Memory Map plan/plot

[jspyle]

Bear with me this is a question about using Memory Map.
I am used to the two Toms (Tom Tom), Google maps and so on.
using those applications you can get directions from point A to point B.
When i try to do that in Memory Map it just draws a straight line unless I use small increments.
Is there a method in Memory Map to say start here and draw a path to here following the roads/tracks?

As an example Alice Springs to Claraville via Ross River Homestead.

I have purchased the PC version and before i spend any more money on maps i would like to be able to plot routes easily.
You know what they say "always send a lazy man to find the easy way".

[austastar]

Hi,
Memory maps is not a vector based system, it uses raster maps, i.e. you will not get turn-by-turn as it knows nothing about roads. All it knows about is a relationship between the pixels on your screen displayed map and the Lat/Lon of the ground you are traversing.

However!

You can save the .kml file from google maps and import it as a track (not a route) to MM and it will show you how to get there.
That is show, not tell.
It takes all the points of the route drawn on the google map and draws them at the appropriate places on MM so you can see the track traced out.

You could even use the track on areas that don't have roads shown on the map, just keep the GPS arrow on the line, you will soon see if you have taken the wrong branch on a bush track as your arrow starts drawing a new line along side the one you intended to follow.

cheers

[jspyle]

Ah. Thanks. That thump was the penny dropping.

[OffTrack]

Also have a look at GPSBabel.org (http://www.gpsbabel.org) - it's a very useful program for manipulating gps file formats.

You can do things like convert the KML track to a route in Memory-Map Overlay format, and reduce the number of way points to a manageable level at the same time.

I was having a play with a Google maps generated track from Mildura to Tiboobura, and the original file had just under 1800 waypoints. Using GPABabel I could drop the number of waypoints to 150 while maintaining the essential shape of the track in the final route.

This is a section of the original KML track:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53919&stc=1&d=1354329574

Note the high density of waypoints around curves.

This is the same section after processing to 150 points and conversion to a route.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53920&stc=1&d=1354329599

You can see the same essential shape to the route as the original.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53921&stc=1&d=1354329895

Even reduced to 75 points for the entire route the same basic path is preserved.

I'd cheated a bit and made the screen grabs with MacGPS Pro. For completeness this is one of the same section of the 75 point route in MM PC.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53922&stc=1&d=1354333858

cheers
Paul

[OffTrack]

Quick run through using the Alice Springs -> Ross River Homestead -> Claraville example mentioned by the OP.

https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms'msid=218400750788295972519.0004cfc2971b71eb8616 c&msa=0&ll=-23.473324,134.351807&spn=0.836398,1.149445

The basic settings in GPSBabel are fairly straight forward:

Select "Google Earth (Keyhole) Markup Language" as the format in the input section, then select the downloaded KML file.

For the output format select your choice of "GPX XML" (.gpx) or "Memory Map Navigator overlay file" (.mmo), then click the "file name" to set name and path of output file.

The "magic" happens in the filtering section of the program.

Under Tracks the only setting you really need is "Merge". Google will split the track at any mid-point you add. The merge option will join all the tracks in a KML file into one continuous track.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53930&stc=1&d=1354337600

Under Routes and Tracks select "simplify" and then chose a number of points to retain. In this case I've picked 25 point simply because the total distance is fairly short and there aren't many turns.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53931&stc=1&d=1354337767

Finally under Miscellaneous tick "Transform" and select "Tracks -> Routes" and the delete option. "Delete" removes the track after conversion to route has been completed.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53932&stc=1&d=1354337931

Once that is done click OK, and then click "Apply" in the main window.

KML as downloaded and processed .mmo attached as zip file.

cheers
Paul