Using google earth as the ultimate offroad GPS solution

[troyboy162]

cool i think most people are used to DD as well(Degree,decimal minutes). ive been using the deg, min, seconds cause thats the default in google earth and it hasnt been very convienet for the people i give it to.

1 and 3 represent the other format factor as people read them off what ever they are using. im feeling partial to #3 since google earth recognizes it without me typing in a degree symbol but as you read it theres nothing telling you the first number is deg and the second is decimal minutes other then just recocnizing the format. i wondered if that was important to everone or not?

off topic but banner offroad in la habra did my bumpers. Joe is an awesome guy!

[Britain]

I would use Nasa Worldwind 1.4. Theres a GPS program for tracking ( if u have garmin 60Csx). NASA worldwind will cache images. Add the 60 csx and you can track yourself on the laptop. no mater where u are.

[troyboy162]

hey that looks pretty nice. have you used it? almost looks like it might be lighter weight then GE. is the tracking strictly for the garmin or will anything work?

[Britain]

At the time I tested it, the program was written strickly for the garmin 60csx. I have the new garmin oregon 500 and it does not work.
I used the USGS map for the app.

Theres an addon app to use the MS virtual earth. I dont know if it will cache that but if it does, it certainly will blow away google earth.

My set up was on a Dell inspire 2200 ( no memory at all in it). If I was to do this I would mount a screen up on my center roll bar consol that I could flip down and then mount the laptop else where.

Plug in the gps into usb and bang location on nasa map. It was pretty cool. Didnt use it much, it was to bulky .

[Britain]

I could be wrong on what manufacture gps WW can use. I loaded up the garmin 500. Heres WW using MS Virtualearth, with a tracked layed down (from garmin attached to usb).
Goat canyon hike

[SIZED]http://www.icorva.com/Photography/GC.jpg[/SIZED]

[troyboy162]

very nice! ill have to check that out when i get home. GE is a bit much for my little pc sometimes. if WW is lighter like id image that would work great!

[troyboy162]

britain
do you have any tips for WW? i cant seem to make markers or draw lines or anything on it. i like to mark things i want to see and draw a line for the path i plan to take. also i cant make the google earth file importer work.

so far it looks to have the sat images(unfortunatly same details as GE) i need and a unlimited cache so i hope to make it work. ill try it on the little laptop later but it looks to run leaner then GE

[Britain]

britain
do you have any tips for WW? i cant seem to make markers or draw lines or anything on it. i like to mark things i want to see and draw a line for the path i plan to take. also i cant make the google earth file importer work.

so far it looks to have the sat images(unfortunatly same details as GE) i need and a unlimited cache so i hope to make it work. ill try it on the little laptop later but it looks to run leaner then GE

WW will not allow you to draw directly, you though can import gps and kmz/kml

Lots of cool apps

for apps
http://worldwindcentral.com/add-ons/list

get GPS2WORLDWIND this allows importing gps files and connecting the gps, I think this does a better job for the kmz/kml loading. I havent used it for a while and current wont have much time to check it out until next week.

For MS Virtual Earth

http://worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Add...hpad#The_Earth

[troyboy162]

im still tinkering with WW to get what i need... all in the name of unlimted cache lol. also i dig the fact its open source and people are bound to make great things for it.

the stopping point has been the sopport for KML files. ive even tryed using online converters to change them to gpx before importing and those havent worked either. GPS2WORLDWIND also dosnt seem to import them, but i am likly doing something wrong. it wouldnt be much of a problem but ive got tons of time invested in gathering trails and points of interest on google earth. ive also grown accustom to plotting a run out first then following the track. WW can easily just show you where you are on the map but im spoiled now with the features of GE

[troyboy162]

abandoned the WorldWind idea at this time due to the sat image plugin no longer working for me.

in other news ive finally learned how to use a nice free cache program(google voyager V6.0) with google earth and i think i can easily manage mutliple cache files with reg files. ill report back if everything works as slick as i think it will.

the cons will be:
-very large cache files. ex just the big bear region may be well over 2gb
-setup of folders and reg files will be a pain to establish
-caching all your wheeling areas will take hours, but its a one time deal

the pros:
-on the trail use will be one icon to set your cache and one icon to start goops/google earth. so basicaly two button clicks
-caching your wheeling areas is a set it and forget it operation due to google earth voyager


edit: ive tested it out and it works pretty good. the only bad thing is 2gb of cache dosnt cover much at the highest detail. for instance i got all of calico and the surounding mtns (basicaly the east end of barstow all the way to coyote dry lake bed) to fit but thats it. i had hoped to cover all of big bear in one, but it will take more like 3 caches to cover from arrowhead to rattlesnake canyon

this is how the reg files are made

stock:
[CODE]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Earth Plus]
"CachePath"="C:\\Users\\Troy\\AppData\\LocalLow\\G oogle\\GoogleEarth"[/CODE]

modified:
[CODE]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Earth Plus]
"CachePath"="C:\\multicache\\calico"[/CODE]

[Britain]

Good with google, unfortunatly the support for elevation is a bit lacking.

[troyboy162]

Good with google, unfortunatly the support for elevation is a bit lacking.

yeah it dosnt have much DTED info. i drove areound with 3D terrain on this weekend. looking out the window did not really help you recognize mountains on google earth. maybe if i used a custom value in terrain exaggeration it might look more realistic.

the cache files are of small areas and it really did take thee seperate caches to cover from pilot to rattlesnake.

this set up has been field tested now. it works pretty dang good. its not fool proof to use like a pay program, but it got us up motino wash today and out to the 38.

[Britain]

keeping it light , I'm using the garmin oregon 550,
already has the 3D stuff built in

[troyboy162]

update: goops needs to be "run as administrator" in windows 7 or you cant save your tracks. also make sure then dang computer dosnt go into sleep mode if your trying to capture a track

[TipsE-Z]

Does anyone know how to get this to work on a TomTom 720??