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Western Wheelers Bicycle Club
 

GPS Navigation

Wed, September 21, 2011 9:52 PM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
Comment on this entry to add hints about creating routes/tracks for GPS devices. You must be a current Western Wheelers member to be able to add a comment. Comments are text only, no embedded images allowed.

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  • Wed, September 21, 2011 10:02 PM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
    The GoogleMaps CueSheet "bookmarklet" from http://the-yosts.com/ generates an editable cue sheet and elevation profile from any route drawn in Google Maps (this excludes maps generated by opening KML and GPX files from Google Maps). The bookmarklet also offers options to generate GPX files and/or download routes to a connected Garmin GPS.

    I use the bookmarklet to generate most of the cue sheets and profiles for Hills R Us, except when Google Maps lacks the data to generate the route (it often doesn't have information on bike- and multi-use paths).
    Link  •  Reply
  • Tue, September 27, 2011 8:35 AM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
    The following is from Kevin Cameron of ACTC:

    After much trial-and-error, I was finally able to get a course loaded into my Edge 800.

    Steps:
    1) Open the google maps link for the route
    2) Click on your saved googlemap_cuesheet macro link (per instructions in http://the-yosts.com/)
    3) Set "Garmin Name" in the "Garmin File Parameters" section to the desired route name; e.g. "HillsRUs"
    4) Click the "Generate Garmin Output" button (the "Write to Garmin Device" button hasn't worked for me yet)
    5) Use Ctrl-A Ctrl-C to copy all text from the "Output" box
    6) Start a simple text editor (e.g. notepad on windows) and copy (CTRL-V) the saved text into the buffer
    7) Plug in the Edge 800 and save the editor file to "Garmin/NewFiles/xxx.tcx" "xxx" represents any name you wish but the extension needs to be ".tcx". Note that the Edge 800 will delete the file after it converts it to ".fit" file the next time you turn the unit on.
    8) Wait a respectful time for the file to fully copy or use your operating system to safely unmount the Edge 800
    9) Unplug the Edge 800 and turn it on.
    10) Navigate to "Menu" -> "Courses". The course name you specified in step 3 should appear.

    I haven't actually tried riding one of these courses yet but everything seems to be in order so far.

    Hope this helps my fellow Edge 800 users.

    Kev
    Link  •  Reply
  • Fri, September 30, 2011 11:44 AM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
    Not really a GPS hint, but Google Maps has just added a 3D preview feature. If you're using a compatible browser and have the Google Earth browser plug-in installed, click on the "3D" button just above the turn-by-turn directions to the left of the map to get an animated aerial flyover of the route.
    Link  •  Reply
    • Fri, September 30, 2011 11:46 AM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
      PS The Earth plug-in appears to require Flash (i.e., it didn't work in Safari with Flash not installed, but worked in Chrome, which has Flash installed for itself).
      Link  •  Reply
  • Sun, October 30, 2011 4:04 PM | Michael Khaw (Administrator)
    A new site that, based on Google Maps, lets you generate elevation profiles with animated/"live" updates of distance, altitude and gradient (a la RideWithGPS), as well as 3D "helicopter view" flyovers (via the Google Earth browser plug-in), is

    http://www.perfilderuta.es/perfil.php?lng=en#

    Right-click on the start point to get a pop-up menu to mark it, and again at the endpoint.
    Link  •  Reply
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