Bicycle Travel > GPS Discussion
Mapsource Files, MPS & GPX
AlanLowry:
I downloaded the Northern Tier GPS files from the ACA website. Some route segments include all four file types: gpx, mps, rte, and wpt. Other segments include only gpx format. My Mapsource 6.16.2 program will open the mps files, but it will not open the gpx files. When attempting to import the ACA gpx data, Mapsource responds with a pop-up message, "! No error occurred." I have successfully imported gpx files from other vendors into my Mapsource.
The result is that I can only get Mapsource to import the GPS data for the route segments that are provided in mps format data. Suggestions?
Fred Hiltz:
Hi Alan. I just downloaded the NT and successfully opened each of the 11 gpx files in MapSource v6.16.1.
Adventure Cycling used to prepare the data in several popular formats. Now that all vendors recognize GPX, they are dropping the proprietary formats.
I first thought you might have a bad download, but the other files in the zip package were OK and your unzipping program detected no checksum errors, so it is probably a defect in v6.16.2.
I'd try installing v6.16.1. If you did not save its installer, a Google search for "old versions MapSource" without the quotation marks turns up several web sites where you can get it.
MapSource has had gpx defects in several recent versions. They do work on them, as the defects seem to differ from version to version. Apparently their software production, or their QA, is weak in this area.
We ran into one last year when preparing the files, which caused the lodging icon to disappear. You will probably notice that in the v006 data files.
Do let us know how this turns out. We need to warn others if indeed 6.16.2 is bad.
Fred
AlanLowry:
I am now running Mapsource version 6.16.3 under Windows Vista. That is the latest version available from the Garmin website. I found a download site http://www.gawisp.com/perry/mapsource/ to obtain a copy of Mapsource 6.16.1, as Fred Hiltz suggested. I'm hesitating to install it, not knowing if I should first uninstall version 6.16.3, and would doing so delete my user license, etc.
Anyway, I just reproduced my problem. I tried to open the ACA files of the Northern Tierused with my copy of Mapsource 6.16.3. Both the gpx and mps files produced the pop-up message, "! No error occurred", and the file data does not appear in Mapsource. Previously, I was able to get Mapsource 6.16.2 to open the mps file format, so my upgrade to Mapsource 6.16.3 made things worse. I also verified that Mapsource 6.16.3 does open the gpx files that I obtained from American Discovery Trail.
I should add that I recently acquired Basecamp 3.1.3 software from the Garmin website. It was suggested to me by a Garmin rep as a way to view the Rail Trails NE map that I purchased from Garmin. I found that I could "import" the ACA file for Northern Tier into the Basecamp program. That might be an adequate work-around, if Basecamp can do everything that I need. I'm not that familiar with Basecamp at this point, and I'm curious why Garmin appears to have two competing products.
Fred Hiltz:
--- Quote from: AlanLowry on February 26, 2011, 03:34:44 pm ---... I'm hesitating to install it, [version 6.16.1] not knowing if I should first uninstall version 6.16.3, and would doing so delete my user license, etc.
--- End quote ---
I have installed older MapSource versions without uninstalling newer ones, although not this particular version, without trouble. These update files are apparently happy finding evidence of any MapSource product.
If you want to be very cautious, you could do a full disk image backup before going back. Or you could copy the entire Garmin folder from the Program Files folder and also set a System Restore point. In case of trouble, restore the program files and let System Restore return the registry to its former state.
The maps themselves are licensed to your GPS receiver, not to the computer or the MapSource product. You may have to connect your GPSR once to let MapSource make that connection.
--- Quote from: AlanLowry on February 26, 2011, 03:34:44 pm ---Anyway, I just reproduced my problem. I tried to open the ACA files of the Northern Tier used with my copy of Mapsource 6.16.3. Both the gpx and mps files produced the pop-up message, "! No error occurred", and the file data does not appear in Mapsource. Previously, I was able to get Mapsource 6.16.2 to open the mps file format, so my upgrade to Mapsource 6.16.3 made things worse. I also verified that Mapsource 6.16.3 does open the gpx files that I obtained from American Discovery Trail.
--- End quote ---
The problem is that GPX is a very "loose" standard. One can write a great variety of conforming files easily, but it is really hard to program successful reading of every conforming file.
If my records are correct, I prepared the problematic GPX files with v6.15.11. As I wrote earlier v6.16.1 reads them OK, so you should have a workaround there. If for some reason this "Plan B" does not do it, please PM me to send the proprietary GDB format files to you.
Meanwhile, I will get on to Garmin tech support to see whether they know that their current versions choke on GPX written by their earlier version.
--- Quote from: AlanLowry on February 26, 2011, 03:34:44 pm ---... I'm not that familiar with Basecamp at this point, and I'm curious why Garmin appears to have two competing products.
--- End quote ---
Of course they do not say, but I suspect Base Camp will eventually replace MapSource. The latter is getting long in the tooth, has a--to be charitable--unconventional user interface, and is increasingly difficult to keep free of defects, as the GPX mess testifies.
Fred
AlanLowry:
Thanks Fred, for your prompt and thorough replies. At least for now, I am going with the Basecamp work-around. After I import the ACA gpx files into Basecamp, I can then copy/paste the resulting waypoints and routes from Basecamp into Mapsource.
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