Beta 3.64g

Bug Fixes

• The bug when importing USGS DRG maps has been found. It occurred when a map was imported and the "Map File Path" in configuration was empty or the "Map File Path" when importing a full CD of maps was not entered.

Changes

• nil

Beta 3.64f

Bug Fixes

• Probable bug when importing USGS DRG maps which was introduced in the last version, could not directly find the problem but I made some fixes to a new section of code which may have been the cause.
• Use Grid in the Transverse Mercator Projection now allows the Easting and Nothing to have a minus sign.

Changes

• nil

Beta 3.64e

Bug Fixes

• Navigation options were disabled when right clicking on Map Feature without a waypoint, but they were not turned back on, now fixed.
• Proximity waypoints would sometimes plot in the wrong place on the map when in fact they should not be on the map at all, this has been fixed.

Changes

• 16 color TIF files can now be used.
• Can now import the DRG maps from Wyoming web site - see help section "Importing USGS DRG Maps" for details.
• Although not recommended you can now import DRG files which only have the .tif and the .tfw file.
• You can now turn on or off the checking of the Check Sum for NMEA sentences.
• There has been other subtle changes to the comms setup and the reading of NMEA sentences.
• I have changed the colour for the "tooltips", the tips that appear when you put the mouse on a button or waypoint etc. These now show in the same color you have set for windows tooltips which you set in the appearance tab in the display settings.

Beta 3.64d

Not actually released

Beta 3.64c

Notes

Version 3.64b has internal problems with the code which were created when a compiler directive was changed from previous versions. This can result in unexpected "crashing" of the software which usually results in windows being corrupted and a reboot being required. If you have a 3.64b version you should delete it. This does not happen on all systems, my desktop does not show the problem but it causes my laptop to crash consistently. All the other changes made in version 3.64b to fix bugs etc are still valid and are in 3.64c.

For the technical minded the compiler directive changed was "Code Optimization was turned on", this is not supposed to have any effect on the operation of the code. As the compiler help file says "All optimizations performed are guaranteed not to alter the meaning of a program. In other words, no "unsafe" optimizations are performed that require special awareness by the programmer." , ah well.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed problem with Potsdam datum, referencing wrong ellipsoid.
• Some minor fixes, mainly fine tuning, especially of the Moving Map operation.

Changes

• Waypoint Name and Map Comment background colors now have a transparent option.
• Map Comments now have the ability to change font size and select "bold" style.
• There is now the ability to link the Map User Grid (Transverse Mercator projection), which is setup when calibrating, to the User Grid which you setup in the configuration for onscreen coordinate display. There is a new option on the "Map" tab in configuration to specify "Use map User Grid". If this is true and the map being loaded has a user grid set, the "map user grid" is automatically copied to the "Alternate Grid" for coordinate display.

Beta 3.64b

Bug Fixes

• Finally found problem and fixed it (I hope) with the Mag Variation calculation when using the NMEA simulator, traced problem to international settings, when the decimal separator being used was a comma it resulted in an extra comma being inserted into the NMEA sentence.
• The Moving could give a terminal error when first started when it needed to change maps, the errors were various including "Division by Zero", but the cause was the same. These type of dynamic bugs can be difficult to find but I did find something and corrected it.
• Closing OziExplorer while receiving NMEA data from the GPS (Moving Map) would sometimes result in an "Access Violation" error, caused by closing files etc when the last NMEA sentence was still being processed, now fixed.
• The track file names are now remembered correctly when resaving the files from the "Track Control".
• and the usual minor housekeeping type changes.

Changes

• Version 3.64a added a larger "blank map", this caused the load times of the "normal" maps to be increased because before loading any map a "blank map" was always created to put the system into a known state. In this version the new "blank map" has been refined and may be quicker to create, however, the "blank map" is no longer created when loading a "normal" map. Load times should actually be quicker now than any previous version. BUT, this has meant recoding of the map load procedures which can of course add in new bugs and problems, but testing has not shown any.
• There have been a few changes to stop data (waypoints, map data etc) from being lost when changes have been made. You will now be prompted before any changed data is discarded.
• Added 2 new symbol pointers for Moving Map, a cross and a new simple boat.

Beta 3.64a

Bug Fixes

• Removed bug in the "Find Map" routine. If you were in any zoom level other than 100% the calculations used to find the available maps were incorrect.
• Fixed bug in Position Edit in the properties window of waypoints etc. only when editing in UTM coordinates. This was a recent bug only in 3.63f and 3.64.
• Some other minor bugs.

Changes

• Many changes for Windows "Large Font" support, OziExplorer should look much neater now. But optimization has been done for small fonts so there will still be some things slightly out of place.
• The Austrian datum (or 1 of them) has been added.
• The Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA94) has been added.
• OziExplorer will now also use the GLL sentence for NMEA if the RMC or GGA sentences are not available.
• You can now double click on any map object (Waypoint, Event, Map Feature or Map Comment) to open the properties window.
• The "Blank" map has been increased in size by a factor of 2.5, this means the blank map is this much bigger and effectively increases the zoom level available by 2.5 over previous versions. The max zoom available is still 7.5 (750%) but the map is now 2.5 times bigger.
• The Grid has been modified and a selection of Grid intervals has been added for the blank map, these are located on the map menu.

Beta 3.64

Bug Fixes

• The routes being navigated had a bug where the bearing was being displayed as Magnetic when in fact it was a True bearing.
• Found bug in Magnetic Variation calculation.
• quite a few minor fixes.

Changes

• The Cursor Zoom Window is now selectable for display at startup.
• When calculating distances there is now a choice of a using a spherical method or ellipsoid method. OziExplorer was using the spherical method only, the difference is about 1%. I assume the ellipsoid method should be the more accurate. See the configuration help for a little more info.
• Found the bug in Magnetic Variation calculation (a bit of development code left behind) and did a bit more fine tuning of the handling of Magnetic Variation, see the help topic for a description of how OziExplorer deals with this.
• Some fine tuning to the Magellan drivers.
• When using "Moving Map" there is now an option to project (draw) a line from your present position along your current course.
• When using "Moving Map" your present position plots on the "MapView" window.

Beta 3.63f

Bug Fixes

• Version 3.63e Map Features had a bug where they would disappear after changing the properties.
• Magnetic Bearing had a bug, the calculation was not correct in certain circumstances.

Changes

• The bearings in the Moving Map and Navigation Controls now only display whole numbers (not 1 decimal place as before), if this causes problems let me know.

Beta 3.63e

Bug Fixes

• For Map Features if the "picture" file name had spaces within the name it would not load and be displayed, fixed.
• The Track description in the Track Control could not always be accessed and changes were not always recognised.
• The Track default color and width were not correctly used after being altered in the Track Control, this showed when adding track points.
• The editing of waypoints in UTM using the waypoint editor had an error if the coordinates were in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The MagVar in the NMEA simulator had "W" (west) hardcoded into it so it always assumed the MagVar was to the west.

Changes

• Full support has been added for the Garmin GPS III. This includes the modified protocols, the correct selectable symbols on screen and of course the ability to upload and download the waypoint symbols and display formats to the GPS.
• You can now specify the waypoint name for a Map Feature, this is on its property window. Note that if you do not want these Map Feature waypoints to be downloaded when using the "Merge Waypoints from GPS" option the waypoint name must start with "MF" (hopefully only temporary until I code a new fix).
• The ability to edit the position of a Map Feature has been added to its properties window.
• Quicker clearing of Routes - this took a considerable amount of time on slower PC's, 10 to 15 secs, it will be much faster now.
• There are now options on the Map Menu to allow the adding of waypoints, events etc.
• There are now options on the Map Menu to show the Zoom window and MapView.

Beta 3.63d

Bug Fixes

• The Zoom when the PgUp or PgDn down was hit for the first time has now really been fixed, (yeah sure).
• There was a comm problem when using NT4 and attempting to communicate with the GPS after using a modem on the same serial port, it would not work. Traced the problem and hopefully corrected it.

Changes

• As well as the "Man Overboard" waypoint there is  now a "Position Marker". These can be set at the current GPS position while using "Moving Map". These are just special types of Waypoints with their own symbols.
• In version 3.63c I was experimenting with setting the BMP images to 8 bit color in the code, this was causing color changes on some systems, this has now been removed. Please not however that on some systems OziExplorer does not like to use 16 color BMP images.
• When printing BMP or JPG files I was reloading the whole image again, this was to overcome a technical problem which has now been rectified (possibly). The images will not be reloaded again, this should give 2 advantages for large files, the images will start printing much quicker and there is much less chance of running out of memory resources. Let me know if this still causes problems.
• Also when printing TIF files I needed to create a tempory BITMAP to hold the portion of the image for printing, this is a tradeoff between memory requirements and printing speed. The size of the BITMAP required was about 4Mbytes, I have now reduced the size to about 2Mbytes, this should allow systems with tight memory resources to have a better chance of printing. Let me know if you still have problems.
• Please note in calibration mode you now need to also hold down the shift key when using the arrow keys to move the calibration points.

Beta 3.63c

Bug Fixes

• The zoom was not correct when the PgUp or PgDn key was hit the first time, fixed.
• Waypoints added with the new waypoint editor were not able to be uploaded to Lowrance/Eagles, a parameter was not set correctly, now fixed.
• Scrolling the map using the cursor keys when in calibrate mode were still enabled, this cannot be allowed and has now been turned off.
• When the "Last Map" was loaded and scrolled to the "Last Position" the "MapView" window did not update correctly, now fixed.
• The "Distance Display" window could not be activated correctly from the Menu etc, now fixed.
• When drag map was enabled (hand cursor) and the map was clicked to exit from a menu the map was not refreshed correctly, fixed.
• In order to print maps accurately at a specific scale it required a more accurate method to calculate the scale. This resulted in a situation where 2 maps of similar scale would be loaded alternately (continuously) when using moving map. This was caused by the new calculated scale not agreeing with the old scale stored in the map file. To fix this I have placed a tolerance of 2% on changing to a better scale map. This means if a map is not at least 2% better in scale factor (more detail) than the current map it will not be loaded. This avoids those calculation type problems with floating point numbers as well as my coding changes.

Changes

• Polyconic (American) and Albers Equal Area projections have been added.
• The ability to add a "Man Overboard" waypoint at your current position (when using Moving Map) has been added. This is on the Moving Map menu and the right click map menu and the "Alt+O" key combination. The waypoints now have a new Display format called, what else, "Man Overboard".

Beta 3.63b

Bug Fixes

• Bug in reading xml metadata files from Penn. State University.
• There is a bug in Navigation to waypoint feature, found a problem and fixed it, but not sure if it was the correct problem?
• Many minor fixes.

Changes

• A lot of fine tuning to get ready for non-beta release in the near future.
• Completely new map printing functions, completely rewritten, now with print to scale - any scale you like to select or enter. These changes have hopefully removed most of the GPF problems of the old method.
• I have made extensive changes to the Magellan drivers and have found some more info on how to interface with these units, actually it was no secret I just had to work out how to do it properly. I have changed the name of the 2nd Magellan driver to Magellans (No Handshaking). I think that ALL Magellans should now work with either driver, the preferred driver being the Magellans one, this provides for upload/download using the full handshaking protocol which should be more reliable.
• The zoom levels can be adjusted using the PgUp and PgDn keys. The map screen must have the focus.
• The map can be scrolled using the arrow keys. In calibration mode the calibration points can be moved by holding down the shift key and using the arrow keys.
• There is a goto waypoint button on the waypoint list window. The waypoint must be located on the current map.
• You can now specify in configuration that when the last map is loaded the last map zoom level is selected and the map scrolls to the last map position being used.
• The last map datum being used for calibration is remembered.
• When loading maps etc the last directory accessed is now remembered.
• The event list now has the ability to display positions in the various grid formats.
• When calibrating using the user grid in a Transverse Mercator projection you now enter the calibration points in the user grid coordinates.
• many improvements to allow OziExplorer to run direct from a CDROM.
• The Esc key will now exit many of the windows.
• Many Shortcut keys have been set up and can be seen on the menus.
• The amount of windows resources being used has been reduced.
• The maximum number of routes has been increased to 100 to handle the new Lowrance Global map 100.
• Waypoint editor has been done and is available from the Waypoint List window.
• The icons for the Magellans have been slightly improved.
• It is now possible to input Lat/Lon position formats in DMS as well, this is only a limited solution as they cannot be shown in DMS. When entering into the Minutes field if you enter as say 43 53.123 this is read as 43 minutes 53.123 seconds.
• There is a new way of displaying Lines and Distance between 2 points on the map.
• You can now select the ability to show a line from the mouse cursor to the current map position.
• The NMEA simulator always assumed a Magnetic Variation of 3 degrees west. This has now been changed to use the Mag var entered with the map calibration. An extra feature has been added to automatically calculate the Mag Variation if it has not been entered with the map calibration. It is automatically calculated whenever a Mag variation is required to obtain a Magnetic bearing. No guarntee on how accurate it is though.
• New "Conditions of Use" window pops up when you start OziExplorer. After you read it simply click the "Do not show this message again" box to remove permanently.
• I have added 38400,57600,115200 Baud rates but have not yet tested them thoroughly, they seem to work ok.
• When downloading tracks from a Magellan the Altitude is now captured, also when collecting track details using Moving Map the Altitude is collected if the GGA NMEA sentence is available. These altitudes are not used other than being saved in the track data file (.plt file).
• The Altitude for waypoints is now captured from Magellans and displayed in the waypoint hint if available.
• There is a new window available on the Moving Map menu to display the GPS fix information. Naturally only available when using NMEA communication.
• If you right click on the map a popup menu will appear which has various options available. To acommodate this the way of adding waypoints, events etc has been changed, there are now new buttons on the Toolbar for these functions.
• I tried to add the Robinson projection but there seems to be a bug in the algorithm so I have had to remove it until it is sorted out.

Beta 3.63a

Bug Fixes

• The position indicator for moving map was not plotting in the correct position when the map was zoomed. Now fixed.

Beta 3.63

Notes

The implementation of the Magellan upload/download support should now work reasonably well. This version includes fine tuning of the protocol to remove some timing problems which caused problems when uploading routes etc. This version also includes the implementation of a variation in the way Magellan has used their protocol, this variation is called Magellans (other) in the GPS configuration. New waypoint symbols have been added for Magellans, these were taken from the Magellan Color Trak and designed from descriptions so may not look quite correct, I do not know how these relate to other Magellan models.

Bug Fixes

• More fixes to NMEA bearing calculations.
• Fixed bug where waypoints not on the map were mysteriously appearing in places they should not.
• More fine tuning to Magellan support to correct some uploading problems.
• various other minor fixes.

Experimental

• The Find Map buttons (4 arrows) on the button bar and options on the waypoint list etc can still be regarded as experimental, I want to change this to only 1 button on the button bar with a graphical display of the available maps but have not yet had the time.
• There is a new experimental option on the Moving Map menu called Show Regional Map Window. My wife (and navigator) told me that "moving map" is good but she would like to be able to see where we are located relative to the next town or landmark. I have coded the ability to load a map (any map) into a small window (called Regional Map Window) , this map is linked to the main map and scrolls as the main map scrolls, your position from the GPS is also displayed on this regional map. It is intended that a map of the region you are traversing be loaded into this window so you can see a reasonably large area, this map should be say 1:1,000,000 up to 1:4,000,000 scale. There are limitations to the small map - it will not automatically load the next map if you leave the small map, if you run out of map you did not load a map of sufficient extent in the first place.

Changes

• Moving Map and Navigation have been split to separate menus, and the controls split into separate windows.
• When scanning for (locating) maps for "Moving Map" or "Find Map" OziExplorer will now look through the default or configured map directory as well as ALL subdirectories under that directory.
• Support has been provided for older Lowrance and Eagles (AccuNav Sport etc) by reading and writing data files for the Lowrance WS1 software. This has been implemented for Waypoints and Events only at this stage. If your GPS will work with the WS1 software you can now get this data to and from OziExplorer.
• OziExplorer can now read and write track data from the Lowrance GDM software, using the clipboard, so it is now possible to upload/download tracks to and from GPS receivers such as the Global Map 12 by using the GDM software to communicate with the GPS.
• The font size used for for printing of the waypoint list has been increased.
• There is now a Navigate To ... option on the Waypoint popup menu (right click menu).
• There is now also a Find Map option on the Waypoint popup menu.
• There is now the ability to hide all waypoints or all events on the Map Menu and unHide of course.
• The printing of Routes has been done (1st draft).
• There is now the ability to specify the directory USGS DRG maps are imported into.
• For Garmins when uploading or downloading after using NMEA output OziExplorer will now automatically turn off NMEA input when you select an upload/download option.
• Route colors can now be selected by the user.
• The display of individual routes can now be turned off or on.

Beta 3.62

Notes

The Magellan support provided in version 3.61 and in this version 3.62 is only for one implementation of the Magellan protocol, while the protocols are similar, different model Magellans implement them in slightly different ways. The other protocol implementation (that I know off) is being coded ASAP. The current support has been tested and works with an older 3000XL and a new 2000XL, it is known not to work with at least one 4000XL.

Bug Fixes

• USGS DRG maps not importing correctly if the East Bounding longitude was against the zone boundary - fixed.
• Lowrance/Eagles not working correctly with NMEA or upload/download if ALL nmea sentences are turned on and 4800 Baud rate set - a timeout problem - fixed. However do not use 4800 Baud if there is a faster Baud rate available - performance will suffer.
• Mercator Projection maps had a small error in the projection calculations causing the waypoints to not be positioned in the correct spot - fixed.
• Fixed bug where waypoints not on the map were mysteriously appearing in places they should not depending on zoom level.
• MapView will now stay off when it is turned off.
• For Magellan support - if you changed the Baud rate configuration in OziExplorer they did not take affect until you restarted the software (a bug) - now fixed, no need to restart OziExplorer now.
• Uploading Routes for Magellans would not work unless the route names were 01,02,03,04,05 - now fixed.
• There was a problem with the calibration window being too narrow when using "large fonts" in windows - now fixed.
• Problem with navigation - Course to Steer (CTS) was not displayed correctly if the true bearing is not known, the Magnetic variation is now taken from the map calibration (if entered) and used to calculate the true bearing (or magnetic bearing if true bearing is known). There is no guarntee the problem has been finally fixed but I am trying to sort it out.

Changes

• 6 point calibration now will be done using the linear Affine method instead of the 2nd order polynomial, 7,8,9 points will be done using the 2nd order polynomial.
• This addition is very nice (for registered users) - There is a set of arrow buttons on the toolbar (and menus) which allows you to select maps from a list of available maps. I am also working on a feature (not available yet) to display the maps diagramatically as simple rectangles in their relative positions. The current implementation will show a list of maps which :
  • are available for your position (center of screen) on the currently opened map
  • are available North or South or East or West of the currently opened map
• In the Waypoint List dialog there is a new button to enable you to find maps which will display a particular waypoint.
• A special addition for users of USGS DRG Maps from Pennsylvania State University, the import DRG option will now use the xml file which you can download with these maps. There is a special section in the Importing USGS DRG Maps help for importing these maps.

Beta 3.61

Notes

Version 3.60 has caused problems with datums when loading USGS DRG maps. It appears that there are some NAD27 and NAD83 maps have the same entries in the fgd file even though they have different datums. I have decided to now load these maps as NAD27 as these seem to be the most common. The code has been changed accordingly. This now will mean that some NAD83 datum maps will now have the wrong datum when imported.

IMPORTANT - If the last version you were using was one of the 3.51 versions you must resave or re-import your map files so the new moving map information for automatic map changing is stored in the map file. Map files saved with 3.60a will be OK.

Waypoint editor still not done.

Printing problem with large maps still not fixed.

Bug Fixes

• When using the Latitude/Longitude Map Projection any coordinates entered in UTM format when calibrating the map were totally ignored.
• For Moving Map there was a minor bug when automatically loading the next map, the most detailed map may not always have been selected.
• Fixed various bugs for adding, deleting track points.
• Fixed various problems with NMEA sentences + extras see below.
• Fixed error when closing program when in calibrate mode.
• Fixed bug when importing USGS DRG maps, if there were maps at different scales on the same CD the map file for each of the scales would overwrite the previous one. The map file name now has the scale as part of the name, this should now not overwrite and also gives additional info in the name.
• When importing USGS DRG maps the dialog when done would say Error - there was no error just an incorrect name used for the dialog.

Changes

• Basic support has been added for Magellan GPS receivers. The extra Magellan stuff will be added gradually. Note - could not get Magellan to download at 19200 Baud (4800, 9600 OK), 19200 works with my Lowrance ??? - and as far as I know it is not possible to upload the track to a Magellan. The upload/download was tested using a 3000XL..
• The 4,5,6 point calibration method was not working well, the geometry of the points was too critical. I have changed the software so that 3,4,5 points use a linear affine method and 6,7,8,9 points use a 2nd order polynomial.
• Support for JPG images has been added. Note that while you get good compression with JPG's this means that they take longer to load, far too long for large images. I also convert them to 256 colors during the loading process to reduce the amount of memory required for large images, you should not notice much difference in the colors. The preferred format for large images if still TIFF with packbits compression.
• For moving map, OziExplorer will now check at a configurable interval to see if there is a more detailed map available for the area you are traversing, you don't actually have to leave the current map - this is magic.
• You can now specify the datum for the blank map in the configuration screen.
• Thanks to another user there are some additional symbols on the web page for marine use.
• NMEA can now be read from other talkers not just GPS receivers and various bugs corrected.
  

Beta 3.60a (Developmental)

Notes

When you load this version, you will notice that it looks exactly the same as the last version. There have been no changes to the look of the software this time, but there are new menu options and configuration settings and heaps of changes, some subtle some major.

The new calibration methods (up to 9 points) are quite complex mathematically and could be regarded as experimental.

The same also applies to the map projection and grid systems now supported, they have had limited testing.

There have been many complex changes in this version so there must be bugs, please report any problems and I will fix them ASAP.

There are changes to the OziExplorer GPS datum settings and the Buad rate settings, there are now 2 of each, please check and modify these using the Configuration option on the File menu.

I have changed the way I do the automatic changing of maps when doing moving map (yes again). You will need to load and save all maps you use for Moving Map (load the map and then press the Map File button which is located on the right hand side under the button bar - this will save the map and write the necessary new stuff).

Bug Fixes

• The problem with Garmin route creation should be better, but I have not entirely solved this problem to my satisfaction.
• Printing 256 color Grayscales fix.
• Color display for 256 color mode has been fixed and improved.
• Better trapping of errors.
• Unable to save the "Scroll Method" on the Navigation configuration screen - now fixed.
• Magnetic Bearing was not being calculated correctly - now fixed.
• Many International Settings problems now fixed.
• lots of minor fixes.

Changes

• There are now separate Datum settings for GPS Upload/Download Datum and GPS NMEA output Datum to cater for the many varying ways GPS receivers output their data. Please check you configurations.
• There are now separate BAUD rates for GPS Upload/Download and GPS NMEA output, OziExplorer will automatically swap between the two when doing upload/download or Moving Map (NMEA). Please check you configuration settings.
• There is a new route editor, allows you to point and select from a list of waypoints.
• You can now specify the size of the font for Waypoint display.
• The map objects (waypoints etc) should now always print at a readable size regardless of the scale of the map.
• You can now hide any Map object (Waypoint, Event, Map Feature or Map Comment). This allows you to access another object which may be hidden by another object or see what is under the object. The objects are turned back on by selecting the "Unhide All Map Objects" on the Map menu.
• When calibrating a map you can select from many different Map Projections and/or Grid coordinate systems.
• You can now enter either Lat/Lon OR the relevant Grid coordinates when entering calibration points.
• Up to 9 points allowed for calibration, based on the number of points entered the software chooses which method to use for calculating the transformation coefficients. 2 points - linear method; 3 points - affine transformation; 4,5,6 points 1st order polynomial; 7,8,9 points 2nd order polynomial (see the help file). More points to come and hopefully selection of method and display of RMS errors.
• It is now possible to remove a point from the calibration without actually deleting it, there is a checkbox for each point.
• As you select a calibration point tab, if there is already a calibration set for that number the map will scroll to show the point.
• The calibration points are now shown on the MapView window
• You can now activate the MapView window from the Calibration window.
• Errors generated when a calibration is bad are now trapped and error messages generated. There is now a help page for these errors.
• It is now possible to Import a complete set of USGS DRG maps in one operation, the corner markers are also automatically set at the map neat line. You should now be able to import a complete CD of maps and start driving with the maps changing at the neat line as you go.
• Moving Map now has an arrow that always points in the direction of travel. Its a very nice arrow available in any color as long as it is red. I will be providing more options for the arrow in future versions.
• Now reads the $GPGGA and $GPVTG nmea sentences as well as $GPRMC, to allow for those GPS units without $GPRMC. The $GPVTG is not tested as I do not have a GPS which outputs this sentence, please let me know if it doesn't work.
• In Moving Map the Track now always joins completely to the arrow.
• Full onscreen Navigation assistance along a route using moving map, check out the Navigate To ..... option on the Navigation menu..
• To aid in entering positions you can now specify in the configuration which country or World Map Region you are in and the N/S or E/W will default to the correct choice.
• When calibrating points the zone number is automatically carried forward to the next point.
• You can now specify in the configuration if you want the map objects and zoom level to be retained when loading a new map.
• You can now attach a waypoint and/or event and/or route file to the map (only 1 of each) as well as any number of track files - this is done in the calibration options. The files are automatically opened when the map is loaded (conditions apply related to the item above).
• When trying to open a map file if the map image cannot be found you are now asked if you want to browse the disk to locate it, if you find it simply save the map to make this new location permanent in the map file.
• Can download the Satellite Almanac from a Garmin GPS, not particularly useful for most people but there if you want it.
• Many more zoom levels have been added.
• Zoom levels greater then 100% for TIF files have finally been sorted out and included. The 75% zoom is missing for TIF files but is included for BMP files, there are technical reasons why this is so.
• The calculation of screen coordinates from Geographic position has been speeded up, you should see an improvement in plotting of Map Objects especially tracks.
• another map print mode - 4 pages wide
• I think that is enough for this version.

Beta 3.51c (Developmental)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the track would not print in the correct place when the map was zoomed. Also applied to saving the map as a bitmap when zoomed.

Changes

• When the mouse passes over a Map Object (waypoint etc) the zoom window now displays the map underneath the object.
• Navigation (Moving map) has had many improvements (see the help file).
  1. Automatically finds and loads next map. Note : You must load maps which have already been created by older versions of OziExplorer and use the Check Calibration of Map option on the File menu to set up the new Moving Map options, the maps will not be automatically loaded if you do not do this.
  2. NMEA GPS simulator
  3. Two methods of scrolling the map
  4. Adjustable Screen update rate
  5. Adjustable track update distance
  6. Adjustable Track tail length
  7. Proximity waypoints with alarm.
  8. Command line parameters to allow automatic starting.
• The Button bar now includes buttons for showing the Waypoint List and the Distance between Waypoints Window. The GPS simulator can now only be accessed from the View Menu.
• When selecting the BNG grid  in the Calibration screen, the Datum now defaults to Ordnance Survey of Great Britian. 
• Incremental Help improvements and Additions.
• Now also for Garmins, you can Send a single waypoint to the GPS by right clicking on the waypoint.
• There is now the ability to download plot trails from the Lowrance/Eagles (Global Maps, Global Navs etc) which only support protocol version 1. OziExplorer was not able to download plot trails from these in previous versions. The code was tested within test programs but has not been tested since inclusion in OziExplorer, I do not have one of these GPS units to test with. Naturally let me know if it does or does not work.
• There are additional Map Feature symbols available thanks to a couple of inspired users.

Not Done

• The printing of Map Objects (Waypoints, Events etc) to a specific size when printed on a map has not been completed. Many trials have been done but a acceptable solution has not been found, should be ready for the next version.
• Arrow for direction of travel for Moving Map display, next version.
  

Beta 3.51b (Developmental)

Bug Fixes

• I was a bit harsh when trapping UTM & BNG coordinates when calibrating. I was forcing them to a strict number of characters, however there are certain instances where other lengths are still legal. This version checks for the number of characters but only issues a warning.
• other minor stuff

Changes

• Not to sure whether its a bug fix or a change bit its major. The flickering that occurred when scrolling the map has been eliminated.
• The amount of resources the software uses has been reduced from about 38-40% to about 29-30%, allows 2 copies of OziExplorer to be run together more easily without running out of resources.
• The software now traps the loading of Tiff files which have the incorrect number of colors, only 256 colors or 256 Grayscale is allowed.
• There are now 5 choices for the size of the MapView window (registered versions). Right click on the MapView window for menu. The selected size is saved to the ini file to become the default.
• There is now an option to Import Waypoints from a text file, similar to the Garmin "Get Waypoints from Text File" option. The file format is identical but there are more import options. This will allow you to create waypoints in a text file using NOTEPAD (cut and paste and all that stuff) and then import them into the program. They can then be saved as a normal wpt file.
• Much better support (now about 90%) for large font display setting in Windows.
• You can now double click on a Waypoint in the Waypoint list to open its properties. You can also highlight multiple waypoints and delete them.

Beta 3.51a (Developmental)

Bug Fixes

• When calculating the Magnetic Bearing between points sometimes gave a negative number.
• If you attempted to change a map calibration from say Degrees to UTM, under certain conditions an error would result.
• Fixed a bug in the reading in of Routes from a file, it was not getting all the waypoint data from the file, if you have been having trouble uploading routes to Garmins this may fix the problem.

Changes

• NOTE NOTE NOTE - to drag and drop the Map Objects (Waypoints,Events,Map Features and Map Comments) you must now hold down the shift key at the same time. This was done to avoid accidential movement of these objects, and to allow other programming changes.
• There is now the ability to attach tracks directly to a map, this means the tracks are loaded automatically each time the track is loaded. This is useful for adding small tracks to show the location of new roads etc (see the help file).
• Added Close Map option to File Menu. This is for users of TIFF files so they can close the map and therefore the TIFF file (which stays open as long as the map is there) so they can remove a CD to load in a new map.
• Added the ability to create thumbnail images for use in MapView when using TIFF files. The use of thumbnails can be turned off or on, but thumbnail images are only created for TIFF files greater than 2Mbytes in size. This is to reduce the map loading time for large TIFF files.
• The total distance for a track is now calculated and displayed in the Track Control dialog.
• Distance and bearing from a Mark on the Map or a Waypoint, Event or Trackpoint can now be displayed using the new Distance & Bearing Display dialog. The accumulated distance from many marks is also displayed. Very experimental (see the help file).
• UTM and BNG coordinates are now forced to be a specific number of characters, 6 for a UTM easting, 7 for a UTM northing and 5 for BNG coordinates.
• You can now specify a default symbol for the creation of waypoints.
• You can now control the timeout for the comm port data input. With careful experimenting you can significantly speed up data downloading from the GPS (see the help file).

Beta 3.51

Bug Fixes

• Major oops! When calculating the Magnetic Bearing between waypoints the magnetic variation was being added instead of subtracted.
• When calibrating a map you could get a floating point error when selecting the calibration points. This bug has been following me around for ages (kept coming back) hopefully its fixed properly now, this part of the code is quite complex.
• The GPS Stop Transfer button window would sometimes not appear in the correct spot when the map had been scrolled, now fixed.
• Minor bug where the old saved tracks would not use the correct color when reloaded.

Changes

• Distance and bearing between waypoints in the routes have been added in the route editor.
• When calibrating a map you can now select a calibration point roughly with the mouse and then use the cursor keys to move the point a pixel at a time.
• The zoom window as well as being draggable will now follow the main OziExplorer window when it is zoomed, this is much better.

Beta 3.5

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug in 4 point calibration method, was not calculating one of the values correctly, the error was normally minor but could cause objects to be placed out of position.
• Added the handling of UTM coordinates that can now be generated from waypoint + in its text files.
• Fixed a bug where the printing of multi page maps missed a pixel between each page.
• Fixed a bug where maps in NT4 printed upside down (pretty neat effort that one).

Changes

• There have been extensive changes to the internal handling of the map image, almost a total rewrite. The rewrite was done to allow TIFF files to be handled using a disk paging technique. This has resulted in extremely quick loading of the TIFF file and zoom levels that really work. USGS DRG maps benefit from this change enormously.
• As part of the new image handling there is now the ability to scroll the map by dragging it with the mouse (there is a new button on the button bar for this). Dragging can also be done direct by holding down the control key and drag the map with the mouse. To allow the Ctrl key to be used for dragging the Insert Track Point key has been changed to the Alt key.
• You can now pass the map name as a command line parameter, full path is required if not local and .map extension is required.
• The zoom window is now draggable, simply grab with the mouse and move to any position.
• Multiple tracks can be plotted on the map by using the Track Control dialog, 3 tracks can be placed on the map for the shareware version and up to 6 for the registered version.

Beta 3.4b

Bug Fixes

• When the map is zoomed objects such as map features, events etc would not be added in the correct position, this has been fixed.
• Fixed the problem where the zoom window would not work in calibration mode if a map had not already been loaded at least once.
• If calibrating or checking calibration when the map is zoomed resulted in the calibration point bullseyes not being plotted correctly.
• If a map had not already been loaded, calibrating a new map would not allow all actions until the new map had been loaded from disk.

All these problems basically related to the same area of the code. I hope I have now fixed them, but the fixes may cause other bugs and I end up chasing my tail, but I will persist until I have them all.

Beta 3.4a

Bug Fixes

• The sorting of the waypoints in the Waypoint List dialog had a small bug - would skip some numbers if you had reserved waypoints set (it should leave the reserved waypoints alone but in this case would not get the starting number of the normal waypoints correct).
• Fixed major bug when calibrating maps, if you had not already loaded a map, trying to calibrate a new map would not place the bulls eyes for the calibration points in the correct spot or fill the correct x,y coordinates into the fields, you were forced to do this manually. This was caused by 2 variables not being set - they were on the wrong side of a "see if a map is loaded" if statement.
• When calibrating maps using BNG coordinates you were not allowed to enter the coordinates the 1st time through the calibration procedure. This was caused by the "setup BNG coordinate" procedure being called before I had actually set the BNG flag (very dumb).
• Trouble reading the 750 waypoints from the Expedition - could not go past 250 (the default). Fixed.

Changes

• In the Waypoint list you can now display the position in Degrees or UTM by pressing a button.
• There is a new menu option on the View Menu called Distance Between Waypoints. This allows you to specify 2 waypoints and the Great Circle Distance and Bearing and the Rhumb Line Distance and Bearing will be displayed. Caution : Do not assume these measurements are correct at this stage, they need additional testing and proofing.
• To allow for above a new parameter called Mag Var (Magnetic Variation) is now requested when calibrating a Map.

Beta 3.3

Bug Fixes

• The New fancy menu system was Right Justified in NT 4 (don't exactly know why) subtle differences between Win 95 an NT. This has been fixed.
• More problems with the decimal separator for international users.The problems were with printing of the waypoint and event list as well as moving map. The ones reported were fixed plus some others as well.
• Printing the view window for normal and zoomed maps was not positioned correctly. This has been rectified.
• Could not import USGS DRG maps from hard disk if the fgd file was set as read only. This has been fixed. This has also fixed the problem importing USGS DRG maps when using NT 4.

Changes

• Added a new GPS to the list called "NMEA only". This is for GPS receivers which are not supported for upload/download of waypoints etc but can still be used for "Moving Map" display. The GPS must output the $GPRMC nmea sentence. There are no guarntees that any GPS will work for the "Moving Map" function as I have very little ability to test other units. I have tested the software with a Garmin GPS 12 and a Lowrance Global Nav 200.
• Improved the status line display for "Moving Map". See the Navigation menu help for details.
• The function to merge waypoints from a Garmin GPS to the waypoints already on the map has been added.
• The GPS simulator for Garmins has been added. The simulator is based on a GPS 12 but will also work for other Garmins with a similar sized screen with or without symbols. May still need a little work.

Beta 3.2

Changes

• An experimental "Moving Map" feature has been added, to provide real time navigation, see the help file for details. I really do mean experimental and not very well tested so far, still needs a lot of work.
• Map Features now do not automatically become a Waypoint. This is now an option on the Map feature property dialog. This allows more flexibility in their use.
• An attempt has been made to remove a bug where some systems would generate a floating point error when moving the mouse outside the boundaries of the World map. I cannot duplicate the affect but have made changes which may eliminate the problem.
• Waypoints can now be sorted by Name in the Waypoint List dialog. This was done mainly for users of Lowrance and Eagle GPS receivers which do not sort their waypoints by Name within the GPS. Now it is possible to sort the waypoints (don't forget to save them after sorting) and upload them to the GPS in sorted order. Note - relatively untested.
• A bug has been removed where calibrating a new map would not change the name of the map attached to the quick save button which is located on the right hand side just above the map. Pressing the quick save button would overwrite the previous map used with the new maps data (ouch!).
• It is now possible to save the position and size of the OziExplorer window so that the next time it is loaded it will assume the same position and size.
• A bug has been removed when printing of the Waypoint and Event list. This was related to the regional settings. If the decimal separator was not a dot (.) the software gave an error and would not print the lists. This problem has now been fixed.
• The drop down menus have been enhanced with bitmaps on the options (just for looks).
• Context sensitive help has started to be added to the various dialogs, only a couple so far, many more to be done.

Beta 3.1

Changes

• PRINTING OF THE BITMAP IMAGE OF THE MAP HAS BEEN FIXED. Yes after much searching I found the correct technique for printing images using the Windows 95 API, and as usual the fix was very simple. There are also many different ways of printing the map. You can now print the current view window, the entire map on a single page, or the entire map on multiple pages.
  
• The new symbols found in the Eagle Expedition and Lowrance Global Nav 212 have been added.

Beta 3.0

Bug Fixes

I cannot say for sure that there were any bugs fixed but there have certainly been a great number of changes.

Beware - The inclusion of the new features have caused many changes to be made to code that had previously been functioning correctly, this could result in bugs being put into this code.

New Features for 3.0

• The ability to upload and download routes for Garmins.
  
• The British National Grid has been added (registered versions only). If any users, who have registered or would like to register, require the Irish grid I will also add it in.
  
• The Routes now plot on the map.
  
• There is now the ability to create your own track (plot trail) on the map and upload it to the GPS (Lowrance, Eagle and Garmin). This has resulted in a major change in the way tracks are now handled. Creating a track with a lot of points with the points set as draggable slows down the screen display dramatically. If you want to see a Pentium 200 slow down create a track with 2000 points or more and specify the points as draggable. However I have allowed all this to be turned off selectively so it does not interfere with normal operations. For more detail see the Track section in the help file.
  
• The Waypoint Date and Time can now be edited. I cannot gurantee that this date and time gets uploaded to the GPS. I know it does not for Garmins because I cannot get the Garmins to accept it.
  
• The Map Features (the blue circles with numbers) can now have user selectable symbols. The symbol library can also be added to by the user, simply add your symbol in the specified format (a bmp file of certain size and layout) into the symbols directory and the software will use them. See the main help file for all the details.
  

Beta 2.1

Bug Fixes

The 2 point calibration has been fixed, it would only work if point 1 was above and to the left of point 2. Hard to believe this bug was not found earlier, just about everyone must have been putting the points in this way.

The problem with some international users having problems loading the data files when the decimal separator was set to a comma (,) has been fixed. However now if the decimal separator is set to a comma you must now enter all numbers with a comma as the separator, a dot (.) will not be permitted.

There have been many checks put in to prevent bad data from being entered and/or processed to prevent incorrect map calibration. This has also been done in other areas as well.

New Features for 2.1

The 3 point calibration (for registered users) is now included. I have also included a 4 point method as well, this will use the 4th point to find an overdetermined solution which should give better average accuracy. The software determines which method to use based on the number of points you have entered. The help file gives a description of each method.

There are now more ways to display the waypoints on the map. With pointer, with symbols, with comment, pointer direction etc.

For Garmin GPS receivers with symbols the software now supports the GPS waypoint display format as well. This can be set individually for each waypoint. The symbol and the display format are uploaded and downloaded from the GPS.

The Hu-Tzu-Shan Datum was requested to be added, this has been done. If anyone needs other Datums not included just let me know.

If your GPS has more than 1 plot trail (Eagle Expedition) the software will now ask you for the number of the plot trail you want to download. This feature is untested ( no access to an Expedition, they are not available in Australia yet). You may need to set the Number of plot trails for your GPS to 3 within the software configuration. The best idea is to select any other GPS and then select the Eagle Expedition, this will reset all the GPS parameters to a more correct set. After you have downloaded a plot trail you must save it before downloading the next. Use different file names for each trail.

Many other minor improvements have also been done.

Beta 2.0

Bug Fixes

Dozens of Bugs have been fixed - too numerous to mention them all.

I imagine dozens of new bugs have been added in with all the new features.

These are some of the major bugs fixed.

The Comm port now gets closed when leaving program

Drag & Drop of Waypoints etc improved

Loading in the Waypoint files produced by Waypoint+ has had bug fixes - would not work with DM or DMS setting and would not get comments - these have been fixed. Also now works with the new version 1.7.01 of Waypoint+ which supports symbols.

The Help files are now closed when the application closes.

The Append Waypoints from file has had a bug fixed. It would destroy some of the waypoints already on the Map.

The printing of the Waypoints list has been fixed and much improved.

The printing of the maps is still not real good. If you have a paint package which can print better you could save the map as a bitmap image and print it from the paint package. Paint Shop Pro 4 works well for this.

New Features for Beta 2

* Routes - these have only been included for Lowrance/Eagle Receivers at this stage, still needs a little work.

* Blank Map - a blank map can be selected which is initially calibrated to cover the whole world but will auto scale as data is loaded.

* Grid for the Blank Map - experimental at this stage - also works for bitmap maps but not necessarily for those calibrated using UTM coordinates.

* Edit Position - the ability to edit the lat/Long position for Waypoints and Events.

* Configurable File paths - in configuration you can specify the paths where the Maps or Data files are to be stored.

* Merge Events & Waypoints from the GPS - Registered versions only - Allows the Waypoints or events downloaded from the GPS to be merged with the Waypoints or Events already on the Map. Merge can be done by number, name or position. Absolutely necessary for extracting those few extra waypoints you have added in the field without disturbing the settings for the waypoints on the map which are already in the GPS. For Lowrance and Eagle GPS at this stage.

* Info box - displays vital configuration information at the press of a button.

* Stop button for GPS transfer

* Datums - Registered versions only - Specify the Datum for the GPS, Map and the data files. The software will automatically translate the lat/long position between datums. Be cautious with this option if the wrong datums are specified the data will be translated to incorrect values.

* Map View - Registered versions only - The best new feature, provides a small map to help navigate the large map.

* UTM coordinates - Registered versions only - Whereever a position is required it can entered in UTM coordinate system if required.

* Print a list of the events - not particularly useful but its now there.