Hi Guys

For those of you who carry a gps when you go cycling in our awesome forest I have made an auto routing map. It seems to work quite well most of the time although some of the trails come back on themselves very closely and mess with the routing. It always sorts itself before the end of the trail though and will always give turn directions a good few seconds before the turn. I have used it to plot out routes before leaving and it will tell me the distance of the ride and approximate time it will take. As I am a slow bastard it might be a little out for you speed demons.

You can find the map here. http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/mapview.php?id=2207

Enjoy and please do give me some feed back on improvements or suggestions.



Cheers to those who helped me make it. You know who you are.

Would you mind explaining a bit more for people that aren't that into gps software etc. What are the steps to go through to use this info?

Eg what are the 3 different files for: source, binary and log?
After you've downloaded them, how do you upload them to the GPS?
Can you view them in Google Earth (didn't seem to make sense to me when I did this?)?
What software do you need?
How could someone add a new track?
If I was new to Rotorua and wanted to use this info to do a 2hr grade 2-3 loop, how would I do this? Are there standard suggested loops at various grade levels?

Sorry for all the questions, but this looks like quite useful info, just not sure how best to apply it!

Jeff wrote: Would you mind explaining a bit more for people that aren't that into gps software etc. What are the steps to go through to use this info?

Eg what are the 3 different files for: source, binary and log?
After you've downloaded them, how do you upload them to the GPS?
Can you view them in Google Earth (didn't seem to make sense to me when I did this?)?
What software do you need?
How could someone add a new track?
If I was new to Rotorua and wanted to use this info to do a 2hr grade 2-3 loop, how would I do this? Are there standard suggested loops at various grade levels?

Sorry for all the questions, but this looks like quite useful info, just not sure how best to apply it!

All fair enough questions I guess.
First of all, you need a Garmin GPS with mapping and autorouting capabilities for this to work along with Mapsource (the software that comes with your Garmin). On top of that you need a Compiler that will take the Binary file and install it into Mapsource. I use a program called M3 ... its free, simple to use and it works . You can read about it and download it here http://www.malsingmaps.com/wiki/index.php/Adding_new_maps_to_Mapsource

No you cannot view the files in Google Maps. And I would strongly suggest to anybody new to the area to buy the $5 map available in any of the bikes shops or the information center. Its too easy to get lost if your GPS fails for any reason.

So here is what you do. Install M3 and download the Binary file. Then use M3 and complie it into Mapsource. Once you have it in Mapsource you can upload it to your GPS and use it.

I haven't settup any premade suggested routes (not sure how to do that ... I am pretty new to the mapping thing and still learning) and I wouldn't want to suggest a route as it leads to huge discussions as to which route is better. Easier to leave it to people to settup their own routes. The routing can either be done from your GPS or Mapsource and will give you the total kilometers for each leg of the route, total time and ETA at the end of the route. INterestingly I downgraded the main access roads so now the autorouting will prefer to take trails. So from the carpark to the top of "Be rude not to" for instance it will take you up nursery road down "A trail" and up "The Tickler" and back down via "Be rude not to", "Pig Trail", "the Dipper", "Tahi 2", and Rosebank.

Hope that helps

ArjanH wrote:For those of you who carry a gps when you go cycling in our awesome forest I have made an auto routing map.

That's awesome work.

ArjanH wrote:No you cannot view the files in Google Maps.

Actually you can (though Google Earth is easier/better). With a bit of format conversion and some other magic, attached is a Google Earth file that shows all of the tracks. Also attached is a screenshot of what you'll see in Google Earth.

oh, fantastic, this looks great, especially when you tilt it and look in 3-D. Thanks.

Any chance of adding the little red riding huck and corners tracks? Dragons tail, No Brains, Hot X Buns, Turkish Delight, Tuhoto Ariki, all the taniwha DH permutations (team line, unrideable, the river, fools gold, 24 carat), double down, K2, Eastern Spice, Sidewinder, Mossy track, Sulphur point track, also missing

Jeff wrote: oh, fantastic, this looks great, especially when you tilt it and look in 3-D. Thanks.

Any chance of adding the little red riding huck and corners tracks? Dragons tail, No Brains, Hot X Buns, Turkish Delight, Tuhoto Ariki, all the taniwha DH permutations (team line, unrideable, the river, fools gold, 24 carat), double down, K2, Eastern Spice, Sidewinder, Mossy track, Sulphur point track, also missing

I've got the GPS data for Huckleberry Hound, Little Red Riding Huck, Corners, Dragon's Tail, Hot X Buns and Turkish Delight, if that would help at all. I can also get Sidewinder easily enough, as I'll be riding up towards there tomorrow. Arjan, how hard is it to add new trails if I send you this extra data?

Cheers,

- Erik.

iodi wrote:

ArjanH wrote:For those of you who carry a gps when you go cycling in our awesome forest I have made an auto routing map.

That's awesome work.

ArjanH wrote:No you cannot view the files in Google Maps.

Actually you can (though Google Earth is easier/better). With a bit of format conversion and some other magic, attached is a Google Earth file that shows all of the tracks. Also attached is a screenshot of what you'll see in Google Earth.

Dang! LOL .... Actually I was thinking about it today and thought that you probably could convert it to but I couldnt be bothered trying to figure out how to do it.

Jeff wrote: oh, fantastic, this looks great, especially when you tilt it and look in 3-D. Thanks.

Any chance of adding the little red riding huck and corners tracks? Dragons tail, No Brains, Hot X Buns, Turkish Delight, Tuhoto Ariki, all the taniwha DH permutations (team line, unrideable, the river, fools gold, 24 carat), double down, K2, Eastern Spice, Sidewinder, Mossy track, Sulphur point track, also missing

I dont get up those tracks very often so if somebody has the track data I could easily add it.

tall_erik wrote:

Jeff wrote: oh, fantastic, this looks great, especially when you tilt it and look in 3-D. Thanks.

Any chance of adding the little red riding huck and corners tracks? Dragons tail, No Brains, Hot X Buns, Turkish Delight, Tuhoto Ariki, all the taniwha DH permutations (team line, unrideable, the river, fools gold, 24 carat), double down, K2, Eastern Spice, Sidewinder, Mossy track, Sulphur point track, also missing

I've got the GPS data for Huckleberry Hound, Little Red Riding Huck, Corners, Dragon's Tail, Hot X Buns and Turkish Delight, if that would help at all. I can also get Sidewinder easily enough, as I'll be riding up towards there tomorrow. Arjan, how hard is it to add new trails if I send you this extra data?

Cheers,

- Erik.

Easy dude ... just send me the data and I will have it up in the next couple of days.

Easy dude ... just send me the data and I will have it up in the next couple of days.

Cool. I'll do Sidewinder tomorrow as part of my hilly ride, and then I'll extract the trail data and send it your way...probably Thursday.

I'll have a go at getting the downhill data today and maybe Tuhoto if I'm feeling like braving the mud. My copy of mapsource doesn't work, but I have global mapper and google earth plus. both of which I think can extract GPS data from my garmin...

I was also thinking there are 5 suggested outback loops on the whaka map, so they are probably a good start to recommending loops to people. Once they have done those, they will know the forest well and can mix and match.

iodi wrote:

ArjanH wrote:For those of you who carry a gps when you go cycling in our awesome forest I have made an auto routing map.

That's awesome work.

ArjanH wrote:No you cannot view the files in Google Maps.

Actually you can (though Google Earth is easier/better). With a bit of format conversion and some other magic, attached is a Google Earth file that shows all of the tracks. Also attached is a screenshot of what you'll see in Google Earth.

OK ... I have made some modifications to the Google earth map. Mainly I coloured and widened the tracks so they are easier to find and classify.

Jeff wrote: I was also thinking there are 5 suggested outback loops on the whaka map, so they are probably a good start to recommending loops to people. Once they have done those, they will know the forest well and can mix and match.

I will see if i can somehow add those .... they might appears as POI's in your Garmin.

ArjanH wrote:OK ... I have made some modifications to the Google earth map. Mainly I coloured and widened the tracks so they are easier to find and classify.

I noticed that some of the tracks are in parts that have the same name - eg. Billy T has two parts. Is there a particular reason for that? Or perhaps it is an artefact of the conversion I did?