FAA Airport database to almost any GPS

[Cap'n Jack]

I use a general-purpose hand held GPS for VFR flying and kludged some Excel macros to convert the FAA airport database into something my GPS software could read.

When I updated my Garmin road maps, which included a Mapsource update. I found Mapsource doesn't import PCX files anymore (old Garmin text format), so I rewrote the program to save the data as GPX (a GPS XML file format). This means the files can be read by many programs (including the new Mapsource) and uploaded to many inexpensive hand held units.

The enclosed ZIP file contains an Excel 97-2002 file with legitimate macros, instructions (word file), and an XML file containing public use airports in the USA.

Use this with great care and check the data against official sources. Also cross check the GPS against other navigation. I do note there are some discrepancies, particularly in NJ, that I don't quite understand but even those are close enough to get you there.

Enjoy!

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing that.

On a related topic, anybody know how to get the driving instructions (route) from maps.google.com into your GPS? I sometimes will drag the route to create a custom, interesting course, and would like to download that specific route into the GPS. Printing a route and referring to paper doesn't work as well on a motorcycle.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I don't see any way to save the data to a PC so it could be converted to a GPS file. It looks like if you wanted to make your own program, you'd need to get into the google maps API and use the GRoute and GStep classes to pull the data and create a route to upload to your GPS. You would probably need to let your GPS unit do some calculating so the route follows the roads, rather than being point-to-point. I'm just a chemist that does marketing, not a Java person, so there are people that can give a better answer. It's an interesting challange.

Mapsource has some kind of link to Google Earth (you didn't mention what GPS you are using- Mapsource works with Garmin), but if you can make the route in Mapsource, why bother with Google?

 

[TangoWhiskey]

I haven't bought the GPS yet, as I want to make sure I get one that will let me load MY routes as defined by rubber-banding the courseline on maps.google.com (or, as you suggested, external software, but would prefer maps.google.com, as I can share the ride route with friends), not "GPS-figured routes based on waypoints".

 

[Cap'n Jack]

How about if you saved the route as a GPX file and let your friends use their GPS software, Topographix, or GPS babel to convert the routes to their format?