GPS for surveying

[Ali Wood]

Anyone out there managed to use MyTracks with a Nokia (Windows) phone? Tracks nicely on the local phone itself, and can see Tracks etc etc but can't seem to work out how to transfer (as a technophobe) to a PC or even to a SkyDrive despite being correctly signed up to latter. Any suggestions welcome

[Nimby]

Anyone out there managed to use MyTracks with a Nokia (Windows) phone?

With the Android version there's an "export" option in the menu which saves tracks either as a GPX or KML to the My Tracks folder.

I've done some comparisons taking both my phone (HTC One X and My Tracks) and a Garmin 76CSX (high-sensitivity receiver type) on walks in both open and forest, then comparing the tracks. I found very little difference - maybe 5-10 metres, which was about the accuracy the GPS was reporting anyway. That would make the new Android version of OO Maper worth considering.

[Ali Wood]

With the Android version....

No such option on my phone unfortunately

[Ali Wood]

My saga on proposed GPS surveying has taken a new twist.
As my Windows phone app was not up to the mark, I was persuaded, thanks to advice from Sloop, to buy a Garmin Forerunner 220.
Unfortunately, it did not have the ability to record 'waypoints', which I believed would have helped log features while surveying. Woops.
I then researched more and decided to exchange the 220 for an (older model) 310XT, which was advertised as having waypoint capability. Amazon were no trouble at doing the return and re-order.
Alas, again the guys at Garmin (when I managed to get through) were pretty clueless in recommending this, despite me telling them exactly what wanted to achieve. The 310XT can record waypoints, yes, but can they be downloaded to Garmin Connect? NO!!
Am I the only person in the world who feels bamboozled by all the rosy Garmin advertising?
So, I will probably keep the 310XT, use it to trace my route and manually record each boulder, knoll and re-entrant.
Others with my numbskull technical nowse , be warned to read the smallprint!

[roadrunner]

I don't know about the 310 specifically, but there's more software available than just Garmin Connect: I use SportTracks from zonefivesoftware.com. It would be worth looking at whether this, or any other programs, can do what Garmin Connect can't.

[Ali Wood]

Thanks roadrunner. I am told that unfortunately the watch does not record the waypoint data on any of the download files.

[cbg]

My non-technical solution was to make a definite direction change at each 'waypoint' - e.g. walk in a circle around it, or walk out a cross, or a 'V' if restricted by the terrain.

[Dave]

Can't you view to coordinate data of the saved way points on the watch itself and just write them down? I'm sure you could do that on the FR405 I had.

[Spookster]

Thanks roadrunner. I am told that unfortunately the watch does not record the waypoint data on any of the download files.

That sounds very unlikely. The 310XT can record 100 user waypoints. I'd be amazed if those aren't included in a download track file. Have you managed to download a GPX file? If so, look for <wpt> tags in it. Those are your waypoints.

[jac]

Thanks roadrunner. I am told that unfortunately the watch does not record the waypoint data on any of the download files.

That sounds very unlikely. The 310XT can record 100 user waypoints. I'd be amazed if those aren't included in a download track file. Have you managed to download a GPX file? If so, look for <wpt> tags in it. Those are your waypoints.

The trouble is that you can't interrogate the device except via the Garmin protocols for the ANT device, and the Garmin protocols don't transfer the waypoints.

The workaround is to start the stopwatch and then take splits at each 'waypoint' . The split information is downloaded via ANT, and the locations corresponding to the split times are what you need.

[PG]

So, I will probably keep the 310XT

I wouldn't recommend a Forerunner 310XT.

Anybody else had problems with transfers from 310XT to PC? My old 305 had a good solid cable connection to a USB port and never gave any problems. The ANT wireless communication for the 310XT has been nothing but problems. My Windows XP laptop never worked as the installation ended up with an unlockable duff registry entry. My Windows XP netbook worked fine for a few weeks, but then gave up. New Windows 8.1 laptop only works after a reinstall of Garmin Express, so my current process is to save up runs till I need a track for an external site (like Routegadget) then deinstall and reinstall Express.

Garmin are way way behind on their promised three day turnaround on support emails. I've just had a reply to a 21-day-old email on the XP problems. This suggests that many others are having problems with Garmin devices and means I still have had no answer to my current problem.

[alder]

Anybody else had problems with transfers from 310XT to PC?

No - but then we don't use Garmin Express or Garmin Connect. We decided to use the older stand-alone Training Centre to save & display our runs from our 310XT & FR210 as we didn't want to be tied to an online system when we're away & don't have wifi. The FR210 has a USB connection, & we use an additional program, ANT Agent, to transfer data from the 310XT. You can download both programs from http://www8.garmin.com/support/collecti ... 9-99999-04

Training Centre will display the basic data & will export GPX files for RG etc & will also export the file directly to Google Earth, which is handy sometimes. We've used these programs on Win XP, 7, & 8.1 with no problems at all.

[Ali Wood]

OK, so the download file from the Garmin 310XT via the ANT connection does not contain waypoints (and I looked at the gpx file, there were indeed no <wpt> tags). But stopping and noting the times I reached each feature, plus seeing where I changed direction, was, I guess, enough to identify what I needed.
The next challenge was to get this automatically into my OCAD 8, yes 8! I realise there are ways of manually creating a JPEG from the GPX data, but ExpertGPS (trial version) shows a real map of the right area with the correct trace on it - this got me from GPX to DXF, which OCAD 8 accepts. Fine.
But having imported into OCAD 8, I can't see anything of the DXF data. Apparently it should appear in grey but I cannot find it anywhere. There are various options on the DXF upload, to do with offsets and layers the like, which I don't really understand.
Any suggestions?
Thanks for all your helpful comments so far.

[roadrunner]

Anybody else had problems with transfers from 310XT to PC?

No - but then we don't use Garmin Express or Garmin Connect. We decided to use the older stand-alone Training Centre to save & display our runs from our 310XT & FR210 as we didn't want to be tied to an online system when we're away & don't have wifi. The FR210 has a USB connection, & we use an additional program, ANT Agent, to transfer data from the 310XT. You can download both programs from http://www8.garmin.com/support/collecti ... 9-99999-04

Training Centre will display the basic data & will export GPX files for RG etc & will also export the file directly to Google Earth, which is handy sometimes. We've used these programs on Win XP, 7, & 8.1 with no problems at all.

I too use Training Centre and I've rarely had problems with transfers (and as far as I can recall, resetting the Garmin is the worst that's been necessary to fix them). The only other issues have been with transferring workouts and routes, where at times I've ended up with multiple copies on both the Garmin and Training Centre, but that isn't relevant for this application.

[John-O]

I used to use a Garmin 305 in "every second" mode with the map display turned on and zoomed in. This latter was handy because you could check whether the track it was recording looked right. I also used the lap function to record "waypoints" because it only took one press of a button. These numbered lap points would show up in SportsTracks and a saved impage could be used with or without a map background as a background map in OCAD. Repeated visits to the same area could be used to eliminate inaccurate tracks. I also used a program called GPSUtility or actually its Batch Conversion addon to convert gpx tracks to dxf so that they could be imported into OCAD9. These appear an unsymbolised object in grey but the map needs to be georeferenced to get them to appear in the correct place. You can define a GPS track symbol and apply that to the track. I usually define a series of symbols and use one for each track so that I can turn them on or off and lock them.
After my third 305 died, (the last one was much worse than the other two), I bought a 310XT about 3 months ago. Not the latest model but it seemed to have most of the functionality of the 305 and was not ridiculously expensive. Garmin Connect is pants! It often fails to connect.

I wouldn't recommend a Forerunner 310XT. Anybody else had problems with transfers from 310XT to PC? My old 305 had a good solid cable connection to a USB port and never gave any problems.

The ANT wireless communication for the 310XT sometimes fails to transfer new data. One fix that has worked for me is to remove the device from Garmin Connect and let it find it again. It is always reminding me that support for XP will be withdrawn sometime soon and to upgrade to Windows 7. (I made the mistake of buying a computer with Windows 8 and I am still using my old XP computer to type this!) GC does not transfer recorded lap times and it will not download files if I can't get on the internet. Thanks for the tip about using Training Center. I have installed the version with ANT but it has yet to recognise my ANT stick. Garmin software sucks and I would rather not use any Garmin Software. The 310 seems to have much more memory than the 305 so should be able to record for more than 2 hours in every second mode. I am not convinced that it is any more accurate than the 305 (possibly less so) but it certainly is much quicker to get a fix.