When you use a SatNav in a car, the objective is usually to get from Point A to Point B in the most efficient manner. \u00c2\u00a0When you cycle, it’s more frequently a requirement to get from Point A to Point B via a specific route. \u00c2\u00a0It might be a scenic route, a flat route or a route that avoids busy roads. \u00c2\u00a0Whatever the reason, the car SatNav is probably going to be useless for the job.<\/p>\n
Dedicated Cycle GPS systems are produced by companies such as Garmin but they’re usually hideously expensive and frequently still not ideal for the purpose. \u00c2\u00a0Anyway, what’s the point of spending all that money? \u00c2\u00a0Most of us have a Smartphone with built-in GPS and some really great software that’s tailor made for getting around by the routes of our choosing. \u00c2\u00a0The purpose of this post is to explain the hoops I jumped through to turn my phone into an effective navigation aid.<\/p>\n
The first, and by far the biggest issue is that of data downloading. \u00c2\u00a0Smartphones cache a small area of map and then download more data as you move around. \u00c2\u00a0This presents two issues: First, you need a data signal at all times and that’s not very likely in the remoter parts of the UK that are best for cycling. \u00c2\u00a0Second, data downloading costs money! \u00c2\u00a0Your contract might say ‘unlimited data’ but there will be a fair-use clause. \u00c2\u00a0Having a phone constantly downloading map data, hour after hour, day after day will soon blow that clause and the huge bill will inevitably follow. \u00c2\u00a0To overcome this, you need a means to download a map that encompasses the entire route on to a phone. \u00c2\u00a0Before we get on to the means of doing that, you need a tool to create the route. \u00c2\u00a0Here it is:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/intl\/en_uk\/earth\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n I’m not going to explain Google Earth. \u00c2\u00a0It’s been explained in infinite detail by infinitely more literate and intelligent people than me. \u00c2\u00a0Suffice to say, it has all the functionality required to create and edit a route (known as a Path in Google Earth) and to then export that route as a kml type file.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.gpsbabel.org\/<\/a> http:\/\/mobac.sourceforge.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n Plug phone into computer and transfer Map file and also Google Earth KML file.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you use a SatNav in a car, the objective is usually to get from Point A to Point B in the most efficient manner. \u00c2\u00a0When you cycle, it’s more frequently a requirement to get from Point A to Point B via a specific route. \u00c2\u00a0It might be a scenic route, a flat route or… Continue reading Cycle Navigation by GPS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stmellion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nConvert Google KML format files to GPX-XML format. \u00c2\u00a0This is required for MOBAC to load the track and calculate a map selection polygon around it.<\/p>\n\n