Topo Lines In Directroute

[+embra]

I don't know if this was ever brought up here, but on the Yahoo Meridian group some Mapsend wizards figured out a way to bring display MapSend Topo (the old one) contour lines in other non-Topo mapsend programs, including DirectRoute. Someone reminded me of this today such that I realized maybe there was a way to use the old MapSend Topo program indirectly on the Explorist, which so far has not accepted any such data. I tried a small region, and it works on my 500!

 

THe caveat: this only brings in the contour lines. I don't know of way to show the Topo POIs, streams, or other Topo-specific, non-contour data. But it does give you something to look at in the woods besides the Great White. While this seems to work with any non-Topo Mapsend product (from what I was told), if you want it to work on the Explorist you need to have an Explorist-compatible program (and there's not much point in it being Topo3D I'm using DR as an example)

 

It's really very easy:

 

1. Copy the /MAP/BLX directory (contains usa.blx) in Topo to /MAP in other

MapSend program.

 

2. Copy topo3d.cfg and topo3d.ini from the /MAP directory in Topo to /MAP in

other MapSend program.

 

3. Add the line below to the [PATHS] section of MAPSEND.INI found in

the root dir

 

  Topo3DInit=topo3d.ini,BLX0

 

WHen you next load up DirectRoute, you will see contour lines. When you create a detail map file, you have the option of including or excluding the contour lines by toggling the "T" checkbox.

 

I just ordered Topo3D last night, and I expect I will still keep it because, well, I suffer from MAP (Map Addiction Problem)

 

Edited for the usual hasty mistakes.

Edited April 19, 2005 by embra

[+user13371]

... a way to bring display MapSend Topo (the old one) contour lines in other non-Topo mapsend programs ...

I knew of that trick, and was wondering if it would work the other way as well...

 

Could you use the BLX data from Topo 3D in the older MapSend Topo product? This might satisfy the users who want the newer product's higher-res topo lines, but also all the old secondary roads and trails from the older program...

 

Of course, that would only work on SporTraks and Meridians...

[+embra]

Could you use the BLX data from Topo 3D in the older MapSend Topo product? This might satisfy the users who want the newer product's higher-res topo lines, but also all the old secondary roads and trails from the older program...

 

Of course, that would only work on SporTraks and Meridians...

AFAIK that is an experiment waiting to happen...

[+leatherman]

My TOPO doesn't have "world .blx".

It has alaska, alaska2, puerto, ssb_nw, and usa.

[+embra]

Yeah, mine matches what you say. I'll edit the original to take that out. I think the relevant file is the usa for most of us.

 

Edit: I changed "world.blx" to "usa.blx." Thanks, leatherman.

Edited April 19, 2005 by embra

[+leatherman]

Thanks for sharing the tip. I never saw this one.

I used TOPO exclusively. I didn't have much use for autorouting. I did like the river detail much better in Directroute. Now I get the best of both. Very cool.

The re-write rate is a little slower. Oh well.

 

:spell

Edited April 19, 2005 by leatherman

[+leatherman]

This certainly makes getting an Explorist 500/600 a little more appealing. Not much, just a little.

Does the Directroute 1.00 work OK in the Explorist?

[+embra]

Well, it works like it was designed to work with no apparent bugs still there. I'm thinking here mainly that when you create an autoroute and DR hijacks your settings, it puts things back the way it found it when you stop routing...even if you turn the unit off or engage in whatever left the Meridians stuck with DR settings. That stuff is gone. Tracks are not erased by creating an autoroute (although that was fixed in the most recent Meridian firmware).

 

THe general feel I have is that the exlorist does a few things that the Meridian didn't (the file manager is nice, the geocache thing is a step in the right direction but stunted), doesn't do a few things the Meridian did (loss of some of the screens), but what it does seems to be pretty solid.

 

If there's anything in particular about DR on the explorist you want to know that I didn' mention, ask away.

[Dosido]

Just got my Direct Route CD today, and tried the Topo switcheroo. Interestingly, I got the topo NUMBERS, but no lines.

 

I went back and double checked all of the steps, rebooted, and same issue - no lines, just the numbers show up. And the numbers do toggle on/off with the show topo option!

 

The only thing I can point to as a factor is that I chose the minimum install, versus the full install, so I need to access the CD - I'll try the full install at home later.

 

Brian

[+embra]

I think your suspicion is on target. The contour line data is likely one of the things kept on the CD until called for. My [successful] experiment with this used the full install.

 

I got Topo3D installed on my system last night and I made a detail map for my 500. It is decidedly preferable. Besides more contour lines and the POIs, the streams are important features that I want to see on my maps (and don't come over with this hybridization). The best price I found was about $65 plus shipping at CompuPlus.

[Dosido]

Embra,

 

I'm sure I'll end up with Topo 3D too...

 

However, it might be an interesting excercise to look at a particular area where the stream is visible in Topo but not DR. I note that the file size for the file u_stream.lay in Topo 4.2 is 1.5MB and in DR it's 793KB. Where as the u_s_lake.lay files are the same size.

 

Perhaps that file could be overwritten in DR and you could grab the additional info from Topo in DR at that point. I'll have to look for an area that I could see a change on and try it out.

 

I understand that you could possibly lose something along the way, if the DR file is updated with new stuff, but it's still is a fun project.

 

Brian

[+user13371]

... got Topo3D installed on my system last night ...

Do you think you could have a chance to do that "experiment" mentioned a few days ago? Migrating new topo data to older Topo program?

 

How much space on disk (or CD) does the blx folder take up?

[Dosido]

Well, I installed Direct Route on my laptop - full install. Moved the BLX directory and topo3d files, etc. with the same results! Only the numbers and no topo lines on the PC. However, when I transfer the region to the Explorist, I get the topo lines.

 

So, I'm not inclined to do a whole lot of troubleshooting, as that's all I'm looking for, but it still bugs me a little...

 

Brian

[+embra]

Do you think you could have a chance to do that "experiment" mentioned a few days ago? Migrating new topo data to older Topo program?

 

How much space on disk (or CD) does the blx folder take up?

 

Well, this is what I found to work with.

 

The blx folder in Topo USA hold a file called usa.blx at about 70MB. (also Alaska.blx, Hawaii.blx, puerto.blx and another one or two small ones).

 

The T3D blx folder has these three candidates:

 

usa_01.blx 474MB (!)

usa_05.blx 70MB

usa_30.blx 31MB

 

I renamed the usa.blx file in the Topo USA folder something else, then tried copying the 474MB file into the folder and renaming it usa.blx. Topo would display contour lines up to about the state level of zoom; as I went in closer there were no contour lines displayed. I tried the 70MB T3D blx file with the same results.

 

Any idea of something I could do differently?

Edited April 22, 2005 by embra

[+embra]

Well, I installed Direct Route on my laptop - full install. Moved the BLX directory and topo3d files, etc. with the same results! Only the numbers and no topo lines on the PC. However, when I transfer the region to the Explorist, I get the topo lines.

 

So, I'm not inclined to do a whole lot of troubleshooting, as that's all I'm looking for, but it still bugs me a little...

 

Brian

I haven't heard of that particular result...I wonder if it may be some setting in your mapsend.ini file. If it bugs you enough, you can backchannel me and I'll send you my file for comparison. I don't think *I'll* lose any sleep over it.

[+leatherman]

The T3D blx folder has these three candidates:

 

usa_01.blx 474MB (!)

usa_05.blx 70MB

usa_30.blx 31MB

I bet these are different map resolutions. Maybe 30 meter 5 meter and 1 meter resolutions. TOPO 3D adds detail as you zoom in.

[+user13371]

Any idea of something I could do differently?

Probably some tweaking of the older Mapsend Topo's TOPO3D.INI:, in the BLX0 block. It says:

 

total_blx_scale=5 7

0=usa.blx, USA

1=hawaii.blx, Hawaii

2=puerto.blx, Puerto Rico

3=alaska.blx, Alaska

4=alaska2.blx, Alaska

 

Meaning: "Use these 5 blx files to draw contours when zoomed in closer than 7-level." So I think you could change it to

 

total_blx_scale=7 7

0=usa_01.blx, USA

1=usa_05.blx, USA

2=usa_30.blx, USA

3=hawaii.blx, Hawaii

4=puerto.blx, Puerto Rico

5=alaska.blx, Alaska

6=alaska2.blx, Alaska

 

Meaning: "Use these 7 blx files... etc." Does that makes sense?

Edited April 23, 2005 by lee_rimar

[+TeamW]

I think your suspicion is on target.  The contour line data is likely one of the things kept on the CD until called for.  My [successful] experiment with this used the full install.

I also can't see the topo lines in DR - just the numbers. It seems to be related either to the background color or the draw order, but I haven't been able to find a way to fix it. Anybody else have any luck?

 

Besides more contour lines and the POIs, the streams are important features that I want to see on my maps (and don't come over with this hybridization).

I'm also interested in having the stream data show up in DR. Played around copying state stream files from Topo3D to DR, but it always resulted in no map being displayed after I zoomed in. I'm assuming that the Topo3D files must be a different format than 3D, but haven't tried to confirm this. Please post instructions if anyone else has been successful.

 

Have a great day!

[+embra]

You may want to touch base with the Yahoo Mapsend_format group. Good luck!

[Dosido]

I too found it amazing how little stream and pond data there is in DR 2. I too tried to get the topo 4.2 data to show up in DR, but the had the same issue as TeamW - the map goes blank when you use the 4.2 .lay files on DR. Bah...

 

Going to have to join Embra in the camp with both pieces of software!

 

Brian

[cshldoc]

For the record, this worked like a charm for my eXplorist 210. I have the old Mapsend Topo along with Mapsend DirectRoute 1.00a. On the GPSr, I was able to see detailed topo maps and get elevation estimates *AS WELL AS* do street-by-street routing. I would suggest, however, making a new Mapsend installation to use this with, as the POI searching within DirectRoute is a little broken by this approach. What I did was to copy the entire "C:\Program Files\Magellan\Mapsend Direct Route" folder and rename it to C:\Program Files\Magellan\Direct Route Topo". I added a shortcut on my desktop to the executable for regular DirectRoute as well as the one residing in the modified directory.

[+leodavinci]

For the record, this worked like a charm for my eXplorist 210. I have the old Mapsend Topo along with Mapsend DirectRoute 1.00a. On the GPSr, I was able to see detailed topo maps and get elevation estimates *AS WELL AS* do street-by-street routing.

 

Did you use all of the experimentals moves or just the first recommended changeover?

[+CachemanCando]

Thanks for sharing the tip. I never saw this one.

I used TOPO exclusively. I didn't have much use for autorouting. I did like the river detail much better in Directroute. Now I get the best of both. Very cool.

The re-write rate is a little slower. Oh well.

 

:spell

I second that notion! I'm a new user of TOPO and missed the functionality of DIRECTROUTE. Agreed, now the best of both programs are in hand. I haven't loaded any maps to my MeriColor yet, but don't anticipate any problems. Thanks for sharing!

[+embra]

I don't know why I never tried this (and I don't think I saw anyboy mention it in this thread) but the same fix works using DR and T3D, not just the old Topo. I'll start another thread to highlight it, so people don't have to work their way down to here.

 

Edit: well, I tried to verify the whole operation works, and I'm a mite confused. I can see the contour lines in DR on the PC, but they don't seem to be transfering to the Explorist. I'd better temper my claim until I get to the bottom of this.

 

Edit 2: I can see the T3D countours on my explorist if I zoom way in (500 ft and closer). No contours zoomed out. This is different from my Topo 4.20 hybrid files, where some contours were visible at .80 mi and closer.

Edited February 24, 2006 by embra