use for creating routes and waypoints to
upload to GPS.

Over recent weeks I've been checking out the demo versions of the
contenders.

Memory Map - I would agree has little going for it. Except that the pricing
is competitive.

Tracklogs - looks the business. Good on screen, zooming and panning nice and
easy. Options to add bits of text here and there. Printing options pretty
comprehensive.

Anquet - Looks clunky next to Tracklogs (zooming is clunky). Printing is
quite decent though. Has an algorithm to print on "least number of pages"
which is good. Route card limited but has the option to export route data as
CSV which you can put into Excel and manipulate all evening.
Has one huge advantage over the others. A path is a section between 2
waypoints, a route is a number of paths. That means you can set up loads of
paths in an area then create multiple routes without having to re-trace the
whole thing. Both Memory Map and Tracklogs require you to start from scratch
every time (as far as I could see).

So I went for Anquet.

Oh and I would say definitely 1:25000 maps - but that's what I take on the
hill anyway.

Roy.

Dominic Sexton said:

In article <[email hidden]>, news
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Malcolm said:

alanmo <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Hi to all - I'm new on here!!
> Just entering the wonderfull world of GPS and considering which
> digital map format to buy; so one or two questions to the
> experienced please. Are the Explorer based ones so much better than
> Landranger for setting up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?
> Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
> advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
> MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?
> Any other advice/comment would be much appreciated.

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map

eh ? memory map 1:50k on a pocket PC works just fine for me.

eh?

Do you not find it hard to get an overview of an area on that small
screen?

I use an mda compact which is smaller than a traditional pocket pc and I have zero problems
tracking my position or zooming out to check my location relative to the area that I'm in. With a
1Gb memory card an entire region or two can be preloaded with waypoints, tracks, marks etc.
add that to preexisting knowledge of an area and it's a convenient package for me. it's and
especially rewarding device when I've used it with TomTom to direct me to my start point.
obviously, you'd have to be daft to rely only on an electronic map so I back up my GPS mapping
with a printed map, printed on waterproof inkjet paper.

Quoted message said:

IMHO no GPS-loadable digital maps give enough detail that you can do
away with carrying a paper map (or a print from a computer-based
digital map). An option worth considering is therefore to ignore
digitial maps, and buy a non-mapping GPS which you intend to use in
conjunction with a paper map.

You can buy 1;25k OS digital maps.

Quoted message said:

You might be surprised at how useful non-mapping GPSs can be. In
many
cases you may not even need to consult the paper map while
walking. Non-mapping GPSs are a lot cheaper, and sometimes rather
pleasingly faster at updating their map page displays.

I use the basic gecko and 1;25k paper maps but want to go to Mio
168 walker, 1;25k digital maps.

Nick

Thanks for the advice. I went for Garmin 60C rather than Mio due to
battery life, waterproof, rugged construction, etc. Have used it with
downloaded routes from Walkingworld and it worked a treat. Print maps
and laminate or use waterproof paper not just in case of getting lost
but to identify landmarks, etc.
Have today tried the demos and am very tempted by Tracklogs, which
appears fully compatible with Garmin.
Has anyone used it in practice?
Alan

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from
the wonderful person alanmo <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the advice. I went for Garmin 60C rather than Mio due to
battery life, waterproof, rugged construction, etc. Have used it with
downloaded routes from Walkingworld and it worked a treat. Print maps
and laminate or use waterproof paper not just in case of getting lost
but to identify landmarks, etc.
Have today tried the demos and am very tempted by Tracklogs, which
appears fully compatible with Garmin.
Has anyone used it in practice?

Yes, but I'm p!$$ed at them since they want 40% (of everything I've
spent so far) to move my considerable stock of 1:25k mapping to their
new V3 release. Also their software still can't download comment fields
on waymarks entered into a 60C (which is what I use for in-field data
recording). The actual software and mapping works fine, and they're
generally helpful (you can try their demo for 30 days free).

Actually I've 'printed' a lot of Tracklogs maps to .jpg and use it with
OziExplorer, which is a much neater package, but doesn't have any
associated mapping - you can only print A4 sized bits though (but with
the right virtual/imaginary printer you can print them at 8000 dpi, or
something equally daft, if your PC can manipulate the resulting huge
image files - turn that back into a reasonable dpi value, and you have a
huge map area (Ozi is not too cute at scrolling across multiple map
pieces!).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at gunpoint.

Didn't know about OziExplorer - does this mean that printed maps can be
scanned and then used in the same way as Tracklog? I assume there are
copyright implications?
I have a lot of maps which purchasing tracklog for the GPS interface
would be duplicating!!
Alan

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from

Quoted message said:

Have today tried the demos and am very tempted by Tracklogs, which
appears fully compatible with Garmin.
Has anyone used it in practice?

Yes, but I'm p!$$ed at them since they want 40% (of everything I've spent
so far) to move my considerable stock of 1:25k mapping to their new V3
release. Also their software still can't download comment fields on
waymarks entered into a 60C (which is what I use for in-field data
recording). The actual software and mapping works fine, and they're
generally helpful (you can try their demo for 30 days free).

So am I correct in the comment I posted that to create a route in Tracklogs
you have to start from scratch every time (as opposed to selecting
previously traced paths in Anquet)? It looked that way from the demo I
downloaded. Otherwise Tracklogs looked very smart to me.

Roy.

In article <[email hidden]>, Roy <roy@?.?.invalid>
writes

Quoted message said:

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from

Quoted message said:

Have today tried the demos and am very tempted by Tracklogs, which
appears fully compatible with Garmin.
Has anyone used it in practice?

Yes, but I'm p!$$ed at them since they want 40% (of everything I've spent
so far) to move my considerable stock of 1:25k mapping to their new V3
release. Also their software still can't download comment fields on
waymarks entered into a 60C (which is what I use for in-field data
recording). The actual software and mapping works fine, and they're
generally helpful (you can try their demo for 30 days free).

So am I correct in the comment I posted that to create a route in Tracklogs
you have to start from scratch every time (as opposed to selecting
previously traced paths in Anquet)? It looked that way from the demo I
downloaded. Otherwise Tracklogs looked very smart to me.

In Tracklogs (ver 2 - I don't have ver 3) you can't do it as you
described by just selecting the components and joining them together.

The only similar way of working is to save part of a track at a point
where you may want to take alternative paths. You can then extend it and
export it to a file which you then import as the new track. Rather a
convoluted method and nowhere near as useful as the method you describe
with Anquet.

--

Dominic Sexton

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful
person Roy <roy@?.?.invalid> said

Quoted message said:

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from

Quoted message said:

Have today tried the demos and am very tempted by Tracklogs, which
appears fully compatible with Garmin.
Has anyone used it in practice?

Yes, but I'm p!$$ed at them since they want 40% (of everything I've spent
so far) to move my considerable stock of 1:25k mapping to their new V3
release. Also their software still can't download comment fields on
waymarks entered into a 60C (which is what I use for in-field data
recording). The actual software and mapping works fine, and they're
generally helpful (you can try their demo for 30 days free).

So am I correct in the comment I posted that to create a route in Tracklogs
you have to start from scratch every time (as opposed to selecting
previously traced paths in Anquet)? It looked that way from the demo I
downloaded. Otherwise Tracklogs looked very smart to me.

Nope, you save/export a route to disk, rename the one in the database,
reload the one you saved, and now you have two (differently named!)
copies, one of which you can mess with. Actually I keep all important
routes saved outside the database anyway.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at gunpoint.

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from
the wonderful person alanmo <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Didn't know about OziExplorer - does this mean that printed maps can be
scanned and then used in the same way as Tracklog? I assume there are
copyright implications?

Yep, in theory it's not legal (nor probably is exporting them from
Tracklogs), however for 'own use only' and as long as you don't go
publishing them around the web, you are probably going to get away with
'reasonable use' defence, unless you stole them in the first place.

If they are >50 years old, Crown Copyright will have expired, you can do
what you like.

Quoted message said:

I have a lot of maps which purchasing tracklog for the GPS interface
would be duplicating!!

Indeed. Just be aware that scanning paper maps is not going to give you
very accurate results, what with folds, shrinkage, etc.

You can also use Ozi with any aerial photos you can dig up (from Google,
Nasa, etc.). I've also used it with .tif files derived from NASA STRM
height data - see the last picture on:
http://www.quik.clara.co.uk/maps
which is a screen capture of something based on an Ozi 'map' which is
really processed STRM data. (SRTM height data amounts to one pixel /
data point per 60*90m rectangle, so don't get excited about using it for
detailed route planning!).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at gunpoint.

Small world - was walking around Titterstone Clee 2 weeks ago and plan
to be up Brown Clee at the weekend. I am also a councillor on SCC:
what do you think of the ROW cuts?
I am stuggling with the IT teckie stuff and will have to find an idiots
guide!!!

Alan

alanmo said:

Are the Explorer based ones so much better than Landranger for setting
up paths, waypoints, routes, etc?

I keep forgetting which is which: one of them is 1:25k, the other is
1:50k. In a hilly area with loads of contours (and crags etc) the
1:25k is needed really. In other areas, 1:50k may be ok.

Quoted message said:

Country Walking reviews the three in Oct edition but doesn't really
advise clearly. Hints that TrackLogs maybe the rising star and
MemoryMap getting dated - is this the case?

The map data is exactly the same with all of them afaik. The difference
is how intuitive the software is. They all have demos to download and
play with.
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

"Roy" <roy> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Anquet - Looks clunky next to Tracklogs (zooming is clunky). Printing
is quite decent though. Has an algorithm to print on "least number of
pages" which is good. Route card limited but has the option to export
route data as CSV which you can put into Excel and manipulate all
evening. Has one huge advantage over the others. A path is a section
between 2 waypoints, a route is a number of paths. That means you can
set up loads of paths in an area then create multiple routes without
having to re-trace the whole thing. Both Memory Map and Tracklogs
require you to start from scratch every time (as far as I could see).

The new V3 of Tracklogs now allows multiple paths in the same file. You
have one main track, which is the one that gets downloaded to the GPS and
as many others as you want. These show up as half width on the printout. It
is possible to divert the main track into one of the other paths (if they
are connected), or switch the main track entirely onto one of the others.

John

"Roy" <roy> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

So am I correct in the comment I posted that to create a route in
Tracklogs you have to start from scratch every time (as opposed to
selecting previously traced paths in Anquet)? It looked that way from
the demo I downloaded. Otherwise Tracklogs looked very smart to me.

Not at all. You can modify an existing track (or one uploaded from your
GPS) very easily. Moving an existing trackpoint or creating a new one is
just a click and drag operation. From the evaluations I did before I bought
Tracklogs, I found it by far the easiest for entering and modifying routes.

John

Nick \(Scots\) said:

You can buy 1;25k OS digital maps.

Wot? Just the map images to read with any picture viewer? No program
that just messes things up and hence no upgrade fees? That sounds too
good to be true! ;-)
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

"John Yale" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Roy" <roy> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

So am I correct in the comment I posted that to create a route in
Tracklogs you have to start from scratch every time (as opposed to
selecting previously traced paths in Anquet)? It looked that way from
the demo I downloaded. Otherwise Tracklogs looked very smart to me.

Not at all. You can modify an existing track (or one uploaded from your
GPS) very easily. Moving an existing trackpoint or creating a new one is
just a click and drag operation. From the evaluations I did before I
bought
Tracklogs, I found it by far the easiest for entering and modifying
routes.

It struck me as much more time consuming than the Anquet system IF you tend
to re-use paths in new routes (and indeed wandering around some areas such
as the North York Moors I do find myself covering the same ground fairly
often).

Roy.