Converting Coordinates Text

[EnergySaver]

I’ve got an Excel Spreadsheet with two columns:
WaypointName PositionCoordinates

Since there are many waypoints; I’d like to some how transer or copy them into a GPSr readable format. I assumed I could do a copy/paste from Excel into my Garmin Mapsource software. But Mapsource does not except a paste. I’m bummed because it works the other way (ie. Mapsource to Excel), so I assumed it would be a piece of cake.

So how do I do this, if at all? I have the following software, besides Mapsource … GPSBabel, GSAK (Swiss Army Knife), and EasyGPS. I don’t see any abilities to paste into these either. If I could create a .loc or .gpx file I know what to do from there.

Right now I face several hours of hand copy/pasting first the Waypoint Name and then the Coordinates from Excel to Mapsoure … seems like a lot of extra work and prone to errors.

[Miata]

Did you try a Ctrl V instead of paste? I found one thing at work that worked the same way. Just a thought.

[Cathunter]

The only program I know that will import a .csv file is Microsoft’s Streets& Trips, but that won’t help you get them into your gps.

I recommend dropping Clyde from GSAK an e-mail. If he doesn’t already have a work-around maybe he will make one for you.

This is what you get for using Excel.

[jthorson]

ExpertGPS advertises that they can do .csv files. I have no first hand experience but a lot of people love it. They say it’s worth the shareware price. They have (or had) a 1 month free trial.

Data would flow
from Excel,
to ExpertGPS,
to GPSr -or-
it could could flow from
Excel to ExpertGPS,
to common waypoint formats that Mapsource could load (.GPX) files.

[EnergySaver]

To my “repliers” so far …

Ctrl-V … Nope, thought of that right away … actually you can copy/paste from one MapSource file to another and from MapSource to Excel … but Paste is grayed-out when the clipboard contains something other than a fresh MapSource copy.

Why am I even playing with Excel … I’m starting with plain email text of MANY waypoint names and coordinates that I got from “someone” for “something”, they are not in that “someones” GPSr, so they only exist in plain text. I column-ized the data in Excel, with all anticipation of it working in this direction. But Nope.

Contacting someone about importing “work around” … good idea, CH, I’ll try that.

[This message has been edited by EnergySaver (edited 03-22-2005).]

[EnergySaver]

Ohhhhh Never Mind … I just started wacking away at it … copy Name from Excel, past Name into new Waypoint, copy Coordinate from Excel, past Coordinate into Waypoint … I’ve only got 25 of them to do and about halfway done … I guess it just seems like it will take two hours.

Worried more about errors than anything. But, if I then highlight all the Waypoint entries and copy/paste them to Excel (it works in that direction), I can then alpha sort them and make sure they all pair up perfectly.

Thanks all for exercising their fingers and brains on my behalf!

[Timberline Echoes]

We have tried to export files from ExpertGPS to Microsoft Excel. It works to a point. After setting all the preferences before exporting, we still get the coordinates to come up in decimal form on the Excel spreadsheet. Don’t know what to do from here or what we are doing wrong. We had checked the preferences over and over again before doing it.
Now going from Excel back to ExpertGPS, it worked with no problem. Any help would be appreciated.
Timberline Echoes

[Cathunter]

I understand Energysaver’s situation, but with programs like GSAK out there, why does anyone use excel for geocaching?

[EnergySaver]

The problem is in the past, as I’ve finished the cut/paste job a couple days ago.

Just to clarify … the problem was going from Excel to GPS Software, NOT the other way around. In the case of Garmin’s MapSource you’d don’t need to export, you can highlight the columns on the screen and cut/paste. The problem was that it didn’t work in the other direction.

I was given some coordinates via an email document (not in anyones GPSr or GPS software), just plain old email text. Since there were 25 of them plus waypoint names, I thought it would be great to have save time by formating the columns (waypoint name and coordinates) in excel to match my MapSource software columns. But no luck, MapSource any excepts a clipboard paste from another MapSource document. If these were in a GPSr or GPS Software to start with, it would have been a no brainer, but such was not the case.

[EnergySaver]

I repeat … I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy.

[WISearchers]

Next time someone has to do this, this might help:
Waypoint Workbench:
http://www.sheps.clara.net/WW.htm

[EnergySaver]

Sure, now you come up with this!

After I did it all by hand and made Tami swear to never email me 25 waypoints in the body of an email again (that were never punched in her GPSr).

[Author]

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