A challenge for the GPS geeksters. I have a KMZ file that contains around 5500 waypoints covering a large area that won't all fit onto the Montana, so would like to be able to cut out a group of waypoints covering a few hundred square kilometers, and just load those. I couldn't find an obvious way to do it in Google Earth, so wondering if there is another utility that will do it? I guess it needs to be something that will let me select a subset of the waypoints and extract them in a format that can then be loaded into Basecamp or Mapsource, and from there into the Montana. Cheers, JD BTW - if anyone wants to check out the file I am talking about, it's the first one in this thread.
Simply Import the KMZ file into BaseCamp and then use it's filtering capabilities to separate out the sub-set you want to Transfer to the GPS. Cheers,
First, you should organize the points into multiple folders in GE My Places so you can save one folder at a time, with some limited number of points in each folder. Then you can load just the points from a selected folder into your GPS. Another way, if you're a geek, is to save it all as a single KML file instead of KMZ, open it in a text editor, and delete major sections to cut the file down. With this approach you can essentially cut the file into two or more files. A third way is to load ALL the points into MapSource, use the select tool to select half of the points, delete those points, then save that file or load it into the GPS. Then repeat that, but select the OTHER half of the points to be deleted.
Tried importing the KMZ file into Basecamp - it allowed me to select the file, but nothing actually appeared anywhere that I could see after importing it. Tried opening it in Mapsource and just got an error message about it not being a valid Mapsource file.
You can convert a KML file to a Garmin (MapSource or Basecamp) compatible GPX or GDB file with this: http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/gpsbabel/
That worked thanks, just need to work out how to organise them on the montana now so I can keep them separate from other waypoints, but be able to see them when I need to.
Yes, those KMZ files seem to cause issues for BaseCamp. I've sent them to the BaseCamp team to figure out what is wrong with them. I did convert them to GDB/GPX files with GPSBabel and imported them to BaseCamp just fine. Was easy to filter them by area, name or "type"(as noted in the Comments). Once filtered in BaseCamp, I would simply place them in separate Lists and then Export them to GPX files where I would use the POILoader to load them on the Montana as POI's rather than Waypoints. Oh, and they all have Proximity Alarms so when you are close you will get a Popup Notice. I did a couple of examples (about half of one NSW mines) which took about 5 minutes - took longer to post this. This is what they look like on the Montana. Cheers,
Thanks Dan, That looks exactly like what I want to do with them. I guess I need to spend some time playing around with Basecamp to work out how to build lists etc. Is POILoader a separate utility? Cheers, JD
Never mind - just found it on the Garmin site and downloaded it. Also just realised that I can probably just load the whole lot as POI's, now that I don't have the 4000 waypoint limit to worry about. Thanks again guys.
Bear with me here I loaded all the POI's onto the Montana's memory card with POILoader and that seemed to work ok. Is there any way I can see the list of POI's on the unit now, just to verify that it worked? I am guessing that I need to do some research on how the montana manages custom POI's etc........
Making slow progress. Can see some of the custom POI's under "Extras". Is there a way that I can create the POI's so they appear in their own category in that list? Something like "Mines"? Or can I do that in Basecamp before I load them? Appreciate your patience fellas.
If you want to see a "catagory" heading under EXTRAS you need to create a Folder with that Name and put the other Folders with their GPX files in them. In the example below you would point POILoader to the Gold Mines in OZ folder. That would yield top level Extras Categories of: NSW-Alluvial Gold, NSW-Underground Mines, NSW-Unknow Mine If you look at the Montana's POI folder you would see your GPI file with whatever name you gave it in the POILoader. Giving your GPI file a name keeps it from being overwritten with the default name POI.GPI: On the Montana you would see the following in Extras: Cheers,
You're welcome. It really is quite simple - the name of the GPX file is the POI Category. You don't really need all of the sub-folders to separate the files I just find it easier to manage my POI's that way. Cheers,
Although the above POI info is true, I forgot to add one more nuance to creating your POI's. IF, you use the indented folder structure as shown on your computer (example above) and compile the POI file using the default POI.gpi name, the GPS will actually use the Sub-folder Names as Categories and the GPX file names as sub-categories. Cheers,
