can I duplicate offset route/waypoint?

Former Member over 11 years ago

Hello,

I've got a route that is made up of waypoints, it is a clearing line for some brush. I want to create a "clearing limit" so to speak, so that I can mark a 60M wide path along my route. The method of doing this that I've settled on is creating two additional routes, each offset by 30M from the original center line route.

In the illustration I've attached, you can see the red way points, the black center route, and I'd like to create the green offset routes. Is there any quick and easy way to do this in basecamp?

Or is there an easier way to accomplish what I want to do?

thanks!

0 C14_Rider over 11 years ago

I don't know of a way to create mathematically correct "offset" routes in some automated way. But if it's okay to have it be approximate, and assuming the center line is composed of "direct" routes (straight lines) as your example appears, you could:

1) select all the subject waypoinst by shift- or ctrl-click and select "open"
2) in the "proximity" field, enter "30 m" (note that the units must match the "measurement" units set up under Utilities/Options/Measurement, so e.g. I had to use 100 ft). This will display a red circle of the specified radius around each of the waypoints.
3) make 2 direct routes, one offset each side, manually following a path tangent to the proximity circles. Thus they will each be roughly 30 m offset.

A little kludgy, but maybe this would work for you?

0 JaVaWa over 11 years ago

You need a GIS application to do that properly, not BaseCamp.

The idea is to import the gpx file with your track/route (the open source QGIS can do that), transform it to UTM (because you want to enter an offset in meters, not in degrees), and create a buffer around the feature with a distance of 30 meters. Finally export the buffer to gpx (and transform back to WGS84 at the same time).

I admit that it isn't easy; more so because a buffer is a polygon, and QGIS cannot save polygons to GPX...

This problem (and the transforming) can be solved by using JaVaWa RTWtool; this program has an option to export routes/tracks to a shapefile with UTM coordinates. Converting a shapefile to a gpx file is also possible; even in the case of polygons.
Shapefiles are the native format for QGIS (and for/supported by many other GISes).