May 9, 2006 12:30
This is very closely related to my own recent feature request. I hoped to see a function added to the track window to allow the track line to be automatically saved as a text file at user-defined intervals. That saved track file could then be imported back into a separate track record window, so that the current track remains visible and capture continues while the old track is also visible. I want to save the track periodically and reset the track window so that the current track window doesn't end up with hundreds of thousands of lines as I record continuously.
Having the old track files available separately opens a world of possibilities. In my case, there is no race, but we keep driving over the same grounds. I want to be able to write notes into the notes field of the old and current track windows. This gives some data keeping functionality like a georeferenced logbook, but if the notes were made visible on the screen you could do all kinds of things. For example, you have a tricky entrance to a remote bay that hasn't been properly charted (common in Alaska) so you follow another boat in the first time, and as you capture the track you write notes into the track record window. After saving the track to a text file, you could import it the next time you visit the area, see how your current progress compares to the known safe track, and read the notes attached to the track. I think it would be very cool to see those attached notes on the screen beside their points.
Some of this functionality already exists. As noted above, you can run down your track by scrolling the track window. You can keep your track window open without automatically capturing points, and click the "New" button to manually enter points of interest and then write a note for the position. I think this is as close as MacENC comes to having an event mark button. Of course you can always double click and make a waypoint name as a note at any position, but that isn't quite the same as showing a separate history file on the screen.
For anyone interested in making notes along their track records, this ability has been recently improved in MacENC in response to my request. There had been a problem with the notes field staying selected while a USB GPS was attached. Text can now be entered as track capture continues. When exporting the track records to a text file the default file name is now the current date. That helps me keep each day's notes separated without thinking too much about naming. I also learned to my pleasure that if I want to write a note in the saved text file the notes field is the last thing on each line. You don't need to carefully put your cursor between the correct pair of commas. Just type your note at the end of the line. The text file field order differs from that of the current track window. If this doesn't make sense to you, just look at a track window and a saved text file side by side. I haven't been recording instruments and there is a series of commas in the text file. The active track window would lead you to believe that you must add text file notes somewhere in the middle of that line of commas.
Having the old track files available separately opens a world of possibilities. In my case, there is no race, but we keep driving over the same grounds. I want to be able to write notes into the notes field of the old and current track windows. This gives some data keeping functionality like a georeferenced logbook, but if the notes were made visible on the screen you could do all kinds of things. For example, you have a tricky entrance to a remote bay that hasn't been properly charted (common in Alaska) so you follow another boat in the first time, and as you capture the track you write notes into the track record window. After saving the track to a text file, you could import it the next time you visit the area, see how your current progress compares to the known safe track, and read the notes attached to the track. I think it would be very cool to see those attached notes on the screen beside their points.
Some of this functionality already exists. As noted above, you can run down your track by scrolling the track window. You can keep your track window open without automatically capturing points, and click the "New" button to manually enter points of interest and then write a note for the position. I think this is as close as MacENC comes to having an event mark button. Of course you can always double click and make a waypoint name as a note at any position, but that isn't quite the same as showing a separate history file on the screen.
For anyone interested in making notes along their track records, this ability has been recently improved in MacENC in response to my request. There had been a problem with the notes field staying selected while a USB GPS was attached. Text can now be entered as track capture continues. When exporting the track records to a text file the default file name is now the current date. That helps me keep each day's notes separated without thinking too much about naming. I also learned to my pleasure that if I want to write a note in the saved text file the notes field is the last thing on each line. You don't need to carefully put your cursor between the correct pair of commas. Just type your note at the end of the line. The text file field order differs from that of the current track window. If this doesn't make sense to you, just look at a track window and a saved text file side by side. I haven't been recording instruments and there is a series of commas in the text file. The active track window would lead you to believe that you must add text file notes somewhere in the middle of that line of commas.