Sat Navs, Mapping (KML/KMZ etc)

Forkbeard · 8 Sep 16, 10:49 AM

I use Google Maps to maintain various lists of favourites, various Sat Navs (old and new, TomTom and Garmin), and Maps.Me as a handy offline backup and for use in the parks (if I need it).

At present I do manual exports of KML and manually fiddle with the files (e.g. to set Maps.Me pin colours). I import the files manually into Maps.Me and convert the files in POIEdit for export to the Sat Nav.

A few questions...

1. This is clearly a pain. If anybody has a better more streamlined, preferably automated method, I'd like to hear about it. One of the biggest pains is fiddling with the KML to add say the <styleUrl> node. Sure I can do it with a GREP tool, but was hoping for something more specific.

I'm also interested to hear of what software you all use. I'm not tied to any specific software and will switch in a hot second to something that's better.

For offline maps (and a backup) I know Google Maps supports map download, but I found it clunky when I tried it. Also you need to know where you're going beforehand. That might be just me, so maybe someone can show me how that works well.

Ideally I'd like Google Maps straight into the software/sat-nav, with all icons and custom icons preserved.

2. What's the best source for car park entrance coordinates for the parks?

3. What's the best source for attraction queue coordinates for walking navigation within the parks? I don't like using online solutions as it's a pain to get a connection at times. Does anyone know of any park routing applications, i.e. those that understand the walkways inside the parks? I understand that the Disney app has now added routing, but I assume it's online only (i.e. doesn't have downloaded maps)?!?

4. What's the best source for restaurants, shops etc? I currently use Google Maps to locate restaurants I'm interested in and create map pins that I later export. Ideally I'd like a source of up to date coordinates, e.g. all the Starbucks in the Orlando area. I've found some over the years but they tend not to be up to date.

I don't always use POIs as the Sat Navs I've used in the past have restrictive distance limits on searching for POIs from your current location. I therefore use Favourites for planned destinations and POIs for non-planned. So my villa would obviously be a favourite, whereas Starbucks would be a POI.

Apologies if this has all been asked many times before.

All the best,
James

W1zz · 8 Sep 16, 11:39 AM

Here's my Google Map I created for last years trip. May be of some use.

drive.google/open?id=1g_...5M&usp=sharing

I also did a GPS coordinates document

docs.google/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

wanye · 8 Sep 16, 11:56 AM

i've not found a better way as yet, so if you come across anything, let us know!

my food map may be of use to you - the non-food POIs include (where possible) the car park entrances rather than the "official address" of a place, or even worse, a staff entrance

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=898832

hth

*edit*
export from the google map rather than download the kml/gpx/ov2 files on the thread - they dont contain all the latest updates since my holiday in june

Forkbeard · 8 Sep 16, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by W1zz

Here's my Google Map I created for last years trip. May be of some use.

drive.google/open?id=1g_...5M&usp=sharing

I also did a GPS coordinates document

docs.google/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

Thanks. I've snagged the doc, and managed to copy the map into my maps

I'll compare and merge into mine when I get a mo.

Forkbeard · 8 Sep 16, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by wanye

i've not found a better way as yet, so if you come across anything, let us know!

my food map may be of use to you - the non-food POIs include (where possible) the car park entrances rather than the "official address" of a place, or even worse, a staff entrance

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=898832

hth

*edit*
export from the google map rather than download the kml/gpx/ov2 files on the thread - they dont contain all the latest updates since my holiday in june

Wayne, that's a great thread. Many thanks.

If I do discover a better way I'll post a new thread on theDIBB.

I'm always looking for good mapping info, and I'll check through yours and merge what I need into mine.

I think we could do with an official set of mapping sources for theDIBB. Maybe one of the admins could create a link to some maps that we (or some of us) could edit.

wanye · 8 Sep 16, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by Forkbeard

I think we could do with an official set of mapping sources for theDIBB. Maybe one of the admins could create a link to some maps that we (or some of us) could edit.

I'm happy for other people to add/edit my map... the problem is, you'll end up with a million and one POIs for longhorns and chillis rather than a properly curated map (mine is based on best of lists and a bunch of my own places, with added suggestions from people who "get me" when i say i dont really want "chain" places on there (whilst ignoring my own rules for certain other "chains")

i tried to put together a non-food map, but it was hard enough getting people to bump the food thread as it was, a second niche mapping thread just got ignored. thats when i merged the two... but now the "non-food" section has grown quite a bit in the last 6 months, i'd be happy to split them back out again if there was enough interest in it...

Forkbeard · 8 Sep 16, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by wanye

I'm happy for other people to add/edit my map... the problem is, you'll end up with a million and one POIs for longhorns and chillis rather than a properly curated map (mine is based on best of lists and a bunch of my own places, with added suggestions from people who "get me" when i say i dont really want "chain" places on there (whilst ignoring my own rules for certain other "chains")

i tried to put together a non-food map, but it was hard enough getting people to bump the food thread as it was, a second niche mapping thread just got ignored. thats when i merged the two... but now the "non-food" section has grown quite a bit in the last 6 months, i'd be happy to split them back out again if there was enough interest in it...

I agree.

We need chain food maps for the likes of Chilli's and your map for the upmarket places. We then need park maps and attraction maps for within each park. You just need to set the rules I suppose. Personally I'd keep the list of editors within your control and let people ask to be an editor.

I tend to keep separate POIs for Starbucks, that way I can assign a Starbucks logo to appear on my TomTom.

I also put the restaurant logos on my Google Maps, as custom icons.

Forkbeard · 26 Feb 17, 11:06 PM

Resurrecting an old thread here with some new info.

Wayne I think you expressed an interest in this.

I've switched to using NavMii for several reasons, but in particular NavMii's data is held in SQLite, which means we can directly manipulate it without going through the incredibly slow and naff interface these apps provide. No way I want to re-key hundreds of coordinates.

We can for example export Google Maps (KML), convert to say CSV and import directly into the favourites table. I know a few folks use Excel for their map references. Well that's even easier as Excel supports CSV directly.

I've tried it with favourites on Android and it works well.

If anybody is interested let me know.

wanye · 27 Feb 17, 06:01 PM

ooh, good to know! will have to install it and have a play...

Forkbeard · 27 Feb 17, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by wanye

ooh, good to know! will have to install it and have a play...

Wayne, I'm using DB Browser for SQLite and POIEdit

On Android the database file for favourites is here:

Code:

Android\data\com.navfree.android.OSM.ALL\files\UserData\UserPoiItems.db

Also this data file contains all the categories:
PoiCategories.db (same folder as above)

No idea where it would be on an iPhone, sorry.

I couldn't be bothered to write a program to do it, although I probably will at some point. So, DB Browser will allow tabular access to the favourites, and POIEdit will convert Google KML to CSV. I created the rest of the import data in Excel, saved as CSV and used DB Browser to import it.

The fact I can now take Google maps and finally input directly into a smartphone Sat Nav app makes life so much easier

Good luck