NG Posts Updated Triton FAQs and How-Tos

National Geographic posted on their Triton support page today a new set of how-tos, tips, and a few troubleshooting steps for the integration between the Triton series and National Geographic TOPO!.

Additionally they have posted a revised edition of their 4.4.2 upgrade which addresses a minor issue with Vista. Anyone running Vista that has downloaded the 4.4.2 upgrade prior to 12.20.07 should download it again and reinstall.

For users with the 400,500,1500, or 2000 model Tritons, we've tested 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB SD Cards and found them all to work just fine. With a 4GB card you can load most TOPO! states completely. Amazon has 2GB SD Cards as low as $10 right now, so ordering a few for photos, and maps is a good investment.

Happy Holidays to All!

Woodford

Nat Geo Product Support News

A recent comment to TOPO! Hacker spawned this post. (Thanks PK).

For those new to TOPO! products or seeking assistance with your current application, National Geographic Maps website is filled with information. A quick browse reveals FAQs, a downloads section with the latest applications, and even a few tips worthy of posts here on the 'Hack.

After communicating with a senior staff member at Nat Geo - I've come to learn that an entirely new website will be launched in mid-January. The new "publisher" site will contain detailed product information for all National Geographic titles including TOPO! and Trails Illustrated plus an improved support section for TOPO! users. Additionally, Nat Geo recently launched a corporate blog which will be featured on the new site, "offering us a better way to communicate directly with our customers."

The new site will share the same natgeomaps.com URL - so bookmark your browser today.

Woodford

More Triton News and Tips

We've heard rumors from a few people that Triton 200 series units are coming with PC connection cables! (Even though the packaging states otherwise). No clue as to how many are like this - but if you are weighing the purchase between a 200 and 300, take a peek inside the box first and perhaps save yourself some money for a new TOPO! product instead.

Amazon.com now has Triton 300s in stock for those that aren't close to one of the retailers listed in the previous post.

Here at the Hacker Lab we've been testing both the 200 and 300 and been pleased so far with functionality. You can load a pretty significant area of detailed National Geographic TOPO! maps on to the unit's built in memory - at least a (4) USGS quad area - approximately 200 square miles. The higher end units with the SD cards therefore, should be able to store a massive area.

Woodford

Looking for a Triton? Check these retailers ...

From our exclusive sources in the field - a partial list of retailers that should have Triton's in stock or at least on their way to stores. This of course is not a guarantee that your particular location will have the unit still in stock, so call ahead, but the source is highly reliable. If this information helps you locate a GPS or if you find another retailer, please post a comment to help others! Happy Holidays!

EMS - New Hampshire based retailer, with stores thoughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic - should have Triton 200 and 300 series models.

REI - Washington based retailer with stores nationwide, should have Triton 300s.

Sportsman's Warehouse - Utah based retailer with stores nationwide, should have Triton 300s.

Joes Sports - Oregon based retailer with stores in the Pacific Northwest, should have Triton 300s.

Sport Chalet - Southern California based retailer with stores throughout the region, should have Triton 300s.

Academy Sports - Texas based retailer, should have Triton 300s.

Once again this list is certainly not complete but should help those seeking Tritons for the holidays. If you find additional sources, feel free to post!

Woodford.

Magellan Triton 300 Works with Macintosh!

Using a Mac G5 running "Parallels" an emulation software package, with the Vista operating system loaded, I have been able to successfully transfer maps, routes, and waypoints from National Geographic TOPO! to my Magellan Triton 300! While this is not the ideal solution for Magellan users that run TOPO! on mac, this is promising.

I'd expect Boot Camp (Mac OS X 10.5 / Leopard) or the new VMWare product will work as well.

I will post some video of the transaction shortly.

BREAKING NEWS: Confirmed Reports of Magellan Tritons Shipping to Retail

In from our very own "agent x" ... Triton 300's have shipped and are on the way to retailers! That's right you heard it here first, the long awaited Magellan Triton, the first GPS receiver in the market which can load the maps from National Geographic TOPO!, is starting to head towards stores... Get yours while you can! Stay tuned to TOPO! Hacker for further developments. 

Happy Holidays

View Maps from TOPO! on Your IPhone or IPod Touch

This work around will enable you to view clipped maps from TOPO! on your IPhone or IPod Touch utilizing the built in Safari web browser. It’s a very simple process – yet does have some limitations, namely that you must be online to view the map as both the IPhone and the ITouch have “spotty” web caching when trying to view a webpage off network. In the near future I’ll be posting a more complex solution that will require you to “jailbreak” your device giving you read/write access to the file structure, but in turn will allow you to load TOPO! created maps on to the hard drive. Should this sound a bit sketchy – you can always wait until early 2008 when Apple will release the installer application to third-party developers to add new applications.

The Work Around:

Step One: Create an account with a web based file service. There are a variety of free sites now promoting the feature to post PDFs and other files and images for you to later access from your mobile device – the least of which is Google. My personal favorite due to its simplicity is Readdle.com. Readdle provides you up to 100mb of free online file storage and supports a variety of formats including PDF. Plus if you’re into books – they have a free library of public domain classics like Shakespeare and Conan Doyle.

Step Two: Launch TOPO! and navigate to the map you wish to view on your IPhone/Itouch. In my example I clipped all of Rocky Mountain National Park in the most detailed TOPO! layer.

Step Three: Should you wish to clip a large map – as in my example all of Rocky Mountain National Park, navigate to the TOPO Preferences and change your print preferences to the page size you desire. I created a custom page size of 20” by 20” for my map, which is the largest custom size you can clip for PDF. Note – the larger the map the bigger the file. I haven’t crashed Safari with a large map yet – but it takes a while to load if the WiFi network you’re on is slow.

Step Four: Use the print/ selection tool and define your selection area. With a large map, you might find it beneficial to zoom out to level 3 or 4 to start. By defining the boundaries here and then zooming in to level 5 to clip you gain better perspective then trying to scroll around at the detail level . If you follow this tip be sure to zoom into the final level you wish to clip from – for if you save the map while on Level 3 for example you will end up with that map image, not the detail from level 5.

(The images below show defining the map area on level 3 and then exporting on level 5)

Step Five: Save the map to disk. Using the Macintosh you can save the map directly as a PDF which is my preferred image. On a PC save the map as a high resolution JPEG or GIFF. If you have a PDF file converter I’d recommend the extra step of converting the graphic file to PDF, but you can post JPEGs and GIFs to Readdle too.

Step Six: Login in to your newly created Readdle account and upload your clipped map image.

Step Seven: Start your IPhone/ ITouch, obtain WiFi access, and launch Safari. Then simply navigate to Readdle.com and you’ll find a very simple, optimized browser window. Here you should be able to find your uploaded map. Simply open and enjoy!

Parting Thoughts:

· I’ve had periods of time when Safari has cached my uploaded TOPO! map, allowing me to access it while not on a WiFi network. I’m not certain what the parameters are yet – or how to force it to cache – but I’d recommend experimenting with map size. Obviously keeping the map visible when not online is preferred.

· I’ll be posting a more detailed workaround that will allow you to load maps on to your IPhone or IPod Touch in the next week. This will require you to “Jailbreak” your device.

· Experiment with loading different types of maps. Remember that TOPO! covers metro areas too! I created a file in TOPO! highlighting my favorite watering holes, then uploaded that to my ITouch. As more and more coffee shops and bars have free WiFi it came in handy to quickly check the location of the next stop in an evening’s pub crawl.

TOPO! Works on Mac OSX Leopard

After loading Mac OS X Leopard on my both my Imac and my Intel Powered G5 I can report that TOPO! V 4.2.7 appears to be working without any issue. I've tested GPS interoperability, printing, searching, and all the core tools.

View TOPO! Maps on IPhone and IPOD Touch!

You read this headline right. For the past two weeks the team of professionals here in the TOPOHacker lab have been working on simple guide to viewing maps from TOPO on your Apple Iphone or IPod Touch. We're delighted to say today that we've made it happen, easily, and will be posting a step by step guide in the next 48 hours. Stay tuned for details ...

Import and Export Tracks via Conversion Utility

Originally Posted on GPS Tracklog July 8, 2006:

Convert National Geographic TOPO (.tpo) files

GPS Babel, Robert Lipe's conversion utility, has recently been updated to version 1.3.0. This newest version, I am extremely happy to say, converts National Geographic TOPO (.tpo) files. Yes TOPO users, you can now extract track data, converting it to .gpx or the format of your choice. It will work with TOPO versions 2 and 3, but not 4.x.

For those of us with a mass (mess?) of data in TOPO, this is welcome news indeed. I tried it out this morning and it works flawlessly! Congratulations to Robert and the entire team of Babel-heads, especially Alex Mottram, who appears to be their NG TOPO expert. (CORRECTION: Apparently Curt Mills deserves the credit here.)

National Geographic TOPO (Amazon) is a wonderful product, and remains my favorite in terms of CD/DVD-based mapping software. As I noted in my book, GPS Mapping - Make Your Own Maps, the difficulty in exporting tracks is one of the few disadvantages of this program (and the only major one). Finally, we have an elegant solution that allows you to extract your data."

Draw Straight Lines

Hidden Feature to Draw Straight Lines

Works in all versions of TOPO!

Ever tried to draw a straight line with the route tool? If you have I bet you thought to yourself that it is impossible - guess again. Drawing straight lines with the route tool is a breeze with this hidden feature.

1. Open the route tool (looks like a pencil) and activate it by left clicking. You should now be drawing a line on the map by moving the mouse.

2. Now hold down the "SHIFT" key. You'll notice that the route tool turns into the compass/bearing tool! Simply move the cursor, using your mouse, to where you want your straight line to end and release the "SHIFT" key... presto a straight line in the midst of a route.

With this little work around you may find yourself using the shift key to trace most routes with more accuracy then simply using the mouse and a steady hand.

As a bonus tip: Notice that when you press the "SHIFT" key that the bottom menu will display in realtime the heading and distance from the last point you stopped drawing. For someone interested in sailing, orienteering, or other activities that require you to follow a pattern of distance and degrees - this can come in real handy!

Enjoy - Woodford

Open .KML Files in TOPO!

Got KML Files? Open them in TOPO!

Works in any TOPO! Version including both Mac and PC versions.

This is an easy work around for those using either Google Maps or Google Earth that wish to view their KML files on the detailed topographic maps in TOPO!.

KML files are essentially XML documents, therefore they can be read and parsed by any spreadsheet document like Microsoft Excel. If you don't have a spreadsheet application you have a few options for this hack.

1. Sign up for Google Documents. (http://www.docs.google.com/)
2. Use notepad, wordpad, or any other text editing tool. This option will work, but is might be a tad more complicated.

The Steps:

1. Save your KML file to your desktop or some other easily accessible file location.
2. Open the KML file in your spreadsheet application.
3. Assuming you are using Excel. You will be prompted to open this file as an XML table, approve this and any messages pertaining to "schema." There is a photo below showing a USGS earthquake KML file after just being opened in Microsoft Excel.

Note: When you import your KML file into Excel that there will be a lot of columns. The image to the left is showing just a handful. Many of these columns we will delete in the next step.

4. Review your KML file in Excel and note which columns of data you'd like to keep when you import to TOPO!. In every case you will want to locate the columns that contain Latitude and Longitude information. You might wish to keep a time field, name, decription or other column as well. In our example I'm going to keep the description file which contains the date and time of the earthquake as well as it's magnitude.

5. Scroll through your Excel columns and delete any data you do not wish to import to TOPO! Be advised that the TOPO! import will only accept a few fields - so it is important to keep this to a minimum. Below is a screenshot of the trimmed and revised Excel table of the same USGS earthquake file.


6. With your Excel spreadsheet paired down - save it as a CSV (Comma Seperated Value). You may receive a few warnings that Excel can only save these files with one worksheet - this is aok.

7. Open TOPO! if it isn't already and start a new TPO file.

8. Open the "GPS Import Wizard" - this may be in couple different locations depending on the version of TOPO!. Start by looking for a GPS icon on the toolbar.

9. In the GPS Import Wizard you will be presented several options, choose to import "A text file that contains routes, waypoints, and tracks."

10. The wizard will prompt you to select your file - choose the CSV file you created above.

11. The wizard will have you map (identify) which fields pertain to certain necessary atributes, like coordinates. It's important to note that KML files are in the WGS84 Datum (the default in TOPO!) and typically export from Google Maps/Earth in decimal degrees. However be sure to note which datum and coordinate display your KML file is in before finishing the import to ensure accuracy of imported data.

12. TOPO! will process your KML data (now in CSV format) and import it into the application. Once completed, each line in your KML file will become a waypoint in TOPO!. The USGS Earthquake file contains 427 locations. Here's a screen shot of the successfully loaded data:



Note: I've zoomed into an area that I do not have detailed map data for to make it easier to see the waypoints.


13. Your KML file is now imported and can be viewed in any level of TOPO! In my earthquake example, the date and time of the waypoint is linked to the time of the earthquake, the depth of the quake is linked to the message field, and Lat Lon are displayed in decimal degrees WGS 84.


14. Using the merge TPO function I could overlay these earthquakes epicenters on to a trail map I've been working on and go visit the exact spot of a quake with my GPS as a guide.

Give this work around a shot. It's simple and opens up a lot of functionality between TOPO and Google Maps. After running through these steps once you'll quickly get the hang of it. There are tons of free KML files posted on the net ranging from files like this earthquake example to unique point of interest information.

Enjoy - Woodford