Computerized Topo Maps
How Good Are They?
Part II: ENTERING WAYPOINTS AND ROUTES
By Dr. Brad DeLong
Author of 4-Wheel Freedom: The Art of
Off-Road Driving
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How to create waypoints, routes, and measuring lines
You can create waypoints on a map in your computer either by downloading them from your GPS unit, or by drawing them directly on the map. All the programs let you do this.
They also give you various options for creating a tag for each waypoint which appear on the map on your computer screen or on a map which you print out. A tag can include a simple number (001, 002, etc), a name (CAMPSITE, big pine tree, Indian Village, etc), the latitude and longitude of the waypoint, the date and time of its creation either on the map or in your GPS, and so forth. If the tags contain too much information, they will obscure your route, especially in zoomed out scales.
When you connect the waypoints in a specific order, you have created a route. These programs let you either create a bunch of waypoints then connect them later as a route, or they let you save the waypoints in a specific route as you create them.
The programs also let you measure distance and direction from a fixed point.
DeLorme Topo USA 2.0 and DeLorme 3-D TopoQuads
These two programs use essentially the same commands. Maps are centered by putting the crosshair-cursor on the location you want to bring to the center of the screen, and left clicking the mouse. You can also click the cursor to re-center the map overview image in the lower right of the screen. This allows you to cover large segments of territory.
You can move a map by putting the cursor near one of its borders. The cursor changes to an arrow. Click the mouse and the map moves in the direction of the arrow.
We’ll see how waypoints and routes are created using Topo USA 2.0, then look at direction lines in 3-D TopoQuads.
Creating waypoints and routes. Routes and waypoints
get created together in DeLorme. Bring up Topo USA 2.0. Click on the "Find" tab
to go to the location you want. Be sure you have the proper CD inserted. When the map
comes up, adjust the zoom level in the control panel.
The cursor will appear as a circle with crosshairs. Put it where you want the center of the map to be, and left click the mouse once. Click the "Navigate" tab. Click the "New/Edit" button, click the "New" button, and select the radio button for "Waypoints."
The cursor turns into an arrow and a little waypoint-route bar. Put it where you want the first waypoint and left click the mouse. A waypoint appears. If that’s the only waypoint you want, double click the left mouse. Otherwise, single click the left mouse, and position the cursor for the second waypoint. Left click the mouse once. Continue for all the waypoints you want. Double click the last waypoint to discontinue entering waypoints.
The waypoints have been put into a route, in this case "Route1."
You can type in a different route name if you wish, in this case "Newname."
Click the "Directions" button. Make sure "Newname" is selected, and see the waypoints for the route you’ve just created listed in order.
You can create more routes with other series of waypoints.
Creating route lines. The waypoints are connected in each route with a series of dotted lines, but these are hard to see on a printed map. To draw heavier lines that are easier to see, use the draw tool, and place different routes in different draw layers. Click on the "Draw" tab. You’ll save each line you draw in a different "Draw Layer." You can either create a new draw layer and then draw route lines in it, or you can draw a route line on the map, then place it in a new draw layer. We’ll draw a line, then put it in a draw layer. The use of draw layers is confusing. Here's how to do it:
Select the "File" button. The "Draw Layer" window appears. Make sure it’s empty. If it’s got draw layers in it, select each one and click "Close Layer." Click "Done."
Select the "Line" tool (the diagonal line). Select the "Style," "Color," and "Weight (thickness)" of the lines you’ll be drawing. Select the "Show Measurement" square if you want a little box to appear showing the distance and direction of the line you’re creating. The cursor changes into an arrow with a little line beside it.
Draw a route line connecting the lower left set of waypoints. Put the cursor on the first waypoint and click once, continue to the next waypoint and click once, and so forth. Double click on the last waypoint to discontinue drawing the line.
Now save this route in "DrawLayer1." Click the "File" button. The "Draw Layer" window appears. Click "New." A new draw layer, "DrawLayer1," appears in the list of layers. Click "Save" and click "Close." The red route line disappears, but has been saved in "DrawLayer1." Click "Done."
Now you’re back in "Draw" mode, with no route lines visible. Just to prove the one you just drew is still there, click "File" again. Select "DrawLayer1" in the list, and
click "Open." The line reappears. Click "Close Layer." Click "Done."
Back in "Draw" mode, select the line tool again, and connect the waypoints in the middle left series of waypoints. If you make a mistake, click the "Clear All" button, and the lines will disappear. You won’t erase the first route line you drew because you saved it in "DrawLayer1."
Save this second route in "DrawLayer2," using the same commands you did to save the first one. Do the same for the other two series of waypoints. You now have four draw layers in the "File" list, each containing a separate route.
You can add more material to each layer. Select "Drawlayer4," and click "Open." Now click "Done" without clicking "Close." You are back in the "Draw" dialog box and DrawLayer4 is still open and active. Whatever you add to the map at this point will go into DrawLayer4. Click "MapNotes (yellow arrow)," put the cursor where you want the MapNote box to be anchored, and left click the mouse. An editing box appears. Later, if you want to edit or move the MapNote box, click the "Select (red arrow)" button, click the cursor on the MapNote box, and when a dotted line appears around it, drag it where you want it, or enter new text into and hit the return. Click outside the dotted line or click again on the "Select" tool to turn off the tool.
Enter the text ("This is the eastern route.") in the editing box and hit "Return."
Now click on the "File" button. When the "DrawLayer" window pops up, click on "Save" and click on "Close Layer." Select "DrawLayer1" from the list, click "Open" and click "Done." Put a text box on the lower left route line that says, "This is the southern route." Click "File," click "Save" in the DrawLayer box and click "Close Layers."
Do the same for the other two drawlayers. Now each route line and its specific labeling MapNotes box appears in a separate drawlayer. You can add text, highlight terrain features, and perform other notating functions in the "Draw" dialog box.
Creating direction lines. We’ll switch to 3-D TopoQuads for this demonstration. Click on the "Draw" tab. Click on the line tool. Select the style, color, and weight (thickness) you want the line to be. Click the "Show Measurement" box "on." Put the cursor where you want the line to begin. Suppose you want to create a line 3,000 feet long on a bearing of 90º from the starting point. Click the left mouse button and release. Move the cursor as you read the distance and bearing in the small box that travels with the cursor.
When the figures reach your target values, double click the left mouse button to set the end point of the line and end the line.
Creating waypoints. Bring up Topo! This is the San Francisco Bay Area map in this example. Suppose you want to create a fun run route in San Francisco, starting at the Arguello gate of the Presidio, running through the Presidio, and ending up at the Presidio Avenue gate. You’ll later print out this map and give it to each participant.
Bring up Topo! and select the SF Bay Area map. Click on the "Preferences" menu, select "Waypoint labels," then select the type of tag you want to appear beside each waypoint. Name only, lat/long only, both, none, etc.
Click the right mouse button to bring up the zoom menu and select the setting you want. We’ve selected "Level 5 of 5, 1:12,000" for this example. Select the waypoint tool.
Place the cursor on the map where you want the first waypoint. Left click the mouse. An editing window will appear and you can rename the waypoint, change the latitude and longitude format, etc. You can also click the box so that the editing window doesn’t appear each time you create a waypoint.
If you want the editing window, click "Ok" after you’ve renamed the waypoint. If you elect not to have the editing window, just single left click each point where you want to place a waypoint. The waypoint, with the label you’ve selected, appears.
If you want to delete a waypoint:
Place the cursor over it. The cursor changes into a han
Right click the mouse. A dropdown menu appears.
Left click on "Delete." Notice the "Properties" option.If you want to bring back the waypoint label editing box, select "Properties" from the dropdown menu. The editing box reappears. If you’ve decided you want it every time you create a waypoint, click the box at the bottom of window.
As you enter waypoints, a separate screen appears at the bottom, listing the waypoints you are entering. You need this window when you upload to your GPS later, but if you don’t want it, put the cursor over its upper border, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the border down.
Enter all your waypoints.
Creating distance lines. We’ll look at how to draw distance lines in Topo!, because it’s related to creating straight-line routes. Here’s how to create a line on the map that measures the distance and the direction of the line.
Decide if you want the map to show magnetic bearings or true bearings. True is selected in this example.
Click on the compass tool in the toolbar.
The cursor becomes an anchor. Put the cursor-anchor at the point where you want the line to start. Left click the mouse and release to set the anchor. Move the cursor to the point where you want the line to end. Left click the mouse and release, without moving the cursor. A hand will appear, pointing to the end of the line, and a straight line will appear, running between the anchor and the end point. Read the direction and distance of the line in the box which appears beside the little.
If you decide you don’t want that line, put the cursor close to the line. When it becomes a hand, right click the mouse and select "Delete" from the dropdown menu.
The anchor will remain set at the same point until you re-select the compass tool or select some other tool. To put the anchor point somewhere else, click on the compass tool, then put the cursor where you want the new anchor point.
Creating route lines. This is tricky. These tips should save you a lot of frustration. You can create a route freehand or with straight lines. You can connect a series of waypoints and create a route, which we’ll do here.
First practice drawing a freehand route without connecting waypoints. Select the route tool.
The cursor turns into a pencil lying flat. Put the cursor where you want the route to start and left click the mouse and release. The pencil lifts up at an angle. Move the mouse and the lifted pencil traces a line. Left click mouse once. The pencil lies flat again, and the freehand route line is complete.
To create a straight line, do this exactly: 1. Put the pencil-cursor, which is lying flat, on the place you want the straight line to begin. 2. Press the shift key on your computer keyboard and hold it down. 3. With the shift key still down, left click the mouse and release. The pencil becomes an anchor. Keep the shift key down. 4. Move the cursor, which becomes a diamond. Keep the shift key down. No line appears yet. That’s ok. Put the diamond-cursor at the point where you want the straight line to end. Don’t click the mouse yet. 5. Release the shift key. Don’t move the cursor. A straight line appears and the pencil reappears, still lifted. 6. Now click the mouse button. A "+" appears beside the pencil and a box appears with the distance of the line. The "+" indicates that you could continue the same route, if you re-clicked the mouse right now. If you don’t re-click, move the cursor and the pencil drops flat.
Connecting waypoints. Select the route tool. Put the pencil-curser on the first waypoint. Hold down the shift key and keep it down. Left click the mouse and release. An anchor appears. Keep the shift key down, move the diamond-cursor to the next waypoint. Release the shift button. Don’t click the mouse button and don’t move the cursor. A straight line appears. Press the shift key down again, move the cursor without clicking the mouse, then release the shift key at the next waypoint to make the straight connecting line. Press the shift again, and so forth. At the last waypoint, click the mouse button to stop drawing lines.
Put the cursor anywhere along the route line so it changes into a hand, and read the total route distance from the box which appears.
Select the CD you want and put it in your computer. The picture of the state on the CD tells you what sections of the state that CD covers. Click the "Places" button on the toolbar. Type in the location you want. When the map comes up, click the "Bombsight" button, and center the location you want by double clicking the bombsight-cursor at that location.
Creating waypoints. Press F8 to bring up the waypoint editor. If it’s not empty, Click the "File" menu and select "New."
Put the cursor where you want the first waypoint to be. Right click the mouse and select "Add to Waypoint List," or just press F2. The waypoint editor disappears temporarily. The waypoint window appears. Select the format for latitude/longitude, and click "Ok." A small diamond appears, marking the waypoint. The waypoint editor window returns, and the coordinates of the new waypoint are in it. Enter another waypoint and the coordinates of the second waypoint appears. Enter a third.
Click the "Options" on the toolbar, select "Display Waypoint Comments," and select "Waypoint Name" and "Waypoint Description." You can select both of these, either one, or neither. We’ll select both. The waypoint will be labeled with a comment that you place after a semicolon in the waypoint editor. If you have "Waypoint Description" selected, but haven’t entered a description, then the coordinates after the first semicolon will be displayed. You can enter a different label, other than the coordinates of the waypoint, in the waypoint window when you press F2.
Creating distance lines. Press F8 to bring up the waypoint editor. If it’s not empty, click the "File" menu and select "New." Enter the following metacode in the first line to create a straight line from each waypoint in the list, going in the direction you specify: "<s line w=7 x=1mi r=0 _blue>." "s line" means "straight line," "w" is the width of the line (1 is thin, 10 is thick), "x=1mi" means the distance of the line will be one mile, "r=0" is the degrees of rotation of the line, with horizontal to the right being "0" degrees. You can leave the waypoint editor window open, or click it closed.
Now put your cursor where you want the distance line to begin. Right click the mouse, and select "Add to Waypoint List." The waypoint window opens. Select the format in which you want latitude/longitude to appear and Click "Ok." A straight blue line will appear, extending to the right.
You can also measure straight line distance from a point, without drawing a permanent line on the map, by using the "measurement spike." Put the cursor where you want the measurement to start. Right click the mouse and select "Set Measurement Spike," or press F6. This creates a small waypoint diamond at the cursor site. Then move the cursor in the direction you want to go, and read the distance and direction in the upper right of the screen.
Once a measurement spike was created, I couldn’t figure out any way to erase it, though it could be moved by hitting F6 at another cursor position.
Creating route lines. This is done with the meta codes in the waypoint editor again. This code will create a solid red connecting line with a thickness of 4 between the waypoints in a file: <L ON red solid 4>.
Then enter the waypoints. The line will automatically appear between them. You can change the color or thickness by changing the code and clicking "Reannotate." In this example we have deselected "Waypoint Name" in the "Options/Display Waypoint Comments" menu. Only the descriptions appear (#1, #2, #3, #4).
If you want to create a different route, save this one from the File menu, then click New and create another route, to be saved under a different name.
Load the map you want. We’ll use Micropath’s Wentworth Springs in California, imported, calibrated, and loaded. You can move around in the map by using the slider bars, but there’s a little trick that’s much faster, using the zoom dropdown menu. Normally you use the zoom menu, which appears when you right click and release your mouse, to change zoom settings and zoom in or out on the map. But you can center a location by placing your cursor over it, right clicking the mouse, and selecting the same zoom setting you’re already using.
Suppose you’re at a zoom setting of 100% and the Little Sluice
Box is in the lower right hand corner of your map (yellow arrow). You want to center it.
Put the cursor over the Little Sluice Box and right click the mouse. The zoom dropdown
menu appears.
Select 100%, the zoom setting you’re already using. Click on it, and the cursor location, which is the Little Sluice Box, will center in your map (yellow arrow).
Creating waypoints. Put the cursor where you want a waypoint and double left click the mouse. A waypoint appears each time you double click.
To delete a waypoint, select the "List" command in the "Waypoints" menu. A window appears, listing the waypoints. Highlight the one you want to delete, and click on "Delete."
You can give waypoints specific names in the "Waypoints/List" box.
Image - 400fugwp3.bm
Creating routes in Fugawi. After you’ve created the waypoints, select "List" in the "Route" menu. Make sure "Show" is checked in the "Route" menu. A window appears. Click the "Active" square. Decide which waypoints in the list on the left you want to be part of the route you’re creating. Highlight each one, and click "Add." As you do this, a route line is created from waypoint to waypoint. (Yellow arrows on the image.) Click "Save," give it a name, and click "Ok" in the Save window. We’ll name this one "LS.RTE" for "Little Sluice."
Route simulator mode. Create or load an active route. Select "Simulator" in the "Tools" menu. A window appears allowing you to set the speed of the moving cursor and turn the simulator mode on. The cursor will start at the first waypoint and move successively through the waypoints, giving you a warning each time it approaches a waypoint.
Creating distance lines. You can create lines from a waypoint, extending a specific distance in a specific direction. First create a waypoint (double click the left mouse button) where you want the line to begin. In the "Tools" menu, select "Destination." A window appears with the waypoint listed on the left. Highlight it, and enter the distance (1 mile in this case) and the bearing (90º in this example).
Then click one of the "Waypoint" buttons, depending on whether you want Great Circle (shortest) distance, or Rhumb Line (constant bearing) distance. We’ll click the top button for Great Circle. This brings up another window, telling you that Fugawi is about to place a waypoint at the destination point. Click "Ok."
The destination waypoint appears.
Create the one mile line by selecting "List" from the "Route" menu, and creating a route line as you did before. You now have a reference line on the map, one mile long, extending 90º due east.
More to come
In the next installment, we’ll cover the rest of what it takes to use one of these programs effectively:
Downloading and uploading between your GPS and the computer map program.
Active tracking with the GPS.
Printing maps.
Price and general comparisons of the programs.
Abbreviations:
CD – Compact disc. The media used for DRG topo maps and most computer programs these days.
DRG – Digitalized raster graphic. The standard used by the USGS for scanning maps for use in computers.
GPS - Global positioning system. "GPS" in these articles usually refers to a hand-held or vehicle mounted GPS receiver or device.
USFS – United States Forest Service.
USGS - United States Geological Survey. The agency that makes US topographical maps.
Computerized Topo Maps Home Page
Part I: Introduction | Basic GPS
w/ Terms | Interfacing with GPS | Contour Interval & Scale | Detail
& Quality
Part II: Introduction | Installation
and Technical Support | Ease of Use | Entering Waypoints and Routes
Part III: Introduction | Downloading
Tracks from your GPS | Actively Tracking from your GPS | Printing Maps
General Comparison of the Programs
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