Waypoint Icons (ie. GeoCaching)

[Metzen]

Hi,

I'm requesting icon support for waypoints.

I'm getting into GeoCaching and it's really fun.  There are 800 different caches within 20 miles of my house.

There are different standard icons for waypoints, including GeoCache and GeoCache (found).

On my GPS V I can look and see a treasure chest icon for GeoCache's, and caches I've found the icon is an open treasure chest.

It would be nice if those were supported and recognized in TopoFusion.  On my GPS V I can glance and find a cache I haven't been to, it would be nice to do the same in TopoFusion, since the icon type is stored in the GPX file I'm importing.

Thanks,
Brian

[Krein]

Someone just needs to draw them all.... :-)

Adding support shouldn't be too hard if we had some icons drawn....

[Metzen]

What size and format would you like them in?

[Krein]

Probably all of them in one .BMP file.

Size doesn't really matter.  Not so big that they cover up too much, but big enough to see what they are.

They should all be in the same file, the same size, just one after each other, left to right.

It's probably best if we stick with 16 colors, as well.  Here is the file that has icons we use now:

http://www.topofusion.com/Sprites.bmp

[Metzen]

Here are several that I found:

http://www.gzmarketing.com/images/waypoints1.bmp

http://www.gzmarketing.com/images/waypoints2.bmp

I have several others as well, same size, different symbols (not waypoints).

They're from another application and couldn't be used as is, but could be used as a starting point.

I think this is the complete list of waypoints recognized in the .gpx format:

Airport
Amusement Park
Anchor
Ball Park
Bank
Bar
Boat Ramp
Bowling
Bridge
Building
Campground
Car
Car Rental
Car Repair
Cemetery
Church
City (Large)
City (Medium)
City (Small)
Convenience Store
Crossing
Dam
Danger Area
Dangerous Area
Department Store
Drinking Water
Fast Food
Fishing Area
Fitness Centre
Forest
Fuel
Geocache
Geocache Found
Glider Area
Golf Course
Hotel
Hunting Area
Information
Live Theatre
Man Overboard
Medical Facility
Mine
Movie Theatre
Museum
Oil Field
Parachute Area
Park
Parking Area
Pharmacy
Picnic Area
Pizza
Post Office
RV Park
Residence
Restaurant
Restroom
Scales
Scenic Area
School
Seaplane Base
Shipwreck
Shopping Center
Short Tower
Shower
Skiing Area
Stadium
Summit
Swimming Area
Tall Tower
Telephone
Toll Booth
Trail Head
Truck Stop
Tunnel
Ultralight Area
Waypoint
Zoo

I think all of them are represented in those .bmp files.

I think this would be a welcome addition by anyone with many waypoints at all.

Thanks,
Brian

[Kuren]

do they need to be "I.P. neutral"?

[Metzen]

The icons of all of the programs I have seen very closely resemble the icons on my GPS V.

If I had to guess I'd say most application authors have pulled the icons off of a GPS unit using a screen capture program, then touched them up or modified them slightly.

While this may not be entirely "IP neutral", I'd say it is "IP benign".

I think it's a good thing that all of the icons are very similar.  It would be very inconvenient and incongruous to go from a program to my GPS and have the icons be completely different.

I posted the other .bmp files simply as an example, and not to be used directly.

Similarly, here is a screen capture from my Garmin GPS V:
http://www.gzmarketing.com/images/gpsv.bmp

Not identical, but similar icons.

I think the best thing to do would be to create one of each waypoint in close proximity, capture them from the GPS, load them into an editor and use them as a reference point for creating new icons.  The new icons would be similar, which is a "Good Thing", but not derivative works.

It could be done in a few hours, I imagine.

Thanks,
Brian

[Kuren]

I can make such a file in seconds...

one sec

http://tera.kuren.org/gps/icons.gpx

the bitmap making would take a bit of time

[Krein]

I think you guys are right that a derivative makes more sense to keeps things consistent.  

We'll see what we can do.

[Metzen]

Kuren, thanks for the .gpx file.  Did you do that by hand or with a program?

OK, heres's a .bmp of the waypoint icons, as imported from a GPS V.

http://www.gzmarketing.com/images/waypoints.bmp

I'll let someone at TopoFusion take over from here, since you guys know what format you need, and how closely you want to match these icons to balance usability and legality.

Thanks for a great program.  I look forward to seeing the waypoint icons in action, as I'm sure a lot of other users will too.

Thanks,
Brian

[Kuren]

I made a GPX file with Garmin, and then used Textpad to mass copy and paste in the other waypoints.  I used Excell to invent the staggering coords.

[Metzen]

I would still love to see this feature added, as it would really add to the usefulness of waypoints in TopoFusion, especially when you have a lot of them in one screenshot.

Thanks!

[Larry]

Quote (Krein @ Sep. 14 2005,6:48)

It's probably best if we stick with 16 colors, as well.  Here is the file that has icons we use now: http://www.topofusion.com/Sprites.bmp

Krein,

Perhaps TF could refer to this .bmp file instead of using it internally. That way users could tweak the individual icons to suit. NGS Topo! has such a .bmp file, and for my use, I much prefer my modified icons over the stock ones.

Larry

[Metzen]

I agree.  That would also remove any copyright concerns, as the included icons could just be quick and crappy  '>   and then users could collaborate separately to create their own.

That seems like a really clean way of approaching it.