andytheflyer
Guru
- Location
- South Cheshire
Hi,
The recent BikeHike 'scare' prompted me to follow a few leads and try to work out how to filter a route created using one of the commonly-available routeing programmes on the 'net. I use an eTrex Legend HCx - it does exactly what I want it to do - allow me to follow a route drawn on a map on the PC and transferred to my eTrex. I don't need cadence or a HRM - or being told when to turn left or right. All I want is my route laid out on the eTrex screen and a little pointer showing me where I am. And I suspect that's what many people want.
The problem is routes created on every other programme I can find other than BH often produce routes with >500 points (trackpoints for the eTrex). I've asked the question a couple of times on CC when BH has gone down: how can you reduce the number of trackpoints to <500 so you can load onto an eTrex? If you try to load > 500 points the eTrex simply cuts off those after 500 and shortens your route. Never had a reply - which either means that no-one knows - or nobody else uses the eTrex, which I find hard to believe!
Found the answer - gpsBabel. I suspect this is what's built into BH behind the Options button. I downloaded the application and opened it up. The manual looks daunting - even for me with a bit of programming experience. However, gpsBabel has a simple user interface - but with many options, so I had a play.
I tried out a .gpx track (that's what an eTrex wants as input) created from BH. You need to select GPX FML as the input (and output format) from a very long list of (non-intuitive) file formats. Pick the input file (*.gpx in my case) already stored on yr PC (from BH, Bikeroutetoaster etc), and give it an output file name (e.g. filename.gpx), then click on the Filters button.
Go to Routes and Tracks and tick the Simplfy option, and tell it how many points you want (e.g. 499). Close the filters screen and click Apply on the main screen.
Robert is now your dad's brother.
Could not be easier.
I tried setting the points to 10, and 100, and uploaded these routes back into BH, and viewed the resulting routes on the screen. Predictably the fewer the points the more shortcuts BH showed - and at 10 and 100 points (reduced from the original 481 in the input file) the route was nonsense as it was over-simplified. The 500 point limit built into the eTrex seems to produce a sensible route - at least up to 100 miles.
So, it's dead easy! Don't get me wrong, I use BH all the time - it does exactly what I want a routeing application to do, and I like the layout etc. But, a couple of times in the past year it seems to have gone down and this latest event was for 2 or 3 days. The BH Home page does not say what went wrong and there was lots of speculation going on - there was a palpable sigh of relief on here when it came back - so it's very popular. And 10/10 to the guy who runs BH.
But..............if it falls over again, at least I now know how to use another routeing application and still have sensible routes on my eTrex. And so does anyone else who's interested!
Must go for a ride before it piss*s down.
Andy
The recent BikeHike 'scare' prompted me to follow a few leads and try to work out how to filter a route created using one of the commonly-available routeing programmes on the 'net. I use an eTrex Legend HCx - it does exactly what I want it to do - allow me to follow a route drawn on a map on the PC and transferred to my eTrex. I don't need cadence or a HRM - or being told when to turn left or right. All I want is my route laid out on the eTrex screen and a little pointer showing me where I am. And I suspect that's what many people want.
The problem is routes created on every other programme I can find other than BH often produce routes with >500 points (trackpoints for the eTrex). I've asked the question a couple of times on CC when BH has gone down: how can you reduce the number of trackpoints to <500 so you can load onto an eTrex? If you try to load > 500 points the eTrex simply cuts off those after 500 and shortens your route. Never had a reply - which either means that no-one knows - or nobody else uses the eTrex, which I find hard to believe!
Found the answer - gpsBabel. I suspect this is what's built into BH behind the Options button. I downloaded the application and opened it up. The manual looks daunting - even for me with a bit of programming experience. However, gpsBabel has a simple user interface - but with many options, so I had a play.
I tried out a .gpx track (that's what an eTrex wants as input) created from BH. You need to select GPX FML as the input (and output format) from a very long list of (non-intuitive) file formats. Pick the input file (*.gpx in my case) already stored on yr PC (from BH, Bikeroutetoaster etc), and give it an output file name (e.g. filename.gpx), then click on the Filters button.
Go to Routes and Tracks and tick the Simplfy option, and tell it how many points you want (e.g. 499). Close the filters screen and click Apply on the main screen.
Robert is now your dad's brother.
Could not be easier.
I tried setting the points to 10, and 100, and uploaded these routes back into BH, and viewed the resulting routes on the screen. Predictably the fewer the points the more shortcuts BH showed - and at 10 and 100 points (reduced from the original 481 in the input file) the route was nonsense as it was over-simplified. The 500 point limit built into the eTrex seems to produce a sensible route - at least up to 100 miles.
So, it's dead easy! Don't get me wrong, I use BH all the time - it does exactly what I want a routeing application to do, and I like the layout etc. But, a couple of times in the past year it seems to have gone down and this latest event was for 2 or 3 days. The BH Home page does not say what went wrong and there was lots of speculation going on - there was a palpable sigh of relief on here when it came back - so it's very popular. And 10/10 to the guy who runs BH.
But..............if it falls over again, at least I now know how to use another routeing application and still have sensible routes on my eTrex. And so does anyone else who's interested!
Must go for a ride before it piss*s down.
Andy
