Dumb question - Palm address book <--> Mapsource

[LeRoux Strydom]

Excuse me for asking a dumb question, but how can I transfer a Palm Address Book entry with location attached to the Custom 4 field, to Mapsource as a waypoint? I know I can do the inverse using the waypoint transfer plugin, but from Palm Desktop to Mapsource? File/Export does not give a format recognisable to Mapsource.

I want to update my speedcam database in Mapsource (to share with others), and I have all the waypoints stored in Palm Address Book.

Thanks

LeRoux

[apersson850]

Can't you use this one? (http://www.home.no/even-lund/)

[JMckie]

but how can I transfer a Palm Address Book entry with location attached to the Custom 4 field, to Mapsource as a waypoint?

I just went through that exact same exercise last week. You can also use Birdwatch (http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=255183#post254036) to do that.

[JMckie]

Hi Leroux, did you try the export to GPX option?

[paul6347]

I wanted to be able to do this too. I downloaded the latest version, which on About Birdwatch indicates Version 1.0624. Has Waypoints to GPX as a last option on that list on the About page. But all I get on Waypoints preference screen is "Reload from addrbook" and "Save" buttons. Not the "Export to GPX" button. I tried pressing the "Save" button but couldn't find any file in the Ram or Card. :confused:

[JMckie]

That's not the latest. You should go down to the What's New section of the site to get 1.063

You can still do it with the version you have. Go to the reports page. On the dropdown select "Waypoints". The tap the "List" button. It does the same thing.

[paul6347]

Ok, Thanks. I got the file. But now (I hate sounding stupid) how do I import that into mapsource? I have Mapsource 5.4 (can't upgrage any further Because I'm still running windows NT :eek: ), and as an Import option I have *.wpt, *.rte, *.trk, *.grm. But no option for *.gpx. And when I try to open it directly it says the file is not a valid Mapsource file.

[JMckie]

Download GPSBabel, which is freeware. You will find this program very useful. Convert your GPX to Mapsource format.

[LeRoux Strydom]

JMckie

It turned out I was still messing about with 1.0624. So I got hold of 1.063b and exported to gpx format. Mapsource 6.5 claims to be able to import a gpx file, but when I open the exported file, it asks about the waypoint symbols but then does nothing further. No data appears in the waypoint tab of Mapsource. Any ideas?

It this can work, it will solve my problem!

LeRoux

[JMckie]

LeRoux, it seems Mapsource is looking for something in the GPX format that wasn't documented. I'll investigate.

Convert the GPX to Mapsource format with GPSBabel and you should be fine. (Gartrax will also convert it but it drops the description field)

When I wrote that I was running Mapsource 5.4 and that version could not import from GPX.

[JMckie]

Here's a quick fix.

No need for GPSBabel if your Mapsource supports GPX.

Edit your GPX file in a regular text editor. Search and Replace "description" change to "desc". Save it.

Mapsource should now be able to import that GPX file.

[LeRoux Strydom]

Still no dice??

LeRoux

[LeRoux Strydom]

BTW, is BW supposed to export only those waypoints imported into its database, or all the waypoints in the address book? Looking at the gpx file in notepad shows up every single waypoint I ever made!!

Still, if it could work, I have my answer!

LeRoux

[JMckie]

LeRoux, so replacing with "desc" did not work for you? Did you try the GPSBabel option?

[paul6347]

I've been trying. Not much luck. I was using GPSBabel trying to convert the GPX format into Mapsource. I tried to change the description to desc and same result. I keep getting an a result error "GPX-XML parse error at 31: not well-formed (invalid token)

[JMckie]

Hmm, I'm puzzled. You must have a waypoint that has a name that has an unusual format or characters.

I really want to get to the bottom of this. I don't know if you would consider PM'ing me your GPX file. I can probably tell what the problem is within minutes.

If you don't feel comfortable doing that, perhaps you can take a look at the GPX file yourself in a text editor.

It contains some header info, then lists a whole bunch of "<wpts..." then finally a closing tag "</gpx>".

I would try deleting half the and see if it will import correctly. If not, keep deleting half until it imports. That way the problem line can be identified.

Paul, in your case the problem is near line 31. The waypoint name or description contains a character like "<" which confuses the program. GPSBabel will give the malformed error message. Mapsource will ignore the whole file. Try fixing or getting rid of this line and see if it works.

[evenlu]

Have you tried my converter (http://www.home.no/even-lund/) yet, LeRoux? It's purpose is solely to convert Palm adress book <-> (Mapsource) GPX. If you are having trouble with some unusual characters used in your waypoints (dutch accented characters??) I can add them in a new release.

[JMckie]

LeRoux,

I made a rookie mistake.

The problem is related to HTML characters in the waypoint names.
Most likely it is an ampersand "&". I should have replaced them with the corresponding escape sequences.

& - Ampersand#38;
> - Ampersand#62;
< - Ampersand#60;
/ - Ampersand#47;
(where Ampersand is actually the & symbol)

For a quick fix, simply remove any ampersands in your waypoint names, then reload and export. (Or you can choose edit the GPX file directly).

This bug will be fixed in the next release.

[paul6347]

Apmersand (&) was it!! I replaced the "&" with " " and it worked! That's for your help.

Paul

[LeRoux Strydom]

I still cannot get it to work. I emailed you the gpx file. Hope you find the problem.

LeRoux

[JMckie]

I found two problems in the GPX file being created that was preventing Mapsource from loading it.

1) Ampersands, accented characters, and other special HTML characters
2) <description> tags should be <desc>

LeRoux, I sent you the corrected file which I was able to load into Mapsource. Both will be permanently fixed in the next version.

[LeRoux Strydom]

Great! I look forward to the next release which will hopefully also have the ability to attach a "direction" tag to the waypoints!

Thanks

LeRoux

[LeRoux Strydom]

Originally posted by evenlu
Have you tried my converter (http://www.home.no/even-lund/) yet, LeRoux? It's purpose is solely to convert Palm adress book <-> (Mapsource) GPX. If you are having trouble with some unusual characters used in your waypoints (dutch accented characters??) I can add them in a new release.

I tried your programme, but it freezes up on my W2K machine as soon as I try to open the gpx file exported from iQue. It may have something to do with funny characters in my waypoints as noted by JMckie.

LeRoux

[evenlu]

I tried your programme, but it freezes up on my W2K machine as soon as I try to open the gpx file exported from iQue. It may have something to do with funny characters in my waypoints as noted by JMckie.

The converter expects txt-files exported from Palm Desktop or GPX from Mapsource as input, not GPX files from Birdwatch..

& characters in waypoints are converted to 'and'.

[paul6347]

I tried PDtoGPX.exe waypoint converter too, and is also froze when trying to convert the exported GPX file from Birdwatch. It still freezes when trying to convert. But when I used GPSbabel, it converted without errors, but only after I removed the "&"

Paul

[strumble]

Most of the problems I had changing PalmDesktop waypoints to GPX and Mapsource, was down to too much unwanted detail being transferred.

All that is needed is Name and Custom 4/Waypoint.
Perhaps this is why there are 'range' errors and freezing!

Using PDtoGPX.exe I have transferred 1100 waypoints successfully. However, I removed within the transfer-program all details except, what was needed in Mapsource [Name and Custom 4/Waypoint].

See screenshot


Individual Symbol Types are not transferred and there was a problem with € - this is not recognised by the transfer programs!

[JMckie]

I've updated Birdwatch to handle the ampersand (as well as double quotes and angle brackets) correctly. The new version 1.0632 is available for download.

This should fix the problems that LeRoux and paul6347 encountered.

Here is what I discovered:
Mapsource 6.5 - you can open the GPX file directly if you don't have any special (accented) characters in the waypoint names. If there are accented characters, Mapsource will simply not load the file. In this case you have to convert using GPSBabel.

Earlier versions of Mapsource do not support GPX. Convert to PCX5 format (e.g. iquewpt.wpt) using GPSBabel.