Hey all, I'm hoping someone will have a good solution for this. I've found a list for a bunch of old trails that look interesting. My end goal is to make a master gpx file with a track for each trail so if I happen to be near one I can go check it out. Each trail is listed with lat and lon for anywhere from 3 to a couple dozen waypoints. What I've been doing is copying each trail's waypoints into an excel file, using the earthpoint.us website to convert that excel file into a kml file and then opening the kml with Garmin Basecamp. That basically shows me the list of waypoints on a map. My issue is going from there. I can select those waypoints in Basecamp and turn them into a route but there's really no way that I can find to optimize them. Whichever waypoint happens to be first is the one that is first in the route and so on. Unfortunately the original site didn't seem to have those waypoints organized in a meaningful way so sometimes it works but usually I just end up with a bunch of route spaghetti. I can convert those routes to tracks and upload them to my gps for easy viewing but I really need to get the routes figured out first before I do that. Do you guys know of a program that will optimize a route for a given set of waypoints? Something like microsoft map-point has optimization features but that seems to be road oriented instead of optimizing as the crow flies for offroad. Plus, free would be nice. Any help would be much appreciated.
Waypoints Optimized into a Route
- Thread starter Ark
- Start date
Well, I definitely could do that but manually deciding which waypooint is 1st, 2nd and 3rd, renaming them and then creating a route fron that would be fairly time consuming. The list I'm working from has close to 2000 old trails with several waypoints each. I can do that manually if I have to but I'd really like to find something that's automatic. Ideally I'm looking for a program that would build an optimized route from a bunch of randomly inputted waypoints. I know that garmin has this feature built into several of their nuvi units but I haven't found anything in their basecamp or mapsource computer software. Mapquest also has something similar on their site that will allow you to upload an excel document but it looks like it only functions with addresses instead of coordinates and appears to route along roads instead of offroad.
robgendreau
Explorer
Route optimization software is BIG biz, ask FedEx. And way beyond trivial (a good test for supercomputers, BTW).
The reason google can sorta do it is that it's working with a set of rules that derive from the maps or coordinate systems it's using. If you gave me 10 of your waypoints I would have no idea what you wanted for a route unless they were very linear; but add a switchback and I'd probably send you off a cliff. But if you gave me a line upon which to map those waypoints, I could probably do it. The problem with offroad stuff is that you have no such reference line/road.
Even if I could figure out software to make a route out of random waypoints, why would I trust it? Again, waypoints along a switchbacking trail could look a lot like errors and could lead to some routing that would be very unwise.
The reason google can sorta do it is that it's working with a set of rules that derive from the maps or coordinate systems it's using. If you gave me 10 of your waypoints I would have no idea what you wanted for a route unless they were very linear; but add a switchback and I'd probably send you off a cliff. But if you gave me a line upon which to map those waypoints, I could probably do it. The problem with offroad stuff is that you have no such reference line/road.
Even if I could figure out software to make a route out of random waypoints, why would I trust it? Again, waypoints along a switchbacking trail could look a lot like errors and could lead to some routing that would be very unwise.
Herbie
Rendezvous Conspirator
I agree with robgendreau above, but here's my best recommendation:
Since I'm OCD about knowing where I'm going before I get there, I tend to make "pre-tracks" in google earth. Import your waypoints (however many you have) into GE, then use the track tool to connect them in whatever way makes sense for you. You can then export the track back to kml for whatever tool you use.
Yes, it's manual, but the nice thing is that the track can be as simple or as complex as you like to make it. You could simply connect the waypoint dots in order, which would at least make it navigable to some degree (although your bearing while on-trail will not always reflect the way the road goes). Or, you can do what OCD-me does: Drill down into the satellite image and actually add a bunch of points in the track to make it follow the road that you can see. Yes, this is more cumbersome, but it also nets me a near-perfect track to follow, just as good as a "recorded" track.
Using something like Back Country Navigator, even on a small screen like my phone, with pre-downloaded map/image data, I have enough detail to know which fork in the trail to take, etc.
Since I'm OCD about knowing where I'm going before I get there, I tend to make "pre-tracks" in google earth. Import your waypoints (however many you have) into GE, then use the track tool to connect them in whatever way makes sense for you. You can then export the track back to kml for whatever tool you use.
Yes, it's manual, but the nice thing is that the track can be as simple or as complex as you like to make it. You could simply connect the waypoint dots in order, which would at least make it navigable to some degree (although your bearing while on-trail will not always reflect the way the road goes). Or, you can do what OCD-me does: Drill down into the satellite image and actually add a bunch of points in the track to make it follow the road that you can see. Yes, this is more cumbersome, but it also nets me a near-perfect track to follow, just as good as a "recorded" track.
Using something like Back Country Navigator, even on a small screen like my phone, with pre-downloaded map/image data, I have enough detail to know which fork in the trail to take, etc.