MagWay - Magellan Waypoint Editor --------------------------------- Version 1.3.0 Release --------------------- These are still early releases of the program, please report any bugs and inconsistencies to the author. General Notes ============= The program was developed using a GPS315 with version 3.15 firmware, but it should also work with the Tracker, ColorTrak and Map410. You #MUST# disable NMEA output from the GPS whilst using MagWay. The program monitors for NMEA output when you first connect to the GPS, but if it starts after the initial connection, the results will be unreliable. If connected to a GPS, when deleting Waypoints or Routes, MagWay will ask if you want to delete the corresponding entry in the GPS. The Options menu has a 'Comm Port Monitor' entry that allows you to pop up a window that shows the messages being sent and received by MagWay - Note that it may not show ALL messages received, I don't monitor for data when I'm not expecting it! However this window may provide useful information when reporting bugs. You can optionally display grid lines on all the screens. This is controlled from the setup screen. To sort the displayed data, just click on a column heading. Clicking the same heading twice reverses the sort order. Installation ============ There are two versions of the installation files, one with the Visual Basic runtime libraries (approximately 2MB in size) and one without the VB runtimes (approximately 1MB in size). Make sure that you use the appropriate version - the smaller version may be used for updated versions of the program, or if you are sure that the VB 6 runtime libraries are installed on your system. Unzip the downloaded file to a temporary directory, and then run Setup.exe. International Users =================== If your Windows number format normally uses the comma (,) as a decimal separator; then MagWay will FORCE you to use the USA/UK format of the period for the decimal. This is to ensure compatibility, both in file formats, and with the GPS units. Waypoints ========= All the supported Magellan units hold a nominal 500 user waypoints (it appears that in certain cases they will hold a few more.) However if you attempt to upload more than 500 waypoints, the GPS315/320 will corrupt ALL the user waypoints it contains. MagWay will warn you about this. This problem has been reported to Magellan. Be aware that the above problem is if the total IN THE GPS exceeds 500 you will get corruption. If you already had 450 waypoints in the GPS and you attempt to upload another 70, you will probably lose the lot! Another restriction with GPS315/320 (can anyone confirm other units?) is that only 100 waypoints can have a description stored with them. Any waypoints uploaded with descriptions after 100 have been used will have the description discarded by the GPS. Waypoints should ALWAYS be entered in MagWay as WGS84 datum (see Datums section below), unless your GPS supports uploading in different datums. The GPS315/320 doesn't, can anyone confirm the behaviour of other units please. Datums ====== Please note that the Magellan GPS315/320 units send their waypoints to the PC in the WGS84 datum. The waypoints on the GPS are displayed in the lat/lon of the PRIMARY datum you have defined. Thus if you are using a primary datum other than WGS, the lat/lon will appear different in MagWay from your GPS. Further more you should always quote the datum used when exchanging data with other people. Remember - the datum is very, very important to the accuracy. Currently MagWay does not allow you to manually set the datum from the options screen, this will be enabled in future releases OSGB, OSNI, and OSRoI ===================== Magway supports the ability to enter/edit waypoints using the UK OSGB, Northern Ireland OSNI, and OS Republic of Ireland OSRoI grid reference format. There is now both sheet letter and full 12 digit grid reference support (eg TL 68900 23475 and 568900 223475) for OSGB grid references. MagWay still displays and stores the waypoints in WGS84 Lat/Lon. UTM Support =========== MagWay now supports entering and editing coordinates in UTM format. The UTM input/display utilises the Zone, Letter, Easting, Northing format. Routes ====== If you cancel the upload of a large Route once it has started, it can leave the GPS in an inconsistent state (certainly the GPS315/320). Where the Route number shows on the GPS as 'unused', but if you 'View/Edit this unused route it contains waypoints! Subsequent uploads to this route number will fail. If this happens the route must be first 'saved' then 'deleted' on the GPS unit itself to resolve the situation. This has been reported to Magellan. For the current release I have attempted to correct this by letting the current route being uploaded run to completion before exiting the upload. You cannot upload Routes to GPS315/320 that contain POIs or Waypoints that you haven't yet installed/uploaded. MagWay will download Routes with POIs, but any subsequent upload will fail with an 'UNABLE' response from the GPS. I have taken up this problem with Magellan. Tracks ====== The GPS315 only supports a single unnamed Track, I'm not sure of the situation with other Magellan models, but MagWay will save/upload track names if they are supported by your unit. When uploading a Track any existing Track in the GPS is deleted first. It is up to the user to disable the track logging to prevent more track points being added to the uploaded track. Track points are always up and downloaded in WGS84 datum (definitely for the GPS315/320 - other units to be confirmed, please check yours) Speed ===== At data rates above 4800bps I enable 'Data Transfer Mode' on the GPS (if its available on your unit). This will require the GPs to be power reset before it can be used as a 'GPS' again. I have tested downloading 1250 track points from my GPS 315 - the max it will store) and obtained the following times: Data Rate Time (secs) Notes 4800 260 9600 110 Data transfer mode enabled 19200 65 Data transfer mode enabled I can only get 19200bps to work reliably with my GPS315 when it is running on an external power supply. File Formats ============ MagWay uses (almost) the same file formats as Waypoint+, so you should be able to exchange waypoint, route and track files with Garmin users. MagWay always writes the latitude/longitude information into the files in degrees & minutes format (DM). I have coded it so that it #should# be able to read decimal degree, and degree-minute-second formatted Waypoint+ files. The format of lat/lon is defined by the second field in each record and is defined as follows: D = DD.dddd DM = DD.MMmmmm DMS = DD.MMSS The convention is negative latitude is South, negative longitude is West. MM = Integer portion, mmm = decimal portion. Waypoint file format ==================== The record format is similar to the Waypoint+ comma delimited format with the addition of two extra fields (icon and altitude) that aren't used on Garmin receivers. WP,DM,name,lat,lon,mm/dd/yyyy,hh:mm:ss,description,icon,altitude So for example: WP,DM,HOME , 53.19123,-002.25123,11/30/1999,12:12:00,MY HOME,m,0000072M Defines a waypoint called HOME, at latitude 53d19.123m North, 002d25.123m West, at an altitude of 72 metres. It has a description of MY HOME, uses icon 'm' and this waypoint was 'saved to file' at 12:12 on 30th Nov 1999. Route file format ================= The record format is the same used by Waypoint+, however the Magellan units only use the name of Waypoints and requires these Waypoints to be present in the GPS in order to use the Route. The lat & lon fields are set if the waypoints used in the route are present in MagWay, otherwise they are set to zero in the saved text file. A Route consists of two types of record. The first 'RouteName' defines the route number and a description entry for the Route. This description is not used in GPS315/320 models, but I have included it in case it is required by other models. This is followed by multiple 'RoutePoint' entries which define the waypoints for the route. These 'RoutePoint's are added to the Route until either the end of the file is reached, or another 'RouteName' record is encountered. RN,route#,description RP,DM,waypointname,lat,lon,mm/dd/yyyy,hh:mm:ss,description For example: RN,03,GHIJKL to ABCDEF RP,DM,GHIJKL,-42.06000, 121.25050,11/29/1999,14:16:00,BASE CAMP RP,DM,ABCDEF, 53.19123,-002.15123,11/29/1999,14:16:00,RIVER X-ING RP,DM,XYZ , 43.34300,-021.05500,11/29/1999,14:16:00, RP,DM,ABCDEF, 53.19123,-002.15123,11/29/1999,14:16:00,NTH CARDINAL RP,DM,GHIJKL,-42.06000, 121.25050,11/29/1999,14:16:00,LIGHT HOUSE RP,DM,ABCDEF, 53.19123,-002.15123,11/29/1999,14:16:00,DESTINATION Defines Route number '03' which consists of 5 legs. Note: For the GPS315/320 the date/time information is when the information was saved to file. Not when it was created. The GPS315/320 does not hold date/time information for waypoints, routes, or trackpoints. Track file format ================= This is similar to the Waypoint+ format with the addition of three extra fields (Altitude, fix valid flag, and Track Description) that aren't used in Garmin receivers. TP,DM,lat,lon,mm/dd/yyyy,hh:mm:ss,fFirst,altitude,fValid,description The fFirst field is not used by Magellan, but I set the field anyway for compatibility with Waypoint+. For example: TP,DM, 53.19517,-002.14572,12/7/1999,21:18:00,1,0000000M,A, TP,DM, 53.19516,-002.14577,12/7/1999,21:18:00,0,0000000M,A, TP,DM, 53.19515,-002.14583,12/7/1999,21:18:00,0,0000000M,A, TP,DM, 53.19514,-002.14588,12/7/1999,21:18:00,0,0000000M,A, Defines a Track with 4 points (not very long!), with the fFirst flag set for the first record. The GPS315/320 does not provide and date/time, altitude, or description information. For these units the date/time fields are set to the time the file was saved. Change History ============== Version 1.3.0 - Added OSGB Sheet letter grid references. - Changed OSGB calculations to utilize the new OS ETRS89, OSTN02 models - Added support for OS Northern Ireland, and OS Republic of Ireland grid references - New waypoints now default to zero altitude. - Added UTM support - fixed at WGS84 datum for now. - Fixed bug in route download from GPS where the waypoint number was not reset at the start of a new route. Version 1.2.1 - Fixed a rounding error in the OSGB routines (my fault). - Fixed an offset error in the OSGB routines (OS documentation!) Version 1.2.0 - Fixed spelling of 'Ordnance' Survey in the datums! - Added the ability to edit waypoints in OSGB grid reference format. Version 1.1.3 - Added height unit preference to the options screen, you can now select between feet, metres, and "don't care". Version 1.1.2 - Fixed another bug for international users that use the comma as a decimal. I hate VB's 'intelligent' handling of locales! - Added the ability to set the datum used in your GPS. TAKE CARE, see the datum notes in this file. - Added datum checking when loading from file. - Added icon letter validation when downloading from GPS. Some other programs appear to upload waypoints with invalid icons, MagWay will correct these when downloading. - Added the Icon letter back to the Waypoint screen, to allow sorting by Icon. Version 1.1.1 - Fixed a file IO bug that crept into version 1.1.0 - Sorry! - Also took to opportunity to make file IO more robust. Version 1.1.0 - Now displays the waypoint Icon on the main waypoint screen. - Separated various fields for 'my' convenience. - Added the trackpoint number to the track screen. - You can now sort (ascending and descending) on any field in the waypoint and track screens. - You can now display grid lines on the screens. - Added the ability to 'append' data to existing files. Version 1.0.1 - Added 'Loading waypoints. Please wait..." dialog when editing existing routes. This removes the ability for the user to repeatedly click the edit button when working with large numbers of waypoints. - Now clears the route description from route editor when a route is deleted. - Fixed extraneous error messages after you canceled a file load or save. - Changed 'Connect' label to read 'Disconn' when you are connected. - Added the ability to select and delete multiple waypoints. - Now warns you if you try to save to a file that already exists. Version 1.0.0 - Initial release Things to do ============ - Add further error checking to the file i/o routines. - Add more internal error checking. - Add different Icon sets for other Magellan models. - Change the code to cope with NMEA messages. The Author ========== I am not a professional programmer, so bear with me on this! Fixes may take a day, or weeks to implement as I can only spare so much time to this 'hobby'. I can be contacted via e-mail at gps@markcrossley.co.uk Thanks for making the effort to look at this program. Mark Crossley 18th Oct 2002