Messages

1

Feature Requests / Batch waypoint naming

« on: September 18, 2012, 07:49:14 PM »

Here's what I 'd like to be able to do:
Drag a bunch of waypoints into a file.
Then have a function to rename all the waypoints with a user defined format that can use the properties of each waypoint. I was specifically thinking of being able to mark elevation but I can see other properties being useful too.

In the same vein I'd like to see the waypoints created by "lap analysis" auto-nameable by, for example, elapsed time from the track. Sort of a poor man's "virtual training partner."
 
Edit: And combining concepts above = how about waypoints auto created by "lap analysis" at designated integral intervals of elevation? 100,200 ... or 6000, 6500...  either by absolute or relative elevation.
KenF

2

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Support for "Tempe" Sensor

« on: September 01, 2012, 09:48:29 AM »

This is very cool. Thanks for pointing this out. I'm ordering one too.

I like the fact that I won't have to buy a new GPS to record temperature.  They will probably start incorporating them within the GPS units going forward I would think.

I believe most, if not all, GPS devices already have a temperature sensor built in. On several  Garmin units I have had, the temperature could be read on the hidden diagnostic screen that is accessible via some "secret handshake" combination of buttons. The shame is that they don't provide user access to this sensor as normal "data." 

How big is that? It looks kind of small to me, like about the size of a USB flash drive.

That sounds like a reasonable description. The specs  of the foot pod read 1.8" x 1"
It's probably takes a ubiquitous CR2032 battery so is not much bigger than that.

KenF 

3

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Support for "Tempe" Sensor

« on: August 31, 2012, 09:15:07 PM »

I've long wished for temperature with trackpoints... would be cool (even cooler if it were integrated into the GPS units themselves! )

Agreed.
But that brings up the question - where does one place a temperature sensor to accurately record ambient conditions?
It would seem necessary to avoid direct sun exposure [edit -seems like a wrap of aluminum foil would help here], body heat  and/or heat which might be generated internally in an electronic device.

Photos suggest the "Tempe" sensor is identical in size to the Garmin foot pod.

KenF

4

TopoFusion Pro / Support for "Tempe" Sensor

« on: August 31, 2012, 12:30:59 AM »

Garmin is introducing an ANT+  temperature sensor that will record ambient temperature with a trackpoint.
http://garmin.blogs.com/softwareupdates/2012/08/tempe-sensor.html
Will TF be providing support for this?
KenF

5

GPS, Trails, Training / Re: How to move a route from Google over to GPS?

« on: July 25, 2012, 10:01:11 AM »

Yes, I think I mean Google Earth.  Here is an example of what I mean: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en.

No that online service is "Google maps."
Google Earth is a separate application (free) than runs on a local machine.
There are some similarities but I believe you need GE to do what you want.
 

 I see that when you click on that the route I made doesn't come up, but I just went to "get directions" on the left side of the screen, clicked on the "bike" option and  then typed in my directions.

What I want to be able to do is take that bike route from there and somehow make it into a gpx file that I can then put on my Etrex 30 so that I can then just follow the route when I'm out there and not have to deal with cue sheets and maps, except as a backup.  Does that make sense? 

First- TF is fluent in .kml
So, in Google Earth, create your route.
A list of the "legs" will appear in the left hand panel.
Immediately below there will be two unlabeled icons.
They have respective "tooltips" about (1) saving the route to "My places" or (2) copying to the clipboard as .kml.
You can use either option.
If you choose the save to my places option you need to take the second step of right clicking on the "saved place" (where it is listed by title under "places" in the left panel) and then "save as" .kml or .kmz
Or using the clipboard option you can paste the .kml content into a text file and save that as a .kml file.
Voila.
The .kml file can be imported directly into TF.

But also note that a route (including one created in this manner) has only waypoints (turns for instance) and lacks the detail of a "breadcrumb" track which sounds like what you saw in the .GPX you used .
 
 
 
 

6

GPS, Trails, Training / Re: How to move a route from Google over to GPS?

« on: July 24, 2012, 09:14:01 PM »

 

I've plotted out a bike route using Google and would like to see if I can move it over to my Etrex 30. I'm wondering if Topofusion or Basecamp would be able to do this?  Feel free to shoot me over to a tutorial about it.  I presume this question has been asked before thought I didn't see it here.  Thanks,

   
While scrolling though the forum I saw this sitting unanswered, so...
First, when you say "Google," do you mean "Google Earth?"
You presumably created a .kml file there.
That can be imported directly into TF and, from there, uploaded to the Etrex with normal TF GPS functions.

7

Feature Requests / Re: Batch download along path

« on: April 25, 2012, 02:47:51 PM »

To some extent this is already in place. I have done it by simply using "playback" of a recorded track. All that is necessary is selecting the appropriate "speed" and viewing scale. Of course that may not provide a download region that is "wide" enough as the view moves along the track.
And it does seem to require a track with sufficient time data to allow the track to be followed.

But it would  be interesting to be able to insert time data into a track to simulate some fixed speed. Sort of the inverse of determining the speed at any given segment from recorded data.

Ken

8

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Terraserver shutting down May 1

« on: April 11, 2012, 09:54:05 PM »

Thanks for the post.  This does indeed mean that the base Topo and B/W aerial tilesets in TopoFusion will be going away. 

Is TerraServer the only source of the oldie-but-goodie classic USGS topos? I may need to start doing some serious downloading. The My Topo maps are great - as topo maps, but sometimes the the original USGS quads have historically interesting data that has been omitted.

KenF

9

GPS, Trails, Training / Re: Newest Garmin GPS units and TF

« on: March 25, 2012, 06:17:18 PM »

Looking forward to the info on Dakota 20.

http://www.topofusion.com/diary/2009/12/16/garmin-dakota-20-review/

10

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Garmin eTrex 30 & HR Data??

« on: January 23, 2012, 04:36:56 PM »

No dashes!  It's unreadable that way.... (at least in my opinion). 

Count me as a vote for a user editable default file name, in particular  including an editable date/time format. That way I and all other users can get it so that it is just right, in OUR opinions.
I think I made this suggestion once before, long ago.
KenF

11

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Open Aerial Tiles

« on: October 04, 2011, 11:39:15 AM »

Lately, if using the Open Aerial tileset,  I am getting many tiles with the "unable to display map for this location and tileset."

It's doing it again. I assume it's an OA issue?
KF

12

Feature Requests / Trackpoint Box - Track Segment Deletion

« on: September 26, 2011, 11:01:05 AM »

For editing a file, especially when trimming file segments using the trackpoint box under properties, it would be a godsend to  have simple function to delete a track segment by number rather than having to manually select  the points within that segment. 

i.e., an option along the lines of "Delete all points in Track #2 - Yes/No"

KF   

13

Feature Requests / Re: Waypoints on elevation profile and other wishes for the profile box

« on: September 16, 2011, 12:37:09 PM »

One of may favorite tools is the profile box - just to provide analysis of data whether it's the nature of map information or review of such things as MY ride data.

But I find myself yearning for:

"Moving Time" as an option for the X-axis.

This specifically came up when I was looking at a multi-day route (from merging existing tracks) and wanting to graphically see the actual elapsed time with an eye to doing the same route in one day. But it would be useful for any single track. The "Moving Time" number is shown in the data fields but there is no corresponding "picture."

KenF 

14

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Shaded Relief

« on: September 05, 2011, 06:54:06 PM »

You're right, it should be a toggle.  Try the actual toggle on the tool bar, or the check menu option on the 'Map' menu.

I added that button just as a shortcut to turn it on, but it makes perfect sense to turn it off there too!  Will do.

Well I don't feel quite so dumb now. I don't use shading enough to have been aware that there is a toolbar button for it. I guess that illustrates the value of having both a quick button or hotkey for a user's commonly used functions and a method for finding and performing a not-so-familiar (and not memorized) function.
KF 

15

TopoFusion Pro / Shaded Relief

« on: September 05, 2011, 07:40:56 AM »

I turned it on and can't seem to turn it off.
Shouldn't the "Turn shaded relief ON" button in the Relief/ Elevation Tileset Options be a toggle?
Am I missing something? 

KenF

16

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Open Aerial Tiles

« on: August 29, 2011, 03:17:11 PM »

Are you still seeing this?

All better.
KF

17

TopoFusion Pro / Open Aerial Tiles

« on: August 25, 2011, 08:37:42 AM »

Lately, if using the Open Aerial tileset,  I am getting many tiles with the "unable to display map for this location and tileset." They are mixed in with tiles that display properly.
No other tileset seems to have this problem.
Is there anything on the TF end of things that might correct this issue?

KF

18

Feature Requests / Re: Waypoints on elevation profile

« on: July 15, 2011, 10:58:46 AM »

Hey Scott,

Ahh, just a bump to the top.

Yup, waypoints on a profile would be great.

One of my favorite tools is the profile box - just to provide analysis of data whether it's the nature of map information or review of such things as MY ride data.

But I find myself yearning for:

Multiple Overlays-Overlay and compare two tracks.
Have an option for setting the "start point" as is presently implemented in "multi playback
Have tracks toggle on and off so that, once scale is established, individual tracks can be displayed at the same scale  

Overlay and compare different data for one track.
A simple option to provide multiple simultaneous choices (overlays) of the presently existing options in the "Y-axis" drop-down menu would do it.

Range selection:
On a track or profile, I'd like to be able to select two points and calculate/display all the relevant data based upon the chosen points. Grade, time, average speed, total climbing, etc. Points to be selected on the map or on the profile (or both)

Consistent scaling- Provide for profile scaling to be fixed rather than arbitrary so that, for example, exported profiles can be more readily compared.

KenF

19

Feature Requests / Re: Consistent Scaling

« on: June 07, 2011, 09:29:42 PM »

1 - The only time the view should change is when you are flipping between mapsets in different projections.

There are the obvious scale changes when going from any fairly close view [say 1:3] to, for example, Landsat  which jumps to a much wider view [1:13.6 when selected from the dropdown menu -The "L" hotkey does not result in a scale change.

But perhaps I exaggerate the issue of changing scales.  I think where I have most often found frustration is when selecting "Color 0.015" or something similar and not guessing correctly which value will provide a scale matching the current view. But the "Open Aerial" selection (when did that appear?) seems to  provide the same tileset AND the proper scale. So some of the desired simplification of the mapset menu is, in essence,  already there. I must have 70 items in that menu.

"My Topo"  has the same "one selection for all scales" feature (as does my most commonly used "wink wink nudge nudge" choice.)  But I still find utility in looking at the good 'ol plain vanilla USGS  topos, especially when looking for historical info and references.

KenF

20

Feature Requests / Consistent Scaling

« on: June 07, 2011, 07:44:50 AM »

The availability of the ever-increasing variety of mapsets is wonderful but that leads to several issues:

(1) It would be much nicer if the scaling of the current view would remain consistent when switching mapsets. That jump in scale is fairly annoying when trying to compare different maps on the same view.

(2) The dropdown mapset menu (upper right) is pretty cluttered. It could be greatly simplified by presenting the same list as that shown in the Options/Combo Blending i.e eliminating the individual "1M" or ".003" designations and letting TF find the best scale for a single map type, perhaps relying on selections made in the Options/preferences/tilesets box

(3) On that note, that box also needs to be updated.

KenF

21

Feature Requests / Re: Track Profile - Multiple Data Overlays

« on: May 21, 2011, 09:05:44 PM »

So what I'd like to see is more graphical information available in the "Profile" box.   
A simple option to  provide multiple simultaneous choices (overlays) of the presently existing options in the "Y-axis" drop-down menu would do it.
 

I'd still like to see this. Toggling between different Y axis displays isn't very useful for comparing different data types.
It would be nice to be able to see, for example, heart rate and elevation graphs overlaid on each other.

KenF     

22

GPS, Trails, Training / It's Ba-ack

« on: March 20, 2011, 06:17:11 AM »

http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/augmentation-assistance/news/waas-prn-135-resumes-normal-operation-11243

We'll never be lost again.

KenF

23

GPS, Trails, Training / Track Bird may be resurrected

« on: March 06, 2011, 10:55:13 PM »

http://www.intelsat.com/resources/galaxy-15/operational-status.asp

KenF

24

TopoFusion Pro / Re: A couple questions from a newbie.....

« on: February 21, 2011, 10:19:31 PM »

[needed]  a quick way to copy the coordinates where the mouse pointer currently is to the clipboard.  
.....just a simple way to snag the current location.

+1
Especially with the GE "fly to" box in mind -

And a single line coordinate format would work reasonably well (at least without having to go back and forth) even when pasting into a "two field" destination by pasting the full single line into each field and then deleting the extraneous lat from one field and lon from the other.

EDIT:
And have a toggle to tag elevation onto that one line of coordinate data.   

KenF

25

Feature Requests / Re: Alternating Colors on Tracks to show Distance

« on: January 09, 2011, 08:04:56 AM »

And the waypoint labels can overlap existing waypoints on the track.

It's not as elegant but is a functional work around. Thanks for pointing it out.

No question that the extra waypoints can create a bit of clutter.
But I just wanted to note that some of the desired functionality is already in place. That might actually make coding your suggestion fairly simple and the "lap analysis" menu might be a convenient place for it to reside.

I had previously inquired about whether tracks sent to a GPS unit can show multiple colors and your suggestion is a useful variation on that theme.
KenF

26

Feature Requests / Re: Alternating Colors on Tracks to show Distance

« on: January 08, 2011, 09:02:57 PM »

I've always thought it would be nice if a track could alternate between red and white (or any two colors, doesn't matter) to indicate distance.

Just in case it might be helpful - the "lap analysis" feature presently provides a means of placing labeled waypoints along a track at designated intervals - no "counting" of segments required - just read the distances.
KenF

27

Feature Requests / Re: Elevation in Toolbar

« on: December 26, 2010, 05:03:46 PM »

Would it be possible to add current elevation next to the lat & long displayed in the toolbar?

FYI, it is presently shown in the lower border.
Ken F. 

28

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Quirks

« on: November 08, 2010, 11:42:09 AM »

1 - I think it's the other way 'round, but you are right I see it sometimes, and it's just been one of those nagging things I can't figure out.  If you ever notice a pattern to it or find a repeatable procedure, please let me know!

Yes, "Zoom" cursor shows when "Pan" tool is active.
It is presently doing this consistently for me although I don't know when it started or have any really useful info for tracking it down.

KenF

29

TopoFusion Pro / Garmin Mobile XT Windows Support

« on: November 01, 2010, 06:27:18 PM »

This isn't a feature request yet...
I'm being forced (kicking and screaming) into a cell phone "upgrade" and, so, will soon be using a "Windows Mobile" smart phone that will be able to run the Windows version of "Garmin Mobile XT."
At this point I don't even really know what that means or what feature and functions "Garmin Mobile XT" really offers.
As far as I can tell, it's the portable version of what runs on those ubiquitous dirt cheap  "turn-by-turn navigating" GPS devices that seem to be (in this century) necessary for urban navigation.
So (if you know), does TF offer any measure of compatibility with "Garmin Mobile XT?"

Or, more simply,  anyone ever used "Garmin Mobile XT" (any version) on a PDA/smartphone and have any comments?

KenF

30

Feature Requests / Re: Merge/Delete Dialog

« on: October 27, 2010, 08:22:11 PM »

Right, I see your point.  For now, right click on the file, ...

Yes, my point was essentially that while there may be A way of accomplishing a task, the IDEAL user interface does not place the burden on the user of knowing the "secret handshake" method and instead operates so it is more "intuitive," to that user.
But you knew that.
And I have done enough programming where I am the sole "user" to realize that, despite being simple in concept, implementing every feature is not without it problems.
KenF   

31

Feature Requests / Individual shadings for track segments

« on: October 27, 2010, 08:08:46 PM »

While "track color" can be applied as desired on a "by file" basis, it would sure be nice to be able to either break up a track (or take one that already has multiple segments) and be able to individually color code the segments.
OK, track shading by elevation already exists in TF. But do the various file formats - GPX, TCX, KML, etc, preclude changing color mid-track in a stored file?

KenF

32

TopoFusion Pro / Quirks

« on: October 27, 2010, 07:41:48 PM »

Things I have noticed but that are not entirely consistent.
When they happen they are annoying.
I may have mentioned this before.
There seems to be a common issue of "Cursor" - well loosely anyhow.
(1) Cursor does not always stay tied to menu selection. The one I have noticed numerous times is the "Pan" cursor showing  when the "Zoom" tool is active  (or maybe its the other way around).
(2) Points selected with the "Select points" tool do not always stay highlighted even though the cursor shows as the "crossed 4-way arrow."

(3) The subject of how  a "selection rectangle" should work has been raised before.  Note the inconsistency between the "select points" rectangle which works (predictably) corner-to-corner,  in contrast  to the  "zoom box" tool which seems to work in some other strange fashion. I vote (again) for making them both work like the select points box. (And/or like a Photoshop "fixed aspect ratio"  selection box when trying to match the monitor's  aspect ratio).

Lest there be any confusion, I constantly whine abouts details because I constantly use TF.  Don't know what I would do without it.  

KenF



 

33

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Apply a correction to ELEVATION for all points in a given track?

« on: October 23, 2010, 08:11:22 AM »

I have often noticed that a track that I record has a constant error across all points in the track. 
...
Is there any way to try this in TF?  If not, is there any other (preferably free) software that can apply such a correction?

Same question (or feature request),  different adjustment - The goal would be to adjust all elevations that may be off by a couple hundred feet due to error in calibration of a barometric altimeter.
I realize that elevation values can be overwritten with DEM/Cache values, but I would rather be able to adjust the values that were actually recorded but are off by some consistent value. 
Maybe an automated adjustment by selecting a point, determining the correction needed in comparison to the cached data and adjust all other point using that value. That would preserve the integrity of relative elevations  (as recorded)  yet adjust absolute elevations for better accuracy.

KenF 

34

Feature Requests / Grade

« on: October 16, 2010, 08:10:25 PM »

On a track, I'd like to be able to select two points and determine grade along the track between them.

This is pretty simple but does not seem to presently exist in TF.

I do this regularly.  I find myself taking TF data from a profile - a pair of mileages and elevations, yet I have to do the calculation outside of TF.

KenF

35

Feature Requests / Multi Playback toggles

« on: October 11, 2010, 08:02:31 PM »

The available "toggles" are good but it would be nice to have a way of providing a more streamlined display.

Simple example - For cycling take a group of riders in a road race and play back their GPS data together to show how the race unfolded. The display becomes pretty cluttered when riders are close together.  
Being able to show, for example, just bib number would be good.
Just being able to toggle the file .GPX or .TCX extension would provide a means of doing this by using a short file name, even with no other changes.
[Edit: Hmm... am I missing something?   What I described above is shown here:
http://vimeo.com/15039037 ]

Additional toggles for distance and elapsed time would be useful for such purposes too.
[That DOES seem to be missing. Time especially would be nice to have in an unobtrusive window somewhere on the screen to avoid the need for placing the multi playback dialog box partially over the recorded display as shown in the video above.

The man/dog toggle allows a rough comparison of racers, but a true comparison of gap distance and/or time along the track would be more in line with the analysis that one might wish to see for racers or overlays of multiple rides on the same course.]

It would also be nice to have separate toggles for each separate file. That way one file could be showing the significant "overall" data, while others could just show the most basic identifying info. Moving display of some of this data onto the main screen would make captured video more informative.

KenF

36

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: October 08, 2010, 08:14:20 AM »

Yep, an option to lock them together would be great.  I see both ways being useful though -- correlating them, or not.  Thanks.

Yes, there is the obvious "problem" that if tracks are shaded by elevation, a track would become invisible against identically shaded elevation tiles.
KenF
 

37

Feature Requests / Re: Merge/Delete Dialog

« on: October 07, 2010, 09:31:46 PM »

If a file is selected by right clicking from the "loaded file" window and then "Analysis" is chosen from the resulting "right-click" menu, the selected file becomes the default as shown in the "file for analysis" box.  This makes perfect sense.

If, however, a file is already selected in the  "loaded file" window and  "Analysis" is chosen on the top menu bar, the default in the "file for analysis" box becomes the first file shown in the "loaded files" window rather than the selected file. This is not consistent with the behavior described above and often has me "selecting" a file, clicking analysis on the top menu and then having to reselect the file.   

Could you make them behave the same way? (please?)

This continues to drive me absolutely batty.
It has to do with order of operations. If I have already selected a file, it should be simple to then select what I want to do with it. Conversely, if I decide and select a particular "analysis" that I want to perform,  I should then be able to choose the file. 
A huge frustration lies in selecting a file, then selecting an "analysis," only to find that the file must then be selected AGAIN.

KenF

38

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: October 05, 2010, 07:25:48 AM »

I do plan on adding more colors and the ability to select ranges for each color, not just the min/max as is now.

Having a transparent option for each color is a great idea I hadn't thought of.

Next step - There's some obvious correlation that can/should exist between elevation shading, track shading and profile shading
 
But, in particular, the horizontal or vertical  color coding of the profile tool should be able to match the elevation shading.

KenF

39

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: September 27, 2010, 03:22:58 PM »

Re: max/min - I could try.  It might be a tad slow to have always displayed, but perhaps if there was a second delay before it appeared it might be cool.

OK, call this a feature request but I see the max/min elevation having more than just passing interest.

How about not just identifying the max/min elevation of a view but providing a tool to tag those location(s) with something like a temporary waypoint(s)?

A simple version would simply identify any point that shares the max/min value and note that there are other with identical values.
A more sophisticated version would identify and mark numerous points, maybe with a threshold distance required  between them before they are considered "different" locations.
Or perhaps, instead of a point, a region which is the highest.

Hmmm....,

OK ....that can be done now to some extent with  the elevation tileset by using the "Get max/min from the current scene" option and then changing the min value manually to something like Maxelevation-100.

Never mind, what is needed for the elevation tiles is an option to have "transparent" as a color option, for areas tiles that are inside or outside the selected "elevation range."

[edited]
In other words, if an elevation isn't in the selected range, don't paint it.

That would greatly enhance the usability and flexibility of coloring by elevation.
It would also be nice to have user selectable "breakpoints" for elevation shading along with the selectability of max/min as it exists now.

How about adding more choices for color range like 7 instead of 5 and make  "transparency" an option for any of the custom color boxes, but especially for the first and last.  

Now I am starting to see some usefulness (well, stuff to play with anyhow) for the elevation tiles.
Did I mention they are too slow?  

KenF  

40

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: September 27, 2010, 12:49:04 PM »

Ken -- sorry about the confusion with the downloading tile.  The elevation data is there, so the downloading tile is misleading.

Yes I understood that possibility. I long ago learned not to necessarily believe that a computer is doing something just because it says it is.

But the time involved, in my case, would certainly seem consistent with a new download of elevation data.
 

When you change the 'shading preset' -- you mean the color scheme, right?  That will force a regeneration of all elevation tiles -- so that is the expected behavior, I think.

Yes color scheme from selectable presets - simply changing from "Classic TF"  to "hot/cold" will do it. 
But I also ran into the "downloading" behavior when switching to a 3D view even though the elevation tiles had been fully rendered in the 2D view. In other words from a nice colored (and shaded) 2D display of elevation tiles, I hit "3" and I see a display comprised of black and white "downloading" tiles, but in full 3D.


KenF

41

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: September 27, 2010, 11:19:43 AM »

Elevation was not slow enough to be annoying on my system.  (Q6600 2.4GHz).  In fact it does OK on my Win 7 laptop.

Example of what I am experiencing:  Looking at an elevation display representing  a 4x3 mile area right around home (and viewed regularly) - If I change the shading preset (and nothing else), the fastest redraw I have seen is about 40 seconds,  but it can takes several minutes.
This is on an an admittedly old machine running at 2.4 Ghz. 

The really annoying thing is how long it takes TF to exit (not just beta version).  10's of seconds.

And for me, exiting is instantaneous.

KenF

42

Beta Testing / Re: Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: September 26, 2010, 10:46:00 AM »

Ken,

Wanted to clarify one thing -- are you talking about the redraw time when the tiles come in from being 'downloading' tiles to displaying?

Yes, that seems to be the case.  Lots of "downloading" even for areas where elevation data should have been acquired in the past.

  Or are you seeing slow redraws even after the tiles have been generated and are visible?

That seems to be true too. Example - when changing from "color aerial" display to "elevation" the whole process, downloading and all, seems to start over. The same thing seems to happen when  the "shading preset" is changed while viewing an "elevation" screen.

They are slow to come in, but once there, should be fast.

Not knowing what is going on behind the scenes I don't quite know what I am seeing - but it just seems agonizingly slow. MUCH MUCH slower than the other views that I typically use  (Color, MyTopo, or combo )

Re: max/min - I could try.  It might be a tad slow to have always displayed, but perhaps if there was a second delay before it appeared it might be cool.

Or maybe avoid constant on-the-fly calculation by just adding a control to allow showing it upon request for a given view, turn it off if and when the the view has changed.   

KenF

43

Beta Testing / Elevation Tiles- Comments

« on: September 24, 2010, 08:48:21 AM »

Just comments-
Wow! Is that S-L-O-W!
Any way to store data or imagery to speed it up?

Interesting feature but, for now, I cannot envision any real "use" for it. 
But that's just me. Maybe using it in some  "combo" display may prove beneficial.
For now, the glacial redraw speed is likely to inhibit my desire for playing with it much.

But one small detail that I do like is the "maximum/minimum" elevation (shown in "Relief/ Elevation Tileset Option" box) for the displayed view.
I would love to see those figures added as a "permanent" part of the displayed elevation data in the bottom bar, along with cursor elevation as is presently shown there. That would be an easy addition, wouldn't it?

KenF

44

Feature Requests / Projecting waypoints/trackpoints/tracks

« on: August 31, 2010, 04:41:21 PM »

I'd like to see a capability of starting with a known point and then creating a track or group of waypoints using vector information.

The most common example of this would be creating a track from a legal description, perhaps being able to simply paste legs into a table and then using the know lat/lon of starting point, convert and save it as a track. Or for that matter being able to create the track and then drag one of its points to a point on a TF display.

For any given point there could be an "on the ground" GPS reading and a calculated value based upon following the legal description starting with a different point as waypoint.

I have done some of this using my own calculations, but having it integrated into TF would be a treat.

While a "bulk" capability would be ideal,  even a simple "Project new waypoint" option for an existing waypoint would be very useful. Or does this exist and I have missed it? I see that the track drawing tool could be used to do this roughly but its resolution is pretty coarse.  
(And what ever happened to providing a tooptip for the draw track tool which also mentions "measure distance.")

KenF

45

Feature Requests / Track Profile - Multiple Data Overlays

« on: August 02, 2010, 10:46:08 AM »

Garmin finally got around to a software upgrade (2.30) for the Foretrex 401 to make HR data downloadable. (Yet they have not updated this info on the relevant web page. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloadsUpdates.jsp?product=010-00777-00&cID=144&pID=30026)

TF handles the new download capability just fine.

So what I'd like to see is more graphical information available in the "Profile" box.   
A simple option to  provide multiple simultaneous choices (overlays) of the presently existing options in the "Y-axis" drop-down menu would do it.
 
KF

46

GPS, Trails, Training / Backup Trip Odometer Toggle track on/off

« on: June 08, 2010, 10:07:42 AM »

OK here's something for you Dakota/Oregon users to experiment with.
I was aware from my own tinkering that the "stopwatch" feature could be used as a secondary trip odometer since it provides running time and distance that can be turned on/off and reset independently of the regular trip odometer.
(I have no idea what they were thinking when they implemented a lap/split feature where marking a new lap erases the last one forever)

But here's the new discovery:  
I have heard from a couple of sources, including Garmin tech support, that the "stopwatch"  function is actually supposed to save a gpx track file which corresponds to the data accumulated while the stopwatch is running. That would seem to offer many interesting possibilities  

Of course, I have not yet been able to get this to work on my own Oregon.
[Edit: It now works with a software upgrade. I had ver. 3.20 before]  
The file is supposed to be called stopwatch.gpx and should be located in the garmin/archive folder on the device. [That is where it is found]

KF

47

TopoFusion Pro / Re: Oregon HR data

« on: June 05, 2010, 07:53:45 AM »

That's interesting about the data showing up on the concurrent Foretrex.  I've seen some flakiness with my HR and Dakota 20, but haven't paired up my forerunner at the same time to double check it.

Just to note -  If the Foretrex were doing its job and recording HR (Garmin says they're working on it), I would not have been carrying the Oregon as backup. 

255 is the value for 'no HR' in TF.  However, if it sees that value it shouldn't be writing it out, it should just not write out an HR value.  Are you seeing 255's in GPX files?

Yes, I have one file with over 5000 recorded 255's.

KF

48

TopoFusion Pro / Oregon HR data

« on: June 04, 2010, 03:44:17 PM »

I've been going round and round with Garmin Tech support regarding some flakiness I'm experiencing with HR recording on an Oregon 550 . They, of course, have resorted to the knee-jerk "blame the non-Garmin" software approach even though, in the GPX fles on the unit (100% Garmin created), there are dropouts where no HR data appears. And that occurs  despite the HR being shown on a handlebar-mounted Foretrex at the same time.

But that brings up a question. 

The corresponding .gpx files I get from TF have an HR value of 255 at those dropout points.  So, I am really just curious, is that how TF is handling the non-existent Garmin data?

KF

49

GPS, Trails, Training / Bye Bye Track Bird

« on: April 18, 2010, 05:25:03 PM »

http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/augmentation-assistance/news/failure-imminent-waas-geo-satellite-9841

50

TopoFusion Pro / Re: how do I update my aerial map

« on: April 18, 2010, 05:19:52 PM »

  Is it my garmin that puts the map into Topo or is satellites already part of TOPO's program?  If so how do I get updated satellites?

GPS Satellites and aerial imagery are two (mostly) unrelated things.

Your Garmin picks up satellite signals that it interprets to figure out a location on the face of the earth. There is no imagery involved.

TopoFusion (the name of the excellent product that this site is dedicated to) takes this position data from your GPSr  and overlays it on imagery that was previously created as maps or aerial photos (mostly taken from aircraft) and is accessible in various locations on the web as stored images. There is no "eye in the sky" providing "real time" images like you might expect to get from a weather satellite. So until that exists and is accessible to the general public (which it undoubtedly will be at some time, but don't hold your breath) all imagery will lag behind what may actually exist on the ground, often by many years.

But you can create your own maps or mark features with waypoints and tracks.

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
KF