SatNav/GPS Coordinates for Dive Sites, Dive Centres, DIR Shops etc - A DIRx Utility

[GLOC]

The aim of this thread is to provide a means for those with Satnav systems, such as TomTom, to download a Point of Interest file which will contain the location of a dive site (cave site parking/entrance or boat launch site rather than coords of wreck), dive shop or dive centre which has a link to DIR.

For this to work there must be some consistency in the file format and that is

longitude,latitude,"Title","Details"

where both the longitude and latitude values are in decimal degrees. For example -0.78707,51.23793,"Heath End","97 Farnborough Road, Farnham, Surrey GU9 9AL 01252 123456".

An easy way to get this information is from the Google Map system where you can look at the link in the address bar and the coordinates are visible

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=vobster&sll=53.098145,-2.443696&sspn=11.573439,29.619141&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=51.248271,-2.419739&spn=0.047064,0.172005&t=h&om=1 - Vobster

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=vobster&sll=53.098145,-2.443696&sspn=11.573439,29.619141&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=51.248271,-2.419739&spn=0.047064,0.172005&t=h&om=1 - Stoney Cove

I will act as the point of contact for the construction of the POI file and to that end can people send an email to gloc@teamfoxturd.com with their suggestions for entries and importantly 'POI:' in the header of the email so that I can sort them in my inbox. These entries can be anything to do with diving as long as there is a DIR link. I/We don't want a list of sites which don't bring anything to the DIR party. I will put up a POI file as soon as I have a useful amount of entries.

I hope that this becomes a well used tool within the DIRx community allowing people visiting different areas of the world to find dives sites and dive centres. In addition, I will speak to Stuart (Techadmin) about allowing additional POI (other than usernames and locations) to be put onto the DIR World Map (GoogleMap).

Edit: I have been PM'd by a couple of people who know of existing POI files which could be adapted. If you know of these too, can you email me the links and I will see what I can extract/combine from them.

Edit: Added latest version on 2 Jan 2007:

Dive Shops - 305 dive shops in the UK, France, NL and US.

Dive Sites- 143 dive sites in the UK and NL

Hyperbaric Chambers- 20 or so chambers in the UK

Cave Sites- 20 or so cave diving sites in France, UK and the US.

Excel Workbook with 5 worksheets - Individual Categories and Full list of 500 items.

Regards

[Constantino]

You can use all of these :
ENTRADA - GPS

Enjoy,
Ricardo

[GLOC]

Okay, I have made a first stab at providing some POI by combining existing POI out there but I need the help of the divers out there to help me expand the number of dive sites.

I have included the POI files as TomTom versions and I will also upload the excel workbook tomorrow so that people can see what I have and then send me amendments/additions as required. The dive shops list has something like 290 entries, the dive sites 40, hyperbaric chambers 20 or so and cave sites another 20 or so.

What I hope to do is to add to the dive shop name what sort of gas they fill so it is is apparent from the POI when you click it what sort of gas you can get, I also hope to add the tel number so that people can call ahead if need be and finally I hope to get all of the berthing points/contact numbers for the skippers that we regularily use. Finally, finally I also want to expand this beyond the UK to allow anyone travelling around Europe or the US to be able to find somwhere to dive with like minded people.

If people can think of other categories to add it would be very much appreciated. I will collate the whole lot in one excel sheet and then export as required for different categories (4 at the moment).

Dive Shops - 290 or so dive shops in the UK, France and US.

Dive Sites - 40 or dive sites in the UK

Hyperbaric Chambers - 20 or so chambers in the UK

Cave Sites - 20 or so cave diving sites in France and the US.

Any comments or pointers are greatly received.

Regards

[David Martin]

Gareth,

I'm sure that the details will be useful to those with satnavs - but will any of the details be useable to those of us who are still using paper maps and/or internet planning?

David

[Roel]

Quote: (Originally Posted by GLOC)

Dive Shops - 290 or so dive shops in the UK, France and US.

Dive Sites - 40 or dive sites in the UK

Hyperbaric Chambers - 20 or so chambers in the UK

Cave Sites - 20 or so cave diving sites in France and the US.

Any comments or pointers are greatly received.

Regards

The British still think that the rest of Europe does not exist?

& chambers in France would also be a nice add to the cave sites....

PS Great initiative otherwise, I love it!

[GLOC]

Quote: (Originally Posted by David Martin)

Gareth,

I'm sure that the details will be useful to those with satnavs - but will any of the details be useable to those of us who are still using paper maps and/or internet planning?

David

I have just uploaded the baseline Excel sheet which has the latitude and longitude of each item under each worksheet. To view where the 'object' is (cave site, dive site etc) copy the latitude and longitude into GoogleMap (you will need to reverse the lat and long (TT uses Long then Lat) and enter paste them into the 'address bar' of GoogleMap. You can then print out where the site is.

Quote: (Originally Posted by Roel)

The British still think that the rest of Europe does not exist?

& chambers in France would also be a nice add to the cave sites....

PS Great initiative otherwise, I love it!

Well Roel give me all the sites that you have in Belgium and France then I put them into the Excel sheet and update & upload the new POI file.

If people want to add items, please download the Excel sheet and fill in the relevant details for the categories and email me the completed sheet. I will do all the rest of the work.

Regards

[Mark Chase]

Quote: (Originally Posted by GLOC)

Dive Shops - 290 or so dive shops in the UK, France and US.

Dive Sites - 40 or dive sites in the UK

Hyperbaric Chambers - 20 or so chambers in the UK

Cave Sites - 20 or so cave diving sites in France and the US.

Any comments or pointers are greatly received.

Regards

Hi

OK whats an 0v2 file? I can open the text but not the numbers. Is this somehow downloadable streight to tom tom?

WIll there be a plain text version so we can just type in the GPS numbers?

ATB

Mark Chase

[GLOC]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mark Chase)

Hi

OK whats an 0v2 file? I can open the text but not the numbers. Is this somehow downloadable streight to tom tom?

WIll there be a plain text version so we can just type in the GPS numbers?

ATB

Mark Chase

An .ov2 file is one which can be copied to the TomTom and be read directly. If you want to see what the text file is, download the Excel file and you can grab the co-ords from there.

Thanks for the couple of files which have been sent through. I am gradually working through the Excel sheet and adding the gas supplies that I know.

HTH

[GLOC]

Nielh has just informed me that he is working on a script to allow you to view the Excel file in Googlemap by running a KML file (whatever that is).

So those without TomToms can see what we have been talking about

[neilh]

Quote: (Originally Posted by GLOC)

Nielh has just informed me that he is working on a script to allow you to view the Excel file in Googlemap by running a KML file (whatever that is).

So those without TomToms can see what we have been talking about

Something you can browse using Google Earth is here: http://the-hunters.mysite.orange.co.uk/DIRx_POI_0.4.kmz

It includes links to display each place in Google Maps as well.

It's a rough 'n' ready conversion of Gareth's Excel spreadsheet. I'd appreciate a hand from anyone vaguely artistic who could create some nice icons to go with the different categories