Using OS grid coordinates in Mapsource

[Mouse]

I've been playing around trying to import some waypoint data into Mapsource (and hence into my Streetpilot 3).

Mapsource seems ot be able to display coordinates in the OS grid format, but can it import data using that coordinate system? So far my attempts to do so have been futile.

If not, I've got some code somewhere to convert from OS to lat/long, so I can do this if required.

Second question is - can I configure the Streetpilot itself to display OS grid coordinates? I can't find any option to change it from the lat/long it displays currently.

Thanks in advance

 

[Taff]

Mouse. Had a quick look at my SP3 and it seems that the unit will only save as Lat/Long, but once downloaded to the computer it is easy enough to change them automatically anyway. Have a crack at this:

On the computer, go to Edit - then Preferences - then Position. I assume your Grid box shows British National Grid but you feel more confident with Lat / Long - if I've read your thread correctly.

Say you have the OS Grid Ref for Carmarthen train station which is SN 41230 19674. Just Press Ctrl + W and enter the full Grid Ref as above, ie "SN 41230 19674". Press OK to mark this as a waypoint. Right click on the waypoint, and you will see the OS Grid Ref, under "Waypoint Properties"

Now, if you need the Lat / Long for the same waypoint, just go back to Edit - then Preferences - then Position and using the down arrow change your Grid box from "British National Grid" to the Lat/Long type you want, eg "hdd' mm.mmm" - press Apply - Press OK and hey presto - all the waypoints are still there but now with Lat / Long instead of Grid Ref. The same applies in reverse, eg if you have the Lat / Long, but want the OS Grid Ref.

Hope this helps & keep playing with it.

 

[Mouse]

Thanks for the reply EJ.

Actually the situation is slightly more complicated. I have a database of about 1400 waypoints, which uses OS grid coordinates. I want to import this database into Mapsource so I can use then these waypoints on my Streetpilot. I was hoping that with a bit of fiddling, Mapsource might be able to load a text file of the waypoints, but I don't think it will load OS coordinates.

So I'm writing a program to convert the coordinates in my database, and produce a file that Mapsource will load.

In case anyone's interested, the database is the full list of fords from http://www.wetroads.co.uk - I'll report back when I have some progress

 

[Clive]

In case anyone's interested, the database is the full list of fords from http://www.wetroads.co.uk - I'll report back when I have some progress

Good man - I wanted to do this a few months ago but never managed to find the time to look into how it could be done.

 

[Mouse]

Making progress - I have a program that will convert the original file into "GPX" files that MapSource will import.

There are two problems, I wonder if anyone has any ideas?

1 - How to organise the data. The wetroads web site has fords organised by county, which seems OK. There are about 1400 waypoints in all, and this seems to be too many for MapSource to handle, and certainly too many for most GPS units to handle. Has anyone got an idea for a better form of organisation than one file per county? I have the data in a database so I can easily filter it in pretty much any way.

2 - The data I'm using is from a file downloaded frm the wetroads web site, which is intended for some other brand of GPS software. But the data in this file is also out of date with respect to the info on the web site itself. I suspect it's a snapshot of the database taken some time ago. I've emailed the site maintainer about this, asking if it's possible to get a copy of his up to date database. If not, I may have to work out an automated way of gathering the data direct from the web site, thus allowing me to produce an up to date collection of waypoints at any time.

More on this as I make more progress

 

[Mouse]

Just to follow up to myself again!

The wetroads webmaster has got back to me, kindly giving me permission to use his data and pointing out an error in the conversion process I was using - the data I'm working on isn't out of date at all, I was just doing it wrong!

So in the next day or two, I should be able to post a collection of GPX files (MapSource reads these, and I'm guessing other mapping software will too) containing waypoints of all the fords