GPS tracks — still need help HEARTFELT THANKS

[peregrina2000]

I have managed, thanks to @islandwalker and others, managed to get GPS tracks for the mountain alternatives (called the Saiatz alternative) on the Vasco, as well as a circular track that shows me how to get from the Saiatz track down to the Casa Rural in Errezil. That same track also goes from Errezil to Bidania, which is where we will pick up the Saiatz alternative again.

What I have been trying to do, totally unsuccessfully, is cut and paste the segments together, so I will have one track that takes me from Lasarte to Errezil and then from Errezil to Bidania. From Bidania I have good GPS tracks to take us to Zegama and back onto the “normal” Vasco. I have the tracks from Lasarte to Bidania to Zegama without the Errezil detour, and I have a circular route that connects me from somewhere up on the mountain (at a point on the Lasarte to Bidania segment of the Saiatz, i think) down to Errezil, and from Errezil on to Bidania, but it is a loop and I am afraid I will just not be able to figure out what is what when I am actually walking.

So I am trying to figure out how to get a track that adds in the detour to Errezil and on to Bidania on the Saiatz alternative.

Here is the Lasarte to Bidania track (actually it starts after Lasarte and goes beyond Bidania, but I am fine with that, I don’t need my tracks to correspond to my days). https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...saskarate-alto-de-mandubia-por-saiatz-5878829

Here is the loop that will take me from the mountain down to Errezil and then over to Bidania https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...benta-beizama-bidegoian-hostal-errezil-482113

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to use basecamp to cut and paste and make one linear track with this deviation? I am way over my pay grade here, totally floundering.

I know it sounds like it is over the top, but I do not want to tackle these days without a good GPS, the elevation gains are daunting enough in their own right without getting lost on top of things. Many thanks. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I have managed, thanks to @islandwalker and others, managed to get GPS tracks for the mountain alternatives (called the Saiatz alternative) on the Vasco, as well as a circular track that shows me how to get from the Saiatz track down to the Casa Rural in Errezil. That same track also goes from Errezil to Bidania, which is where we will pick up the Saiatz alternative again.

What I have been trying to do, totally unsuccessfully, is cut and paste the segments together, so I will have one track that takes me from Lasarte to Errezil and then from Errezil to Bidania. From Bidania I have good GPS tracks to take us to Zegama and back onto the “normal” Vasco. I have the tracks from Lasarte to Bidania to Zegama without the Errezil detour, and I have a circular route that connects me from somewhere up on the mountain (at a point on the Lasarte to Bidania segment of the Saiatz, i think) down to Errezil, and from Errezil on to Bidania, but it is a loop and I am afraid I will just not be able to figure out what is what when I am actually walking.

So I am trying to figure out how to get a track that adds in the detour to Errezil and on to Bidania on the Saiatz alternative.

Here is the Lasarte to Bidania track (actually it starts after Lasarte and goes beyond Bidania, but I am fine with that, I don’t need my tracks to correspond to my days). https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...saskarate-alto-de-mandubia-por-saiatz-5878829

Here is the loop that will take me from the mountain down to Errezil and then over to Bidania https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...benta-beizama-bidegoian-hostal-errezil-482113

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to use basecamp to cut and paste and make one linear track with this deviation? I am way over my pay grade here, totally floundering.

I know it sounds like it is over the top, but I do not want to tackle these days without a good GPS, the elevation gains are daunting enough in their own right without getting lost on top of things. Many thanks. Buen camino, Laurie

It's not too hard. Be patient and SAVE (often). The attached might help - it's actually easier to do it than to explain how.
There's a really clear explanation on YouTube (isn't there always?) which I'll try and track down for you tonight - it's how I learned to do it.
Good luck - here if you need me.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks, Jeff,
I will try to get to my computer later today to try again. I remember that I have seen a couple of youtube videos. The most helpful one was a British woman with a pleasant voice, but when I tried to follow her instructions, I simply could not get the cutting to take place in the direction I wanted. That may not make any sense, but every time I tried to cut a chunk out of the circle, I was only able to cut out the chunk I wanted to keep, not the chunk I wanted to delete. But armed with your instructions, I will venture forth and try again!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Thanks, Jeff,
I will try to get to my computer later today to try again. I remember that I have seen a couple of youtube videos. The most helpful one was a British woman with a pleasant voice, but when I tried to follow her instructions, I simply could not get the cutting to take place in the direction I wanted. That may not make any sense, but every time I tried to cut a chunk out of the circle, I was only able to cut out the chunk I wanted to keep, not the chunk I wanted to delete. But armed with your instructions, I will venture forth and try again!

Give me half an hour and I'll see what I can come up with!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

OK, see how this works out for you.
I've tried them in Base Camp, ViewRanger and maps.me and they work. It's just a matter of whether I picked the right places for the joins - but you can always tweak the alignment in BC.
As an afterthought do you know how to create and download the OSM mapping tile for Base Camp?

Left me know if this helps.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Jeff,
I am at my computer on basecamp and see that you have actually combined them. I am so appreciative that you did this because now I can see how long of a detour it actually is. I hope I can use your pdf to take a crack at it myself. I am going to hunt on wikiloc for a more direct route and see if I can follow your instructions. Mil gracias, amigo. Laurie

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Hi, Jeff,
I am at my computer on basecamp and see that you have actually combined them. I am so appreciative that you did this because now I can see how long of a detour it actually is. I hope I can use your pdf to take a crack at it myself. I am going to hunt on wikiloc for a more direct route and see if I can follow your instructions. Mil gracias, amigo. Laurie

You're more than welcome - just tried it on my eTrex 30 - works on that too!

 

[peregrina2000]

Ok, I have found what looks like a better track that would take me from the Vasco down to Errezil and then down to Bidania without as much of a big looping detour. This track itself though is a big loop, but it intersects the Vasco to go down from the mountain and it intersects it again in Bidania.

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/erniopeko-mendi-ibilaldia-6826642

I have downloaded both this track and the tracks of the stage of the Vasco from which I need to detour.

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...saskarate-alto-de-mandubia-por-saiatz-5878829

They are both in a file on bascamp entitled "my attempt."

I have made great progress, but now cannot figure out how to delete the straight lines that join some of the points for reasons I don't understand.

Any suggestions on how to remove those straight lines? When I used the pink eraser, I wound up erasing parts of the track I wanted to keep. In an astonishing feat of memory, I figured out how to upload my attempt on my trails on wikiloc, so you can see it up close!


https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=34780079

I need a break, but thanks so much for helping me get this far! Laurie

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Laurie, as I wrote you in a PM I'm not going to be able to help a lot but this is what I did: I got myself a wikiloc account and looked at your track and its profile. If you move your mouse along the profile you can see a dot moving along the track. There are 5 sections to your profile. From left to right you have an uphill climb from the northernmost point to the high peak. Then a straight descending line. Next a bit of up and down to the next straight line and then that straight line. Lastly bumps ascending to a peak.

As I run my mouse/cursor along the profile what I see is that you really have three sections of trail in the wrong order. The order should be sections 1, 5 and 3 but section 5 is in the wrong order; it was probably recorded on a south to north hike while the other two sections were walked the other way. So reorder the trackpoints in section 5 so the coordinates go in the reverse order and then insert the new version of section 5 to be between sections 1 and 3 and I bet those straight lines on the track will go away.

I'm sorry I don't have time to do a better job explaining this but I think Jeff will know what I'm talking about and will be able to do a better job.

Good luck.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Oh, I was commenting on the last track that you linked to
https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/my-attempt-34780079

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh, I was commenting on the last track that you linked to
https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/my-attempt-34780079

And my next job will be to figure out how to reorder track points. Nothing like a new challenge!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

And my next job will be to figure out how to reorder track points. Nothing like a new challenge!

There may be tools that do this but I do things like this by manually editing the file (gpx files are text files with special markup; much like HTML files). If you do this you will see something like:

<trkpt lat="43.107864" lon="-2.167855"><ele>556.726</ele><time>2013-12-03T13:43:59Z</time></trkpt>

followed by a similar line where the latitude is much less than 43.107864. That is going to be where the track points start running south to north. These, for your file, are the trackpoints at the end of the file. So copy your attempt file and edit the copy by removing all these points running from a low value of latitude to high and putting them in a separate file where you can reorder them. After that locate in the copy where the latitudes take a big jump. This is the border between section 1 and 3. Insert the reordered section 5 trackpoints in between. Those straight line sections (2 and 4) are just artifacts of the trackpoints being in the wrong order. Typically the sections are separated like this:

<trk>

<trkseg>
(list of trkpts)
</trkseg>

<trkseg>
(list of trkpts)
</trkseg>

<trkseg>
(list of trkpts)
</trkseg>

</trk>

Your editing of someone else's files somehow didn't have the trkseg markup to use or the tools removed all but two of the markups and placed the the start trkpt right after the start trk and the the end trkseg (</trkseg>) right before the </trk>.

Long, long ago HTML errors were really bad and I learned that to get what I wanted I had to edit the files by hand. I do the same with GPX files. KML files have a different markup but they work much the same. KMZ files are just zipped/compressed KML files. The mapping software does the unzipping for you to get the KML data by itself.

Again, someone may be able to help by telling you where you can get a tool to more easily do the same thing that I wrote about.

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh my goodness. I am so far out of my league it isn’t funny. Thanks, Rick, but please ignore this while you are away. No fun to mix GPS questions with your own travel! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[islandwalker]

Hi Laurie,
I was out all day and missed this. Do you have the track you need now or are you still needing one? I think I can put together a track from what you and I talked about before and send it to you. You want the one that takes the most direct route to the hotel in Errezil, right? I'll give it a try.
Elaine

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi Laurie,
I was out all day and missed this. Do you have the track you need now or are you still needing one? I think I can put together a track from what you and I talked about before and send it to you. You want the one that takes the most direct route to the hotel in Errezil, right? I'll give it a try.
Elaine

Hi, Elaine,
You, Rick, Jeff and Doug are my GPS heroes!

I have gotten the tracks combined into one but if you read Rick’s note, one of them was walked in a different direction, hence the straight lines between points. If you look at “my attempt” on my wikiloc page, I think I have the route pieced together

https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=34780079

BUT, what Rick says is that some of it is going in the opposite direction, hence my straight line problem. This isn’t a huge problem, because i have all of these tracks separately on my GPS, but I thought it would be easier if they were all combined as one and the extraneous parts deleted.

 

[dougfitz]

And my next job will be to figure out how to reorder track points. Nothing like a new challenge!

You should find a 'Reverse Track' or 'Reverse Route' function in Basecamp. You might need to get just that bit of the track you want reversed and save it first. I am not at my computer, so I cannot tell you where in the menu structure to look right now.

 

[C clearly]

I am way over my pay grade here, totally floundering.

Oh my goodness. I am so far out of my league it isn’t funny.

@peregrina2000 and @VNwalking (referring to another thread) - You are leaving me (and probably lots of others) in the dust. Let's have no more claims of being technology idiots!

 

[VNwalking]

Oh my goodness. I am so far out of my league it isn’t funny

Me too, but I am lurking here on the off chance I learn something from the GPS whisperers.
@Jeff Crawley , @Rick of Rick and Peg , and @dougfitz ...you guys are amazing, as is this forum. Thank you one and all.

@peregrina2000 and @VNwalking (referring to another thread) - You are leaving me (and probably lots of others) in the dust. Let's have no more claims of being technology idiots!

I am, I am. Really.
I still can't figure out how to get to general settings in Osm+...which is so basic they don't even explain how.
And I still long for just a simple map.
But now that I have Osm+ working on my phone, I can see the potential...no need for an extra device, just a phone on airplane mode and downloaded wikiloc tracks.

But this business of stitching tracks together? Ooo, Laurie, you're way over my head.
My stupid question is why not use the separate tracks one after the other?

 

[islandwalker]

...what Rick says is that some of it is going in the opposite direction, hence my straight line problem.

Aha, when I first read that part of Rick's message, I didn't understand it, but when I tried combining the routes in Gaia GPS, I got the same anomaly you did, Laurie - the straight line trying to connect the track that was recorded in the opposite direction. So I'll add my thanks too, Rick, Jeff, and Doug! This has been really interesting to play around with and learn.

 

[C clearly]

My stupid question is why not use the separate tracks one after the other?

Yeah, I was wondering what was wrong with the separate ones.

Just to say something really controversial... the "I'm so dumb with technology" is very much a female position. Men are more likely to say (or think) "hmmm, this takes some figuring out. If I want, I can solve it. But maybe I can't be bothered."

 

[VNwalking]

Just to say something really controversial... the "I'm so dumb with technology" is very much a female position. Men are more likely to say (or think) "hmmm, this takes some figuring out. If I want, I can solve it. But maybe I can't be bothered."

Off topic, but I you may well be right.
"I can't be bothered" (without the added layer of " I can't do tech") is actually a much more neutral response.
I have to admit I have both responses as a knee-jerk default, rather than just the simpler 'never mind' one.
And now that you point it out I am inspired to be a little less leery.

Sorry, Laurie. Now back to figuring out your conundrum.

 

[C clearly]

Off topic, but I you may well be right.
"I can't be bothered" (without the added layer of " I can't do tech") is actually a much more neutral response.
I have to admit I have both responses as a knee-jerk default, rather than just the simpler 'never mind' one.

I just point it out as a bad example to young women (and men). It is perfectly OK to not be interested in the technology. That is different from lacking ability. Usually our lack of skill is because we haven't taken the time to learn something, for whatever reason.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Well I just read this whole thread without understanding much;-)
Inspired to look at the route though.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

You should find a 'Reverse Track' or 'Reverse Route' function in Basecamp. You might need to get just that bit of the track you want reversed and save it first. I am not at my computer, so I cannot tell you where in the menu structure to look right now.

The magic phrase is "Invert Selected Track"

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Laurie, as I wrote you in a PM I'm not going to be able to help a lot but this is what I did: I got myself a wikiloc account and looked at your track and its profile. If you move your mouse along the profile you can see a dot moving along the track. There are 5 sections to your profile. From left to right you have an uphill climb from the northernmost point to the high peak. Then a straight descending line. Next a bit of up and down to the next straight line and then that straight line. Lastly bumps ascending to a peak.

As I run my mouse/cursor along the profile what I see is that you really have three sections of trail in the wrong order. The order should be sections 1, 5 and 3 but section 5 is in the wrong order; it was probably recorded on a south to north hike while the other two sections were walked the other way. So reorder the trackpoints in section 5 so the coordinates go in the reverse order and then insert the new version of section 5 to be between sections 1 and 3 and I bet those straight lines on the track will go away.

I'm sorry I don't have time to do a better job explaining this but I think Jeff will know what I'm talking about and will be able to do a better job.

Good luck.

Exactly!

 

[dougfitz]

Laurie, here is a rejigging of your My attempt file. I don't know that this is the most efficient approach, but for what its worth:

a. In Basecamp, I created a duplicate file. This will have a suffix in the file name, such as 001.
b. In the original file, I removed the backwards section. It is right at the end of the track list. Close the file at this point so you can work on the duplicate.
b. In the duplicate file, I removed all the track points before the backwards section. Close this.
c. I then inverted that track (Select the duplicate file and use Invert Selected Track in the context menu)
d. I then went back into that file and copied the track points (Ctrl-A to select all the points, Ctrl-C to copy them). I now had the 'middle section' of the track in the right order to paste back into the original track file.
e. Next, I opened the original file, and found the point where the middle section I had copied needed to go. It is relatively easy to find, because the leg distance will be quite large, about 3.9 km from memory. I selected the point immediately before that, and inserted the middle section (Ctrl-V).
f. Finally (!!!) I found the track point that has a 3.9 km leg distance, and deleted it.
g. Here is the saved result.

There are some interesting effects. The track points still have their original dates in 2013 and 2014, the elapsed time is over 300 days. I cannot tell how that has been calculated. However, moving time seems right, at about 8 hours.

Doug

 

[dougfitz]

As I run my mouse/cursor along the profile what I see is that you really have three sections of trail in the wrong order. The order should be sections 1, 5 and 3 but section 5 is in the wrong order; it was probably recorded on a south to north hike while the other two sections were walked the other way. So reorder the trackpoints in section 5 so the coordinates go in the reverse order and then insert the new version of section 5 to be between sections 1 and 3 and I bet those straight lines on the track will go away.

I have provided a track that has reassembled the My attempt file into the correct order. A bit complicated but doable nonetheless. See my previous post for this. NB there might be a more efficient way to do this, mine was pretty mechanical.

 

[dougfitz]

OK, see how this works out for you.
I've tried them in Base Camp, ViewRanger and maps.me and they work. It's just a matter of whether I picked the right places for the joins - but you can always tweak the alignment in BC.
As an afterthought do you know how to create and download the OSM mapping tile for Base Camp?

Left me know if this helps.

Nice work.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Ok, I have found what looks like a better track that would take me from the Vasco down to Errezil and then down to Bidania without as much of a big looping detour. This track itself though is a big loop, but it intersects the Vasco to go down from the mountain and it intersects it again in Bidania.

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/erniopeko-mendi-ibilaldia-6826642

I have downloaded both this track and the tracks of the stage of the Vasco from which I need to detour.

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trai...saskarate-alto-de-mandubia-por-saiatz-5878829

They are both in a file on bascamp entitled "my attempt."

I have made great progress, but now cannot figure out how to delete the straight lines that join some of the points for reasons I don't understand.

Any suggestions on how to remove those straight lines? When I used the pink eraser, I wound up erasing parts of the track I wanted to keep. In an astonishing feat of memory, I figured out how to upload my attempt on my trails on wikiloc, so you can see it up close!


https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=34780079

I need a break, but thanks so much for helping me get this far! Laurie

Good morning Fearless Cartographer! Rick got it bang on. You wanted to go A-B then C-D then E-F what you got was A-B then E-F then C-D.
As I said elsewhere "Invert Selected Track" is the magic phrase.
I think Doug may have fixed it for you in which case I shall bow out gracefully.
Fun wasn't it?

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Laurie, here is a rejigging of your My attempt file. I don't know that this is the most efficient approach, but for what its worth:

a. In Basecamp, I created a duplicate file. This will have a suffix in the file name, such as 001.
b. In the original file, I removed the backwards section. It is right at the end of the track list. Close the file at this point so you can work on the duplicate.
b. In the duplicate file, I removed all the track points before the backwards section. Close this.
c. I then inverted that track (Select the duplicate file and use Invert Selected Track in the context menu)
d. I then went back into that file and copied the track points (Ctrl-A to select all the points, Ctrl-C to copy them). I now had the 'middle section' of the track in the right order to paste back into the original track file.
e. Next, I opened the original file, and found the point where the middle section I had copied needed to go. It is relatively easy to find, because the leg distance will be quite large, about 3.9 km from memory. I selected the point immediately before that, and inserted the middle section (Ctrl-V).
f. Finally (!!!) I found the track point that has a 3.9 km leg distance, and deleted it.
g. Here is the saved result.

There are some interesting effects. The track points still have their original dates in 2013 and 2014, the elapsed time is over 300 days. I cannot tell how that has been calculated. However, moving time seems right, at about 8 hours.

Doug

GOLD STAR! It's because the data is time stamped. The app thinks we've done part of the walk, sat down and had lunch for 317 days, got up, stretched our legs and carried on.
I love Cartography - if I wasn't colour-blind it would have been a career option rather than Civil Engineering.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Me too, but I am lurking here on the off chance I learn something from the GPS whisperers.
@Jeff Crawley , @Rick of Rick and Peg , and @dougfitz ...you guys are amazing, as is this forum. Thank you one and all.

I am, I am. Really.
I still can't figure out how to get to general settings in Osm+...which is so basic they don't even explain how.
And I still long for just a simple map.
But now that I have Osm+ working on my phone, I can see the potential...no need for an extra device, just a phone on airplane mode and downloaded wikiloc tracks.

But this business of stitching tracks together? Ooo, Laurie, you're way over my head.
My stupid question is why not use the separate tracks one after the other?

From the guy that taught me coastal navigation: "There's no such thing as a stupid question - you either know it or you don't. If you know it already why are you asking again?"
You're right, you could just use the different routes one after the other . . . but where's the fun in that? Personally I've enjoyed my vicarious walks through the Basque country, which reminds me:

Some years ago there was an incident at the Corrida in San Sebastian. A new employee had been late arriving for work and hadn't unlocked all of the emergency exits. In fact he had only had time to unlock one before the bullfight started.
One of the bulls, a terrifying black Muira, jumped the barrera and started attacking the crowd who panicked and rushed to the only open exit to escape. Several people got injured in the crush but fortunately nobody was killed.
At the board of inquiry the man was found guilty of gross negligence.
The moral of this? Don't put all your Basques in one exit!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Well I just read this whole thread without understanding much;-)
Inspired to look at the route though.

Try this. Download the attachment, open it in Google Earth and enjoy. A couple of months ago the BBC in the UK screened a documentary of a Goshawk with a tiny camera on its back soaring over the countryside. No commentary just the sound of the wind and the wings flapping.
I find myself twisting and turning as I "fly" along the route!
Hope it works for you!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Good morning Fearless Cartographer! Rick got it bang on. You wanted to go A-B then C-D then E-F what you got was A-B then E-F then C-D.

Almost. Laurie had her track points in the order of A->B, E->F and D->C.

Nice simple explanation of what I was trying to say though. Thank you Jeff and Doug for picking things up where I had to leave off.

 

[peregrina2000]

Wow, aren’t time zones wonderful. I go to bed and when I wake up my problem is solved. Forum members are really wonderful. I am appreciative beyond words.

And yes, I am very much aware that I am coming across as the dumb woman. But I figure that’s marginally better than coming across as the dumb old person. Seriously, though, it would be disingenuous of me to say I can’t be bothered, when actually yesterday I spent nearly three frustrating hours doing it and then decided I was about as close as I was going to get without help. I now go forward with a bit more GPS knowledge, a lot of appreication, and a determination to someday be able to help out someone with less knowledge than I have!

So many thanks to everyone! Laurie

P.s. I will hold off on asking how to do all of this on my phone.

 

[VNwalking]

Fun wasn't it?

Ummm. Actually? I can't believe it but I am loving this thread.

The moral of this? Don't put all your Basques in one exit!

Terrible groan-worthy puns notwithstanding.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Wow, aren’t time zones wonderful. I go to bed and when I wake up my problem is solved. Forum members are really wonderful. I am appreciative beyond words.

And yes, I am very much aware that I am coming across as the dumb woman. But I figure that’s marginally better than coming across as the dumb old person. Seriously, though, it would be disingenuous of me to say I can’t be bothered, when actually yesterday I spent nearly three frustrating hours doing it and then decided I was about as close as I was going to get without help. I now go forward with a bit more GPS knowledge, a lot of appreication, and a determination to someday be able to help out someone with less knowledge than I have!

So many thanks to everyone! Laurie

P.s. I will hold off on asking how to do all of this on my phone.

Just back from a walk in the woods - England in springtime, blue skies, primulas, daffodils and wood anemones abound - bliss!
With a 45 year career in civil engineering (so a lifetime of plans, maps and computers) it was an exercise for the mind which I enjoyed. Besides I bet there are loads of things you can do I'd baulk at: cheese souffle, child rearing, brain surgery? Who knows?
Rather than put it onto your phone why not your GPSr? Don't forget phones are pretty much a SAK - they do a lot of things tolerably well but a GSPr does one thing really well. I mean, when you're doing your brain surgery would you use a SAK or a proper scalpel?
My cheap(ish) and cheerful Garmin eTrex30 will give me at least 25 hours of service on two AA lithium batteries. OK the screen is small but it's rugged (fell off a 10 ft wall without a scratch) reasonably waterproof (I live in England - it rains!) and if the batteries do run down I can buy replacements in any gas station or hardware store - no worries about charging points or adaptors.
If I use my phone as a GPSr for a long time it's not as accurate, eats up battery power, gets hot and even the protective glass overlay has cracked from falling 18 inches from the sofa to a hardwood floor.
You can download the OSM map for the whole of this walk as a single, tiny tile and copy it straight to your Garmin (which I think you said you had?)
Lunch and then a siesta I think!

 

[dougfitz]

And yes, I am very much aware that I am coming across as the dumb woman. But I figure that’s marginally better than coming across as the dumb old person. Seriously, though, it would be disingenuous of me to say I can’t be bothered, when actually yesterday I spent nearly three frustrating hours doing it and then decided I was about as close as I was going to get without help. I now go forward with a bit more GPS knowledge, a lot of appreication, and a determination to someday be able to help out someone with less knowledge than I have!

Laurie, I reject this characterisation. You knew that help was available when you got stumped, and were able to explain the problem in a way that allowed others to help. Perhaps you should take heart that it took three blokes to solve it!

 

[Kanga]

@dougfitz if I come to Canberra, will you give me some lessons in how to find and utilise gps and kms tracks properly? I've been using them in apps since downloading iPhiGenie for walking in France many years ago, but always with the tracks preloaded within the app itself, not from open sources.

As a matter of interest, do members have a view on what is the easiest/most useful GPS app to use? I seem to have a slew, all of which are good at different things, with the result that I probably don't know or utilise any of them as well as I should - jack of all trades, master of none.

And now, after reading Jeff's post, I'm looking at handheld Garmins....

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

My cheap(ish) and cheerful Garmin eTrex30 will give me at least 25 hours of service on two AA lithium batteries.

Yeah, good luck with that along the camino. I had trouble enough finding alkalines. The carbon batteries I was able to find sometimes only lasted me a day in my camera.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

As a matter of interest, do members have a view on what is the easiest/most useful GPS app to use?

OSMplus/OSM+/OSMand (different names for the same thing) is not as easy to use to use as maps.me but has two extensions that you may like; contours and waypoints for wikipedia articles. Would some kind pilgrim please point Kanga to where I mentioned this in @VNwalking's GPS query. I'm on vacation and shouldn't even be doing this.

Btw, although the displays look different in maps.me and OSM+ they both use Open Street Map data.

 

[C clearly]

do members have a view on what is the easiest/most useful GPS app to use?

I use maps.me and think it is amazingly simple and completely adequate for someone (like me) who doesn't want to do anything fancy and creative, but just wants a line to follow with the blue dot. Of course I was a bit befuddled to start, but someone who is familiar with it could show (or explain) the procedure very easily and have you set up. I like to carry a power bank with me for security, but don't need it during a day of walking.. Your need for one will depend largely on how old your phone is.

 

[VNwalking]

Would some kind pilgrim please point Kanga to where I mentioned this in @VNwalking's GPS query.

It's somewhere here, but I'm using my phone and can't get it to cooperate.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/can-someone-with-tech-skills-_please_-help.61047/#post-724903

 

[islandwalker]

As a matter of interest, do members have a view on what is the easiest/most useful GPS app to use?

Kanga, I like using Wikloc in Spain because it started as a Spanish app and has a huge following of Spanish users who are continually posting new tracks. With more than 11 million tracks worldwide, 7+ million are in Spain and Portugal. Using the new "search by passing area" tool, I can find a trail connecting virtually any two (or three, or four, or...) points in the area where I'm walking. Plus, I feel like I have a connection with the local people who are posting the trails since they usually add a trail description or note their favorite sights along the way, etc. There are numerous background maps to choose from including the Spanish IGN maps. With my phone in low power mode, I can run the app all day to follow the trail. I use a case with a leash made from a shoelace and mini-carabiner clips (photos near the bottom of the page) to keep from accidentally dropping it. I got the idea from someone else on the forum!

 

[C clearly]

Kanga, I like using Wikloc in Spain because it started as a Spanish app and has a huge following of Spanish users who are continually posting new tracks. With more than 11 million tracks worldwide, 7+ million are in Spain and Portugal. Using the new "search by passing area" tool, I can find a trail connecting virtually any two (or three, or four, or...) points in the area where I'm walking. Plus, I feel like I have a connection with the local people who are posting the trails since they usually add a trail description or note their favorite sights along the way, etc. There are numerous background maps to choose from including the Spanish IGN maps. With my phone in low power mode, I can run the app all day to follow the trail. I use a case with a leash made from a shoelace and mini-carabiner clips (photos near the bottom of the page) to keep from accidentally dropping it. I got the idea from someone else on the forum!

Interesting points. I have Wikiloc on my phone, but haven't used it much. Maybe some day when I feel the need for a time-consuming challenge, I will explore it more!

That's a clever tether system for your phone. I also use a leash, but it's not easy to find the ready-more ones of the right length.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Kanga, I like using Wikloc in Spain because it started as a Spanish app and has a huge following of Spanish users who are continually posting new tracks. With more than 11 million tracks worldwide, 7+ million are in Spain and Portugal. Using the new "search by passing area" tool, I can find a trail connecting virtually any two (or three, or four, or...) points in the area where I'm walking. Plus, I feel like I have a connection with the local people who are posting the trails since they usually add a trail description or note their favorite sights along the way, etc. There are numerous background maps to choose from including the Spanish IGN maps. With my phone in low power mode, I can run the app all day to follow the trail. I use a case with a leash made from a shoelace and mini-carabiner clips (photos near the bottom of the page) to keep from accidentally dropping it. I got the idea from someone else on the forum!

THAT is an unusual bike frame! Looked at the Bike Friday website but they're mainly based around the 1960s designs of Alex Moulton's "Lazy F" frame - did you modify it yourself or is it a special edition?

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Yeah, good luck with that along the camino. I had trouble enough finding alkalines. The carbon batteries I was able to find sometimes only lasted me a day in my camera.

The eTrex will recognise lithium and alkaline batteries - did not know you can still get zinc-carbon ones! Had no trouble finding alkalines in the Chino Bazaars.

 

[islandwalker]

THAT is an unusual bike frame! Looked at the Bike Friday website but they're mainly based around the 1960s designs of Alex Moulton's "Lazy F" frame - did you modify it yourself or is it a special edition?

You are so right - they do look...different... Bike Friday used to build mountain bikes with that suspended titanium beam (really smooths the ride out on bumpy tracks), but they stopped about 10 years ago, I think. But ours are still going strong!

 

[peregrina2000]

This would be funny if it were not so frustrating. I have downloaded Doug's brilliant track onto Basecamp. Today I brought my GPS into work to transfer it onto my Garmin. I have connected the Garmin to the computer's USB port, and I hear those little ding ding dings to show that something has been connected. But nothing flashes on my screen to say that the GPS is connected. When I unplug it, I can also hear the disconnect dings. But I cannot send the track to my device because basecamp tells me there is no device connected. I've tried switching to another USB port, but no luck.

Coincidentally I had this problem a couple of weeks ago, and the Garmin people were not able to help me because my model is so old (as in 4 or 5 years old, but don't get me started on programmed obsolescence). I figured it out by chance by switching to another USB port. So I was pretty confident that would work this time, but it didn't.

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance to my GPS support team..

 

[Jeff Crawley]

This would be funny if it were not so frustrating. I have downloaded Doug's brilliant track onto Basecamp. Today I brought my GPS into work to transfer it onto my Garmin. I have connected the Garmin to the computer's USB port, and I hear those little ding ding dings to show that something has been connected. But nothing flashes on my screen to say that the GPS is connected. When I unplug it, I can also hear the disconnect dings. But I cannot send the track to my device because basecamp tells me there is no device connected. I've tried switching to another USB port, but no luck.

Coincidentally I had this problem a couple of weeks ago, and the Garmin people were not able to help me because my model is so old (as in 4 or 5 years old, but don't get me started on programmed obsolescence). I figured it out by chance by switching to another USB port. So I was pretty confident that would work this time, but it didn't.

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance to my GPS support team..

And breathe . . . .

Hi there! Firstly which Garmin do you have? Secondly do you have Garmin Express on your computer?

Are you using Windows? Which version?

 

[peregrina2000]

I have a Dakota 20. I am breathing calmly. I do not have Garmin Express on my computer.

 

[peregrina2000]

WAIT, HOLD THE PRESSES. I just tried it again and switched back to the USB port that wasn't working before and it is now telling me my Garmin is connected!!!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I have a Dakota 20. I am breathing calmly. I do not have Garmin Express on my computer.

Nice GPS. Please get Garmin Express and download it/register. I'm here all night, waiting for call from Daughter No 2

 

[Jeff Crawley]

WAIT, HOLD THE PRESSES. I just tried it again and switched back to the USB port that wasn't working before and it is now telling me my Garmin is connected!!!

GOLD STAR sometimes it's the cable not the socket - keep us informed

JC

 

[Jeff Crawley]

GOLD STAR sometimes it's the cable not the socket - keep us informed

JC

I'd still get Garmin Express though - you can update firmware etc.

 

[dougfitz]

WAIT, HOLD THE PRESSES. I just tried it again and switched back to the USB port that wasn't working before and it is now telling me my Garmin is connected!!!

I bought a couple of new, very flash, USB hub devices a couple of years ago that now need replacing because they no longer reliably establish a good connexion. Cables can have the same problem. I have recently replaced the USB cables I use for three of my USB connected devices. I look at is as the price one pays for the convenience of using plug and play devices.

ps - really awesome - this one took under 15 minutes to get to a good outcome! We'll soon have service centre level quality targets on GPS question resolution times.

 

[VNwalking]

really awesome - this one took under 15 minutes to get to a good outcome! We'll soon have service centre level quality targets on GPS question resolution times

But seriously...
Heartfelt thanks to all of you for sharing what you know, for not giving up when the first suggestion doesn't work, and for having the graciosness and patience of saints.

 

[peregrina2000]

Having just walked into Zegama, where the alternative we took merges with the “normal” Vasco, the first thing I had to do was to thank you many times over for all the help.

Every time I put on the tracks named “my attempt —DJF” I gave thanks to Doug, Islandwalker, Jeff, Rick and the rest of you who have helped me get the tracks for this lovely walk onto my GPS. The alternative route is generally well marked, but there were several times a day when we were miles from nowhere and no instincts about which way to go.

It’s a beautiful route and I couldn’t have done it without your help.

Thank you so much, buen camino, Laurie

 

[SabsP]

Having just walked into Zegama, where the alternative we took merges with the “normal” Vasco, the first thing I had to do was to thank you many times over for all the help.

Every time I put on the tracks named “my attempt —DJF” I gave thanks to Doug, Islandwalker, Jeff, Rick and the rest of you who have helped me get the tracks for this lovely walk onto my GPS. The alternative route is generally well marked, but there were several times a day when we were miles from nowhere and no instincts about which way to go.

It’s a beautiful route and I couldn’t have done it without your help.

Thank you so much, buen camino, Laurie

Are you staying in the albergue or in Pension Ostatu? Anyway, do have lunch in the restaurant of Ostatu . It is really good!

 

[Marbe2]

I have not read every post on this thread...but Iam inspired to look up some of these sights and journey along. Started by signing up for a Wikiloc account! Thanks!

 

[peregrina2000]

Are you staying in the albergue or in Pension Ostatu? Anyway, do have lunch in the restaurant of Ostatu . It is really good!

Just finished an amazing meal — mejillones with idiazabal cheese sauce was the highlight.

 

[islandwalker]

Having just walked into Zegama, where the alternative we took merges with the “normal” Vasco, the first thing I had to do was to thank you many times over for all the help.

That is wonderful news, Laurie. Your perseverance made it all come together. - I can picture you standing in those beautiful mountains making sure the blue dot and the orange line were at the same spot! What a great example of how bits of knowledge from so many different sources can be pooled to make a spectacular route possible. I hope all the rest of your days go as well.
Elaine

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Having just walked into Zegama, where the alternative we took merges with the “normal” Vasco, the first thing I had to do was to thank you many times over for all the help.

Every time I put on the tracks named “my attempt —DJF” I gave thanks to Doug, Islandwalker, Jeff, Rick and the rest of you who have helped me get the tracks for this lovely walk onto my GPS. The alternative route is generally well marked, but there were several times a day when we were miles from nowhere and no instincts about which way to go.

It’s a beautiful route and I couldn’t have done it without your help.

Thank you so much, buen camino, Laurie

Glad it all worked out OK - we await the next challenge!

 

[VNwalking]

I envy that postre!
Rest well, Laurie...and onward! I'll be thinking of you. (Though after all that, tomorrow will probably be a breeze. One good thing is you go up twice as much as you go down.)