Geo-Referencing PDF Maps

Geo-referencing an image is easy these days. Google Earth can do it for you with a few clicks. Basically, all you have to do is centre Google Earth approximately where your image is, import said image as an Image Overlay (Add - Image Overlay), and then fuss around until the image lines up with the underlying data.

Of course, there are a few tricks... like setting the transparency of your image down so you can see the background through it. Also, it can be a little frustrating getting everything to line up, what with getting the scale, rotation, and position all correct at the same time. But, with practice, it goes quick.

However, what usually happens is that you've downloaded some park map in PDF format and Google Earth won't take PDFs as input for an Image Overlay. You have to convert first. So, here's how to convert. Actually, here's a couple of ways to convert:

The complete-tool approach: Download and install the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) from HERE. It's a great Open-Source (free) application like Photoshop, but better (because it's FREE - which always makes it better). Once the GIMP is running, simply Open the PDF file, which brings up the PDF import dialog. There, set your resolution (more on this later). Also, if it's a multi-page PDF then choose to save each page as a separate image. Then, after the GIMP is finished importing, all you need to do is save your image(s) in whatever format you prefer to work in, png, jpg, whatever you're comfortable with.

The "you've probably already got these installed" tools approach: Here, when you open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader, set your zoom to see the whole of the map you want to grab. Then, use the Snapshot Tool (Tools - Select and Zoom, Snapshot Tool) to highlight the map you want. Now, it's likely to pop up and say "Copied" but we don't care about that. Instead, start zooming in by hitting the zoom button until you get the resolution you want. Then, copy it (Edit - Copy). The next part is to get the image out of the clipboard. Here, you need to start the graphics program you normally use. If you don't have one, you can either install the GIMP (in which case you're might as well just open the PDF directly) or, if the GIMP is a little too intimidating (all that power comes with a price), you can try Paint.Net, available HERE. Paint.Net is reasonably powerful, very easy to use, really snazzy looking, and, of course, free. Paint.Net has a command to Paste in to New Image (under Edit) and then you can save in whatever format you want to work in.

Okay, now back to that "resolution" thing. At first you might think that 100% is about optimum, but it really depends on the PDF you're starting with. The nice thing about PDFs is that they may have True-Type fonts and vector tracks over-top a raster image (more on Raster verses Vector HERE, if you really care). This means that the lettering and routes still looks clean no matter how much you zoom in, even if the background image starts to pixelate (get blocky). If you have this kind of PDF, then it's a good idea to over-zoom the resolution before converting to an image. That way, you can still have crisp text and routes when zooming into the image later on. 200% or even 400% is not unreasonable. If, however, the PDF is only a raster image, then there's not much point in going past 100%. It will just make for a larger image without any advantage.

Once you have the image overlay properly referenced in Google Earth, you can trace out the points and tracks you're interested in, then save those in KML format, then convert via gpsbabel to whatever other format you happen to use (GPX is a good bet for importing into other applications), and you're done.

PDF to Image to Google Earth to KML to GPX to whatever you want... Power to the people.

Resource List For GPS Mapping In Canada

Here's a list of GPS mapping resources. While the tools are mostly generic, and will work for anywhere, the mapping data is concentrated around Canada. Things are changing fast, so this is by no means an authoritative list, but it does have everything I know about. I'll also come back and edit it as I find more. Please, feel free to comment if you know of stuff I've missed.

Update #1: Added a Canadian Commercial tool vendor called Avenza, Stats Canada, and several online mapping sites for Vancouver, Sannich, and the Southern Gulf Islands.

A few notes before starting:

• You need to know the difference between 'raster' and 'vector' data. Raster datasets are images, like the scan of a map or a satellite photo. Vector datasets are things like tracks or waypoints. For more detailed information about filetypes, you can read this.
• The Canadian government has organised their topographic maps using a specific naming system. Basically, it's 3 digits for the region(001-560), followed by a letter (a-p), and then a 2 digit number (01-16). Thus, Victoria BC is on the 092b06 tile. Not all tiles exist in all mapsets; cartographers generally don't make topographic maps of open ocean.
• There used to be a clear distinction between freeware, shareware, and retail applications, but the line is getting a little confusing. For example, most Open-Source applications are free to use but, like this site, have donation boxes. In the tools section, I've noted applications that you can use for free, but most will at least be hoping for donations. Others will be selling a 'Pro' version, hoping that the limitations of the free 'Lite' version will convince you to buy it.
• Information is protected by copyright and this includes mapping data. If you're making maps for distribution, then understanding copyright is going to be important for you. Please be aware of the restrictions.
  

The Data

• Canadian Tile Guide - This is an interactive web page where you can, among other things, find out which Canadian standard map tile you need for any area in Canada. Use it to find the names of Toporama, CanMatrix, CanVec, or Ibycus map tiles.
  
• The Natural Resources Canada server - Basically, from this server, you can download mapping data for all of Canada, in several different formats. You can use this data for anything you want, even commercial applications, so long as you cite the Government of Canada as the source. The data includes, but is not limited to:
  
  • Toporama provides the older-style raster 50K topographic maps as GIF files. These ones don't have as much detail as the CanMatrix maps, but the good thing about them is that they are margin-less, which makes it a lot easier to photo-edit them together for larger maps.
  • CanMatrix provides raster images as geo-referenced TIF files. They are available in either the 50K or 250K series and are basically hi-res scans of the topographic maps you can buy from the Queen's Printer. They even include all the map margin information, which is both useful and annoying at the same time, depending on what you want to do with the maps.
  • CanVec provides vector files that contain the data the Canadian government cartographers use to make those beautiful topographic maps. This is vector data, and not for the faint of heart. If you're good with map data, like Dale Atkin, you could use this data to build custom maps like Ibycus.
• Ibycus - A near-complete (and maybe fully-complete by now) topographical mapset of Canada that can be used with Garmin's Mapsource or other IMG-based tools. It is offered for free but donations are appreciated.
  
• OpenStreetMap(OSM) - A WIKI world map, with a Creative Commons license. The intent of this site is to get people to create maps of their areas that are not dependent, in any way, on copyrighted information. The result is a free and open mapset of the world, in various states of detail. This is a really interesting project that holds great promise. Currently, for Canada, their datasets are less than what is available from the Canadian government, but that will hopefully change with time.
  
• Google maintains a huge mapset that includes vector as well as raster data. However, the use of this data is restricted by a lot of rules. Google Earth and Google Maps are the primary tools for accessing this data but there is a mapping API (for programmers) to incorporate this data into their websites. Also, some enterprising people are working towards incorporating Google data into other projects. This, however, may run afoul of Google's legal restrictions.
  
• Mapsource Datasets - Mapsource is the retail application Garmin sells to upload maps to Garmin GPS receivers. They sell different mapsets for it, depending on what the purchaser wants. Some are old and not available any more, some are new. My comments on them here may be out of date.
  
  • Topo Canada is the current hiking map. I personally find, while riding a motorcycle in logging country, that the topographic lines are very distracting. They look too much like roads on my old monochrome GPS receiver. Other than that, it is decent mapset with good resolution.
    
  • The Canadian Enhanced Basemap is the older mapset for Canada that included many logging roads. I actually found it quite good, though the resolution was a little low.
  • Metroguide Canada is, as the name suggests, the detailed maps and points of interest for many Canadian cities.
  • The Canadian Recreation Guide does not seem to be available any more, which is a good thing because it was pretty well useless.
• GeoGratis The root source of all Canadian government mapping data.
• BC Government Public Mapping Sites is a list of, well, everything for BC.
• The Geography Network has all kinds of data.
• GeoComm offers free GIS data, in amongst the for-money stuff.
• The GIS Cafe is more of an online magazine for GIS professionals, but it does offer data downloads.
• Stats Canada offers a bunch of data, statistical analysis stuff.
  
• NASA MrSid Images - MrSid is a satellite image format, Quantum GIS can handle it. Google Earth is probably easier to use if you're looking for satellite imagery.
• NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center data.
• POI Factory - points of interest sharing site. Ever wanted to know where every Walmart is in North America?
• Russian Military Maps like the Canadian government maps, but in Russian, and of Russia (or places Russia invaded - like Afghanistan). I know, this isn't Canadian data, but it's cool, so I threw it in.
  

Web Resources. These sites don't offer direct data downloads, but they can be useful for finding places:

• BC Recreation Sites and Trails
• Victoria and Area (CRD) Natural Areas Atlas
• Canada Trails
• National Geographic Maps
• City Maps like it says.
• ClubTread hiking routes.
• Bike Rides an example of a Google API interactive map. It shows motorcycle rides in North America.
• VanMap for detailed information on the City of Vancouver.
• Sannich Online Mapping System
• Southern Gulf Islands Community Mapping Project.

The Tools
Like the data, some of these tools are changing fast. Any shortcomings mentioned may already be resolved or the tools may have already been superseded by new ones.

• GPS Map Edit is a great mapping editor that integrates with cgpsmapper. It supports MP and IMG formats. There is a free lite version. It is vector based.
  
• cgpsmapper compiles MP files into IMG files for use in Garmin GPS receivers. The free version has restrictions, but works.
  
• sendmap sends IMG maps to Garmin GPS receivers, it comes with cgpsmapper. It also comes with a lot of scary warnings about how it might mess up your GPS.
  
• Mapsource, as described in the data section, is the tool that Garmin sells to dump maps to Garmin GPS receivers. It also sends and receives GPS track, route, and waypoint data as well as providing a moving-map display. It is vector based.
  
• GPSbabel converts waypoint, track, and routing data between various formats. Actually, it translates between a huge number of formats. It too is free but they would really, really like donations.
  
• Quantum GIS is a tool to view and edit mapping data. It allows layering vector over-top of raster data and has plug-ins to, among other things, communicate with Garmin GPS receivers. It is an open-source project.
  
• OziExplorer is a tool that lets you do a lot of really useful things: It lets you take scanned maps and geo-reference them. It communicates with your GPS receiver to transfer track, route, or waypoint data. It displays this data on a geo-referenced raster image. And, it allows you to view maps while driving. There is a free lite version, though I found an older lite version I have is less crippled. They also offer a pro version for sale.
  
• Mappoint is the Microsoft mapping application that includes a little bit of GIS as well. As you would expect, it's pretty well locked into its own little world. It has a comprehensive dataset, but the import/export tools are limited. Microsoft markets it as a 'Business' tool. It is not free.
  
• Viking GPS is an open-source (free) application that does what OziExplorer does and is also linked into Google's Map and Earth data. It is, however, still really early in its development cycle and is quite buggy. I've not had a lot of luck with it, so far, but I'm monitoring it closely. It has the potential to be great.
  
• Google Earth is, well, the whole earth. What more can you say? Well, it's the sky too, but that's a different story. Not only can you view satellite images of just about everywhere on earth, you can overlay vector data, both yours and others. You can also draw tracks that you can export, convert, and upload to your GPS receiver. Google Earth is very useful.
  
• QLandKarte is a open-source (free) alternative to Garmin's Mapsource. It too looks very interesting. They appear to be offering a Windows version as well. As such, with the Ibycus dataset, it may be possible to completely avoid paying Garmin for Mapsource.
  
• Earth 3D is an open-source Linux alternative to Google Earth. It's a lot like Google Earth, except they only use freely available data, so you're not going to be seeing hi-res images any time soon.
  
• ArcGIS is the definitive standard GIS tool for the mapping industry. ArcView is the old version, along with ArcInfo, but they have been replaced by a combined ArcGIS. GIS is short for Geographic Information System and involves a whole lot more than just making and viewing map data. For example, if you want to analyse the sewage plant for a city, making sure all the pipes flow downhill and have the capacity to handle the number of people living on each street, well this is the tool you're probably using. You can use it to view your GPS tracks on a raster map, but it's way overkill, and way too expensive, unless you happen to use it for other things. ESRI, the makers of ArcGIS offer a free data viewer called ArcExplorer.
  

Here are few other tools that I've read about but not really looked at:

• GPS Visualizer free, easy-to-use online utility that creates maps and profiles from GPS data, or so they say.
• GPS drive is an application that lets you run a moving map.
  
• G7 to Win
  
• GPS TrackMaker sounds like an OziExplorer type application, with a lite version offered for free.
  
• Visual GPS
  
• Map Window GIS
  
• TopoGraphic - never used it, but they do have a free version, EasyGPS, available.
• Avenza Systems Inc., a Canadian company, offers retail packages that allow you to edit mapping data in Illustrator or Photoshop. These are commercial applications that cost real money, but they do have a 2-week demo available for download. They also sell DVDs with mapping data; I have no idea how they compare to the stuff that is freely available above.
  

Map Formats

• IMG is the standard format for Garmin's Mapsource maps. These are the files that Mapsource uploads to your GPS.
  
• MP is the Polish Map format, as used by cgpsmapper. These are text files that can be compiled into IMG files.
  
• OZF2 is a raster format map that OziExplorer uses. Ozi can also use BMP files, but if you use their converter program to make them into OZF2, you will be pleased with the results. This format includes pre-compiled zoom levels that not only speed things up in Ozi, the results look absolutely amazing when converting the Toporama images. I don't know why it works so well, but the crappy-looking Toporama files wind up looking like an artist-airbrushed topographic relief map. Check here to see what I mean.
  
• TIF is a "Tagged Image Format" raster file. These files can be tagged with a lot of things, but in the mapping world, they are geo-referenced. The CanMatrix files are geo-referenced TIFs.
  
• KML is Keyhole Markup Language, the standard format for importing and exporting vector data from Google Earth.
• SHP is an ArcGIS data file, typically vector data, but, like I said before, GIS is about more than just mapping.
• E00 is a GIS vector data export file. These typically get converted to SHP files for use in GIS applications, though even OziExplorer can import them.
  

The Guides (I'll be adding more here later)

• GPS-GIS Toolkit is a PDF file on making and manipulating mapping data. It is written by Pierre Sauvé, of National Resources Canada.

Mine:

• Digital Mapping Basics

General Links

Pocket GPS World
Ground Speak
Slash GEO

Garmin Topo Canada IMG Name Cross-Reference

In my efforts to build custom Garmin maps for my GPS, I had to cross-reference the Canadian standard 50K topographic sheet names with Garmin's IMG filenames. This proved rather difficult as Garmin doesn't seem to follow any logic in their naming convention. Maybe there's an easier way, but I just brute-forced it and deduced the names for Vancouver Island by trial and error.

I figured I'd upload the cross-reference table, just in case someone else wanted the same information.

The table is HERE

David...

How to make GPS maps

I was going to write up a little bit on how to use the various free mapping tools to create custom maps, both uploaded to a GPS unit and downloaded to Google Earth. But, in my research I came across this PDF: GPS-GIS toolkit for the general public. It was written by Pierre Sauvé, of National Resources Canada and is the most fantastic, wonderful, condensed summary of what's currently out there that I've ever seen. I hate to say it, but I love my government.

For a while, I wasn't sure which way the Canadian government was going to go with all its GIS data. Stuff was available for free one day, then being sold the next, then back to free. I don't know what was going on in the background, but it looks like the Free side has won the day. It looks like a complete rout actually, with people like Mr Sauvé producing a guide on how to do just about anything you want with any Canadian government data. It's truly beautiful to see.

Not only does his document provide links to many free tools, including:

• Google Earth
• GPSVisualizer
• G7toWin
• GPSBabel
• GPSTrackMaker
• Visual GPS
• cGPSmapper & SendMap

He gives a brief overview of how to use them to do stuff like:

• Plan a trip using Google Earth
• View your GPS data in Google Earth
• Georeference your photos
• Get your geospatial data into Google Earth
• Google Earth overlays via WMS
• The NMEA data format
• Free geospatial data from NRCan
• From shapefile to Google Earth and GPS
• Map Gallery

And, my personal quest at the moment:

• Customize your Garmin receiver maps with your own routes and points, not as routes and waypoints, but as overlay maps.
  

I will mention a couple of other resources that are not on his list: Quantum GIS, an Open Source mapping program that allows you to see all that wonderful free GIS data that NRCan is putting out, and Ibycus, by Dale Atkin, who has taken all that free topo data and made a near-complete Garmin mapset of Canada, more current that Garmin's Mapsource Topo Canada, and is giving it away as a free (by donation) download.

With a little help from our wonderful, productive Canadian government and an active collection of people providing amazing tools and data synthesis, the path to digital mapping resources is becoming clear for us average users.

I just wanted to say "Thank You" as publicly as I could.

David...

Digital Mapping Basics

GPS equipment can be a lot of fun. Finding out where you are, or sharing your trips with others, adds a whole new dimension to traveling. Most of the time, it's easy. You take the software that came with your GPS, download the tracks, and share them with other people. However, problems can creep in when that sharing starts. What if they don't have the same type of GPS or software? Why does that track you downloaded from the web not show up on the map where it's suppose to? This post is the first in a series to help explain how to take your digital mapping to the next level, or at least to help explain why your downloaded hiking track shows up in the middle of the ocean. The series starts with some digital mapping fundamentals before getting into some available software, and the technical details of conversion.


Digital Mapping Fundamentals:

The first thing you have to understand about digital maps is that there are fundamentally two different kinds: raster and vector. A raster is just like a digital picture, or your monitor for that matter. A raster image is just an array of dots, across and down, where each dot can be a particular colour. If you want to draw a line, you just turn the dots on from point A to point B, and it looks like a line. The pictures you take with your digital camera are raster images. Vector images are different. A vector image is actually a collections of lines, polygons, or points that are listed as descriptions, such as: line, starting at 50x80, ending at 230x100, thickness 2, color green. The computer program then takes than information and calculates what you should see on your monitor. Now, the end result is always the raster image on your computer monitor, but the underlying data can be raster or vector. Vector data is very important to digital mapping. I don't want to get lost in a lot of technical details here, so if this isn't clear, try reading Graphic File Types for more background information.

Vector data is a collection of points, lines, and polygons. A point is pretty obvious. Just like a graph, a point is just a dot at a particular X and Y coordinate. A line is also pretty simple, it's just a straight line between two dots, though it can be extended to be a whole bunch of straight lines strung between a series of dots, one segment after the other. When a group of line segments, a minimum of three for obvious reasons, closes such that it begins where it ends, then it can be a polygon. Think of a polygon as a shape that has a center. It doesn't have to be geometrically nice, like a square or circle, it just has to have a continuous border that encompasses a center. In mapping, polygons are used to outline things like lakes, so they may have hundreds of short little line segments to define the shoreline.

Another interesting point about vector data is that, if the data is set up properly and the software can use it, it can allow routing. Routing is where you pick a place on the map and ask the computer to draw out a route that follows the roads in the maps. Most any mapping software can make routes from point to point, but only routing vector maps will allow the route to actually follow the curves of the roads, between the points.

The second thing you have to understand is that digital map data must be georeferenced to be useful. Georeferrencing is when you place particular raster images or vector data at particular places within your geographic framework. For example, a georeferrenced raster image may have its top-left corner set to one lat/long coordinate and the bottom-right set to another. Thus, mapping software can then "know" where that image is and place other data with it accordingly. This is the important point here: georeferencing allows you to combine different sets of map data together, so long as they have the same referencing system. If you had two raster images, properly georeferenced, you could bring them both up in the same mapping application and they will be displayed in the correct orientation, side by side for example. Alternatively, and this is the most common situation, you could have vector mapping data, a downloaded track from a GPS for example, overlayed on top of a raster image for a particular area. If everything is georeferenced properly, and all the data shares the same reference system, the vector and raster data should line up. Your track will go down the road.

Now, this is where digital mapping gets weird and difficult. The wonderful thing about geographic "references" is that there are so many to chose from. For two sets of mapping data to line up, they must have the same coordinate system, and the same projection, and the same datum, and the same spheroid. So, lets work through these one at a time:

• The coordinate system is what the map data is measured in. Most nautical maps are in latitude and longitude. Hiking maps are often in UTM meters. But, even with this limited sample, things get more confusing, lat/long maps may be recorded in decimal degrees, or degrees-minutes-seconds or even a combination of those. UTM, or Universal Transverse Mercator, is not so simple either, what with the regions and all. So, the first thing to do when combining map data is to make sure all the data is using the same coordinate system.

• A map projection is, to put it simply, how the map is distorted to represent a curved earth on a flat screen or paper. Anyone that has compared a paper map of Canada to a globe will have noted that Greenland, and the north in general, appears much bigger on the paper map. This is because paper maps distort the north, usually in the "Albers" projection. The alternative is to get those flattened "orange peel" maps. Hiking maps, because they are usually of much smaller scale, don't have to deal with as much distortion, so UTM works better. There are lots and lots of different projection systems out there. Albers and UTM are just a couple of the more common ones.

• The map datum is where all the measurements are referenced from. Again, there are lots to chose from. The GPS world has, thankfully, standardised on the WGS84 datum. The Canadian 50k topographic hiking maps use NAD27. So, if you take your GPS and read off a nice UTM coordinate, then look it up on a paper hiking map, you will find that it's telling you that you are not where you really are, you will be off by almost a kilometer. To correct this, you will have to go into the settings of your GPS and set the display datum to match your paper map. Again, if you are going to combine mapping data, you have to make sure they are using the same reference or you won't get what you expect.

• A spheroid is the mathematical model the mapping software uses to calculate how the earth curves. This is not quite as simple as you might think; the earth is not actually round. Thankfully, this really isn't too big a deal when dealing with small-scale maps, so you don't generally have to worry about it. It can become important if you are converting mapping data from different sources as an incorrect spheroid setting may shift the calculations, and thus your data, off by enough to be noticeable. But, for most of us, it doesn't factor in that much.

If you look at a paper map, or the "meta data" that is suppose to come with all your digital mapping information, it should list off all of this information: coordinate system, projection, datum, and spheroid. If you want to combine data sets, then make sure they are compatible, or that your mapping software can either convert or combine them on the fly.

The third thing to understand is that not displaying information is also important. If you tried to display all the information in your mapping data at the same time, all the time, then when you zoom in or out you would either have a lot of blank nothing at maximum zoom or a solid mass of gibberish at minimum zoom. Think of it this way, if you put all the information available on the 50k topographic maps onto the 250k topographic maps, then the 250k maps would be a useless mess. There are two map series for a reason, the 250k maps show much less detail but a much larger area. The two map series are, in a manner of speaking, two different zoom levels. Similarly, mapping software, either on your computer or on the GPS, must show different levels of detail depending on what zoom level you specify. Most GPS systems will have a "detail" level that controls this, to some extent, as does most computer mapping software. However, much of what is displayed, or not, is the choice of the cartographers that made the maps in the first place.

Cartography is as much an art as it is a science. Maps are not a pure representation of physical reality. Information is included, or excluded, emphasised or minimalised, as the cartographers see fit. If you start working with raw digital mapping data, you will quickly realise how important these decisions are to creating good looking, useful maps. Like photography, and so many other things, computers are spreading out the specialised tools of cartography to the general population. Anyone can start making maps now. However, like photography, don't expect world-class results without a lot of work.

Converting Google Earth KML files To Other Mapping Formats

Here's a tutorial on how to convert the tracks you can download here to other mapping formats, including Garmin. It's actually very easy to do, with the right tool.

To get the right tool, go to www.GPSbabel.org and download the GPSbabel tool. Just follow the "downloads" link on the left hand side. Pick the file for your computer, DMG for Mac or Zip for Windows, and download to your computer.

Oh, and if you share my inability to spell, it's GPSbabel, not GPSbable.

There are too many variables for me to describe exactly how to install in every possible situation, but if you're running WinXP or OSX, you should just be able to double-click the downloaded file, then go into the folder that opens and double-click the application. If this doesn't work, then I suggest you back up and read the documentation on the GPSbabel site. If you still have install problems then leave a comment with your particulars and I'll try to help.

GPSbabel converts tracks and waypoints between mapping formats, lots and lots of different formats. Think babel-fish in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, but then if you understand this reference you're probably so much of a geek that you don't need this tutorial :)

Anyway, with GPSbabel running, just pick the file format you want to start with, browse to the actual file, pick the file format you want to finish with, and hit "Save File" - that's it. Oh, don't forget to pick what you wanted translated: points, tracks, or routes. Supposedly, it can even send and receive files directly to many different GPS receivers, though I've not tried this.

Personally, I use an older less-crippled lite version of OziExplorer for communication with my GPS. I have Garmin's Mapsource but I never use it for tracks or waypoints, basically because it's pretty substandard compared with Ozi. I recognise that many people don't use Ozi so I'm also converting and uploading to Google Earth KML format.

So, to use the tracks I have available for download:

1. Follow the blog links here to get to the KML files.
2. Download the file. If you use IE (which I don't recommend) you will have to right-click on the KML file and choose "save target as."
3. If you have Google Earth installed (which I do recommend) you can then double-click on the downloaded KML file and it should open in Google Earth.
4. If the track looks interesting to you, then continue through with the conversion.
5. Start GPSbabel.
6. Browse to the KML file. It should automatically change the input file type to Google Earth.
7. Choose your output type or just select your GPS receiver.
8. Either hit "Save File" or "Send GPS", depending on what you selected.

And that's it.

If you have any questions about this then leave a comment. I'll do my best to help out,

David...

Download links: GPSbabel, OziExplorer, Google Earth

NOTE: the KML track problem should be fixed (Thanks to David for pointing this out)

More Vancouver Island Tracks for Download

Hi,

I've posted another couple of tracks for download, both in Google Earth KML and OziExplorer PLT:

• All the major powerline routes on Vancouver Island.
  A detailed description is HERE.
  The track is HERE.
  
  
• A bush camping spot on the San Juan river, near Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island.
  A detailed description is HERE.
  The track is HERE.

Enjoy, and don't forget to leave some feedback if you download a track... I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing all this but nobody really wants to know.

David...