Create Garmin Waypoint Symbols
User manual: Working with WaypointsWorking with WaypointsThis chapter covers the use of waypoints on Garmin receivers. It iscopyrighted by Dale DePriest.Table of ContentsWaypoints are used to store and remember locations that are ofinterest to the user. They are often used to store intermediate turnsand intersections that help define a route to a particulardestination. Similar to the waystations used by pony express riders asstopover points waypoints mark significant places on your journey. Insome documents and gps receivers these may also be called landmarks.Garmin receivers have differing capabilities in the number ofwaypoints that they can save.
Create Garmin Waypoint Symbols For Kids
I have a Garmin with the USAR custom Iron Sights symbols installed. If I make a waypoint on the GPS and use one of them like the Human.
The earliest units could save 250waypoints while later models can store up to 500. The G-12CX can save1000 waypoints. In addition some units have additional waypoints thatare stored in an internal database. These database waypoints arediscussed in the chapter on databases.Generally waypoint names can be anything you wish.
On most unitthey must be no more than 6 characters long and contain no spaces butcan contain any combination of letters and numbers and somepunctuation. The newest units permits 10 character names and thesecan include spaces. The emap, 76 family, and etrex store waypoints in3 dimensions by including altitude. All other units only storehorizontal position. The 76 family will also store depth data forwater if an optional depth sensor is attached.When you first create a new waypoint the unit will automaticallyassign it a name. These names are three digit numbers starting with001 and incrementing each time you create a new waypoint.
Even ifyou rename a waypoint the unit will generally assign the next numberin the sequence anyway and will not reuse the numbers until it reaches999. On some units it will automatically use the lowest available numberbut and on many others you can force the number sequence to continuefrom wherever you wish.
To do this just name a waypoint from thenumber sequence. For example naming a waypoint to 001 explicitly willcause the next automatic number to be 002 unless this is in use. Itwill automatically increment until it finds an empty number. Somefolks assign a waypoint to a high number to force a block of numbersto be sequential for a particular use.Storing your present location is the usual way to record awaypoint. You simply hit the MARK key, on the G-III, etrex, 76, and emappress and hold the ENTER key, and the waypoint entry form willappear. The location you were at the moment you pressed the button isalready saved in the waypoint information on the form so even if youare traveling at 65 miles per hour down the freeway you can reliablycapture a single point with the press of the button.
A unique defaultname is assigned automatically but you can modify this name at yourleisure without effecting the position data. Finally you should hit'save' to store the waypoint in your database. The waypoint screenfrom the G-12 family looks like:MARK POSITION-Waypoint001. default name and icon - both can be changed.N 39 15.395'W121 02.166' - current position - not editable here.-Add to routenumber - You can add a new waypoint to a route here.-+/-.FT - used with averaging to indicate FOM-AVERAGE?
- averaging available on newer unitsSAVE?On some units there is an averaging feature. If you are standingstill you can click 'average' on the waypoint save screen and theGarmin will start taking readings to average with the one that wascaptured when you hit the MARK key. Averaging will continue until youfinally select save and enter. While averaging is going on the unitwill display a FOM, figure of merit, number to indicate the probableaccuracy of the average to this point. On the G-III family and emapyou first save the waypoint and then you can average by selecting thisoption from the local menu on the waypoint display screen.
(Pleasesee more information on averaging below.)If you are using dgps you can still average the position but theimprovement will be much less since dgps is already more accurate.Averaging still can reduce the some of the effect of atemporarily poor DOP. While averaging is going on you can move tothe name field and enter the name you wish so that when you haveachieved a stable FOM you want you can save the results.Man OverboardAll units except the aviation models, the etrex, and emap have aman over board (MOB) capability. This is accomplished by pressing theGOTO key (Nav key on the 76) twice in a row and then hitting enter.This will store a special waypoint at your current location named MOBand will automatically start the navigation features of the unit toaid you in navigating back to that point. A position marked in thisway is designed as a safety feature for boat use when someone mightactually fall overboard. You may find other uses as well such as whenyour hat blows off you head driving down the road.
If you want tosave that location then you should rename it since it will beoverridden by the next MOB sequence.Accuracy ConsiderationsThe accuracy of a particular fix is dependent on a number offactors. For example if the satellite geometry is poor the solutionwill be inaccurate. Satellites close to the horizon will have goodsatellite geometry when coupled to one high unit but they suffer fromatmospheric effects which can make the accuracy worse. These factorsare taken into consideration when the unit reports the estimatedposition error, EPE on the Satellite status screen. You shouldconsult this information to determine just how good the fix is. Inaddition the G-III family reports a Horizontal Dilution of Precision,HDOP, number near the vertical bars on the satellite status screen.(Some other handheld units can also display this information usingundocumented commands; see the chapter on for more details.) The HDOP number is unitless wherehigher numbers indicate a worse fix.
For a 4 satellite solution a 1.0would be considered to be an excellent geometry and anything below 2.0would be great. When there are more than 4 satellites available thatcan be used to compute a solution the older multiplex units will pickthe best 4 for the computation. They will also track 4 more so thatas satellites move or the unit moves into new positions a selection ofthe best four can be made and switched as necessary. Switching toanother set of satellites can, of course, effect the EPE accuracy.The newer 12 channel units automatically use all of the availablesatellites so they tend to effected less by this kind of change.Using more satellites is called an overdetermined solution and canresult in a DOP of less than 1.0. The meaning of Garmin's EPE numberis not documented and it seems to vary for one model to another andeven from release to release.
With the latest units it seem toreflect a probability from about 50% to perhaps as high as 63%. Thatis 50% of the time you will be more accurate than the EPE shown but50% of the time you could be worse. This, of course, is only anestimate but a more conservative approach would be to double the EPEnumber and expect to be within that accuracy range about 95% of thetime.All of the data above is reflective of horizontal accuracy.Vertical accuracy is generally 50% worse than horizontal accuracy butis not reported in the gps. This is primarily due to the differencethe DOP for a vertical geometry. Many folks are disappointed withthis level of accuracy since they often know their approximatealtitude and can judge this inaccuracy much easier than they can thehorizontal accuracy. If you only have a 2D fix then the most recentaltitude setting is used to compute the horizontal fix and if thisaltitude setting is wrong the horizontal position can be much furtheroff.
If you only have a 2D fix you should check and adjust thealtitude manually as required to ensure an accurate fix. This can beset on the position page either directly by displaying and selectingit or on the G-III family and emap from the local menu.If you augment your gps with a DGPS beacon receiver you can negatemost of the atmospheric effects. As a result the accuracy of a DGPSis improved to 5 meters or less depending on the distance between youand the beacon transmitter. A beacon transmitter uses its preciselyknown location to correct for receive errors and then sends thiscorrection data to your unit. For DGPS to work you need to be able toreceive some of the same satellites as the beacon transmitter so thata differential fix can be achieved. In the US the coast guardoperates beacon transmitters which are available over much of thecountry with an effort currently in progress to cover the entire USA.Many countries around the world also have beacon transmitters.However, if you are in a area not covered by these free beacontransmitters or would prefer a receiver that is not a bulky as thestandard beacon receiver/antenna combination there are also DGPSservices being offered using FM radio frequencies and even directlyfrom overhead satellites. Unfortunately these kinds of services arenot free.Note that DGPS not only improves the horizontal solution but alsothe vertical solution subject to the same 50% degradation due tosatellite geometry.The latest technology for DGPS is called WAAS (EGNOS in Europe) andis available on the newest units.
Please see the chapter for more details.Averaging TechniquesThis section is a little more advanced than others in this chapter.Skip this section if your not ready to dig into accuracy issues.If you don't have a DGPS solution available you may still be ableto achieve a better than 17 meter solution (the Garmin spec) by theuse of averaging. The idea of averaging is to leave the unitstationary and collect multiple solutions and then average them toobtain a better answer. This can be done with the unit itself,collecting data for later computer or manual analysis, or by hooking itto a computer and collecting the data in real time directly on thecomputer. If you want to average altitude data you must use anexternal computer since there are no altitude averaging functionsinside any Garmin unit.
(An exception is the emap and the 76 family.)If you don't have an averaging function or can't stand still longenough to use and you still want to perform position averaging thenuse the tracklog. Set the sample interval so that the tracklog won'toverflow in the time you want to average and let the machine collectthe data. Depending on the model unit you have you will have 768,1024, or 2000 samples when the log is full. Any of these are plentyfor our purposes. The tracklog can be downloaded to a computer foranalysis or you can perform an unscientific analysis right on thescreen.
Switch to the map screen and zoom in as far as you can whilemaintaining all of the points on the display. Now use one of thetechniques described below to place a new waypoint in the center ofall of the tracks by visually weighing the distribution.This trick can also be used on tracklogs collected while moving.Suppose you keep a log of several days trips to work and back. Youwill be able to visually see a distribution at every turn in theroute. Assuming the log doesn't overflow and erase your previous tripyou should be able to place a waypoint on the map page that is areasonable average of the trips. You can selectively turn the log onand off to make this a usable method of obtaining an average usingthe machine itself.
Similarly you could collect multiple waypointsover a long period and visually average them to obtain a bettersolution or use a computer to analyze the waypoints after downloadingthem. If you use this technique be sure you take them several minutesapart and don't expect great accuracy unless you are willing tocollect a lot of points.Averaging can be done even with a pencil and paper. Generallysetting the grid to UTM can make this a bit easier but the idea isto record the location data every 30 second or every minute for a shortwhile and then average the data you recorded. Even 15 minutes of datawill improve the location somewhat.
Garmin Basecamp Waypoints
Data recorded over a longer intervalor will more separation is usually better so you could record severalwapoints over several days or even weeks and average them later.By the way, if you are watching the FOM (figure of merit) whileaveraging and it starts to creep up instead of down, perhaps you justexperienced one of these anomalies of a fix that is based oninformation outside the 95% window. Perhaps, if you have time, itwould be wise to cancel the waypoint and start over.Waypoint entry can be entered several different ways without actuallyvisiting the location or after the fact from collected data.Entering Known lat/lon ValuesIf you know the lat/lon for a position you can enter it directlyas a new waypoint. There are several ways to enter a new waypointbut the most straight forward is to follow these steps:. Go to the main menu and select waypoint. Select New from the 'on page' menu. (Remember that you can use the uparrow key to reach the bottom of the screen.).
Enter the new name and the lat/lon entry. You should have the samedatum and coordinate system selected that matches the information youare trying to enter. If your machine supports icons you can select the one that most representsthe waypoint you are creating. See below for information on icons.
Select done when you are finished.This diagram is for a G-12 family or older multiplex unit. The G-IIIfamily is similar.WAYPOINT-. Waypoint name and icon %.' - Lat/Lon %.' - User definable comment 16 characters long-REF: - Projecting a waypoint from a known waypoint.BRG DST.MI-RENAME? - CommandsDELETE? DONE?Some units such as the etrex or emap do not have a direct method ofentering a new waypoint.
Note: Version 6.15.3 of MapSource accidentally dropped support for custom waypoint icons; version 6.15.4 puts it back. Make sure you have the most recent version.In the, I started describing the process of creating and uploading a custom waypoint icon to a Garmin mapping GPS unit; little of what follows will make sense unless you read that first.