Send waypoint list as route to GPS

[Amulet]

If I have a list of points as latitude and longitude which form a route, is there a simple way to send those data to a Garmin GPS as a route. I can cludge ways of getting it into MemoryMap or Maptech, but I don't want anything that heavy-weight, and I like it to be simple:

Open the program
Paste in the routepoint data
Send to GPS

Can that be so hard?

(I'm willing to format the routepoints in pretty much any tabular or csv format, but not xml - 'cos I'm too stupid for that.)

 

[ump010]

Easygps works and it's Free!

http://www.easygps.com/download.asp

 

[mikemanor]

Gartrip

Try using Gartrip

http://www.gartrip.de/

Simple, and good value shareware. I have used it for years

 

[jon]

GPSU also good, make up the route with your waypoints save them as GPS format and insert in Memory Map as route, easy.

 

[Wunja]

Easygps works and it's Free!

http://www.easygps.com/download.asp

+1

 

[Amulet]

Easy GPS - the solution

Easygps works and it's Free!

http://www.easygps.com/download.asp

+1

Am I being stupid? I can't work out how to this in EasyGPS.

EasyGPX reads and writes GPX files and can send them to a GPS. I have text files and the expertise to manipulate their format, but not the expertise to create GPX. I have not found a way to get comma separated values or the like into EasyGPS. I agree wholeheartedly that, if I can get the data into it, it is the right tool.

Educate me as to how do this..

 

[bluerm166]

Manual Transfer to GPS

It’s longhand but assuming you don’t have too many points to deal with :
Open Easy GPS
Tool Menu
Select ‘New waypoint’
Add each point manually,call them something.
Finish
The waypoints appear in the List
Save As GPX
Add the relevant GPS under Preferences
(assuming you have the correct GPS/PC cable)
Go to GPS Menu
Firstlly check if the Baud rate is correct by displaying ‘GPS Information.’If it doesn’t identify the unit that’s connected then try changing the baud rate.It will take minutes to clear if its not properly recognised.The COM port will probably be correct.
Choose Receive from GPS
Assuming the GPS is now visible,click oK
The waypoints should transfer.
Sorry if this is too manual.

 

[Fantasie 19]

+1

+2

 

[Amulet]

It’s longhand but assuming you don’t have too many points to deal with :
Open Easy GPS
Tool Menu
Select ‘New waypoint’
Add each point manually,call them something.
Finish
The waypoints appear in the List
Save As GPX
Add the relevant GPS under Preferences
(assuming you have the correct GPS/PC cable)
Go to GPS Menu
Firstlly check if the Baud rate is correct by displaying ‘GPS Information.’If it doesn’t identify the unit that’s connected then try changing the baud rate.It will take minutes to clear if its not properly recognised.The COM port will probably be correct.
Choose Receive from GPS
Assuming the GPS is now visible,click oK
The waypoints should transfer.
Sorry if this is too manual.

The idea is to get routes out of my database on to the handheld in real time on the water, so typing waypoints in is not an option.

Since my original post I have worked out that this can almost certainly be done easily with GPSU, but I haven't worked out the best method yet.

 

[Wunja]

Another free piece of software you could look at is G7toWin. This seems to work with .csv files.

Personally I prefer the XML based GPX files, but probably because that relates to my day job!

 

[Fantasie 19]

Hmm... ok... get a GPX file (anyone you can read with EasyGPS will do) and rename it with a file extension of CSV so you can open it in Excel... NB. The following assumes a good'ish knowledge of Excel.. if not pls ignore from here forward...

In my GPX files each waypoint entry is as follows:

<wpt lat="50.76816693" lon="-1.30716694">
<ele>-0.114</ele>
<time>2010-10-04T22:21:36.218Z</time>
<name>AAA MARINE</name>
<sym>Anchor</sym>
<type>Island</type>
<extensions>
<label xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_overlay/0/3">
<label_text>AAA MARINE</label_text>
</label>
</extensions>
</wpt>
​

I would play with that... do finds/replaces to put the <wpt lat=" before each latitude value, etc etc. The easiest way to do it would be to have each value in it's own column so that you can join up the values in a separate column... figure out which lines you can do without (I'd start by losing them all except the <label_text> line)...

Hope that makes sense.... at the end of the process just rename the file as extension type GPX and load into your GPS via EasyGPS....

 

[Wunja]

Close, but that is a single waypoint.

The GPX route file would look something like this:
<gpx version="1.0" creator="notepad">

<rte>

<name>Going to Freds</name>
<cmt></cmt>
<desc></desc>
<src></src>
<rtept lat="" lon="">

<name>Home</name>​

</rtept>
<rtept lat="" lon="">

<name>Somewhere on route</name>​

</rtept>
<rtept lat="" lon="">

<name>Destination</name>​

</rtept>​

</rte>​

</gpx>

You need to get the lat and long attributes filled in with the waypoints. You can put multiple routes in the same file, just repeat the <rte>...</rte> bit.

The nice thing about GPX files is they can be opened with Google Earth.

 

[Amulet]

Another free piece of software you could look at is G7toWin. This seems to work with .csv files.

Personally I prefer the XML based GPX files, but probably because that relates to my day job!

Agreed, but I don't want to write the code to produce GPX - I wish all the nav packages would simply accept it as an exchange standard then my current problem would be solved.

Actually - without going into the boring detail - the problem is of my own making. If I updated all components of my rather baroque set-up it would be simple.

Being a geek - but not as much of a geek as Wunja - I have actually written some ugly bridging software to solve the problem without having to be clever enough to do xml.

 

[Amulet]

Did a conversion from IDC database to GPX, it didn't hurt

Thanks to Wunja and Fantasie 19.

I took your lesson and did the xml to create GPX.

It was easy, even in Excel.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gpx creator="Graham Cameron">
<rte>
<name>ToWrab</name>
<type>GPS Route</type>
<rtept lat="52.00724625" lon="1.19383363"><name>TOWR01</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00814512" lon="1.19400999"><name>TOWR2</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00632013" lon="1.20631227"><name>TOWR3</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00124288" lon="1.21491060"><name>TOWR4</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00050778" lon="1.21671841"><name>TOWR5</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99914656" lon="1.22611041"><name>TOWR6</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99789414" lon="1.23598748"><name>TOWR7</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99105978" lon="1.26720604"><name>TOWR8</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.98909917" lon="1.27192405"><name>TOWR9</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.98427891" lon="1.27589255"><name>TOWR10</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.96627316" lon="1.27937598"><name>TOWR11</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.96294906" lon="1.28387354"><name>TOWR12</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95466497" lon="1.29617575"><name>TOWR13</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95049515" lon="1.27024851"><name>TOWR14</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95104022" lon="1.25538882"><name>TOWR15</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95014084" lon="1.23594339"><name>TOWR16</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95041334" lon="1.19220218"><name>TOWR17</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95185788" lon="1.17355043"><name>TOWR18</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94887367" lon="1.15877892"><name>TOWR19</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94786583" lon="1.15247355"><name>TOWR20</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94786583" lon="1.15234120"><name>TOWR21</name></rtept>
</rte>
</gpx>

 

[Wunja]

I guess that works... Loaded directly into Google Earth

But did it upload into your Garmin?

 

[snowleopard]

I have the £40 MemoryMap raster chart set with its primitive plotter. I have now acquired the hardware to connect to my old Garmin 128 GPS in the hope of seeing my position on screen and uploading routes.

Should I expect problems with compatibility of formats?

 

[jon]

Should be no problem,if you are just navigating set MM GPS set up to 'Generic (NMEA)' and the Garmin to 'NMEA Out/IN'
If you want to transfer routes and waypoints from the Garmin then set MM GPS set up to 'Garmin' and the Garmin to 'Data transfer'

 

[Fantasie 19]

Thanks to Wunja and Fantasie 19.

I took your lesson and did the xml to create GPX.

It was easy, even in Excel.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gpx creator="Graham Cameron">
<rte>
<name>ToWrab</name>
<type>GPS Route</type>
<rtept lat="52.00724625" lon="1.19383363"><name>TOWR01</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00814512" lon="1.19400999"><name>TOWR2</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00632013" lon="1.20631227"><name>TOWR3</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00124288" lon="1.21491060"><name>TOWR4</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="52.00050778" lon="1.21671841"><name>TOWR5</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99914656" lon="1.22611041"><name>TOWR6</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99789414" lon="1.23598748"><name>TOWR7</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.99105978" lon="1.26720604"><name>TOWR8</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.98909917" lon="1.27192405"><name>TOWR9</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.98427891" lon="1.27589255"><name>TOWR10</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.96627316" lon="1.27937598"><name>TOWR11</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.96294906" lon="1.28387354"><name>TOWR12</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95466497" lon="1.29617575"><name>TOWR13</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95049515" lon="1.27024851"><name>TOWR14</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95104022" lon="1.25538882"><name>TOWR15</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95014084" lon="1.23594339"><name>TOWR16</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95041334" lon="1.19220218"><name>TOWR17</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.95185788" lon="1.17355043"><name>TOWR18</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94887367" lon="1.15877892"><name>TOWR19</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94786583" lon="1.15247355"><name>TOWR20</name></rtept>
<rtept lat="51.94786583" lon="1.15234120"><name>TOWR21</name></rtept>
</rte>
</gpx>

Excellent... I was hoping you could get away with having to use a few less of those various xml options the full version of GPX gives you.....

Someone should write a cheap visual basic program to do that for any list of text lat/long values... could be very useful....

 

[Wunja]

Someone should write a cheap visual basic program to do that for any list of text lat/long values... could be very useful....

OK, I'll rise to that challenge...albeit in Excel VBA

The attached works on my PC using Excel 2003. and will create either a route or a list of way points.

Just paste the list of names, lat and log in the appropriate place and click the button.

 

[jpcarter30]

Anything for Mac? Seen as all the above are windows.