[Loadstone] Changes to the manual and POI-Converter

[Rob Melchers]

Hi all,

Part 3 of the manual, Points Management, has undergone a few relevant 
changes. Also added is the following item:

Load Database

Actually, this option should have been called 'Create or Load a Custom 
Database', but that didn't fit on the screen. So we settled for 'Load 
Database' and here's what it does.

When you have just started using Loadstone GPS, choosing this option shows 
a window that lists the 'Default' database. This database already resides 
in memory as it is loaded at startup. But there is also the <new file> 
option. By selecting this option you may create and name a new, empty 
database, ready to be filled with points.

Most likely, your default database contains points for daily use, the route 
to work, the location of the nearest shopping mall and the addresses of 
friends. Additionally there may be points that you have downloaded from the 
Point Share Exchange and imported (merged into) the default database. Now 
let's assume you have plans to explore the Appalachian trail. You've 
downloaded the centerline data and discovered that there are over 300,000 
points to guide you along the trail. It's not advisable to use a file of 
that size, so you chopped it up in 10 files of 30,000 points and used the 
POI converter to create 10 Loadstone GPS databases. Still, merging only one 
file of this size into the default database would make Loadstone GPS do 
it's work notably slower. Here's where the <new file> option comes in.

Using this option you create an empty database and name it AT_Part1. Now, 
again using the 'Load database' option you press select on this new 
database. The default database is temporarily replaced with this new 
database. Next you use the 'Import database' option to fill AT_Part1 with 
the 30,000 points in your first created database file. You do the same for 
the other 9 files and finally you end up with the default database still 
containing your original points and ten databases that you can load into 
memory as you want to use them.

It shall be clear, that this technique also works for non-Appalachian trail 
points.

POI Converter:

Users of the POI Converter will be pleased to learn that the converter now 
handles files up to 1.5 MB in size and allows for the download of the 
resulting conversion as a .txt file. Note, that a file of the maximum size 
asks you to wait for almost 8 hours before converting the next file. 
Failure to do so will result in the loss of records with duplicate time 
stamps. We are currently working on a way to reduce the wait time.

Rob 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.loadstone-gps.com/pipermail/loadstone/attachments/20070107/c0606e24/attachment.htm