+Huga Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 I've just managed to decipher (mostly) the rather nasty Garmin Mapsource file format, and have written a rought and dirty conversion utility to convert .LOC files downloadable from the GC.com website directly to Mapsource 4 .mps files. Those with Garmin units and Mapsource are no doubt aware of the pain involved in uploading the .loc files to the GPS, then back down to Mapsource. My program will take multiple .loc files, either those downlaoded from individual pages, or those generated as pocket queries, and merge them into a single .mps file. Overlapping .loc files are handled too (it renames duplicate waypoints, so they can be easily deleted from Mapsource. If anyone wants a copy of the utility (or information about the .mps file format), let me know, and I'll send it all to ya. -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 Excellent! I'd been meaning to do this myself, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Now I needn't bother! In other words, yes, I'd love a copy. ################################################### Hp, ura'y yphy aukn, ypn duwn bw ypn khvfluctn glnrucnay ur qurruat ypn kbm bw ypn Bmwblc klnd. - Phllz Khlgnaynl Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Huga: If anyone wants a copy of the utility (or information about the .mps file format), let me know, and I'll send it all to ya. Yes, please. I'd love to be able to do stuff like that myself but the last time I did any serious coding, it was in Z80 assembler to run under CPM John __________________________________________________________ The Team... A group of people who, individually, can do nothing but collectively.. decide that nothing can be done. Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted December 15, 2002 Author Share Posted December 15, 2002 Well, Pharisee can have it, but SimonG has to decipher a series of fiendish clues to slowly track down the program, culminating in a mammoth expenditure of effort! Buwahahahahahahaha! Seriously, anyone that wants it, email me: ian at iancowley.co.uk and I'll email the program back to you. It's only 30k at the moment ('cos it's about as simple as programs get), but I plan to make it bigger and better, with .loc merging, .mps merging and .mps to .loc conversion. Watch this space! -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+BigBirdNL Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Hi Huga, Are you aware of GPSBabel? This tool can convert from multi formats to multi formats, including Mapsource. It's commandline drive, but a GUI is also available. For the syntax check this page. I do not use Mapsource and did not compare your tool with GPSBabel. I just want to make sure you are aware of it if you are reinventing the wheel. Good luck with your developments! BigBird -- there is no spoon -- Quote Link to comment
+The Merman Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 I would be greatly interested in your utility Huga. I tried out GPSbabel and could not get it to run properly, maybe the download was corrupt? Any utility that saves having to download to the gps and upload to mapsource has to be a winner. Cheers and a very merry Christmas. Chris The Merman I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house! Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 quote:Originally posted by The Merman:I would be greatly interested in your utility Huga. I know that Huga's PCless over Christmas, so I'll reply instead. You can get his program here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dzm Agslpewjp Mum L gmjsf j zdlpm dz egm sddi. "Wqwwt, lp egje pzdo?" "Zd, le'p cqpe sjlz fmjs." Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Just a quick note to say that Huga e-mailed me a copy of his programme and it works a treat! Anybody using a Garmin thingy could do worse than asking Huga for a copy. John Quote Link to comment
Wronskian Posted December 25, 2002 Share Posted December 25, 2002 Just in case you're wondering - the link to Huga's EasyMPS won't be working for a few days. It'll appear at the same time as he does; daresay you'll know about it then. Talking of wheels and reinventing, I presume Teasel knows something of the MPS format, because the old GeocacheUK stats pages could produce MPS format waypoints (which is how I got them into the Garmin), so maybe another resource to pool? -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...) Quote Link to comment
iryshe Posted December 27, 2002 Share Posted December 27, 2002 If you send me something I can use in a dot net class, I'll incorporate it into pocket queries as well. The next best thing is some info on the format so I can create a class from it. Thanks! Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 1, 2003 Author Share Posted January 1, 2003 Right, i was away (caching in Wilts) over xmas, so apologies to all those who tried to download EasyMPS. I'll make a couple of mods, add some featrues people have asked for, and post a new link for it. I think the previously advertised link will work, but I'll get a more long-lived URl for y'all. Wheee! It's 2003! -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 2, 2003 Author Share Posted January 2, 2003 The latest version of EasyMPS will now be available at http://caching.iancowley.co.uk. If the program complains that MSVBVM50.dll or COMDLG32.ocx is needed, they can be downloaded from that page too. Use the program, and let me know of any bugs, suggestions or problems at easymps@iancowley.co.uk. -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Travers Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 I'm sure this is all most important, but it's just so over my head. Quote Link to comment
Wronskian Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 What's over your head - the need to convert between LOC and MPS or the way to download the program? If it's the former, it's because many of us like to use Garmin's Mapsource to manipulate waypoints, display maps and communicate with the GPS. However, geocaching.com only provides .LOC files which Mapsource can't handle. The traditional way to deal with this is to use EasyGPS (I think) to send the LOC format to the GPSr, then load it back into Mapsource from the GPSr. Save et voila - an MPS file. Huga's EasyMPS does this conversion for you - much easier. Sam -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...) Quote Link to comment
+page28 Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Geobuddy can convert files to different formats. I have just had a look and it's just been taken over. TopoGrafix will be developing GeoBuddy 2.0 version 1 is still available from : http://www.geobuddy.com/download.asp Maybe it will be incorporated into easyGPS !! Quote Link to comment
+The Merman Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Geobuddy is not the same deal as easyMPS. EasyMPS does what it says on the can! You download .loc files from GC and then open them in easyMPS hit one button and bingo! You have .mps file to open in mapsource software. I can't think of an easier utility to do the conversion. I had a few minor bugs and Ian emailed me straight back with the fixes. Thanks Huga for a great little utility that cuts out the ****! I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house! Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 7, 2003 Author Share Posted January 7, 2003 Well, new versions come out almost daily, but this is a good 'un. Version 0.3 Build 39 is out now at http://caching.iancowley.co.uk. It's much much much faster, and works (yay!), and has drag'n'drop and support for .gpx files too. Go grab it! -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
targetdrone Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Faster and easier than going back and forth with the Legend. I did have to d/l the .ocx file, no other problems. Thanks for your efforts. Quote Link to comment
+Hikenit Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Awesome! This is what I have been wanting for a while now. Easy Rules! Thanks! Quote Link to comment
+Centaur Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Say huga.... where might we find the information about the .mps file format? Great program BTW. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 8, 2003 Author Share Posted January 8, 2003 Information about the Mapsource file format is strictly copyright me 2003. It's quite complicated - if you want it, email me, and I'll let ya know Oh, BTW guys: Some people are having ActiveX issues with EasyMPS 0.3.39 - I think this is related to msxml2.dll and its registration. Rest assured I am desperately trying to solve the issue, and will keep you updated. Most people are not reporting problems, but some are...it's all a bit of a gamble! And there's no real snow in Cambridge -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Omally Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Nice one Huga, that saves a *lot* of hassle (or am I just getting lazy? I can't be: I'm a geocacher!). I look forward to any updates you may wish to add. I'm still getting the hang of it (only downloaded it 10 minutes ago!) but if I think of anything you might find interesting I'll let ya know. It's a tradition, or an old charter or something... Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 8, 2003 Author Share Posted January 8, 2003 Martin Jarvis found that by installing Microsoft's XML Parser the program works. Because the program works here (with WinXP and IE6) I kinda assumed it'd work everywhere. You computer needs MS's XML parser, which most computers do, but some don't. It's a useful thing to have anyway -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Hikenit Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 As someone pointed out to me. Now If we can get the cache description in the waypoint properties, then it would be complete. This would eliminate the need for PDA caching epecially for people like me "one who was going to buy a PDA for caching". Just a thought! I know nothing about what you guys are cooking up. Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 By 'cache description' do you mean the whole page of info? Could be hard to get in, especially since Mapsource only allows 256 characters for the long description of the cache (I think), and at present there seems to be no way to get them off the site. -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:...at present there seems to be no way to get them off the site. Fancy parsing eBook format? That gives you the whole text. You could easily append single characters to the description signifying key words on the page. It might be quite a useful feature. SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
+Lil Devil Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:... and at present there seems to be no way to get them off the site. Huh? Its all in the GPX file that you get from a Pocket Query. The only thing I can't get out of a GPX file that I really want, is the "goal" of the travel bugs that are in a cache. Lil Devil Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 For those bored of version 0.3.39, or just fancy a complete revamp of the UI, download version 0.31 build 41 from http://caching.iancowley.co.uk. Be sure to keep a copy of 0.3 build 39 in case you don't like 0.31! I shall be putting old versions for download on the site so people that don't like the newer versions can get the old ones again. As to GPX files - I just got a pocket query generated to see what info I can nobble. The only thing they have extra to the .loc files is the type and difficulty of the cche, which will be added to the description anyway by EasyMPS.... -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** [This message was edited by Huga on January 09, 2003 at 11:48 AM.] Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Huga, Two comments on the new version. 1) When I click on 'Add >>' I get the message 'Runtime error '424'. Object required'. The previous version works fine. 2) What's the significance of the cockerel? SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 Really ought to actually test these things before releasing. Check out build 42, for which the object has been supplied http://caching.iancowley.co.uk -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 12, 2003 Author Share Posted January 12, 2003 Version 0.3 build 50 at http://caching.iancowley.co.uk with a version history so you can see if the new build's any good to you. It's mostly bug fixes (I'm sure there will be more). As usual, bugs, suggestions and problems to easyMPS@iancowley.co.uk. -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 Just to let y'all know that the latest version of EasyMPS (0.32.55) has a button to open the imported waypoints in Mapsource. It creates a file in your temp direcotry, and opens it for ya, so there's no need to save to a .mps and then open it in Mapsource if you're planning on going straight to it If all this incessant posting is annoying anyone, I'll stop, but I like it in this thread, it's all cosy.... http://caching.iancowley.co.uk as ever -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
el10t Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:If all this incessant posting is annoying anyone, I'll stop, but I like it in this thread, it's all cosy.... Not at all Huga - keep posting. I am enjoying keeping track of all the new versions. Do you work for Microsoft? Rich mobilis in mobili Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 Which is possibly worse. No, I don't work for Microsoft, I just like to let people have new featuers as quickly as possible. Anyone got any suggestions? I'm running out of ideas... -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
el10t Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:I work for the NHS... . . . Anyone got any suggestions? I'm running out of ideas... How about a feature to list caches by PCT? (sad NHS-related geography issue. Ignore at leisure ) Rich mobilis in mobili Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 14, 2003 Author Share Posted January 14, 2003 EasyMPS Version 0.35 (build 75) is now available for all at http://caching.iancowley.co.uk for all and sundry to download. New features: Command line scripting support! /m flag to export to Mapsource. /s flag to auto-save to a file /? flag to give ya guidance Much better filename handling. /q flag quits EasyMPS! Download it now and enjoy the fun! Previous builds are available on the website for those that don't like spangly, new, fab features. Go get it! advertisement> -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 A few points: 1. Command line scripting is stonking, but the usefulness of the /q flag is somewhat diminished by the fact that you still have to OK the 'Waypoints saved as...' dialog. 2. It doesn't remember my settings. I'm sure it did at one point. This is especially important for scripting. 3. 'Winston's view' still comes out as 'Winston’s view'. I refer the honourable gentleman to this thread. 4. If I go easymps c:myloc.loc /m /s c:mymps.mps /q, it creates the .mps file, saves it as both c:mymps.mps and c:temphugaxxxx.mps, then opens hugaxxxx.mps in MapSource. I want it to open mymps.mps. That ought to keep you busy. SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 14, 2003 Author Share Posted January 14, 2003 1. and 4. duly fixed. 2: Not sure which settings you mean.... 3: Will require more investigation. The new version's not on the site yet, as I'll add a few more bugfixes to it first (and possibly test it) -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 I run EasyMPS. I set Waypoint Icon to 'Geocache' and Display Options to 'Symbol & Desc'. I close EasyMPS. I run it again. It comes up with the things I just set set back to what they were before I set them. I want it to remember the settings I put in previously! Otherwise, running it from the command line will never do what I want. I could have sworn you'd done this already, but I just tried V0.3.39 and that didn't do it, so I think it must have been a dream. SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 14, 2003 Author Share Posted January 14, 2003 That's easy to do. Well, build 77 (with items 1 and 4 fixed) is now online, so grab it while you can, before a newer build replaces it! UPDATE: Build 78 is now there... It now remembers icon and display settings, as well as the window position on the screen. Enjoy! -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** [This message was edited by Huga on January 14, 2003 at 05:09 PM.] Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 15, 2003 Author Share Posted January 15, 2003 Thanks to MCL for working this out: How to add "Open in Mapsource" right-click functionality to .loc and .gpx files Ever wanted to just right-click on a .loc or .gpx file and have it open direct in Mapsource? Thanks to EasyMPS, this is a reality! Instructions: (These are for Windows XP, but they are similarish for earlierwindows versions) In Windows Explorer, click Tools then Folder Options. Go to the File Types tab, and search for .loc in the list (it'll be there if you have EasyGPS installed). Click the Advanced.. button. Click New.. to add a new association to it. Title the new association as "Open in Mapsource" For "Application used", browse for EasyMPS. Then, after the path and filename in the box, type the following: %1 /m /q so you'll either have: "c:foo barbazeasymps.exe" %1 /m /q or c:foobarbazeasymps.exe %1 /m /q (Depending on whether the path to EasyMPS has a space in it or not. Click OK, and OK out of all the dialog boxes. Find a .loc file, and right click, to see the pant-wettingly exciting "Open in Mapsource" function! Perform the same trickery for .gpx files. Fab! Latest version of EasyMPS (as ever) at: http://caching.iancowley.co.uk -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
crr003 Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Steady. Isn't it about time there was a support group set up to help with this level of reaction? My wife lets me hunt plastic boxes (humours me). If she could see this kind of reaction to plastic boxes and computer stuff that would be it! Nil Satis Nisi Optimum Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:Find a .loc file, and right click, to see the pant-wettingly exciting "Open in Mapsource" function! Or an only-slightly-pant-dampeningly exciting Parse Error message if the path of the .loc file has got a space in it. SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 15, 2003 Author Share Posted January 15, 2003 Sorry, you need to put a "" around the %1: "c:foo barbazeasymps.exe" "%1" /m /q or c:foobarbazeasymps.exe "%1" /m /q -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+SimonG Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 quote:Sorry, you need to put a "" around the %1 I'd already thought of that, but for some reason I'd decided it wouldn't work and you'd need to add quotes in the code. I'll go and hide my head in shame. SimonG.org Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I had missed this thread since I'm not in the U.K. Thanx to information from Ian, I've added code to http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net to handle mapsource input and output. It additionally reads and writes GPX, LOC, Mapsend, and a bunch of other formats as well as talking directly to GPSes over serial ports. It works on about any interesting operating system, including Linux, Windows, OS/X, Solaris, and a bunch more. Source is provided, so if it doesn't do what you want, you can make it do what you want. It really is meant to be a "back end" kind of tool. If you're looking for a fancy GUI waypoint editor, this isn't it. If you're looking for something to automate a task, it can be your friend. Special thank to Ian for cracking the Mapsource nut! Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Gah! My program has been stolen out from beneath me! Oh well, there's a newer, better version available. Version 0.38 build 112 of EasyMPS is now available. However, due to reasons completely beyond my control, I've temporarily lost write access to my webspace, so you'll have to get the new version from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rowans178/. There's also lib.zip and all the old versions there too. I'm going on holiday for a week tomorrow, so there'll be no more new versions Enjoy 0.38 while it's still hot! Changes from version 0.35: * New splash/help screen rather than a dialog. * Changed the graphic slightly so it doesn't look so weird * Added "Open in Mapsource" right-click menu option in Explorer (optional) functionality * Made saving files much much much faster (only really noticeable on large files like the UK Trigpoints database) * Added a "Generate .loc" button. Now you can import loads of .loc files and export them as one! * Couple of minor bug fixes * Made imports faster * Reduced RAM usage by tidying up some code and learning all about UDTs * The program now starts in the directory that EasyMPS is in, rather than c:. * The "Clear list" button works properly now (beforehand, it'd go wrong in certain circumstances) * Some other stuff I probably forgot Enjoy! -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Huga:Gah! My program has been stolen out from beneath me! Sorry if it came across that way. I really wasn't trying to steal your thunder and I (and many others) appreciate the hand with the Mapsource file format. Yours has a much nicer UI. GPSBabel was targeted to run on every computer imaginable and to provide something that was highly automatable. So while there is some overlap (they can both merge multiple files, for example) they really do seem to have two different focuses. One user is using GPSBabel from a CGI script to provide waypoints on a download page in a user-specified format on a Solaris server; this would be hard to do with EasyMPS. OTOH, as people point out, GPSBabel is kind of ugly. :-) If you're interested in using GPSBabel as the back-end to your program (maybe you have desires to write other files formats like MapSend or direct serial port access) contact me. We might be able to both reduce our effort in the intersection. Thanx again! Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted January 24, 2003 Author Share Posted January 24, 2003 quote:Originally posted by robertlipe: quote:Originally posted by Huga:Gah! My program has been stolen out from beneath me! Sorry if it came across that way. I really wasn't trying to steal your thunder.. Ooops, forgot the smilie winky thing on my original post -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
+Huga Posted April 23, 2003 Author Share Posted April 23, 2003 Just to let you all know that the EasyMPS webpage is now at http://www.iancowley.co.uk/caching/easyMPS.shtml, so please update your bookmarks. Oh, and version 0.39.113 is out, with the following updates: * Bug-fixed check-box not picking up registry setting * Removed form-body right-click fror about menu * Made the program assign the description of a waypoint to the name field if no name field exists for importing ExpertGPs GPX files. * Started thinking about importing MPs files - not implemented yet So I'm starting a bit more work on the program - if anyone has any suggestions/bugs, then let me know at easymps@iancowley.co.uk and I'll try to fix bugs and incorporate ideas. -- **Mother is the name of God on the lips of all children** Quote Link to comment
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