Waypoint+

location based services

Program purpose:
To be able to upload and download Routes, Tracks, and Waypoints from a Garmin* GPS to a PC, simplifying the processes of creating and editing these data. Saved data files can be in ASCII format with comma delimited fields and can be easily edited using Windows Notepad or Wordpad, taking advantage of their Cut and Paste capability. Supported recievers include the 38, 40, 45/45XL, 12/12XL, II/II+. Supported except for icons include the III/III+, 90, 92, 120, 175, and eTrex. The eMap, Street Pilot, 162, and 295 are NOT supported.
Feature Summary:
Upload and download data directly from a Garmin GPS.
Exports waypoint, route and track data into text format.
Exports waypoint, route and tract data into SA3/SA4 (Street Atlas v3.0/v4.0). Seems to also work with MapNGo 3.0, but I do not have MNG and have not tested it.
Imports waypoint and route data from SA3/SA4.
Imports track data from SA4.
Allows creation of waypoints and routes in SA3/SA4 and then uploads them to the GPS-45.
Exports waypoint and track data to OVL (MapExpert v2.0) format.
Imports track data from OVL.
Allows creation of tracks in OVL format and then uploads them to the GPS.
Writes and reads Almanac into binary format.
Allows storage of lat/long in Degrees, Degrees/Minutes, or Degrees/Minutes/Seconds
Requirements:
Windows 95 or Windows NT. Waypoint+ is a 32 bit windows program. The program will not work with Windows 3.1 with or without Win32s.
Approximately 1.5mb of free hard disk space for the program and associated files.
4mb of ram to run the program.
A free serial port, Com1-4. Note: the program has been tested on Com1 and Com2 only.
Garmin GPS II, GPS-II+, 12XL, 38, 40, 45, 45XL, 90, 95XL, 130, 135, 175 and 195. No other models of Garmin GPS receivers have been tested. Waypoint+ provides the same support for these receivers as it does for the 12XL or 45XL. That is, it will not support Icons. Waypoint+ supplies a default Icon only. Support for GPS-90 v2.05 or before is unknown but assumed.
Garmin power/data cable wired for connection to the PC serial port.
Installation:
Complete Instructions are covered here.
Program Operation:
Under the GPS menu, the communications port must be chosen first. There are then options to download (GPS to PC) waypoints, routes, tracks or the almanac from the GPS-45 and store it on the PC. The Send To GPS menu item is used to upload data from the PC to the GPS. The Position and UTC Time menu items are informational only. Note that the UTC Time functions sets the PC system clock to the time on the GPS receiver. Off turns off the GPS. Data files for upload can consist of waypoints, tracks, or routes, or any combination of the same. Data records must conform to the following formats. If a file contains duplicate names of points, the last record uploaded is the one preserved by the GPS.
The latest release of Waypoint+ contains several new menu item. Track displays an analysis of downloaded track data showing the number of track segments, time enroute, and average MPH. This function only works with downloaded data, and not with tracks created with MapExpert, or with data that was uploaded to the GPS-45 and then redownloaded. Waypoint displays the current list of waypoints in memory. These can be sorted by name, latitude or longitude. Also, individual waypoints can be edited, or cut then pasted in order to create a file with the waypoints in the desired order. Also, individual waypoints can be deleted, or only a selected few can be kept. Editing of Route data allows changing the name of a given route and the route number.
An individual route waypoints can be edited or deleted. In the waypoint list view, individual waypoints can be selectively uploaded to the GPS.
File-Save allows saving of ram data or downloaded data to an additional file format or file name. File-Open allows loading of stored data into RAM for either file type transformation of uploading to the GPS. File-Upload performs the upload of data already in RAM. File-Clear erases all RAM data. Opening additional files of downloading data concatenates the new data to that already in RAM thus allowing the combination of files into one large file. A "combined" file will save all waypoint, route and track data into one file. A binary file format allows fast loading of data into memory. No editing of this file outside of Waypoint+ should be attempted. Altered files of this type loaded into Waypoint+ will produce unexpected results.
Disclaimer:
This program is supplied as is. No warrantee is given or implied. Use this program at your own risk. Misuse of the program may cause corruption of data stored in the GPS. Waypoint+ is intended for recreational use only. Testing to date has been on Win95 on a 486DX-50 PC, 486DX2-50, an ALR Pentium 100, NEC Pentium Laptop, and a home-brew Pentium 133 without problems. It also runs on the ALR Pentium 100 with dual processors and WinNT 3.51 and 4.00. Other processors have not been tested and certain timing problems may occur with them. Occasional serial port initialization problems have been reported with WinNT and this problem is being investigated.
Garmin Receivers tested by me thus far include the Garmin 45 and 45XL, software versions 2.03, 2.32, 2.41, 2.43 and 3.04., a Garmin 12XL, and a Garmin 95XL. Note: The GPS-45XL does not preserve the time stamp of a waypoint upon uploading to it. The time stamp is preserved with the GPS-45. Trackpoint time stamp is never preserved after uploading to the GPS.
*Garmin is a registered trademark of Garmin Corporation. Garmin Corporation takes no warranty for problems resulting in using products not sold by Garmin Corporation. This is specially true for this software. Waypoint+ has not been authorized by Garmin Corporation and therefore no warranty whatsoever for this software is accepted by Garmin Corporation.
Data types:
latitude, longitude: decimal degrees. Ex: 34.079917073, -116.8833143357 latitude, longitude: degrees minutes. date: mm/dd/yyyy. Date is the creation date of a given point time: hh:mm:ss. Time is the creation time of a given point. Description, names, and the record type are characters A-Z, and numbers. All lowercase letters are converted to uppercase. Leading and trailing blanks are ignored. Improperly formed records will probably and without warning terminate the program if encountered during an upload.
Record Types:
All records begin with one of 4 key words: Waypoint, TrackPoint, RouteName, or RoutePoint. Waypoint and RoutePoint records are of the same form except RoutePoints become part of a route. Each keyword is followed by a designator that describes what kind of storage is used with latitude and longitude. DM and DMS are stored in as single packed floating point number.
To save data in a format other than decimal degrees, the default mode, use the File-Mode menu items to change the mode in which data is stored. D=decimal degrees; ddd.dddddddd (34.064531922) DM=degrees minutes; ddd.mmmmmmm = ddd mm.mmmmmmm (34.06548 = 34 6.548') DMS=degrees minutes seconds; ddd.mmsssssss = ddd mm ss.sssss (34.06453 = 34 6' 4.53")
Waypoints: ;
Waypoint, waypoint name, latitude, longitude, date , time , waypoint description. Example: Waypoint,D,10X215,34.064531922,-117.2959507350,11/23/1995,19:29:00,I10 X1215 Waypoint,DM,10X215,34.06548,-117.80632,11/23/1995,19:29:00,I10 X I215 Waypoint,DMS,10X215,34.06453,-117.29595,11/23/1995,19:29:00,I10 X I215
Track Points:
TrackPoint, latitude, longitude, date, time, first record (1=yes, 0=no) Example: TrackPoint,D, 33.030250669,-117.1733040456,07/08/1996,04:12:30,0 Note that TrackPoint date and time data is NOT preserved during an upload to the GPS 45. Downloading track data that has been uploaded will not preserve the creation date and time.
Routes:
2 types of records. RouteName, route number, route description RoutePoint, latitude, longitude, date, time, waypoint description. Examples: RouteName,2 ,VIVIAN CREEK TRAIL RoutePoint,D,TRAIL1, 34.079917073,-116.8833143357,11/19/1995,06:01:00,TRAIL HEAD RoutePoint,D,TRAIL2, 34.085984230,-116.8862808589,11/19/1995,06:01:00,FALLS
Route data should have the RouteName record followed by the RoutePoint records.
Street Atlas:
Support for Delorme's Street Atlas v3.0/v4.0 (SA3/SA4) and MapExpert v2.0 (OVL) has been added. Waypoint+ will now download data directly into a file format that SA3/SA4 can read and display. Waypoint+ will also directly upload waypoint and route files to the GPS. However, waypoints can be loaded in to Waypoint+ and saved as an ASCII file which can then be edited and uploaded to the GPS. Waypoints appear in the following format in SA3: WPNAME;WPT DESCRIPTION. WPNAME is the up to 6 character waypoint name, WP DESCRIPTION is the waypoint description. A mapnote created in SA3 in the above format, can be directly uploaded to the GPS. Note that a mapnote might have to entered in the form a a street name of lat/long note, and then right clicking on the note and changing the properties so that the resultant mapnote is in the proper form for Waypoint+ to read. Tracks are downloaded as point in SA3/SA4. The color of the points varies with each minute of travel giving a sense of direction of travel and rough elapsed time. Route are written into SA3/SA4 as follows: (rte number:wpt number)WPNAME;WPT DESCRIPTION.
rte number is the Route number stored in the GPS-45.
wpt number is the waypoint order. If you want to add waypoints to a route between 2 waypoints in SA3/SA4, use a fractional number such as 4.1 for a waypoint to be inserted between 4 and 5. Waypoints and tracks can be downloaded in to OVL format. These files can be read directly by MapExpert. Using the line drawing abilities of MapExpert, tracks can be created and directly uploaded to the GPS-45.
Registration:
To register use of this program, send name and Email address to BHildebrand@worldnet.att.net
Comments:
Comments on the program function or problems encountered during its use will be appreciated. Please send all comments to BHildebrand@worldnet.att.net
This program is Copyr