Informal GPS course?

[Dan Diego 40]

Hey, Kelly, I do believe we've found one of the GPS pros who will present info at your upcoming course.

Thanks, Tim! You da man!

[Goofy Footer 538]

As far as how to upload / download tracks and put them on your handheld.. that is so specific to what program you have, what operating system you have and what GPS unit you have that you'll just have to watch the videos and work through it.  Plenty of tutorials out there on how it's done with screen shots and or screen videos. 

 

 

Additional Tips:

Power your GPS from the bike's battery.  This way when it gets dark the unit will stay completely lit and now turn off to save power. 

Use RAM Mounts.  They work.

Take your GPS off your bike at lunch breaks.  Thieves suck.

Garmin uses .gpx file extensions (see below)

Download Garmin Basecamp.  It's free.  Do it now.  You can draw Tracks on Basecamp - get a quality underlying Map first.  If you're on PC and can still find MapSource, that is an option as well.

         You need Basecamp to send Tracks to your GPS. 

         You need Garmin Map Manager and Map Install to install the underlying Map onto your Basecamp Computer and GPS Unit.

You can use  DualSportMaps.com to find other people's shared Tracks / to create Tracks / to hand draw Tracks online while looking at US Topo Maps and Satellite imagery.

You can use GoogleMaps or Google Earth to hand draw Tracks in .kml or .kmz form. 

You will need GPS Visualizer or GPS Babble (both online) to convert Google Maps / Google Earth .kml or .kmz files into .gpx which is was what Garmin uses.

[Zubb 1061]

I'm going to commit to studying the links posted here by end of day Sunday.  I'll circle back by Monday and suggest a date or two to meet at my house in La Mesa for a little 'group think' on the subject.

[isde97 29]

Not a newbie, not an expert....

I am in the process of abandoning my Delorme PN-60 and I think I am done with standoalone handhelds.  I had started using my phone for my bicycle computer, and, after spending an extravagant amount of money on an iPhone 6 something (the big one), I was no longer willing to have it on the bars of my mountain bike.  I recently picked up a Kyocera DuraForce E6560 (I think it can be submerged) for about $100 and $10 got me a 32G sd card.  I have no sim card.  I have a couple of GPS apps loaded, and mostly been working with OSMAND (offline maps!).  I can open gpx files directly from google drive, I would guess other cloud storage systems would work as well.  GPX files can be saved back to the cloud.  If I really wanted, I could actually use it for a phone one day.  I don't know why I would go back to a standalone.

Google maps used to be really good for trip planning, but I can no longer edit maps after the initial route.  Furkot runs on top, I think, and looks like an OK solution.

The last time I had to edit a GPX file, I used notepad and google earth.  Not ideal.  I am sort of poking around for a better solution.

[socalhodaka 104]

On 11/15/2016 at 10:07 AM, Goofy Footer said:

Back on topic:

 

Are you on Mac http://www.apple.com/  or    PC  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/   

Have you downloaded Garmin Basecamp  http://www.garmin.com/en-US/shop/downloads/basecamp

Do you have a quality underlying / background map such as:

-->    City Navigator   https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/maps/on-the-road-maps/city-navigator-nt/city-navigator-north-america-nt/prod1456.html

-->    http://cartografiagps.com/en/   or     http://www.lbmaps.com/     for Baja

-->    http://www.californiatrailmap.com/     for SoCal?

Are you familiar with / have an account with http://www.gpsxchange.com/

Are you familiar with / have an account with https://dualsportmaps.com/

Are you familiar with different GPS formats and how to convert them through http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/    or    https://www.gpsbabel.org/   

OK, so when you say get familiar with these links? I have a dualsportmaps account for example, I log on and then what. I have a californiatrailmap account also but don't know what to do. Like how do I tie in a map underlay with the others? I know this is probably really basic stuff but I guess not for me, I need some guide on how it all works together.

[Goofy Footer 538]

Lesson Two

 

 

 

 

CA Trail Map

If you bought and paid for CA Trail Map (I recommend All Platforms and Lifetime Upgrades) then you should have the link in your email.  That is an underlying Map which gets uploaded onto your BaseCamp program.  In the email you can find the link to download the program and it shows step by step instructions on how to upload it to BaseCamp. 

 

BaseCamp comes stock with a very basic "Global Map".  This provides poor detail.  Once you load CA Trail Map onto your BaseCamp program, you go to the top of the screen, click Maps and select your preferred version of CA Trail Map (ie the Original / Topo or Transparent). 

 

You will also want to install CA Trail Map onto your Garmin unit.  Instructions on how to do this are also linked via the email. 

 

 

 

BaseCamp

In BaseCamp you can draw Tracks.

Take Boulder Creek Rd for instance, you can see the trail clearly identified and mapped on your CA Trail Map loaded BaseCamp.  You can then hand draw a Track over Boulder Creek Rd.  You can make this Track as detailed (rounds curves smoothly) or as rugged (jagged edges due to less Points and less manual work) as you want. 

In BaseCamp you can store Tracks. 

Say I already have a detailed Track along Boulder Creek Rd.  If you have the file, it will upload in BaseCamp and you can put it in Folder (ie Saturday Ride with Friends).  You can combine and or edit tracks via BaseCamp albeit it is a bit cumbersome. 

BaseCamp is how you send Tracks to your Garmin

You need to have a Track loaded into BaseCamp for it to then be "Sent to Device" on your Garmin.

 

 

 

DualSportMaps.com

A great (optional) online file center and editing tool.

Here, you can find new Tracks (search by area).  You will find many Tracks already created by local riders (including many SDAR members).  You can save these tracks to your desktop and open them in BaseCamp.

You can edit Tracks - DSMaps has a more simple editing tool for customizing Tracks.  There are video tutorials on YouTube as to how to do this.

Satellite Imagery - one very trick function of DSMaps is that you can view Google Maps, USGS Maps and even Satellite Imagery Maps of the area you want to ride it.  You can see Boulder Creek Rd in a variety of ways. 

[Dan Diego 40]

Good stuff, Tim. You really know your way around a GPS. Your input is appreciated. 

 

 

[MacDuncan 131]

Nice stuff Goofy, thanks, could you share whether you primarily do this on a mac or windows?  (or either platform).  Thanks. 

[Goofy Footer 538]

1 hour ago, MacDuncan said:

Nice stuff Goofy, thanks, could you share whether you primarily do this on a mac or windows?  (or either platform).  Thanks. 

You may be MacDuncan, but I'm MacDaddy

 

 

 

The general concepts described above should apply to Mac or PC