Lately, I’ve been working in Mapsource quite a bit which has led me to standardize the way I route my trips. Here’s just a few things I do that make it easier when I’m working in Mapsource and once I’m on the road looking at the GPS.

First off, the way I do things works best for me and my GPS, which is a Garmin 60CSx. These are just a few tips that work for me and may help others out there be more consistent with routing and trip planning.

I’ve come to learn that doing things the same way for every trip I route and upload to my GPS makes it much easier for me when I’m out on the trip, I can quickly look down and see the color of a track or name of a waypoint and immediately know what I’m looking at. Not second guessing sure does eliminate a lot of “turn-arounds” when you miss a turn or start heading off in the wrong direction!

Tracks NOT Routes

I was convinced long ago to convert all my routes to tracks, especially if you are getting into some remote trails. The last thing I want is for my GPS to start auto-routing me around. No, I want to see exactly what “track” to follow. So with that said, here’s my workflow for creating routes to tracks:

1. Create routes with the routing tool, let Mapsource create but double-check every turn of the way!
2. In Mapsource, select the route and copy the route (Windows Ctrl+C, Mac Cmd+C)
3. Open WinGDB3 in Clipboard mode. Click the ‘Convert to clipboard’ button
4. Back to Mapsource and hit paste (Windows Ctrl+V, Mac Cmd+V).

Your route is now in Mapsource as a track! Here’s just a couple things to keep in mind before you upload tracks to your GPS, especially a 60CSx or similar.

• Tracks must be less than 500 points. On the GPS you will only see up to the 500th point of a track if it’s too long.
• To aid in this limitation, cut your tracks in multiple pieces
• Use the Filter.. option in the Track Properties window to reduce tracks to 500 points.

Naming Conventions

I’ve seen many different track & waypoint naming conventions.  Here’s what works for me, I name them by number in the order of which I’ll ride them & include the length in miles they are. Appending the miles simply helps me determine time frames and gas usage, especially leading other guys with smaller tanks. For example, my first track for Day 1 that’s 88 miles long will be:

1a-1D88m

The second track for Day 1 that is 57 miles long would be:

2a-1D57m

Then, let’s say on Day 1 in the middle of 2a-1D57m track there’s a optional route that leads me to something cool, like a covered bridge (CB). First I’d add a waypoint near the turn off for the covered bridge, say it’s a left-hand turn, I’ll name it like this:

L-2aCB - waypoint tells me a left is upcoming onto track 2a-CB32m

2a-CB32m - track to see the covered bridge

CB-SunCrk - waypoint marked at the covered bridge location

Depending on how I route back to my main track from my little detour, I may have additional tracks named something like, 2b-CB14m.  The goal I try to achieve is to keep all the tracks in an ordered list, both in Mapsource and on my GPS.  The third track for Day 1 that’s 102 miles long would be named:

3a-1D102m

Day 2 would follow the same naming convention continuing in numbering. If I had no alternatives or detours it would be named simply:

4-2D75m

I hope you can see the progression with my naming convention for tracks, if not, here is a screenshot from my SBR 2010 ride:

The tracks TRK1, TRK2, TRK3 are my finished tracks that I downloaded from my GPS after my ride was complete.

Color Conventions

Another thing that really helps when I’m out on a ride is to color code my tracks. I usually color them by day or section of the ride, alternates/detours get a different color, and single track gets its own color, etc.

Cyan: Day 1 / First half of trip
Green: Day 2 / Return half of trip
Blue: Alternate / Detour tracks
Red: Single / Difficult tracks
Grey: Low water accessible only

Waypoints

Depending on what GPS unit you have, naming your waypoints with a prefix will help you find the waypoint faster if you need to do a search. So I typically name them with a prefix code, here’s a few examples:

BR : Bridge
CG : Campground
CB : Covered bridge
DR : a dirt/gravel road that needs investigating
GF : Gas/Food
SB : Swinging bridge
SP : Spring

The other thing make SURE to do is assign the correct icon to the waypoint.  A black flag for every waypoint is just ridiculous. So, if it’s a campground, assign it the Tent icon, etc.  Next, I assign some waypoints to categories, so I can turn off all waypoint except for those in a certain category. For example, I will place all of my campground waypoints in Category 1, then rename it to Camp. (Edit – Preference.. – Waypoint Categories).  This allows me to easily see where campgrounds are along my trip and plan accordingly. Typically the only categories I assign to waypoints are:

1. Camp
2. Gas
3. Eats
4. Hotel

Thus far, following these tips has helped me plan more efficiently and cause less confusion while out on a ride.  I encourage you to come up with your own conventions and to be more organized in your planning, you’ll thank yourself later! And to all those who don’t have GPS units… GET ONE already!!

OK.. Just learned you can totally skip some steps…

1. In Mapsource, select the route you want to convert, then copy it to the clipboard. (Right-click on it and select ‘Copy’ or hit Ctrl+C)
2. Now Open WinGDB3, click the ‘To clipboard menu’ button on the lower right.
3. Clipboard conversion windows opens.. 11. is selected, hit ‘Convert to clipboard’
4. Go back to Mapsource and hit Ctrl+V or Edit – Paste.. bam! Track is pasted into Mapsource.. You do not need to open a second Mapsource window.

This video should give you an idea of what I’m doing, but you do not need a second Mapsource application open!

I’ve gotten several questions on how I convert my routes I create in Mapsource to tracks, so I made this little How-to video. It’s my first screen capture video so they should get better in the future.

The convert utility I use is called WinGDB3.  You can convert routes to tracks and tracks to routes, as well as various others.  This video shows how to convert a route to a track quick and easy!

For best video quality, watch the HD version of this video.  Click ‘HD’ in the video player, then fullscreen it.

Vimeo

Click here to view the embedded video.

YouTube

Click here to view the embedded video.

Installing Mapsource on two computers. Windows XP to Windows 7

So I got a new iMac (which is an incredible piece of technologoy!) because I’m changing jobs and my Macbook will need to be returned.  All my Mapsource and City Navigator North America NT 2010.20 maps are installed on the Macbook in a virtual Windows XP session, which now needs to get re-installed to my iMac. Since my new job will require some Windows applications, I’ve setup Boot Camp with Windows 7 to run those applications AND my Mapsource.

Sounds easy but I have a few troubles getting it installed.  Basically, I re-installed Mapsource and City Nav NA NT 2010.10 from my DVD which I purchased from Garmin.  All worked good, now time to update to the latest map version I previously downloaded, City Nav NA NT 2010.20.  I run the install and it asks me to turn on the 60CSx GPS unit to verify, which I do, the install then continues and stops at:

This Garmin GPS is not eligible for this update because a previous map version is not installed.

So, now what?  After asking a few questions on ADVrider.com & Garmin’s forums, I was told to copy over the \Application Data\Garmin\Maps\UnlockCodes.ucx file from my laptop to my new iMac in Windows 7.  That got me a bit further but I was still getting the same error message from above.  The next thing I did was connected to my GPS and backed up my *.img files from it and then removed them from the GPS.  Hoping that the City Nav update would not see any maps on my GPS and then allow the update to complete.

This did the trick.  I was then able to update my City Navigator NA NT 2010.10 to 2010.20 (which is not the latest), use Mapsource to upload maps to my GPS and all seems good to go now.  Here’s a few other resource links that were given to me after I got this to work on my own.  These may be helpful to others battling the Garmin install/update wars!

Installing Mapsource on two computers. Windows 7 to Windows 7

So, once again, I needed to install Mapsource on a different laptop running Windows 7.  So this time I’m going from Windows 7 to Windows 7, these steps worked without any issues.

1. Installed City Navigator NA NT 2010 from DVD.
2. Installed Mapsource 6156 update.
3. Copy folder C:\ProgramData\GARMIN\Maps\City Navigator North America NT 2010.20.gmap from previous Windows 7.
4. Copy C:\Users\Basher\AppData\Roaming\GARMIN folder from previous Windows 7 to laptop Windows 7.

Hope this helps others out there!

Since this post I have been using WinGDB3 instead of GPSBabel.  Not to say GPSBabel doesn’t work, I just find WinGDB3 to be a better utility.

I needed to convert a bunch of Garmin GPS routes to tracks so I found this little free tool called GPSBabel.  Wow.. it did exactly what I needed done and it looks like its filled with other features!  So far I’ve created routes to tracks, tracks to routes, .gdb files to .gpx files, Garmin to Magellen to DeLorme to Google to….. super rich in features.

Here’s a few screen shots from my conversion from .gdb routes to .gpx tracks:

Click the Filter button to convert Waypoints, Routes, Tracks.. etc:

This is a must tool for me now…. download it and check it out.  Unzip the downloaded file into a folder on your computer and then double-click the file ‘GPSBabelGUI.exe’ for the applicaiton GUI.

There’s a Windows, Mac & Linux version available!

One of the feature I like the most is how easy it is to take a gpx file from your GPS load it to Ride With GPS and view it on Google Maps.  You can then share the ride with friends or choose to keep it private.  Note that by default files you upload are set to ‘Public’ so I changed all mine to private.  I since emailed one of the creators about allowing only certain folks on your buddy list to view routes and he said those features are in the works!

You can also create new routes from Ride With GPS and then export it as a gpx file to load to your GPS unit.  There is also a ‘Sync with GPS’ option but I have yet to try this.

Below is a view of one of my rides I’ve uploaded to give you an idea of the route log view:

There are too many features to list from route creation that creates a cut sheet automatically, import routes into Mapsource as a route or track.  Selecting what motorcycle or bike you road on the trip as well as what gear you took with you. Upload gpx, tcx or kml files as well as exporting to these formats.  Its a very good tool just to go from Mapsource to Google Maps or Earth very easily.  Do yourself a favor and just check it out.  I find it just as easy if not easier to create routes in Ride With GPS than Mapsource.  And its free (for now)!

Features from their website:

Plan Rides

• Draw routes on a map before you ride, then download to your GPS unit for turn-by-turn directions
• See elevation profile as you draw, so you know how difficult the ride will be before you head out
• No sign-up required, no GPS required

Log Activity

• Upload your GPX or TCX files
• See your activities on a calendar
• Activity summary shows weekly, monthly, and yearly totals
• Sign up for a free account to begin

Analyze Data

• See a graph of your speed, cadence, heart rate, and more
• Zoom in to a sub-section of a route and see metrics for just that section
• Sort your routes by location, distance, elevation gain, and more

I have no affiliation with these guys, just a very cool tool that has made my ride planning much easier!  Let me know what you think of the site or if you learn any cool tricks with it.

Well, I finally figured out why this happens and how to fix it.  See when I get home from a ride I dump my tracks & waypoints to Mapsource and then tidy everything up, usually resulting in one big track like so, 2,087 points!

Now what do you do?  The new versions of Mapsource has a cool feature to “divide” your tracks, so this is one solution but an even better that has worked for me is, the Track Filter feature…

Make a backup

First, you may want to create a copy of your track before proceeding just in case anything happens you don’t like. Select the track in the Tracks tab, right-click on it and choose Copy.  Now right-click on the same track and choose Track Properties, rename the Track just so its a different name. Click OK.  Now right-click in the whitespace in the Tracks tab and choose Paste.  You will see a new Track pasted in with the original name.

Lets Filter it!

Select the track in the Tracks tab, right-click and choose Track Properties…
On the Track Properties window, in the lower right, click the Filter.. button

In the Filter window at the bottom choose Maximum Points and enter the value 500, like so:

Now click OK and you will see the Track being recalculated to only 500 points.  Here’s how mine looks after going from 2,087 points down to 383, track looks the same and will now download to my GPS without any Track Truncated errors!

You will want to go over your track and make sure the changes are what you want.  So far this feature has worked well and saves a LOT of time!  Let me know if there are better ways of doing this stuff, working with Mapsource, Google Maps, & Google Earth are all part of the adventure!