Editing/organizing Lowrance Waypoints on PC...

[ProfessorLongArms]

I'm in the process of backing up my Lowrance waypoints for the first time, and it occurs to me that I wouldn't mind an actual computer interface to properly label some waypoints, delete some old routes, and even program in some GPS points from some maps I've bought/pulled from reports, etc.

The internets don't have a ton of info, though I'm still early in my research.

I'm curious if anyone has thought along the same lines and possibly forged this path ahead of me.

I see Lowrance has "Insight Planner" and I'm reading up on EasyGPS though it looks like it only saves to GPX.

If GPX is my only option, from what I'm reading, I assume what I'd do is backup my waypoints, edit a copy, clear my Lowrance unit so it doesn't duplicate, and then reload the edited file with new, cleaned up waypoints.

There's an actual question in here somewhere:

Does anyone have a recommendation around GPS editing software on PC? Yay or nay is helpful. I don't mind paying a reasonable amount for decent software. I like that Lowrance looks like it will load up NOAA and Navionics charts.

Also has anyone else messed around with this and found any bugs/quirks in the process that I should be aware of? Especially in terms of file format.

Assuming there's not much info here and anyone else is interested, I'm also happy to share my results once I'm done messing around with it.

Cheers,
Spencer

[ful-rac]

Use Google Earth...to label, comment, edit, create, delete waypoints. Download your waypoints as GPX files then use them to view on Google Earth.

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Use Google Earth...to label, comment, edit, create, delete waypoints. Download your waypoints as GPX files then use them to view on Google Earth.

Thanks! That's great advice.
I was so busy looking at proprietary stuff I didn't even consider it.

[Denis_Ruso]

For the sake of continuing this conversation, I need to back-up my coordinates too. Never done it but I don't have a chip in my unit.

How would I go about backing up my points which are stored on the fishfinder itself, dumb it down for me .

[ProfessorLongArms]

Mine almost turned into a cautionary tale. I just spent an hour futzing with my hook5 to get it to power on, and with the multimeter showing full power at the terminal. I was just about convinced the unit was cooked, when I wiggled the cable one. last. time.

I swear, even with dialectic grease, I get so much corrosion in the terminals.

I just saved coordinates from my Hook5. You'll def need a microSD. Can't be bigger than 32gb apparently.

Menu Button>Settings>Charts>Waypoints, trails, etc.>Menu Button>Save data.

Looks like this unit only gives the option to save version 3 and version 2... whereas I had seen tutorials on HDS units to save 5 different formats including GPX. In fact, it looks like the only tutorials available are on the touchscreen models.

Version 3 includes depth data with the coordinates. Version two is just coordinates.
Per this info, it looks like you can use GPSBabel to convert to GPX if you want to edit. https://doctorsonar.com/blogs/educat...ance-waypoints

[PapaDave]

Do you have to save all the GPS points separately or does it save all of them at once?

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by PapaDave

Do you have to save all the GPS points separately or does it save all of them at once?

With those instructions above, it will save all of your coordinates into one file. It's super small, because it's just a text file with coordinates AFAIK.
If you have a navionics chip like the one that came included with my Hook5, you can just save them to that.

The thing to be careful with is loading coordinates *back* into your unit.
I think it will duplicate them, so you need to delete all of the existing ones in the unit before loading up the new edited ones.
As a failsafe, I just backed up the original file in case anything went wrong.

The whole process was pretty cool. I was able to look at old waypoints as they related to underwater structure on Google earth. I was also able to rename and clean up some old waypoints, and enter coordinates from a Fish-n-Map Co map I bought....

For anyone playing around with it, I found it's very important to go into settings in google earth and make sure you turn off "Tilt automatically when zooming" and hit the "R" key and zoom in REALLY CLOSE when you're ready to drop pins to mark structure... Otherwise it will be pretty inaccurate.

I'm also tempted to play around with the Lowrance editor, as I wasn't super clear on how to draw "Trails" in the GPX format.... In some cases, I'd prefer to draw lines to mark ridge tops and depressions rather than just a bunch of pins.

[FishNinjaY]

Originally Posted by ProfessorLongArms

With those instructions above, it will save all of your coordinates into one file. It's super small, because it's just a text file with coordinates AFAIK.
If you have a navionics chip like the one that came included with my Hook5, you can just save them to that.

The thing to be careful with is loading coordinates *back* into your unit.
I think it will duplicate them, so you need to delete all of the existing ones in the unit before loading up the new edited ones.
As a failsafe, I just backed up the original file in case anything went wrong.

The whole process was pretty cool. I was able to look at old waypoints as they related to underwater structure on Google earth. I was also able to rename and clean up some old waypoints, and enter coordinates from a Fish-n-Map Co map I bought....

For anyone playing around with it, I found it's very important to go into settings in google earth and make sure you turn off "Tilt automatically when zooming" and hit the "R" key and zoom in REALLY CLOSE when you're ready to drop pins to mark structure... Otherwise it will be pretty inaccurate.

I'm also tempted to play around with the Lowrance editor, as I wasn't super clear on how to draw "Trails" in the GPX format.... In some cases, I'd prefer to draw lines to mark ridge tops and depressions rather than just a bunch of pins.

Good info! Thanks..