GPS Tutorial – Garmin Etrex Legend (or Venture)

Objective
This brief tutorial provides an outline of several basic GPS functions – recording
waypoints, creating a track map, calculating area and transfer of GPS data to a PC to
create a GIS format file.

Outline
The tutorial uses an agricultural plot as an example. Waypoints are recorded at each
corner of the plot, a track map of the plot is created and area of the plot calculated.

Requirements
This tutorial has the following requirements (assuming no access to commercial GIS
software such as ArcView or ArcGIS):
1. Garmin Etrex Legend GPS unit (NB: basic principles apply to any unit in Etrex
range, but no area calculation option is available for basic Etrex model)
2. GPS download cable
3. GPSTrackmaker (v13.x): http://www.gpstm.com/
4. Wayp2SHP: http://www.geocities.com/jt_taylor.geo/wayp2shpd2.html

GPS Buttons

“Click Stick”
Map Zoom Out Internal
Antenna
Map Zoom in Page Button

“Find” Button Power Button

Fig. 1. GPS unit controls

Exercise 1. GPS Data Capture

1. Getting Started
Go to your starting point – i.e., the first corner of the plot.

 Switch on GPS unit by pressing the Power button (lower button right hand side)
 Press the Page button (upper button right hand side) to see the Satellite page

Fig. 2. Satellite page

 Wait until the unit is Ready to Navigate (Fig. 2) – this means that it is receiving
signals from at least 4 satellites. A latitude & longitude and elevation will be
displayed. [Note 1: The first time you use a GPS in a completely new region it can
take up to 5 minutes to receive satellite signals. After initial use, signal reception
will be much faster – 1-2 mins or less].
[Note 2: The more satellites you receive signals from the more accurate will be
the location. So it is worth waiting a short time before recording a location.
However, the maximum accuracy possible with these units is +/- 4 or 5 meters
and anything less than 10 meters is good enough].

2. Marking a Waypoint
To Mark a Waypoint (record and store a location), there are 2 options:
Option 1 – Using “Click Stick”
  Press in and hold the click stick for 2 seconds. This will make the Mark
Waypoint page appear (Fig. 3) – showing a 3 digit waypoint number, latitude,
longitude, elevation (NB: If this page does not appear, use option 2!)

Fig. 3. Mark waypoint page

 With the OK option highlighted, press on the click stick to record and save the
waypoint (Note: You may first rename the waypoint name if you wish e.g., in Fig.
3 the name “PARK” has been added. Simply use click stick to navigate onto name
flag, click, then select letters from screen, Ok to finish).

Option 2 - Use the Page button (Upper button right hand side) to navigate to the Main
Menu screen (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Main menu page

 Use the click stick to move through the options and highlight the Mark option
  When highlighted press the click stick to select Mark. The Mark Waypoint page
will appear (Fig. 3), click on OK to record and save (exactly as in option 1).

You have now successfully marked and stored the location of the first corner of the plot.
The next step, because we want to measure the area of this plot, is to initiate the area
calculation.

3. Area Calculation - Initiation

Area calculation works on the basis of starting at a known point, traveling around the
perimeter of the area of interest and returning to the original starting point. Hence
calculating area is a two-step process, we need to initiate the process at the start of the
area we want to measure and then stop the process when we return to our original starting
point.
 Use the page button to navigate the Main Menu page (Fig. 4)
 Use the click stick to move through the options and highlight the Accessories
option.
 Use the click stick to move through the options and highlight the Area
Calculator option.
 Click on Start.

After completing the walk around the plot perimeter, the area calculator can be stopped
and the final area value obtained.

Having started the area calculator, we can now begin to move to the next corner and start
to create a track map.

4. Create a Track Map

 Use the page button to navigate the Map page (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5. Map page (example showing US roads basemap)

 On the Map page you should see your current position (black arrowhead), but we
will need to zoom in to see details of our plot.

 Press the zoom in button (middle button, left-hand side of unit) several times
until the map scale reads 30m.

Now start walking towards the next corner of the plot, watch the map page as you go.
You should see that the position icon starts to move and a line is being drawn on the
screen recording where you go.

When you reach the corner of the plot, stop, and mark a waypoint in exactly the same
way as at the start (see section 2).

After marking the waypoint, return to the map page and walk to the next corner. You
should see your track map being created on the screen and also the position of your
waypoints.

Repeat the above procedure for each of the remaining corners of the plot. Note: Try
looking at the Navigation page as you travel – this is the equivalent to an electronic
compass and will show you direction of travel and also speed as you move (try running
and see what happens to the speed!).

When you have completed the walk around the plot perimeter, return to your starting
point (corner 1). The final task is to stop the area calculator and obtain the area result.

5. Area Calculation - Stop

 Use the page button to navigate the Main Menu page (Fig. 4)
 Use the click stick to move through the options and highlight the Accessories
option.
 Use the click stick to move through the options and highlight the Area
Calculator option.
 Click on Stop.

The area of the plot you have just walked around will be displayed on the screen.

That completes the data capture exercise. Turn off the GPS unit by pressing and holding
down the Power button.

The next exercise outlines how to transfer the data we have just collected onto a PC and
into GIS format.
Exercise 2. GPS Data Transfer

In this exercise the GPS data that was captured in the field will be transferred to a PC and
converted into a GIS format. In this exercise, the free software tools – GPS Trackmaker
and Waypoint2shp – will be used. Both of these software tools need to be installed prior
to transferring data from the GPS unit.

1. GPS Data Transfer to PC

 Connect the GPS data transfer cable to the serial port of a PC. Connect the other
end to the data connector on the back of the GPS unit (Fig. 6)

Data Connector

Fig. 6. Position of data connector

 Once the cable has been connected, open GPSTrackmaker.

 In Trackmaker, Click on Interface menu, select Garmin (assuming you are using
a Garmin unit!)
 Turn on GPS unit – press the Power button.
 In Trackmaker, select Product ID button from trackmaker menu.
 GIS unit should be recognized – you should the name of the GPS unit appear on
the Trackmaker screen (if not check cable connections or try changing port
number). Click on All button to download all data from GPS unit.
 Once the data transfer is complete, you can turn off the GPS unit and disconnect
the data transfer cable.
 Data (points & lines) should now be visible on TrackMaker screen. [Note: You
can zoom in on data, and do selections if you want in TrackMaker (use snap tool
for selections, then copy data to new window and save). For safety, it is a good
idea to save the data. Click on Save – this will save the data in trackmaker format
(.gtm), and allow the data to be re-opened in Trackmaker at any point. However,
in order to convert the data for further use in GIS we need another format.
  Save data as a text file. Open File menu. Select, Save File As. Choose a suitable
location and save in format GPS Trackmaker Text format (.txt) [or Waypoint+
Text Format (*.txt)]

You now have a text file saved on your PC that contains all the data stored on the GPS
unit. You can edit / manipulate this file with any text editor. If you want to use the data in
a GIS tool you can convert it into a GIS format shapefile in the following way:

2. Convert Text file to GIS Shape file with Wayp2Shp

 Open Wayp2shp GUI
 Click on “Please select the Waypoint+ file to convert to shapefile” Browse
button. Navigate to where you saved the waypoint+ file.
 Choose feature – either; Waypoints, tracks, routes, that you want to convert.
Note: You have to do one feature at once, and then repeat for additional features.
 Click on “Please select the location and name of shapefile to create” Browse
button. Give a name (max. 8 characters) and location.
This file format –shapefile- is the commonest GIS file format and can now be used in
MapExplorer, DIVA or any other GIS software.