Online multi location mapping - old dog requires new tricks advice, please

[deliquium]

I'd like to plot at least a hundred or so location points on my iPhone SE, within a 30 mile radius of home. These will be OS benchmark sites, or any other points of interest. So when I'm out randomly wandering on the bike I can be alerted to such things when in their vicinity. So there's no route planning required.

How would be the simplest way of doing this?

I could make a list of OS 8 number grid references from an online database - would that be possible to import to any mapping software? Or will it be a tedious manual affair?

And how could I "tick off"/mark the various points after visiting, without actually removing them?

I currently have Apple Maps, Google Maps and MapOut on the phone and bikehike, cycle.travel and openstreetmap on the desktop.

My brain hurts at the overwhelming capabilites of softwares and painful learning curves necessary to work this out myself

[Richard Fairhurst]

If you can get the data into a GPX file (as waypoints) or a KML file, then you can find an app that'll import them. MapOut might be able to, and I'm pretty sure maps.me can read waypoints in KML files.

The file will need to contain lat/longs rather than OS easting/northings.

[Mick F]

You can see these points on an OS map and want to transfer them to an iPhone?
Correct?

This can be done for a Garmin device via Garmin Basecamp, or if you had OS maps on your device, you could put manual waypoints in directly.

Another way of doing this, is to see the OS map and your points of interest on BikeHikeUK and plot a "daily route" to follow to upload to your iPhone. I'm doing this with parish churches, finding them on the OS maps and plotting routes to get to them.

[al_yrpal]

Just highlight them in Google Maps by clicking on the star at the end of the URL . Then they show up as starred points on Google Maps on your phone. I have used this in the past to highlight possible campsites. Google Maps allows you to download a map section onto your phone so you dont need to be online when riding around.

Al

[Psamathe]

If you can get the data into a GPX file (as waypoints) or a KML file, then you can find an app that'll import them. MapOut might be able to, and I'm pretty sure maps.me can read waypoints in KML files.

MapOut does accept gpx file containing loads of waypoints - that's what I used for the Archies European campsite list last summer. Nice thing is that the waypoint marks are always drawn the same size irrespective of he map zoom level (i.e. the markers don't "shrink" as you zoom out).

In fact you can use MapOut app to create the Waypoints if you want (either create them within the app or import a gpx file - whatever you want). To create them in MapOut you use the "Draw a New Tour" option from the menu. This can be used to either draw a tour or to add a Waypoint. Once yous elect the draw a tour top of the screen says "Double tap: To start a new tour, Long Tap: To add a new waypoint". It works well (you can name the waypoints, delete them individually, etc.); I've been using it a fair bit recently planning (and marking) places I'm looking to visit on intended travels.

It will show the waypoints but it won't issue you a warning that you are within a certain radius of any of those points.

Ian

[deliquium]

Many thanks for all your replies

But I'm overwhelmed and don't understand. Again

There's a long list of OS Grid Refs (sadly not in order of distance from my Postcode) on http://www.bench-marks.org.uk

Which I would like to load onto my phone somehow and give alerts when just out and about passing these locations.

How does one convert a list* of OS Grid Refs into a GPX file?

Would that involve manually inputting location data into a spreadsheet and could that be "converted" to a GPX file?

* here's an example

[Mick F]

What I'd do, would be to find them on an OS map and plot a route to the ones you'd like to visit on any one day.

Repeat for some more, and keep a log of the ones visited.
Eventually, you'll have done them all and have the records to prove it.

This is my planned route for ten parish churches for when the weather clears up. Hopefully next week.

Edit:
Just noticed!
I missed out Padstow!
Looks like I'll have to re-plot it.

[deliquium]

Unfortunately Mick F, I don't want to plot any routes . I know how to get to the places - and that's not the point.

I just want to be able to somehow transfer a load of multiple OS grid references onto my iPhone via whatever convenient mapping software, so that if I'm passing and feel like stopping to take a photo on any given day, I will get an audible alert from my phone as I near the vicinity. Some rides I won't want to be bothered with breaking the cycle, other days I'll fancy 'bagging' a few more points/photos of interest.

My question is about how to accumulate info (from previous uploaded http://www.bench-marks.org.uk) then transfer a lot of OS grid references to some mapping software

And needing child like instructions

[AndyK]

I may be missing something here but...

If you go to that website you mention and hit "Search" on the top menu bar, it takes you to a search page where you can specify benchmarks within a specified distance of a given postcode (i.e. just what you wanted). Try it.

When you get the results, hit the link at the bottom of the page that says "Export to GPS" (not "Export to CSV").

That will give you the option of exporting all your results to one of three different GPS file formats.

Now you're halfway there.

One of the three formats offered is GPX, which would normally be the best option - but unfortunately it exports the points as a GPX route file with each benchmark labelled as a waypoint along that route. The trouble with that is that if you import this into some mapping apps, they will assume you want them to draw a route for you between all of the points. I tried downloading all the benchmarks within 60km of my home, then imported this into Viewranger. It helpfully drew me a dense web of lines across Southern England, joining all the dots to result in a route that it claimed to be 2.5 million miles long(!) Then it hung up and refused to talk to me again, not surprisingly.

A better bet might be to export to the TomTom POI ("Points Of Interest") file format (.ov2) which I understand can easily be tweaked and imported into the Osmand Android phone app, but I'm sure there are people here who know more about that side of it.

[Edit: Just noticed you mentioned iPhone. You definitely need someone else to advise on the next step, then.]
[Edited again: apparently Osmand is available on iPhones.]

[Psamathe]

Unfortunately Mick F, I don't want to plot any routes . I know how to get to the places - and that's not the point.

I just want to be able to somehow transfer a load of multiple OS grid references onto my iPhone via whatever convenient mapping software, so that if I'm passing and feel like stopping to take a photo on any given day, I will get an audible alert from my phone as I near the vicinity. Some rides I won't want to be bothered with breaking the cycle, other days I'll fancy 'bagging' a few more points/photos of interest.

My question is about how to accumulate info (from previous uploaded http://www.bench-marks.org.uk) then transfer a lot of OS grid references to some mapping software

And needing child like instructions :roll:

You can convert between OS grid reference and Lat/Long using things like https://gridreferencefinder.com but only on a one at a time manual basis. I've not seen and batch tools and you don't seem to have any source suited to batch import anyway.

But the export tools on the site have the ability to export the waypoints as a gpx (the download to GPS) that you could send straight into MapOut.

But the harder it is getting something to give you an audible alert when you get to within a set distance of any waypoint from your list. Not unusual for boat navigation but not somethingI've seen on phone software - it's pretty specialist and most apps are designed for as wide a user base as possible.

But, where do you keep your phone when you are cycling and would you even hear an audible alert?

Ian

[Psamathe]

.....[Edited again: apparently Osmand is available on iPhones.]

It's not great on the iPhone.

Ian

[andrew_s]

One of the three formats offered is GPX, which would normally be the best option - but unfortunately it exports the points as a GPX route file with each benchmark labelled as a waypoint along that route. The trouble with that is that if you import this into some mapping apps, they will assume you want them to draw a route for you between all of the points.

It doesn't export as a route - it just gives a list of waypoints.

I think it must be an oddity with Viewranger making the assumption that it's going to get a route.
Mostly, there would have to be <rte> and </rte> tags enclosing the list of waypoints before a file is treated as a route, and there aren't any.

I could get proximity alerts on my Garmin (64s or Etrex), but I'd have to load them as POIs via the POILoader tool

[deliquium]

You can convert between OS grid reference and Lat/Long using things like https://gridreferencefinder.com but only on a one at a time manual basis. I've not seen and batch tools and you don't seem to have any source suited to batch import anyway.

But the export tools on the site have the ability to export the waypoints as a gpx (the download to GPS) that you could send straight into MapOut.

Thanks Ian

But the harder it is getting something to give you an audible alert when you get to within a set distance of any waypoint from your list. Not unusual for boat navigation but not somethingI've seen on phone software - it's pretty specialist and most apps are designed for as wide a user base as possible.

I haven't tried this yet - perhaps it could could be helpful?

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/set-locat ... reminders/

But, where do you keep your phone when you are cycling and would you even hear an audible alert?

Ian

Good point. Depends what I'm doing/wearing and the weather. Dry days it will often be in a jersey back pocket. Dry May to October shopping days it will be in baggy shorts front pocket. Bad weather it will either be inside Goretex jacket Napolean pocket or more likely side pocket of a Carradice saddlebag/back pocket of Carradice pannier.

[deliquium]

NB https://gridreferencefinder.com loads in the centre of a new Safari window and in Firefox it is squeezed up against the edge of the left hand side

[Mick F]

What I'd do, would be to find them on an OS map and plot a route to the ones you'd like to visit on any one day.

I know you don't want a route or a track, but does it matter at all that you have one?
No-one forces you to follow it. Just have it to see.

You don't have to follow the track, just have it there and keep an eye on the iPhone screen to see if you're near one of your points.
By using a track, all you have is a wiggly line on the map. It's not a route with turn-by-turn directions, just a "snail trail".