GPSy Route Tutorial

Uploading a Route

GPSy^TM allows you to create and upload waypoints to your handheld GPS unit. A route can be created within GPSy by copying waypoints from an open, calibrated map to a file. This tutorial will guide you through that process.

The tutorial includes a calibrated map and a route file which can be used with GPSy to explore some of its features without using a GPS unit.

GPSy

First open the calibrated map in GPSy from which you want to create your route. Note that your route doesn't have to start and stop on the same map, you can also create it using multiple maps just as easily as a single one. For our example we will use inwood.gif, a calibrated portion of USGS map o40073g8.tif. If you want to try this tutorial yourself, with the same map, it can be downloaded here as well as the resultant route file:

Download the inwood-map map via Anon-FTP

Download the indian route file via Anon-FTP

In GPSy, open the inwood-map map:

This open map shows Inwood in Manhatten. [Click image to view at full size]

You can copy waypoints right off the map by clicking on the desired location in the map and then either:

typing Command-C,

selecting the "Copy Map Point" menu command,

or holding down the control key, clicking and selecting "Copy Map Point" from the contexual menu options.

By copying series of waypoints, you can build up a waypoint library or edit them together into a route file. We'll show you now how to build a route file.

In our example we will build the route file in BBEDIT. This could also be done in a spreadsheet, a database, or with SimpleText. For each waypoint, click in the calibrated map in GPSy, use the Copy Map Point command, then paste the data into a new text file in BBEDit.

In this case, I pasted the waypoint into a copy of a route file I already had. This is so I don't have to retype the route header in (see below).

The process is repeated with additional points until all desired route waypoints are copied.

GPSy3 Route R 1 MyRoute

Simple Waypoint Example

Waypoint,Route, Track Example

These are text tab delimited files best viewed with tabs shown

If you don't recycle the header off of an old route file, you'll need to type in a short route header to let GPSy know this is a route file. Just type in the following text at the top of your file. The first line tells GPSy that this is a route file; and is an abbreviated form of the full header seen in the above examples. The second line tells the GPS unit what the route name and number are. Be sure to rename the route to something you can remember.

In this example, I used the abbreviated headers as well as changed the names of the waypoints from the default numbers to descriptions before uploading the file.

Finally, the route is uploaded to the GPS unit.

After the upload, the waypoints are automatically overlaid on the open map.[Click image to view at full size]

Copyright (C) 1997-2007 by Global Mapping Systems and Karen Nakamura. All rights reserved. GPSy^® and GPSy.COM^® are registered trademarks and GPSy Pro^TM and GPSyLink^TM are trademarks of Karen Nakamura. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Mention of a third-party's product does not represent endorsement of or by that product.

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