GPX to Nav6 via iPhone

leedude03 said:

the more hoops you make your route jump through the more likely it is to go all fubar, if you can get used to one using one piece of software or find one that suits your use then stick with that, you say you are using gps visuliser to convert google routes to kml and then to gpx, again many stages for it to go wrong, also i was under the impression that gps visuliser no longer worked unless you had an api key (i may be wrong on that having not used it for a good while) anyway many things for you to think about and try out.

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peejay1977 said:

I'm exporting it directly out of Google Maps as a KML file, largely due to the API key issue. Then gps visualiser to convert the KML to GPX. It's arguably too many hoops but at the time I started doing it that way it was largely to avoid using the TomTom MyDrive website as it's shockingly bad (IMHO).

This has worked without issue for the last 3 years, but I agree that any extra hoops in the process are likely to introduce unforseen results so it would be good to just make a route, and sync with the Garmin so I'll give BaseCamp a whirl to map a route that I've done in the past from Home to Bala Lake and then onto Barmouth and see how easy the process is compared to my usual method.

Although Google Maps is easier to map out than MyDrive, it still has it's own quirks. Thanks again Lee, appreciate the input/help!

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leedude03 said:

As said above you may find map source easier to get along with, or you may want to try some of the online maping sites, i believe Wapping is a big fan of https://kurviger.de/en i have also used it and found it to be very good.

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Wapping said:

Kurviger is great for answering the commonly asked (see the travel section) question of: "Me and my six mates want to go from (insert sometimes vague place) to (insert sometimes vague place) and we don't want motorways and we don't want to do it ourselves and we leave tomorrow". Are its routes perfect? No, of course not. Is it better than asking Garmin or other software to find a route that you do not create yourself, maybe yes. Is it an easy way to show people where to go? Yes.

The short answer, is there is no easy and 100% reliable cheat, so buy a map and have a go with BaseCamp or Mapsource or whatever method floats your boat.

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Wapping said:

A couple of hints:

If you use Kurviger, ask the software to export it as a track, not a route. If it comes into BaseCamp as a route it may well arrive with a host of waypoints.

The track will appear as a sometimes hard to see grey line in BaseCamp. Change its colour. Then ask BaseCamp to give you a classic A (start point) to B (end point) with A being at the start of the track and B a at the end. Now use the route shaping tool to drag the magenta line over the track. If you zoom in a bit you might find this easier. Watch out for any stupid goat tracks the Kurviger track takes. In short, shape the route just as if you were creating it yourself, with no help from Kurviger at all. Always check the route when you have finished it and again before you use it in your device. There is a bit of a knack to shaping but it gets easier with regular use.

The A to B method and then shaping with the shaping tool is, I think, the easiest way to work in BaseCamp, irrespective of anything else. As before, I think it's easiest to have all the owner set preference settings set to off. Other opinions and methods will be out there. Find what works for you.

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Wapping said:

Five more tips when shaping a route.

Start shaping somewhere near the middle of the route, dragging the magenta line onto the road you want to take. If by chance the magenta line is already on the road, you can fix it there. To do this: Using the route shaping tool, drag the magenta line away and then bring it back. This will (on a Mac, in BaseCamp, at least) create a waypoint at that point. You can convert a waypoint to a shaping point and visa-versa, see several threads on how to do this. You now have a route A to B via the point you fixed. In other words, you have divided the route into two halves. Now go halfway along each of the halves, dragging again as necessary. Each time you drag you will create a fixed waypoint. Keep going until you are happy.

Tip two: When you drag, just make sure that the route before and after the point you are dragging at does not change. You can sometimes spot the route what I'd call 'flitting about'. If it does, simply undo and change the point you are dragging from. As I say, there is a bit of a knack to it but it's really not as hard as some bods make out. I use the undo / re-do buttons quite a lot, as it helps me to see what changes were made.

Tip three: When shaping, take care that you are dragging onto the right road, particularly on dual carriageways. The zoom tool is your friend, trust me. You can usually spot when something is wrong when the route cursor starts heading in bizarre directions. You can also spot it when the route takes a strange direction for no obvious reason. On a Mac in BaseCamp a shaping point that is placed off a road shows up as a point with a number next to it. These make them easier to spot and to correct. In short, check and check again.

Tip four. When shaping, the software will and must shape according to your pre-set preferences. If you have set your preferences to avoid motorways, it will do its very best to do just that. It will aslo sometimes cut a little corner or avoid a perfectly good ring road, just because it is a yard shorter to do so. If you spot it doing it, correct it then and there. Zoom, undo / redo and checking really are your friends, trust me. Five minutes spent at home may well translate into several frustrating minutes in the rain or burning sun.... trust me again.

Tip five. A really big monitor screen really helps, especially when you are learning.

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