British Dowsing Forum

Thanks Ian.


for EasyGPS

and for GPS Utility.

Utility is the one that I've seen most mentions of on GPS related sites. (Not seen anything about GPSBabel).
I thought Mapsource was a full map version of the UK on CD and cost ££hundreds. If not, please point me in the right direction (ho ho!!).

I've just downloaded the latest version (1.3.5) of GPSBabel and it does indeed fix the bug mentioned previously - or at least it's an improvement !

I also successfully uploaded data directly from my Garmin to a KML file using GPSBabel, so in theory you don't need MapSource, although I would still recommend it. The names associated with waypoints on the Garmin are only five letters, where as MapSource allows you to be much more descriptive. I suppose you could always rename them once you've saved it under Google Maps/Earth but that's a pain.

I think there are different versions of MapSource. What I've got is really Garmin Trip and Waypoint Manager which is the most basic version.

Thanks for the links

Ian

Right then..I am now (metaphorically!!) lost. Why do you need Babel AND Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager? What does one do that the other doesn't?
And I thought it'd be all so simple......

simonwheeler wrote:Right then..I am now (metaphorically!!) lost. Why do you need Babel AND Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager? What does one do that the other doesn't?
And I thought it'd be all so simple......

OK then, this is how it goes:

GPSBabel acts like a conduit. It's a sausage machine that converts from one file format to another. You specify an Input (which can be a file, or a device) and an output (which can be a file, or a device), bang the button and it does it.

So you can convert from one file format to another or you can retrieve/send data to/from a device, or (theoretically, because I haven't tried all of this) transfer data from one GPS device to another.

It doesn't have a map, or a "project-file" concept, it's just for conversion. Importantly it understands many, many formats including KML (Google Earth file).

Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager is for managing projects. It can upload/send data to/from your Garmin device but it doesn't know KML and the file-types you can save it as are very few. It can allow you to put meaningful names to waypoints and represents everything using an inbuilt map on the screen, which is very rudimentary but covers the whole globe. It's inbuilt to the software so it doesn't require a CD-ROM, but, as I say, it's very rudimentary.

With each waypoint you can store other information and represent each one with a different graphic symbol. You can also put waypoints into categories of your own making, so when you're viewing it on the screen you can filter out the ones you're not currently interested in. You can put a single waypoint into multiple categories.

It has the concept of a project file (GDB format) and can also save it as MPS, TXT, DXF and GPX (GPS eXchange format) - that's all.

When you use Babel to convert a GDB file to a KML file, some things like the different graphic symbols are lost but the full length waypoint-names are stored.

Google Maps will represent the data visually with slightly greater accuracy than Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager, but the latter is faster, especially if, like me, you don't have broadband.

Think of Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager as being a rudimentary version of Google Maps which runs on your own PC rather than the web.

Hope this helps

Ian

Brill...thank you so much for taking the time & trouble. I "get it" now!

Would still be interested to know (sometime...no pressure!!) what you thought of the two bits of software I mentioned and linked to.
But your explanation is much appreciated.
Cheers Ian!

Will do - eventually !

All the best

Ian

I found EasyGPS much more user friendly that GPSUtility, which crashed my PC when I tried to uninstall it.

EasyGPS can only save as a GPX file, so you will still need GPS Babel to do all the conversion to KML or whatever. However, with these two, you wouldn't need to buy anything by way of software at all. You could forgo buying the Garmin Trip and Waypoint manager because EasyGPS can send and receive the data from your GPS device directly. Actually so can GPS Babel.

GPSUtility may be more powerful, but it's not as user-friendly, especially the mapping utility.

Ian

I've just been revisiting this thread, as I hope that Santa is going to be bringing me a Garmin GPS60 this year . It looks like I have a fairly steep learning curve ahead of me, but great to have those freeware resources listed; many thanks guys!

In the course of researching, I spent some time looking into the whole geocaching thing, which looks like good fun and an excuse to get out of the house more often. For those not in the know. geocaching is a kind of global 'treaure hunt' game/sport/activity(?), where players download coordinates and use their GPS units to hunt down hidden stashes, and log their finds online and in a logbook in the cache itself. There are several variations, e.g. exchanging objects in the caches, 'travel bugs' that have a published itinerary that you take to another cache to help on their travels, 'geocoins' that can function in a similar way or act as trophies, and so on.

I was wondering if anyone on here participates? It strikes me as an ideal combination of technology and dowsing; your GPS can only get you to within what - 20 or 30 feet of the target at best? That would be the time to get the dowsing rods out to home in on the cache location. Maybe we could devise a geocaching exercise where some dowsing skill is essential to find the caches - wouldn't that be neat?

Hi Grahame

So what would you say are the main advantages of the GPS60 over the slightly cheaper ones, such as the Garmin etrex for example? Is there greater accuracy with this model?

Ian

Ian Pegler wrote:So what would you say are the main advantages of the GPS60 over the slightly cheaper ones, such as the Garmin etrex for example? Is there greater accuracy with this model?

Gosh, I really don't know as Santa hasn't been yet so I haven't opened the box!

Errr... it comes with a USB lead? The controls are easier to work with gloves on? It has more on-board memory? It comes with the MapSource CD and worldwide City Points built in? Those are some of the arguments that the sales guy used!

COR BLIMEY, think I will stick with my AA map,all that has made my head hurt

I just came across another handy web-based GPS converter that will make a Google map file from GPS data. or vice versa: GPS Visualizer.
I haven't played with it enough yet, but it appears to be more or less an online version of GPS Babel. You can also manually 'draw' waypoints on a map and save it as a GPS file. I don't see that there's much advantage to this, except that you don't have to download GPS Babel. But it may come in handy?

Slightly off track but I bought a TomTom One IQ routes Sat Nav on Monday to use to drive to different dowsing sites and to my suprise you can put in Lat & Long information as an address.

A new version of EasyGPS has been released (8th Feb 2010) with a few more features for Geocaching etc.

It seems to work OK but I haven't got enough data in my Garmin at the moment to really test it out.

Worth a look

http://www.easygps.com/

Ian

Things not looking so good for us GPS users right now...

from the BBC...

Sat-nav devices face big errors as solar activity rises

Researchers say the Sun is awakening after a period of low activity, which does not bode well for a world ever more dependent on satellite navigation.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian