GPS Visualizer update: calculators, new maps & file formats

Hi GPS people,

I've added a few new features to GPS Visualizer lately -- not as many
as I'd like, as I don't have enough free time, but here's a summary:

* GEOGRAPHIC CALCULATORS. This is actually separate from GPS
Visualizer's mapping functionality. I've put together a page where
you can calculate the distance between two sets of coordinates or
convert coordinates between degrees/minutes and decimal degrees.
I can add more calculators if there are others that might be useful.
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators.html


* NEW MAP BACKGROUNDS. There are some new background map choices:

1) "US: Demis street-level map": it uses the Census bureau's TIGER
data, so it's not as accurate or up-to-date as it could be, but
it's MUCH faster than census.gov, not subject to distortion for
large areas, and includes elevation shading/coloring.

2) "MODIS 'Terra' & 'Aqua' daily imagery": this true-color satellite
imagery is updated every day by NASA, but you never know whether
you'll actually get to see anything for your part of the world.
Also, they're very low-resolution, so don't try to use them
with maps smaller than about 100 km. But they're kind of fun.


* TOMTOM NAVIGATOR .PGL FILES are supported. They're really just NMEA
files with a little bit of extra information, so raw NMEA files
will probably also work, although I haven't tried it yet.


* EMTAC TRINE BINARY FILES are also supported. I don't know much about
this format; apparently they come from a PocketPC program called
CRUX_LOG that is used with the Emtac Trine Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Whatever they are, GPS Visualizer can draw maps from them.


* GARMIN FORERUNNER 301 XML FILES work now. Garmin changed the format
slightly from the Logbook software that came with the FR201, but the
new files (which usually have a ".hst" ending) are fully supported,
both by the map & profile generators and the "Forerunner splitter."
You can use the Heart Rate data to colorize a map or draw a profile.


If you haven't seen GPS Visualizer before, please drop by and check it
out at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/. It's free, platform-independent
(it only requires Adobe's free SVG Viewer browser plug-in), and it
supports many, many GPS data file formats, as well as mapping of
street addresses.


Adam Schneider
adamschneider.net


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