Hey Karen - I have a Garmin GPS in my car but I don't understand how you would get a map from it to the PC or even get a print out from it. And then how would you annotate it?
And I don't really want a printout.
Ideally it would be a digital image for use in a photobook...
I'm not sure there's a quick and easy 1-step solution for what you're looking for. I think what you've already found with Scribblemaps is pretty good.
Looks like with Scribblemaps, you can create a JPEG image of the map with dimensions up to 1143 x 653 pixels (width x height). I'm not sure how large a photo you need for your photobook. Check to see what the dimensions are for your photobook (or, actually, the dimensions of the space that this photo map would be in your photo book). You might want to go to your local photo place and print the JPEG image using those same dimensions, just to see how well it prints out. If the print looks acceptable to you, then chances are it'll probably print just as well in your photobook.
If you've got a Garmin GPS unit for your car, you probably have a menu option that tells it to keep a track log. The track log is a simple text file containing a log all your GPS coordinates throughout your entire trip. Every few seconds, your Garmin will record your GPS coordinates into this track log.
If you're interested in viewing the track log, you can connect your Garmin GPS unit onto your computer. From there, you download the track log onto your computer.
At this point, the track log is still just a text file. To view the GPS coordinates on an actual map, you can use several mapping programs. I like to use Google Earth (a free software program from Google), where you can open your track log in Google Earth, and you get a visual plot of your trip on an actual map.
To save the map, I think the free version of Google Earth limits you to a 1000-pixel width (slightly smaller than the maximum width you can get with Scribblemaps). If you decide to buy Google Earth Pro ($399!), then you can save a 4800-pixel width image of your map, which should be plenty of pixels for your photo book.
You can also use online programs like GPS Visualizer (http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=google) to upload your track log, and it will produce a visual plot of your trip on Google Maps. With GPS Visualizer, you can specify how large a map you want it to create (ex. 2000-pixel width, and auto height). But then, I think you'd have to do a screen capture to actually save the image.
Once you get the image of your trip map, how do you add labels to it? I would probably bring it into Photoshop (or any similar image editing program) and add the labels manually onto the image.
I know there's probably an easier way of doing this, but that's probably how I personally would do it.
Hope that helps. Let us know what you end up doing.
Creating a map image of cruise stops
in Photo & Camera Discussions
Posted
I'm not sure there's a quick and easy 1-step solution for what you're looking for. I think what you've already found with Scribblemaps is pretty good.
Looks like with Scribblemaps, you can create a JPEG image of the map with dimensions up to 1143 x 653 pixels (width x height). I'm not sure how large a photo you need for your photobook. Check to see what the dimensions are for your photobook (or, actually, the dimensions of the space that this photo map would be in your photo book). You might want to go to your local photo place and print the JPEG image using those same dimensions, just to see how well it prints out. If the print looks acceptable to you, then chances are it'll probably print just as well in your photobook.
If you've got a Garmin GPS unit for your car, you probably have a menu option that tells it to keep a track log. The track log is a simple text file containing a log all your GPS coordinates throughout your entire trip. Every few seconds, your Garmin will record your GPS coordinates into this track log.
If you're interested in viewing the track log, you can connect your Garmin GPS unit onto your computer. From there, you download the track log onto your computer.
At this point, the track log is still just a text file. To view the GPS coordinates on an actual map, you can use several mapping programs. I like to use Google Earth (a free software program from Google), where you can open your track log in Google Earth, and you get a visual plot of your trip on an actual map.
To save the map, I think the free version of Google Earth limits you to a 1000-pixel width (slightly smaller than the maximum width you can get with Scribblemaps). If you decide to buy Google Earth Pro ($399!), then you can save a 4800-pixel width image of your map, which should be plenty of pixels for your photo book.
You can also use online programs like GPS Visualizer (http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=google) to upload your track log, and it will produce a visual plot of your trip on Google Maps. With GPS Visualizer, you can specify how large a map you want it to create (ex. 2000-pixel width, and auto height). But then, I think you'd have to do a screen capture to actually save the image.
Once you get the image of your trip map, how do you add labels to it? I would probably bring it into Photoshop (or any similar image editing program) and add the labels manually onto the image.
I know there's probably an easier way of doing this, but that's probably how I personally would do it.
Hope that helps. Let us know what you end up doing.