Can anyone help me with editing tracks on MapSource?

[fiddlehead]

I need some help.
I am designing a hiking trail and have 3 to 5 different tracks that i have created for each section. Different times that i have hiked it.

Now, i am trying to put it together with the best ones to make the trail the best that it can be.

Then i want to upload that track to google maps so that anyone can download it and go out and hike it. (ok, much of it needs trail built but that's hopefully coming up down the road)

So, i am getting more and more frustrated trying to do this on mapsource.
I have tried google-ing it and have downloaded various software that claims it can do the job. But mapsource at least has a map that i can work with for a start.

another option that I thought about was google earth pro and somehow edit the tracks on that.

any advice or past experience with doing this would be so helpful.

Before you ask, my tracklog is full and i cannot go out and just hike it creating a new one although i am even tempted to go buy another GPS so i can do just that. (but the older ones don't see through the trees and i can't afford another Garmin 60CSX which works perfect for the job)

Thanks

[fiddlehead]

Ok, i think i've found a way that is probably best for my situation:
I have uploaded all of my tracks to google earth and now am drawing a track by hand while looking and studying all 4 of them (for the beginning section anyway, i have 4 to choose from)
This way, i get to see the terrain (admittingly a little blurry when i zoom way in) and the google earth picture here is about 3 years old but..........it seems the best way to me

So, i have lots of drawing and decisions go make but then should be able to clear my track log.

any other suggestions or other programs that work for you would be helpful too.
Sorry, i know you're all sleeping while i'm figuring this out but it's 5 PM here.

[Mercy]

To keep your track memory from overwriting, upload your tracks into mapsource, then clear the data from your GPS, and start fresh the next hike. At the end of that day (couple of days, whatever) upload the new track into mapsouce with a different name. I name them by dates I upload.

You can merge all the tracks in mapsource.

Having said all that, depending upon your track settings in your gps, you may not have recorded all your turns unless you have made waypoints at the turns. So, if you are hiking a "V" shaped trail, your track line could go straight across the top of the "V" You can edit that in mapsource to insert waypoints.

Don't know if that is what you are trying to do....

Mercy

[fiddlehead]

Hello Mercy and thanks.
I really can't delete my tracks because I am blazing a trail and each time i go out, i make it a little better but need the old ones to see which way i went last time.
It is mostly bushwhacking in jungle although there are many dirt roads that connect the rubber tree farms that are checkerboarded in.

Anyway, i think my way will work.
I have plotted all of my tracks on google earth and then drawing a new track that will be my trail in 4 sections most probably when complete (now it's been a year and a half and i'm only half way finished at 53 kms so far. So, i am breaking it into aprox 25 km sections. Then when i'm finished, i should be able to delete all tracks as i'm creating (from memory and how many times i've covered the same exact route) one big new one.

Does that make any sense?

I tried to do it in mapsource but was continually frustrated with their eraser and track editing tools. Googles are not only much better, but i get to see the terrain and roads and houses and everything which helps refresh my memory.

Anyway, it's not nearly as much fun as going out there and actually hiking it of course.

Thanks again.

Another question: since i filled up my track log, i tell the GPS to then put track points on the SD card. But, i'm having trouble accessing them now.
Am I going to have to take the card out and put it in my computer to transfer the info?
Has anyone any experience with that?

[fiddlehead]

Anyway, I am probably alone in this dilemna as it is unique to trail designing i think.

But if anyone is, here is the article that got me doing it the way i am and it's working nicely: http://johnsantic.com/maps/trail_map_4.html

[fiddlehead]

Let's see if it will upload to whiteblaze so you all can check it out.
The Southern half of the trail is 53 kms long and shown in orange and yellow (aprox 25 kms each)
This should take you to a page (http://www.rollnzoom.com/places/fiddleheadpa/2168/phuket_thailand.htm) where you can look at it in google earth, google maps, yahoo maps or windows live maps. I hope this link works. Let me know.

[fiddlehead]

Nope sorry, it's showing up in Africa right now.
I'm working on it.

[fiddlehead]

Ok, i slept on it (was a bit frazzled last night after 5 hours of editing this damn thing) and think i figured it out.
Here it is (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111038955866383365111.000470f29ef15021ec170&z=13) (should be) on google maps.
Best seen if you click on the "view in google earth" link.

Google Maps seems to have broken it down into 10 tracks for some reason. (anyone know why?)
Anyway, try the shift key and mouse wheel to tilt the earth on google earth and see the steepness of this island and trail.

Now, if i can upload this to my GPS, i can delete all my other tracks and go out and create some more. (i hope)

Once i know this works and (hopefully) get some feedback, i plan to start putting in pictures and descriptions of different places.

[Wise Old Owl]

Hey that is a tough one - Mapsource has a help feature that walks you though splicing

Some folks sware by GPS Trackmaker and it will accept the data and allow splicing - yet there too is a learning curve. Its free software on the internet.

[Manwich]

Oh Man, I'm sorry I wasn't around to walk you through this Fiddlehead!

This is ALL I used to do for my website, TheTrailWiki (http://www.thetrailwiki.org/). At least, before I got into the AT, I would walk trails in the area (and all over the presidentials) and make GPX Tracks of them, Upload them to my website, Allow KML output for Google and GPX output for GPSes / Mapsource.

I used 4 Major Tools.
Mapsource - Interpereting GPX and GPS Logs, Has "view in google earth" function too.
Google Earth - Would import GPXes, had to delete a lot of extra stuff GE would incorporate into the files.
Excel - Would take the Coordinate Tables and Average them out
GPSBabel - This thing will convert all file formats. Just takes a lot of work getting used to.

Discover GPSBabel (http://www.gpsbabel.org/) would be my key advice to you.

[silversleep]

plug the mini-usb cable into the back of your GPSr than plug the other side into your computer. turn GPSr on. Open Mapsource. click the "receive from GPS" button on the tool bar. make sure "tracks" is checked in dialogue box. Mapsource will then upload the SD card and GPSr memory track data. voila, click the "tracks" tab in the new file and you should see all your saved tracks without needing to remove the SD card.

this is what works for me, YMMV.

[fiddlehead]

Totem, your site looks awesome.
Your maps seem much better than google maps.

I don't know if i have time to work on these maps that extensively.
I wanna be out there blazing trail but also want to be able to show others what it's like and get them here hiking it.
I must say for right now, it is not a trail per se. It is a route through the jungle and often very thick vegetation and bushwhacking. But i hope to give it to the Thai Dept. of Tourism when complete and talk them into building a trail.
I already have some infuential people on my side.
But it will most likely take me another year of blazing and THAT is really the fun stuff: to go where no one has gone before gives me a rush like no other.

I will try to check out the programs and sites you recommend and learn more.

Silversleep: i tried that on mapsource but it is much more basic than google earth and even their map here seems to be about 200 meters off of reality. Not easy to draw a trail when the track shows you in the ocean.
But thanks for the advice.

[Manwich]

I will post here what I sent to fiddlehead on pm because i spent a little while tutorializing it.


I'll reply with how I do it...

I do not download tracks from my GPS with Google Earth (if thats how your doing it.)

I use mapsource. Generally I'll get a slew of diced up tracks. My GPS works in mysterious ways and I don't know why it divides them up.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/624/ss20090813114856.png

As I understand it, you want to just make long tracks one single segment?

You can't do this in GoogleEarth. Seems stupid, really. In Mapsource you can, easily. Track Join (press J or Tools>Track Join)

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5637/ss20090813115116.png

Select a Track from the left side, itll turn yellow, then select the joining track.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1245/ss20090813115712.png


Sometimes itll try to attach it to the wrong side of the segment...

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1840/ss20090813120027.png

You'll have to move your mouse closer to the destination of the track join.

Sometimes, the Segment join will begin on the wrong end.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1981/ss20090813120455.png

To fix this, Right click on the Track and Toggle the option (Join from Start, Join from Finish)

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4379/ss20090813120518.png


If that isn't helpful, sometimes the coordinates need to be "Flipped." Right click on the Track name (on the left in the list,) Click Properties,

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2464/ss20090813120628.png


Then Click Invert

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/522/ss20090813120656.png

And try to join the segments again.

Once you have all your Segments joined into one long track, you're going to want to get it into KML mode for Google.

Two methods of doing this. "View in Google Earth" or "Open GPX in Google Earth." There's also a Third Method, Using GPSBabel to convert GPX to KML, but it's not as easy or useful.

Clean up the Waypoints, Routes, Tracks and Maps on the left side, as anything in these boxes will appear in GE, and a lot of it you dont need.

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8258/ss20090813120906.png

Click on File > Save As, save it to your computer... Make sure its a .gpx file (GPS eXchange Format) and not gdb. Google Earth cannot yet read GDB.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2340/ss20090813122124.png

Open Google Earth.

Find your GPX File wherever you saved it on your computer and just click and drag it into Google Earth. A Dialog Box will pop up. Press OK

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7240/ss20090813121505.png

On the left side, it will list your GPX file as GPS Device. Press the (+) to drop down until you see the path.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2002/ss20090813121657.png

You can right click on the path, then click on properties, and in the following tabs, you can change how the Path will appear (this is how it will appear on Google Maps.) You should also change it's name appropriately here.

If you had used "View In Google Earth" method in Mapsource (by clicking View>View in GE) you would have arrived here but would have had to delete a ton of Waypoints.

Right click on the path, Click on Save Place As and save it to your computer as a KML or KMZ file.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2734/ss20090813121850.png


This will save JUST the path to KML. You can then just upload the KML to Google using the import feature.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...77162&t=h&z=14 (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102734899764977811083.00047108826d2129cd228&ll=40.563438,-74.009142&spn=0.028886,0.077162&t=h&z=14)

^^ example of what i just did.

Add waypoints? Do as many as you want in MapPoint. If you want, you can do it in the same file as the track.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5067/ss20090813123925.png

I only added 3 points.

Import it into GoogleEarth by Saving As GPX then Clicking and Dragging it in, and voila.

Edit them to your liking by right clicking them and selecting Properties.

When Saving as KML or KMZ, you must right click on the Parent Container of both the Trail and the Waypoints (the common preceding folder)

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1296/ss20090813124121.png

If they dont have a common folder, click and drag them to move them around.

Again, Save as KML or KMZ. Import into "My Maps" on Maps Google, and you'll get this:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...,0.077162&z=14 (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&t=h&msa=0&msid=102734899764977811083.000471089e9ab79cd6161&ll=40.567481,-74.010172&spn=0.028884,0.077162&z=14)


Hope I answered some questions. This is how I've done it for the longest time.

fiddlehead: I didn't address this in the PM because I hadn't seen this post... not sure what the 200ft off accuracy issue is. Numbers aren't usually lost in translation with these programs.

Generally I'll work in Mapsource as the 'Data Organizer' (Get my Ducks in a Row and Interperet the GPS input into a GPX file) and GoogleEarth as the 'Presentation Organizer' (to clean it up for Google Maps and convert to KML)