inReach Tips & Tricks

March 16, 2012

In the months since the release of the inReach two-way satellite communicator DeLorme has compiled a list of helpful notes for inReach users. I wanted to share these Tips & Tricks with everyone here. Check out the videos for more detail and feel free to request additional content, we’ll be making more videos as we go forward.

Take care,
Chip Noble
DeLorme

Account Setup:

  • Be sure to set up your contacts, Quick Text messages, and inReach messages before going on your first trip.
  • Don’t forget to sync your explore.delorme.com account after you make any changes to your contacts, Quick Text messages, or inReach messages. Earthmate app: Go to Menu > Sync to sync your device with explore.delorme.com.  PN-60w: Click the Sync PN-60w button on explore.delorme.com.
  • Be sure to send a MapShare link to friends before you start your trip so that they can see your location and send you a message from their computer while you’re on your trip.
  • Use the inReach to send friends and family a text or email message-they can reply to you while you’re out.

Pairing:

  • To enter pairing mode, make sure that you press and hold the Power button on the inReach until the LED changes from solid green to flashing green every 1.5 seconds and then release it. Then follow the instructions on the screen of your Android device or PN-60w.
  • If you’re having trouble pairing an Android device, use the device’s Bluetooth settings to discover the inReach and connect to it, rather than doing it from within the Earthmate app.
  • Test your device after completing the setup and pairing process by sending a message and replying to it. Visit support.delorme.com before your trip if you have any questions about using the device.

Device Use:

  • To power on an inReach, press and hold the Power button and release it as soon as the Power LED comes on. The LED will flash once every 3 seconds during normal operation. If you hold the Power button down until the LED starts flashing every 1.5 seconds you have entered pairing mode and need to pair your device again.
  • When you start a trip, send a message or start tracking when you park your vehicle so that your family and friends know where you started. It also gives you a reference point to find your way back and lets you know your system is working.
  • Keep an eye on the status fields in the Earthmate app telling you if your inReach is unavailable, connected, or sending.
  • To increase battery performance when using your Android device, exit the Earthmate app when you are not sending a message.
  • For best battery performance when you are using the inReach in standalone mode, clear the pairing info from the inReach. To do this, enter pairing mode by holding down the Power button until the Power LED starts flashing every 1.5 seconds and then release it. When no other devices are detected your existing pairing info is cleared, preventing the inReach from continuing to search for a device. You will need to unpair your PN-60w or Android device from the inReach and then pair again to use the devices together.

DeLorme Earthmate Wiki…

December 17, 2010

I thought I’d post a little info about the DeLorme Wiki since it came up in a forum discussion the other day. Our technical writer has created a space for all of our users to share their DeLorme PN-40/30 and PN-60/60w GPS knowledge. We’re slowly bringing content in from past blog posts and are hoping that all those users that create the useful How To documents on the forum will be interested in sharing that content on the Wiki. This will let others access the information easier and contribute their own content to the knowledge base.

Last night’s conversation was from a customer that was wondering how to view multiple tracks on the device at one time. I shared the information and then dug up a blog post from a while back. After helping on the forum I added the content to the Wiki so that people could see it. While I was in the forum I noticed many equally valuable How To posts, Tips & Tricks, and general nuggets of wisdom that I’d love to see on the wiki. If you’re an author of any of the forum How To docs now’s your chance to get them into the DeLorme Wiki and help build a knowledge base of information by the user for the user!

I’m also going to keep an eye on the wiki for good content contributions… I’ve got a collection of goodies here at DeLorme that will make good prizes for those that pitch in. How’s that for a sneaky ploy to kick start the community? For those that just bought a PN-60w and SPOT Communicator, check out my recent post about optimizing power settings when tracking progress with the system.

Thanks,

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme


Managing GPS data with Projects in Topo USA

March 9, 2009

Recently there have been several questions about how to manage all of the GPS data that people collect while they are out exploring. The screenshot below shows how valuable it can be to store your GPS tracks, waypoints, and routes in an organized way for reference during future planning activities. This particular project contains all of the track and waypoint data for a canoe trip in Baxter State Park that a group of us at DeLorme have enjoyed over the years. You can see by the notes that Grand Lake Matagamon is very shallow in parts, making the track logs valuable records of successful paths… and some not so successful paths. The waypoints mark camp sites and other favorite attractions we’ve found over the years. I highly recommend  Second Lake camp site if you ever plan a trip of your own.

Baxter Canoe Trip

We use the term “project” in Topo USA to describe the file that stores the current map center and zoom level along with links to route, waypoint, track, and other draw files that have been added to the project. Project files are valuable—they let you organize related files like the yearly canoe tracks and waypoints shown in the Baxter example and return to them later for review and planning.

To create a new project, use the options available in Topo USA’s Map Files tab. Select File>New to ensure that no previous GPS data is present in the new project file.

Map Files options

Once you create a new project,  you can add existing data to the file by clicking the Map File tab’s Add option and selecting either Draw or Route.

Add Draw Files

You can also use the Draw and Route tabs to create new waypoints, tracks, and routes that you can later transfer to a PN-Series device.

Draw Options

By connecting your PN-series device to your computer, you can transfer  GPS data from the device to Topo USA with the Exchange dialog for use on your desktop. Consider using the “New>Waypoint or Track” options within the Exchange Dialog to better manage your data.

Exchange Dialog

Once you add the GPS data  to the project, you can manage the information in the Draw and Route tabs. Each track and waypoint layer appears in the File view—the More button exposes details for the data.

more-button

More Layer View

When finished editing, return to the Map Files tab to use the File menu and save your project. In this example I’ve saved the project as “Baxter Canoe Trip.”

Map Files Saved

You can use your project any time to review past outings, plan new trips, and send resulting waypoint, track and route information to your GPS device. Our Baxter Canoe Trip has repeatedly shown  the value a good planning process can bring to an expedition. Here are some photos from past years…

Getting ready... Paddling out...
Sunset on the lake... Sitting around the campfire...
Morning fog lifting... Camp is that way...
The explorers... Canoes on the shore...

They bring back fond memories of adventures with good friends… I can’t wait for spring!

Chip Noble
DeLorme


Making Trail Maps with Topo USA and the Earthmate PN-40

October 11, 2008

Last Thursday I was able to share the joys of geocaching with a group of educators and students at the Governor’s Conference on Youth and the Natural World, part of Maine’s Take It Outside initiative.

I prepared for the event by creating a trail map of the University of Maine at Augusta’s trail system. This map was distributed to all of the attendees and the trail data was added to the Earthmate PN-40 devices that were used during the training.

I worked with Steve Engle from the Center for Community GIS in Farmington, ME during the geocaching sessions and also implemented some of his helpful trail mapping tips during the preparation. I’d like to share some of those tips along with other notes on how I used Topo USA and the Earthmate PN-40 to create the Take It Outside trail map.

Before arriving at the UMA trail system I downloaded the high resolution aerial imagery for the area to my device using NetLink’s Map Library. This imagery was very valuable because it showed all of the buildings in the area as well as some of the trails that I was planning to map!

    

As I began my trail data collection I configured my device to give me the most detail possible. I made sure that WAAS was enabled in Device Setup>System to improve the location accuracy of the device. I also confirmed that the Track Settings on the Track page were set to record points by distance with an interval of 10 feet and that a new track would begin recording when the current track was full. Finally I set the Map page to display the GPS Accuracy and Battery Life info fields so that I could monitor these values while gathering the data.

After I adjusted the settings on my PN-40 I began walking the trails at a casual pace, making sure to hold the device flat, giving the PN-40 the best view of the sky possible. When I approached trail intersections I used one of Steve’s suggestions and created waypoints to help remember areas that I would loop back on or need to return to later.

When I finished walking all of the trails I turned my PN-40 off and headed home to create the trail map in Topo USA.

My first action was to connect the PN-40 and use the Exchange Dialog to transfer the track and waypoint information from the GPS to the Topo USA map.

Here is a screenshot of Topo USA showing the raw track data and the intersection waypoints.

After the GPS data finished transferring I created a Trail layer so that I could clean up the track data and prepare it for use on the printed map and with the geocaching demo PN-40s. I expanded the Draw tab using the More button, right clicked the track segment, and chose Copy To>TrailLayer, where TrailLayer was the new layer I had just created. This changed the track to a trail line style making it look like the other trails in the Topo USA data. For those interested in routable user trails, this is also the approach you would use.

I proceeded to use the draw tools to clean up some of the trails. Areas where I overlapped my track or walked off the trail system unintentionally were corrected using Manage Draw right click commands like Break Line, Join Line, and Delete. In one particular area I walked a loop twice and then drew in a trail by hand to approximate the two tracks. I also used the Waypoint tool to create a Trailhead waypoint and an Augusta Civic Center waypoint. The Draw tab has many powerful tools to help edit and create data that can be used in printing and on the PN-40; Topo USA owners should use the Help to get more information.

After completing the trail edits I used the Handheld Export tab to create a Draw Layer map package with the new trail information. I then used the Exchange Dialog to send the trail map package and the new waypoints to the PN-40.

People attending the geocaching training found the additional trail information very useful when choosing which path to follow to get to a geocache. I’ve seen many cachers tackle challenging bushwhacks that could have been avoided by viewing trails on the GPS that are just out of site in the woods.

When creating the paper map we chose to use additional symbols and line styles to mirror the large sign at the UMA trailhead. I created a custom symbol set in Draw and chose colored line styles to complete the printed trail map data. I added the event sponsor logos and other print objects using the Layout Tools in the Print tab. I did use Photoshop to create a map legend by hand and then added it to the map using the Image tool. I also touched up one of the trail colors after saving the file from Topo USA; the sign had a multi-colored line… a feature request for Topo USA!

This is how the final map turned out… not bad for an afternoon of hiking and a few hours of map editing and print layout!

Post a comment if you’re interested in more details on how to make trail maps with your handheld GPS and Topo USA.

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme


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