Flashes of Panic

I mentioned back in May how I’ve had trouble transferring geocaching waypoints from the batch files I download from the website on to my GPSr (a Magellan Meridian). The problem is that I use a Mac, which lacks a serial port, and a lot of GPS technology is closely tied to serial ports; the technology itself has not been designed to be USB-friendly.

This weekend, I finally hit on a workaround which doesn’t involve Windows software. It happens that my GPSr has a card slot which accepts the same size cards as my digital camera. So, the process works like this:

• Get a batch of waypoints, either in .gpx format, or .loc format.
• Put the smaller “spare” flash card in the camera and use the USB cable to plug the camera in to the Mac. As a result, the card turns up as a removable “drive” on the Mac desktop.
• Use MacGPSBabel to convert the waypoint files into the Magellan flash card format, and save the output to the card.
• Disconnect the camera, remove the card, and insert it into the GPSr.
• Power up the GPSr, and issue a few menu commands to load the waypoints from the card. And we’re in business.

This actually ends up being the most efficient way to transfer waypoints to the GPSr that I’ve used yet, including the Windows-based workaround. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out, but naturally, nearly everyone else is unimpressed.

Now Playing: Friction from A Box Of Birds by The Church