Re: [VAL] boondocking

["Roger Moseley" <rmoseley@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I doubt the file formats are the same. Ozi is designed for moving map 
applications, originally for a sail boat, but works great in a truck. 
Quakemap looks a little better at putting labels on the map/photo, but 
since Ozi is designed for stand-alone use it is better at general 
mapping processes.

I'd be glad to share a few files (waypoint, tracks, map comments) so you 
can see the format. Ozi builds its tracks from the NEMA sentence sent by 
the GPS, but the track file is a text file that doesn't contain all the 
data that is included in the NEMA sentence.

One nice thing about Ozi is that you can make and calibrate maps from 
scanned paper maps. You can even do screen shots from Mapquest and 
stitch them together in Photoshop and calibrate them (but you'd have to 
restrict them to your personal use due to copyright, and even that might 
not be totally ethical).

Further, if you like 3-D, you can load DTED models (free from USGS) and 
it will generate 3-D views of the terrain. Tracks will have height 
profiles, etc. There is also a version that runs on CE based pocket PCs.

You can get a pretty powerful trial version at www.oziexplorer.com (the 
author is in Australia). There is a very active and informed user group 
on Yahoo. If you've ever wondered about datuums and elipsoids, you will 
get an earful here, but you don't have to know squat about 
geodetics/geodessey to use Ozi.

Roger