Following the discussion on how difficult it can be to find out which summits have not yet been activated, I’ve added one or two new features to the Mapping Project’s Main page. This now displays a color-coded (red if not activated), clickable listing of summits in the Tools Bar which should make things a little easier for folks to find their way around.
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to DM1CM:
Hi Rob
I’m very interested in the SOTA Mapping Project and have today for the first time, uploaded a simple GPX track for G/SP-004 into the database to test the system for myself. As a further test I downloaded the GPX file back to myself and tried to import it into each of the three mapping systems which I use - Memory Map and Anquet on my PC and OS Getamap (server based). None of the three programs will display my GPX track when I download it back to myself and unzip it. I then downloaded a GPX track by MW0WML for Rhobell Fawr GW/NW-021. That won’t display either - any idea what I may be doing wrong? I don’t normally have any problem displaying imported GPX files.
One other thing - is there any way when one chooses to display a user generated track you can view it just as a straight line rather than a series of waypoint circles?
73 and thanks for an extremely useful mapping application which seems to get better all the time.
Phil G4OBK
In reply to G4OBK:
Hi Phil
I just tried downloading Gerald’s track for NW-059. Saved the GPX file as normal - double clicked and it opened in Memory Map (set as my default).
Just off to try Rhobell Fawr.
73
Karen
In reply to G4OBK:
Hi again Phil.
I’ve just downloaded your Shining Tor track into Memory Map. Is the file going into your downloads ok? It is a bit confusing but I worked out I had to click Download and then Run.
73
Karen
In reply to G4OBK:
Phil, thanks for the comments and feedback.
I suppose I ought to own up and admit that I possess NO GPS unit of any description, and so I have to trust that the GPX files generated in the Mapping Project - which are in a format which is in accordance with the GPX standard - will actually load up in some kind of a GPS device! So I’ve been waiting for someone to actually try them out, and complain if they don’t work 
As to viewing tracks without the little icons, I’ll put in some magic controls to suppress them completely for those who wish to do so. I’m already suppressing many of them, so that never more than a couple of hundred show (many tracks have nearly 2000 points!).
Always nice to hear appreciative comments, I actually derive a great deal of pleasure from just writing the thing and seeing it actually work! Except when it doesn’t, of course…
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to 2E0XYL:
Thanks for the advice Karen. I’ll make and eat the dinner, watch the cycling and Coronation Street (sad I know) and then have another try. Get back to you later, but must get to bed fairly early tonight - as you know I’m away to Wales early tomorrow morning to do some SOTA with M6PYG.
73 Phil
In reply to DM1CM:
Rob downloading the GPX file seems to work fine once you realise you need to select the track, then ‘Download’ from the drop down menu at the bottom and then ‘Run’. It then uploaded into Memory Map ok, so no reason it shouldn’t upload to other mapping software or GPS device as normal.
Many thanks for all your hard work, I must add it to my resources.
73
Karen 2E0XYL
In reply to G4OBK:
“…I’m away to Wales early tomorrow morning to do some SOTA with M6PYG.”
You two’ll be taking the Pyg track up the hill, then. Sorry, I’ll get my coat…
In reply to DM1CM:
This now displays a
color-coded (red if not activated), clickable listing of summits in
the Tools Bar which should make things a little easier for folks to
find their way around.
when I go to the Mapping project main page, select an association and then a region, I see the list of summits on the left. But they are all the same colour. How do I get it to show which I have not activated?
I’m using Firefox as my browser.
Colin G8TMV
In reply to G8TMV:
Hi Colin. I took it to mean that it would highlight generally which summits had never been activated rather than a personal activation guide. Perhaps if you check Scotland or 1 of the new associations?
73
Karen
In reply to G8TMV:
Colin - my mistake, I should have been more specific in my description of what the new feature does. It shows in red only the names of those summits which have NEVER before been activated by anybody. So, for England, all summit names will be shown in black only, whereas most of those in W4C (USA Carolinas), for example, will be shown in red.
The Mapping Project has no access to your personal activation data, so cannot show you what you yourself have, or have not, activated. I hope this clears up any confusion which may have arisen from my earlier notice.
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to DM1CM:
Rob, the GPX files don’t load in Anquet OMN. I had a quick look and Anquet GPX files use GPX v1.1 and yours are GPX v1.0. The Anquet tech support guys are really good at working with user issues, a colleague helps to beta test printer drivers for them, so I’ll ask them if it’s possible to support them.
Of course XML is a wonderful way of introducing cross-platform/app/device support. Although the old joke that says “if you have a problem and introduce XML into the solution, you don’t have a solution, you now have 2 problems!” seems to apply. 
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Andy - I’m using Anquet OMN also and my Memory Map software is old - 2005. I’ll have another try having read what Karen said with the Memory Map, but I think I may have already gone about it the same way as she suggests.
73 Phil
In reply to MM0FMF:
Andy, thanks for the heads-up - I had spotted a couple of months ago that GPX v1.0 had been deprecated but since then it had slipped my mind. I’ll implement v1.1 ASAP… Can’t say I’m a fan of XML at all, though!
Phil G4OBK: “One other thing - is there any way when one chooses to display a user generated track you can view it just as a straight line rather than a series of waypoint circles?”. Now implemented - although the lines tend to be a bit wobbly
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to DM1CM:
I uploaded a file (didn’t save it) and that worked. Although it said there were no track points only route points. You have to be careful as Anquet tends to save lots of addition junk waypoints as part of the route when they’re not. This is an Anquet issue not sotamaps.
I’ll email you some test routes.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Trackpoints, routepoints, waypoints - they’re all different, and are intended to fulfil different objectives. The Mapping Project recognizes each type of point in an uploaded file and tries to make an intelligent guess as to what to use to form a track when one or the other point-type is missing from the file. Assuming it’s a GPX file, that is…
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to 2E0XYL:
“Rob downloading the GPX file seems to work fine once you realise you need to select the track, then ‘Download’ from the drop down menu at the bottom and then ‘Run’…”
Karen, all these little tricks are pretty well covered in the Help windows for each of the three different sections in the Tracks page.
I put Help files in the page even though I’m fully aware that radio hams never read the manual, right?
Rob
DM1CM
In reply to DM1CM:
I put Help files in the page even though I’m fully aware that radio
hams never read the manual, right?
lol Rob. Never thought to look for a Help file.
Karen
HI Rob / All de G4OBK
Some success for me with GPX imports but with mixed results. It’s probably as Andy says down to the GPX file format. I find I can import the tracks of Gerald MW0WML in Anquet but not into Memory Map or OS Getamap. I can’t import Jack’s (GM4COX)or my own tracks which I have exported into the project and then imported back to me into anything, which seems like something has changed during the process. Seems hit and miss. I can’t try importing into my Garmin GPS as it’s packed for my trip tomorrow, so I’ll have a play again later in the week.
I must say the help files written by Rob are easy to follow.
Andy - I remember something about XML format when I bought into the OMN Anquet OS mapping. My graphics card was obsolete (2008 PC) and wouldn’t run XML and the new OMN Anquet mapping needed it so I had to buy a new graphics card.
73 es TNX
Phil
In reply to G4OBK:
and wouldn’t run XML
XNA.
Andy
MM0FMF