Creating waypoints from Gogle Maps etc

Osluxa · Post by **Osluxa** » 18 February 08 1:01 am

Just a little advise please
I recently went on a long drive which I would love to share as a list of waypoints. Only problem (to busy enjoying myself) I didn't mark any waypoints on my journey
The waypoints (or Points of interest POI's) I am interseted in sharing are reasonable easy to locate in Web based mapping applications such as Google maps/earth etc (eg A great pub I visited .....I know the street address or the buildings physical look).
Is there a way, (external software or other) to extact Waypoint details (SE coordinates) from applications such as these. If so... is it accurate...enough.
I know through some of my early pre-GPS paper geocaching experiences Google earths accuracy could vary considerably
Im hoping it's not a complex process or else I'll just have to go out there and grab them physically on 'my little blue legend'.
Any help would be greatly appreciated - Thanks

Big Matt and Shell · Post by **Big Matt and Shell** » 18 February 08 11:43 am

If you still have the track file in your GPS you can pull that into Google Earth or Mapsource for Garmin. Would that help?

Osluxa · Post by **Osluxa** » 18 February 08 1:24 pm

Thanks - Big Mat.
But I didn't even have the GPS turned on during the trip. Just thought it would be cool to somehow retrace my steps and be able to gain waypoints (POIs) 'Virtually' via Google maps or some other mapping program.

zactyl · Post by **zactyl** » 18 February 08 6:35 pm

In Google Earth you can add Placemarks, just click the Placemarks button at the top, give it a name, move the Thumbtack if necessary and click OK. Then you can email that Placemark to someone, or create a folder with a number of Placemarks and email that.

If you are just wanting a list of names and coordinates you can do that too, but it's a bit more work. You'll need to create a Placemark at the spot you want, and in the New Placemark window it will give you the coordinates, in Decimal Degrees. It's not hard to convert them to Degrees, Decimal Minutes though, grab a calculator and follow along with me...
Southing:
-28.126
Multiply the decimal by 60, 0.126 * 60 = 7.56
So the Southing is S28 7.560
Easting:
153.186
0.186 * 60 = 11.16
So the Easting is E153 11.160

It's really easy once you're used to it, just don't forget to include the decimal.

To check how accurate the maps are for the area you're interested in, look at the GCA Google Maps/Earth link for a cache you know the position of. They're usually pretty close, and probably accurate enough for what you need.

Osluxa · Post by **Osluxa** » 18 February 08 9:27 pm

Thanks Zatcyl,

Great help
I've done a couple tests with some known waypoints and caches in my local area - Newmarket. The results at least for these chosen locations were pretty spot on.

I believe some areas are a lot worse then others. I read somewhere it has something to do with how they 'Stitch' the satellite images together.
I guess that makes sense ... any thoughts?

Finally is it just me? - It appears GoggleMaps will not show coordinates unless you view your location in Goggle Earth.

If · Post by If » 21 February 08 3:13 am

Mapsource also supports decimal seconds like GE. Just head for the Edit menu (in Mapsource), select preferences, click on position and change the grid to Lat/Lonhddd mm'ss.s"

Once you have got placemarks set in Google Earth you can just type the decimal seconds format into Mapsource. No calculations required. Mapsource doesn't work with two decimal points like GE does, but will round off the decimal seconds to one figure

Close enough

Tealby · Post by **Tealby** » 21 February 08 11:16 am

These are a couple of websites that I have found particularly useful...

Firstly, if I can recognise the spot on the satellite image (ie there are easily recognisable landmarks), then I use this to find the lat/long:
 <a href=http://www.sirzman.com/gc/llf.cfm>http: ... llf.cfm</a>
 It defaults to a US location, so to get into the general vicinity the easiest approach I have found is to reverse the positive and negative numbers and change the whole degrees to my location - then I can zoom in and drag the pointer to the spot I am interested in.
 A big thank you to zactyl for his coord conversion formula too (ie multiplying the decimals by 60) - this then makes the result very useful.

Secondly, if I have some coords that I want to check for accuracy, then I use:
 <a href=http://boulter.com/gps/maps/>http://bou ... s/maps/</a>

There is a third site that I heard about on a podcast but I have not used it yet:
 <a href=http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/>http://ww ... er.com/</a>

Osluxa · Post by **Osluxa** » 21 February 08 1:33 pm

Thanks (If and Tealby and others) for the fantastic information.
Your combined information has saved me hours of research.
Have a 'Virtual ' Beer on me. or maybe we'll catch up at a cache some day.
All the best.

tronador · Post by **tronador** » 21 February 08 8:49 pm

[quote="Tealby"]

There is a third site that I heard about on a podcast but I have not used it yet:
 <a href=http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/>http://ww ... er.com/</a>[/qu
ote]

GPS visualizer is great. I've tried it a lot and have even plotted my trek around Everest in GE with it.

Geocaching Australia

Creating waypoints from Gogle Maps etc

Creating waypoints from Gogle Maps etc

If you still have the track file in your GPS you can pull th

holidays

Thankyou thankyou