50.108N 8.667E - GPS (or better what I know about it.)


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This is a description of how I use GPS. It's a collection of the stuff I use, and which has proven usable.

This page is in draft state. Thats why it looks like what it looks like. It is NOT in any way designed, so don't bother.
Furthermore, one can easily see that the author is german, but for international usability this page has been written in english. Any corrections of the text (by people who know what they are doing) are therefore appreciated...

Please post any messages to:
50.108N8.667E@aspekt1.net


50.108N8.667E 's Setup


I built myself a nice little setup made of inexpensive parts that gives me moving maps on a rather large display of a handheld together with the ability to use my gps alone (e.g. when it is very wet out there...). Here's what I use:

eTrex

Lots of pages out there about this yellow little thing. No need to say more, suits my needs perfectly. But be careful with water...

Casio Cassiopeia E-10G

A first generation WindowsCE powered (at least this is written on the case, I'm still searching for the "power" of WindowsCE...) handheld. Not sold in stores any more, but should be available cheaply at ebay or something.
Really quite an old one, but tough (got it stripped onto my bike for many kilometres now, still works fine) and still fast enough for GPS. OziExplorerCE runs fine on it, not at satellite-moving-speed, but fast enough to be really usable.
Biggest backdrop is you better have spare rechargable batteries with you all the time and can't use it at night (runs approx. 5 hours without backlight, about 30s with backlight on ;-)

OziExplorerCE Moving Map Software

One of the finest pices of software I have ever seen. No important bugs so far, incredible speed even on my old Cassiopeia, handles HUGE (talking about 700MB) maps because of its clever proprietary map format.
You simply load a map from the net, use the demo-version of the PC-OziExplorer to calibrate it, put it on the WindowsCE-device and off you go.

Version 1.10.7 runs fine now, even with sound announcement.
http://www.oziexplorer.com/

Cassiopeia - eTrex Datacable

I cut a Casio E-10 Serial Cable Adapter in two pieces, connected the open end with a cheap Garmin plug and WOW there it was: my personal "E-10 to eTrex" cable. Works perfectly.
When conneting a handheld with a Garmin directly remember you have to cross the two data wires of the serial cable, because they both expect a pc's serial port...which is of course not there, because you connect them directly. So by connecting the "Transmit Data"-wire (TxD) of the garmin with the "Receive-Data"-wire (RxD) of the handheld and vice-versa you simulate for both of them to be connected to a pc...right?


50.108N8.667E 's Map Tips and Tricks


At first I started scanning maps. It's difficult to keep the maps straight while putting them on the scanner, otherwise your pieces will not fit together. I used photoshop to distort the scanned pieces so they a straight, but this is not working too good. You can use rasters printed on the maps to see if the scan is sheared or rotated and try to fix it.

Now what I think is much better is using maps from the net where available. Fortunately the german (bavarian) and austrian governments offer high resolution topo-maps which you can download in pieces and put together, and for road trips map from the net (Expedia, MapBlast, MapQuest) are much easier to use, and mostly precise enough.

Expedia-Maps

After Mapblast stopped using coordinates in the url we all need a new possiblity to get our coordinates.
I found a good way to treat Expedia maps that suit my needs to calibrate the maps later. It needs a little handwork to get the map you need, but it works. Expedia maps can be max. 2000x2000 pixels wide and include as many "pins" as you need. Pins can be used to have exact points on the map to use for calibrating. To find the coordinates go to www.maporama.com and search a city near the coordinate you want to find. Then copy the coordinate (after the "c=") from the image url and paste it into the pin-part of the URL I wrote down below this paragraph. Copy and paste this URL into your browser and modify the pin-coordiate until the pin is athe point you want to get. Then you know its coordinates! Here is the syntax for an exmample map, it shows an overview map of Hesse


                                                        ____ CenP=center coordinate
                                                       |                   _____Alti=map-detail(=scale)
                                                       |                  |                                         p=pins___
                                                       |                  |      s=size(pixels)_______                       |
                                                       |                  |                           |                      |
                                                       |                  |                           |                      |
http://www.expedia.de/pub/agent.dll?qscr=mrdt&ID=3kQaz.&CenP=50.108,8.66&Alti=45&Lang=EUR0407&Size=2000,2000&Offs=0,0&MapS=0&Pins=|50.108,8.66|1|50.108,8.66|L1|
                                                                                 |
                                                                                 |__Language (here: german)

Pin Syntax:

|37.91,23.81|1|MyPinName|L1|

|___________|_|_________|__|
 Pin Coords  |      |     |
 (Lat,Lon)   |      |     |___ I have no idea ;-) leave it on "L1"
             |      |       
             |      |____Pin Label
             |      
             |___ Pin Type (1=normal pin)

add as many pins as needed
Converting OziCE waypoints to GarmapCE waypoints

For those of you where G7ToCE does not work for uploading waypoints from a CE device to a Garmin GPS here's another solution, a little ugly, but it works. I formatted it so that you can read it well on a PalmSize PC.
You have to install GarmapCE, a free moving map program that is too buggy to use it for moving map navigation, but works fine for uploading waypoints to the garmin. The problem is that OziCE and GarmapCE use different formats for their waypoint-files. So we have to convert them, which is a little complicated on a CE-Device...as you see.

How to convert OziCE waypoints to
GarmapCE waypoints:

- Save Ozi WPs as "ozi.csv"
- Open "ozi.csv" in notetaker
- Delete first 4 lines
- Replace , with ; and save
- Open in SpreadCE
- Delete all columns except
WP-Name,Lat,Lon,WP-Descr.,SymbolNum
That means: delete cols A,E-J,L-T
But take care, colum names change
while deleting, so actually delete
A, then D-I, then E-M
- Save as "ozi2"
Type "Comma Separated Values"
- Open "ozi2" in notetaker
- Replace ; with , and save
- Import into GarmapCE


Inspired by:
http://www.gps-forum.de/

Contact me at:
50.108N8.667E@aspekt1.net or at our private chat.


Disclaimer:

This text is for private use only. This text is not in any form authorized by any of the named brands.
Any advice given here is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will the author, Martin Schuster, be liable to you for any damages, including incidental or consequential damages, arising out of the use of this text, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
It may be used free of charge. It may be distributed free of charge. It may, however, not be included in commercial distributions or software-packages without the written permission of the author.
All names used in this document are property of their respective holders.