Hi all, I recently bought tracklogs so i thought i would post a bit of a review of it on here, sorry if it rambles on a bit i just wanted to provide as much info as possible.
1) Ordering.
This couldnt be easier, log onto their website, select the maps you want from a huge selection, they do all the usual OS Maps and scales along with arial photography and something called site centred mapping which allows you to pay for an area around a particular postcode or location.
I went for some of the Standard OS 1:25K maps that came in at £24.95 Each including delivery.
I ordered them on saturday night, paid via worldpay which accepts a variety of cards and is extremely secure.
I then tracked my order which was dispatched on Monday and Arrived on Tuesday.
2)Installation
The CD comes in a handy to store DVD box and has a simple insert with a few clear instructions on how to install the software and any additional maps.
The process is very simple and quick. Once the CD is inserted it automatically brings up the installation wizard.
Select where you want to install it and click next, the files are they pretty speedily installed onto your computer.
Once this is complete you are asked if you have any other maps you wish to inatall, at this point you can insert any other tracklogs cds that you have and select the maps from the packages directory...nice and simple.
Once all your maps are installed the wizard finishes and you can run the program.
The first time you run tracklogs, you are asked for your licence key which is clearly displayed on the box so no problems there.
First impressions of the load times involved are impressive taking no more than a few seconds to load.
you are then presented with the main tracklogs work area.
On the left there is the items panel and search box, in the centre are the map, profile, routecard, statistics and 3d area boxes, and a selection of tabs to switch between them. On the right is the main uk map, this hilights the areas you have the maps for in orange, you can then click to select an area on the map which then displays in the middle map panel.
Each window and panel is fully customisable and can be dragged to make it bigger or smaller as well as hidden out of view.
4) Configuring.
Before i planned any routes i decided to go through the options menu and take a look at the various things i could configure.
In here you have a variety of options to customise everything from how you view the maps to colours of tracks, windows, profiles etc.
I found this screen easy to understand and i soon had it configured how i thought i wanted it, knowing i could change it when i wanted. When i get time i will sit down and play with all of the other options to see what difference they make.
I had a route in mind as it was one i had previously walked before i got my gps or the software so i decided to plot this one with a bit on an extension.
It was extremly simple and involved dragging the start waypoint tothe map then dragging the starting trackpoint, this was followed by clicking along the route i wish to take to place new track points, Extremely easy and straight forward.
I then went through and added 2 alternative "escape" routes at various points incase of bad weather or lack of time, this was achieved in the same way as adding a track. To distinguish these routes i selected them and changed their overlay colours. I also added various waypoints such as a lunch stop and various features to the route, this is again a case of simply dragging and dropping each one to the location you want and editing its properties to re name it or ad an icon, these can then be dragged around the map so not to obscure any vital features.
If you make a mistake or change your mind you can undo or delete points which is handy if you decide you wish to add an extension or remove a bit of a walk.
You can also zoom into the map as close as you want so you can make your track more accurate.
You can add and remove trackpoints with ease, so if you have a long straigh stretch you can reduce the number of points where as for a complicated winding path you can add more for each turn.
You can also completely customise everything ou see from colours to fonts and borders.
I havent yet figured out if i can import the symbols from my GPS to match those in tracklogs so that waypoints have correct symbols when i upload them (does anyone know the answer?)
My favourite bit about adding routes is the overlay, this makes it easy to see what is under and around your route, you can also configure the thickness and colour of the which makes it easier to see when printed.
I also like the way that it seamlessly integrates multiple maps so you dont even notice when going between a number of maps.
6) 3D, profile etc Once the route was complete i decided to check out some of the features across the bottom of the screen starting with the profile.
The profile displays the ascent and descent of the route, this gives you an idea of when you will be going up and down and how high you will be going. IT also displays the distance and estimated duration.
Next was the route card, this showed all of the points on the route and estimated times and distances.
Finally there was the 3D walkthorugh, This is a pretty cool feature that allows you to view the route in 3D, you can choose from wire frame, solid land or map detail, the map details is basically the same as solid land but has the map overlayed so you can see the points and map features.
if you choose to play the route in this view you can follow the route on both the map and the 3D movie so you can get a rough idea of your route.
This can also be exported to a movie, which you have complete control over frame rate, size, encoding format etc etc which is a nice touch.
7) GPS Transfer
Now i had the route mapped out it was time to connect it to my GPS, this is the standard Garmin GPS60.
Uploading couldn't be easier, select GPS transfer from the menu, click the save route tab and set how you wish to save the route, then plug your GPS in and turn it on, and click transfer. Seconds later the route is now on your GPS.
Downloading from the GPS is just as simple, plug in your GPS, go to GPS transfer and select what you wish to download from your GPS, hit transfer and it copies the selected data to tracklogs, displaying routes etc on the map.
8) Printing Printing is where i think tracklogs reall excells, there are plenty of options to choose from when printing you map so you can completely customise the layout, how many pages, scale and such like. This makes it super easy to get the map from the screen to paper. There are even a couple of wizards to help you out.
I opted for the fit route to one page option, this put the route and surrounding area onto one a4 page and adjusted the scale as necesary, it has a very small white border around the page whichis great as it means you can get more on the page. It also prints the grid square numbers on the map for you. One thing it didn't seem to include was the map reference numbers (sorry ive forgotten what they are called) so there is no indication of NZ or SE etc.
7) Help and support.
Ive not yet had to use the tracklogs support but i did have a browse of the website and the manual which comes in various formats on the website and i found all to be helpful and well written...ill no doubt have more to say about this as time goes on.
9) route in use I decided to try the route mentioned above just using the printed map and my gps, leaving my compass and proper map safely tucked up in my bag just incase.
It worked an absolute treat, we did a route across the north york moors, in the snow storms and mist yesterday with absolutely no problem. The number of points tracklogs stores helps on tricky windy wooded sections or on the moors where the paths aren't obvious.
8) Conclusion.
If you want a decently priced mapping system thats easy to use, packed with features and works extremly smoothly but without PDA compatibilty then tracklogs is the one for you!
Yeah ive been much more impressed with it than i thought i would be, ive just had a play with the memory map demo and its definaley more clumsy than tracklogs.
If you arent sure about spending the £25 per map, try the site centred one first as that will work outa bit cheaper
Good review Moggy, and perfectly timed for me. I've heard good things about Tracklogs, and have just bought a Garmin Etrex Venture to use on the mountain bike. I'll probably go for the centred maps, then I can cover Exmoor and Dartmoor fairly cheaply.
So does the Tracklogs software automatically place the points equally along the route, or more for corners etc? Or is this easy to shift yourself with the mouse? On basic gps units you can't view maps (can you?), so the more points on the windier sections the better!
Basically you click where you want to put the points so you can add as many or as few as you want.
So for corners you can add one at the start one in the middle and one at the end then for straight lines you can just put one at the start and one at the end.
You can also go back and add or remove points easlily as well as dragging them around to position them a bit better.
Good review Moggy and broadly reflects my own experience with Tracklogs. I have e-mailed TL for assistance and got a helpful and almost immediate response. The problem was not the software but my own ignorance (I wanted to create in the GPS a list of all the lake district summits and didn't know how to do it easily).
Carl, the location of points is up to you. I haven't reached a firm view about the number of points or precise placement. I reckon there is merit in placing the points some distance before a turn and then a second point after the turn rather than at the turn. By placing before and after a turn when navigating by GPS the GPS will "flip" on to the next point after you have passed the point before the turn. The direction/navigation arrow will then indicate the direction to the point you placed after the turn so (hopefully) when you get to the turn you should easily be able to determine the correct direction to go. Hope that makes sense.
I think waypoint or track point location is something of an art and I have not read or heard much discussion about it. I would welcome others observations.
I was advised to create a "route" and simply add each summit as a "waypoint". Simple really, but time consuming.
I should have said in my earlier post that "waypoint or trackpoint placement is something of an art"
Moggy, e-mail on its way to you. I will happily send a copy of the trl file to anyone who wants it if they let me have an address to which I can send attachments.
I should say that the file was created in v2 and the text boxes were nice and small. When the file is imported into v3 the text boxes are much bigger. I am confident there must be a way of reducing the size of the text boxes but I haven't really tried as yet.
Does the file for summits then appear on your GPS screen as named waypoints then?
That's a good idea, i have one for the Carneddau i had a play with so i might just upload that to the GPS.
The only moan i have about Tracklogs (and this goes for all the main mapping software packages) is an inability to export files to a standard format.
They should all import and export .gpx (as one suggestion) at the very least. Instead i have to go a roundabout route to get files in .mmo format for the website (via other programs), and can't even produce routes that anquet and fugawi users can use. This is something we should all demand from this software, in my opinion it is only basic functionality that i'm asking for. It's like Word refusing to open text files. <rant over, i'm off for a curry to kill this cold>.
Dave, .gpx files would seem to be the most sensible export option. I'm also investigating ways of batch converting my routes to .gpx, in the hope that Tracklogs will support it one day.
By the way, MM *does* support Import and Export of .gpx files already. Regards
peter h,left click on the text box to select it .then right click on the text box and select properties, you should be able to alter everything from there.
not sure, you may be able to do one and then select set as default style and then select apply default style, i'm not sure. you may need to redo all the text in the boxes. theres always the undo button if it doesn't work.! i would save your file under another name and then load and experiment with it to see what works without ruining your origional.
Yes it does. What I do is to "uncheck" the initial letter box before downloading to the GPS then the Summits appear on the Waypoint list by their name (or the name I have abbreviated to). On the map page of the GPS all the summits appear as named waypoints. I should add that the summits list I created was the 214 "Wainwrights". I could include "Birketts" if I had the inclination.
Piedwagtail & Moggy, thanks for the help. I haven't played with v3 as much as I would like. Work and other stuff gets in the way.
