Garmin GPS 60CSx vs. the Etrex line

[bikehikeskifish]

Its a GPX file. Pure human-readable TEXT.

Just hand edit the parts you want (either from the AllTrails file or by combining individual trail files), fix up a few of the tags, and you have a new custom gpx file with your desired trails.

KISS

Doug


For those who might be unfamiliar with the acronym: KISS=Keep It Simple Stupid

Which is easier - editing a text file (XML - must keep the formatting correct) or looking at a map of a region and shift-selecting the 5-10 trails I'm likely to want?

In this case, the latter is much simpler. Editing the text file means I need to identify all the trails by name, search them out, and copy and paste them. Certainly I can do that, and may well break AllTrails into more useful clumps.

Being in the user interface world myself, I am floored that selecting 5 tracks and then 'upload to device' actually tries to upload all 396. Who here believes that selecting 5 of 396 files in "My Documents" and pressing delete should delete all 396?

Imagine I am planning the Presi Traverse and I want to have all the likely trails and escape routes (from http://www.chauvinguides.com/presitraverse/presiescapeguide.htm) as tracks. How much faster would it be to add to the selection as you went across the range / down the escape route list and simply hit a button at the end?

Sorry, Doug, I am a big believer in KISS, but there is no way editing the .gpx files by hand is simpler.

Tim

p.s. apologies for the hijack.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

The first few paragraphs of this page will tell you how to obtain a free copy of MapSource. There's a drop-down box on the menu which allows you to switch between mapsets easily.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

The first few paragraphs of this page will tell you how to obtain a free copy of MapSource. There's a drop-down box on the menu which allows you to switch between mapsets easily.

Huh? There is only one map. It doesn't have the trails. The recommendation was to use AllTrails.gpx, or the individual trails - I tried that but AllTrails clearly does not fit, and individual trails are cumbersome.

I do like your earlier suggestion of copy-and-pasting between instances of MapSource (yes, it came with my GPS so I do have it...) and if that works it is an acceptable workaround.

Tim

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Huh? There is only one map. It doesn't have the trails. The recommendation was to use AllTrails.gpx, or the individual trails - I tried that but AllTrails clearly does not fit, and individual trails are cumbersome.

I do like your earlier suggestion of copy-and-pasting between instances of MapSource (yes, it came with my GPS so I do have it...) and if that works it is an acceptable workaround.

Tim

I fixed the link.

Of course my suggestion will work! How many years have I been using MapSource? 5? 10? Lost track - been a long time.

 

[DougPaul]

Sorry, Doug, I am a big believer in KISS, but there is no way editing the .gpx files by hand is simpler.

Ever try it? I do it routinely--it's pretty easy. The format is obvious by inspection. It also has the advantage that you can do anything with a track. (Conventions: lat-lon in WGS84, time in UTC. You can locate a point in MapSource and the gpx file by comparing the time.)

Sure using a purpose-tool is easier if you have it and there is always the learning curve (for either method).


FWIW, my track analysis tools used to analyze the Bake-off data read gpx files directly. http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14406 http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15025

Doug