TourPoint Tutorial
Here is a fun way to learn how to create your own GPS tours using TourPoint software.
Overview
TourPoint software enables you to create professional-looking GPS tour guides for personal or commercial use. Designed especially for developing content for compatible Garmin car navigation units, and GPS-enabled Windows Mobile devices running GeoTour Mobile software. TourPoint integrates audio and pictures along with descriptive text to create media-rich GPS tour guide content.
The process of creating a GPS tour involves several steps, starting with collecting your resources: location information, audio and image files. This first step can often be the most time consuming, but this tutorial provides you with example files to work with, so that you can get started working with TourPoint program. And it's fun! because in this tutorial you will be creating GPS tour of virtual mine field!
You begin with the location data for each of feature of the mine field, including the mine locations. Working in the TourPoint program, you will open a Google Earth (.kml) file that contains the location data. Then you link each land mine location to an audio file (sound of an explosion) and an image file (picture of a bomb). In then end, you will have a GPS tour guide to navigate the mine field from one end to the other, while trying not to get blown up.
What you Need:
Technical Support for |
TourPoint Editor software - Obtain TourPoint software using the links found on the TravelByGPS.com/software.php page.
Tutorial Resources - Click here to download the tutorial resources in a compressed file.
Garmin POI Loader software (optional) - To upload GPS tours to a compatible Garmin device you will need to obtain POI Loader software from Garmin.com. However, you do not need POI Loader if you plan to play GPS tours on a Windows Mobile device using GeoTours Mobile software.
Gathering Location Information
Creating a GPS tour requires you to pull together information about the places along your tour route. You must accurately determine each locations GPS coordinates (i.e. latitude and longitude) and you must supply additional information that describes each place. Simple tours include place names and some descriptive text. More complete tours include sound and pictures. The resources for this tutorial include all the location information and media files for creating a GPS tour of a virtual mine field.
Google Earth
Google Earth is a great tool for associating GPS coordinates and descriptive
text with locations just about anywhere on the globe. If you were to create
a GPS tour from scratch, you could use Google Earth to create Placemarks,
marking locations and typing descriptive text for each location on your
tour. For this tutorial, the resulting Google Earth (.kml) file for the
mine field has already been created and is included in the tutorial
resources. The screenshot (at right) shows what the minefield.kml file
looks like when opened up in Google Earth.
“Enhancements"
TourPoint software allows you to link sounds and pictures to your tour locations, enhancing your GPS tour. Typically you would take pictures of the places along your tour and make audio recordings of your tour narrative. But again, for this tutorial, this task has already been done for you. Pictures of the bombs, start and finish flags, and the audio - bomb explosions and bugle calls - are included with the tutorial resources.
File Management
The
directory tree structure (screenshot at right) shows you how the files of
this tutorial are organized. If you have not already, download the
tutorial resources to your computer,
remembering where saved it. It (tutorial.zip) is a compressed (.zip)
file which contains all the directories (folders) for this tutorial. Once
downloaded to your computer you must unzip it, extracting the contents.
Use WinZip
to extract the MineField directory to your computers desktop.
Notice that in the Minefield directory contains MineField.gpx and MineFiled.kml and the Data subdirectory.
Notice that in the Data subdirectory there are more subdirectories which contain the enhancements for points on the minefield tour. As shown here (in the next screenshot at right), the subdirectory "Bomb01" contains the associated media files for the location of Bomb01 - an image file (bomb.jpg) and an audio file (TourGuide_bomb.mp3).
IMPORTANT:
You must maintain this directory structure for the tour to work with both
Garmin and GeoTours Mobile applications.
Installing Tour Point
- Click on free trial link found here.
- Save installation program to your desktop.
- Run the installation program.
- Allow the installation program to download the setup program.
- Follow the Setup Wizard.
Note: The trial version is limited to only 5 points.
TourPoint
With Minefield folder on your computer desktop, you are ready to launch
TourPoint software.
Options
The first time you launch TourPoint software, the Options screen will display allowing you to make changes to the default settings. You can also bring up the options screen by selecting "Tools" from the main menu then "Options..."
Help for each setting is provided. Hover your mouse over any option setting and an explanation of the setting will be show up on the right panel. When you create your own GPS tours, you may want to change these settings as necessary. For now, all that is necessary is that you:
1) select the correct Target Device
2) select "Write relative links"
Click "OK" when you have finished selecting your options.
File > Open
To import location information into TourPoint Editor, simply open any compatible file. On the main TourPoint screen, select "File" from the main menu and "Open". Browse to the MineField directory and open MineField.kml. The screenshot below shows the MineField.kml file opened in TourPoint software. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the main screen.
Name
The name at the top of the screen is the same as the name of the location highlighted in the table of contents on the left. You can select a different location by clicking on locations in the table of contents. Notice that the location information (latitude, longitude, etc.) changes depending on which location is selected.
TIP: Clicking "Sort" will arrange locations in alphabetical order.
Symbol
(This tutorial does not discuss this advanced feature.)
Description
Move your mouse over the description field and click. Now you see the text description of the location selected at left. Select other locations to see the other descriptions. You can play with modifying the MineField descriptions to your liking.
INS: Clicking the "INS" button inserts sample mark up language, which you can leave or edit as desired.
NOTE:
Using markup language is an advanced feature of TourPoint software. Using
this feature you can change the color of the text, make the text larger
or smaller, insert a horizontal rule, etc. Text formatting is a powerful
feature but beyond the scope of this tutorial. Note also that text formatting
appears differently on different target devices (ie. Garmin nuvi 360 verses
StreetPilot c550). As an aspiring tour guide author you will have to experiment
with text formatting to obtain desired results. The ""Preview
<html>" button will show you what your formatted text should
look like on your target device.
Links
The link field is where you associate enhancements (i.e. jpg's and .mp3's) with your locations. Since you just opened a .kml file, you will not see any links associated with any locations. In just a moment we will be associating pictures of bombs and explosion sounds with land mine locations.
Geo
The Geo section of the main screen includes the latitude and longitude coordinates fields. These fields are locked so that you do not inadvertently change them. You have the option to unlock these fields and make changes.
UNDO: The "Undo" button undoes changes.
PREVIEW: The ""Preview" button will show you what your formatted text description should look like on your target device.
SHOW MAP: This is bi-directional Google Map support, displaying map of your selected location, and providing the means of updating the coordinates from map.
Address
Under the Address heading you can enter contact information. Our mine field does not have any contact info but you can modify these fields to see how they display on your device.
GEOCODE: This button activates Yahoo! Geocoding support, which enables you to determine latitude and longitude from a street address.
Phone Number Fields
TourPoint Edition enables you to associate phone numbers with tour points. In fact, some devices will even use the contact phone number with built-in hands-free dialing feature!
Proximity Alert
Proximity is the distance at which you want your GPS to alert to an approaching tour point. You should consider several factors when setting proximity. The point of interest should be within sight-distance when proximity is triggered - with some advance warning. The amount of advance warning will depend on how fast you expect the user to be traveling and whether or not there are any obstructions. Also you should not set proximity less than 10 meters (30 feet) because this distance is approaching the limits of GPS accuracy. We will be setting proximity for our "land mines" in just a moment.
File > Save As...
The result of your work in TourPoint editor will be a GPs eXchange (.gpx) file with linked audio and image files. GPS tour applications like GeoTour Mobile can play tours created with TourPoint directly. (Note: If you want to play your tours on a Garmin you will have another step - using POI Loader software to create a Garmin Point of Interest (.gpi) file).
Along with the resources for this tutorial, in the MineField directory, is already MineField.gpx, which is the result of steps taken in this tutorial. You may use this file to compare with the one you create. To prevent overwriting the example file, save your file using a different name, like myMindField.gpx. Select "File" from the main menu and "Save as..." typing myMineField.gpx as the file name, then click OK.
Linking Enhancements
Now you can start associating audio files and pictures to your locations. Highlight the "Start" location and click on the "..." button adjacent the Link field. Browse to the "Start" folder (inside the Data directory) and click open. Inside the "Start" folder are the audio and image waypoint enhancement files. You will have select "All Files (*.*)" from the "Files of Type" dropdown box in order to see all the files. Highlight the "TourGuide_charge.mp3" and click Open.
Notice that the link field now gives the path to the audio file. Notice also that the word "TourGuide" appears to the left of "Link" indicating that tour guide enhancements have been detected and successfully linked.
IMPORTANT: When you create your own GPS tours remember to include "TourGuide" in audio file names. This is important is especially for Garmin users. Garmin POI Loader software will not compile audio without "TourGuide" (case sensitive) in the file name.
Repeat this process - linking all the land mine locations and the Finish with the proper audio enhancements.
Save you work by doing a File > Save.
NOTE: The (.gpx) file contains the location information (waypoints, descriptions) and links to enhancement - not the enhancements themselves. That is to say, that the (.gpx) does not contain the audio and image files - only the links to audio and image files. You must keep you files organized in the way that you specify. If you move the files around you may break the links.
Setting Proximity
For this tutorial, the Start, Finish, and all "land mines" have the same proximity. Select the "Start" waypoint, then enter 33 feet in the proximity field. Repeat this proximity setting for all land mines and the Finish.
Save your work.
If your plans are to use the GPS tour guide you created on a Windows Mobile device running GeoTours Mobile software, then you are finished with TourPoint Editor and all that remains for you to do is transfer the folder containing the GPX file and sub-folders to you PDA or smartphone.
Garmin POI Loader
If your plans are to use the GPS tour guide you created on a Garmin, then you must now run POI Loader software to create a Garmin compatible (.gpi) file.
POI Loader software includes a help file that explains how to use the program. Download the POI Loader program from Garmin.com
The result of your work with POI Loader will be a poi.gpi file in the Garmin/Poi folder. IMPORTANT: Rename your poi.gpi file to something you will recoginze, like minefiled.gpi. The file name poi.gpi is reserved for Custom POIs.
NOTE: POI Loader imports the first (alphabetically ordered) compatible (.csv or .gpx) file it "sees" in a folder. If you followed the steps in this tutorial and you have myMinfield.gpx and Minefield.gpx in the same folder, then POI Loader will import Minefield.gpx instead of the file you created. To import the file you created you should remove the other file from the folder.
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Now follow these additional instructions on how use tour guide content with your GPS here.
The finished product: A screenshot from a Garmin nuvi 360 is shown at right.
Final Notes
The location data for this tutorial comes from a place in Auburn, Alabama, and is intended only to serve as an example. From what you've learned in this tutorial, and some additional skills using Google Earth, you should be able to create a virtual mine field at a location near you.
Contact me if you would like me to create a TourGuide for your organization.
References
Special Thanks for Phil Hornby for developing TourPoint Editor Software. For more information about the program and product support, visit the official TourPoint web site:
