One of my mining clients owns over 250 patented mining claims.?ÿ I have created several AutoCAD drawings of his claims with georeferenced aerial photography in the background.?ÿ He would like to take a handheld GPS unit into the field to locate some of his corners.?ÿ Since most of his claims are at and above timberline, his hope is that the GPS unit will navigate him to the general area of a chosen corner and then he can look around for a stone standing above the tundra grass.
I found a tablet that Garmin sells that comes preloaded with topo maps, roads, land boundaries, etc. and Garmin also has something called Birdeye that allows one to download satellite imagery for a yearly subscription.?ÿ With that feature, my client could select from a list of waypoints and navigate to the selected corner.?ÿ I haven't found a unit yet that would allow me to upload georeferenced imagery and historical aerial photos of my choosing and plot my CAD drawing on top of them.?ÿ
Ideally, my client would like a handheld unit (preferably a tablet) that can visually navigate him to a selected corner.?ÿ With over 1000 waypoints, I'm trying to avoid manually adding unique point IDs to the coordinates before uploading to the GPS unit.?ÿ I am trying to avoid him having to wade through all those waypoints to select the one he wants.?ÿ I would like to export either a DXF file or create a KML/KMZ file from my drawings, then upload the file to the GPS unit.?ÿ My client would then select the project and image to be in the background and PRESTO, the tablet would display my custom, georeferenced aerial photograph with CAD drawing on top and his current position.
Anyone have any suggestions??ÿ Or is this a pipe dream and I should dummy up and create a coordinate list that my client can print out and manually enter the coordinates for each corner he's looking to navigate to.?ÿ ?????ÿ
I think Garmin supports .gpx files on their sport units, and it is very commonly used for geocaching, so it may be available on a Garmin tablet.?ÿ You might consider it as another possible format.
Excel will open a .gpx file just fine - so that should be the path to take.
Another option would be to export your points into a csv file and then convert to .gpx Google Earth will accept a .gpx file. Once you import the .gpx file into GE you should be able to export it as a .kml/.kmz file. Then just email that to your client and they can access it with a phone, which will guide them to the corners just like directions to a McDonalds. But you will need cell service for this option...
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BackCountry Navigator Pro will do most of what you want. You can export your Cad lines to a .kml and load them into it. Predownload aerial images so you don't have to worry about cell coverage. Not sure about the custom background maps, though.
I use it on my Android phone all of the time. It is a little odd and not very intuitive, but is the best I can find.
I used to use MapSource.
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/MapSource
I have not tried BaseCamp yet.
Perfect fit for a Garmin.?ÿ If he has diffculty seeing small screens go for the largest screen possible. I've reviewed the Garmin 276C https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/539722?ÿ?ÿ
If you need to do imagery, then stop and don't go Garmin - way too much overhead.?ÿ If you must go imagery, try Free Avenza - pumping out georeferenced PDF with baked in symbology. works on any phone, but limited to 3 maps, unless you pay for pro.?ÿ Avenza for imagery, Garmins for precise navigation to just points, the latter a lot less work.
The Garmin above is Spendy, but compliant with all basemaps (plenty useable at 1:5,000) especially in the lower 48.?ÿ Alternative is the current line of Garmins, but they are smaller screens. Stick to buttons (78/64 series) for using in bushes with gloves, cold.?ÿ?ÿ
Waypoints are the simplest way to allow nav, so extracting all your points with a name can be blown into the unit (free Basecamp software) from CSV, or using the Free DNRGPS.?ÿ If you can get your data to a shapefile (say in Lat/long, or UTM), then load into the garmin in seconds.?ÿ ?ÿGarmins know nothing about NAD83, so convert NAD83 to WGS84 using _5 or something more robust to shave that 1.5 meters or so.
Garmins for navigating are the best tool out there.?ÿ The closest waypoint will float to the top of the waypoint list too, so you dont' have to worry about management there.
Message me if you want some documentation.
Used Thales Promark 3 and Mappers would be ideal and background maps can be uploaded to show and record waypoints, drawings, USGS maps and aerial photos and more.
