I will mention here a few key tools in preparing the digital packing:
- GraphHopper - This is a very useful routing website. Really well done. The only two “problems” are: It only saves data to GPX files so these require a conversion step to use as KML. Also from time to time it reveals data errors in the underlying maps (which is not its fault of course). As an example a track might not meet a junction leaving a gap so it routes around half the world instead of doing what looks completely obvious. When creating the LW track I used the Hiking form of transport and the TF Outdoors map layer which includes contours and looks very good. I have used this extensively for long distance cycling routes and been highly impressed with the results.
- GPSVisualizer - This is an excellent (indeed comprehensive and clever) companion tool like a sort of Swiss Army knife for mapping data. My primary uses for it are: Converting GPX to KML. Adding 5km waypoints. Building a profile of a track.
- GPS Prune - this is quite a neat little package that runs locally on Mac and Windows. Can be used for conversions, simplifying data and looking at the results. On Mac it runs as a Java app.
- Basecamp. I really do not like Garmin’s bloated and clunky tool. Even on the Mac the interface is as ugly as sin. However to be marginally fair it does do a couple of useful things. One of which is that you can choose the Icon for Waypoints which then appears in the GPS. At least it does IF you happen to choose one that is available in your particular model (otherwise they default to Blue Flags). Many people quite like this tool as it does lots of stuff (most of which you can do yourself with less fuss using other methods). But if you want to minimise the amount you need to learn then this is your one stop shop for all things Garmin GPS. The KML files it produces are not especially elegant.
- calibre seems to be the ebook/Kindle library management tool of choice. Again the interface leaves a lot to be desired but it does the job. The primary job being to store all ebooks/documents and pump them out to a Kindle.
- Maps.Me is less of a tool to create data and more a tool to use it on iPhone (and Android). With two notable exceptions.Firstly if you import a KML file to MM then edit it slightly (eg a small name change), then export it out again it will then be in the proper MM format. This means that externally made edits (ie changing the colour of certain pins en masse) will “stick” when the file is reimported. So it forms a very handy step on the way to a fully functional KML file.
Secondly it allows you to record places in situ and then save/share the results for use elsewhere. - Lastly you need a decent editor. And on the Mac my editor of choice is TextWrangler. This is much more powerful than I really know what to do with. Still with XML documents (GPX and KML being examples) it colours the text to make sense of the syntax and allows expanding and collapsing of various levels. Importantly it also has very (as in VERY) powerful search and replace functions using grep-style regular expressions. I wouldn’t be without it*.
- All of this stuff ends up on Dropbox which is well integrated into MacOS and iOS and comes with it’s own tools and tricks. Amongst these are the inbuilt text editor (Hint: to edit a KML file on the fly you need to rename Track.kml to Track.txt, edit it then rename it back again).
