Forest Fire Lookout Tower POI File
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    17 years
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I was wondering about the possibility of creating a POI File of Forest Fire Lookout Towers. I am kind of testing the water here to see if anyone thinks there would be any interest in something like this. I know that my wife, two sons, and I like to climb the fire towers in the Minnesota State Parks when we go camping each year. One of my concerns is if this would simply be redundant to other park POI files that have already been compiled. Another is gathering the correct coordinates. So far I have found several URLs:
http://www.firelookout.net/Sorted_By/Minnesota.htm
http://www.firetower.org/content.html
http://www.firetower.org/presorted/byState/USA_Minnesota.htm...
http://home.comcast.net/~w7xaq/
http://wayhoo.com/index.php?a=wlist&sr=0&state=WI&ftypem[]=tower
http://wayhoo.com/index/a/b/state/MN/stext/Minnesota/
http://wayhoo.com/index/a/wlist/state/MN/county/Dakota/ftype...
It looks like http://wayhoo.com/ provides a geographic coordinate database consisting of 1.7 million records from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). I was unaware of this database, but I am sure that most people here have already heard of it. Anyway, even though I a still "stuck in the mud" on my railroad project, I am kind of testing the water here to see if there is any interest in this type of stuff.
Forest Fire Lookout Tower POI File
Here is a more complete list of Minnesota Fire Towers:
http://www.paulbunyan.net/mnfiretower/towers.pdf
Now, how can I get extract the coordinates from a PDF file and convert them to the coordinates that we use for Garmin .csv files?
I did try the GPS Coordinate Grabber
http://boulter.com/gps/grabber/
but it must not be compatible with PDF files.
Extracting data
Here is a more complete list of Minnesota Fire Towers:
http://www.paulbunyan.net/mnfiretower/towers.pdf
Now, how can I get extract the coordinates from a PDF file and convert them to the coordinates that we use for Garmin .csv files?
I tried this location with IE7 and Adobe Acrobat 7 reader. I was able to use the select tool to grab all of the data and past it into Microsoft Excel.
The challenge is that it puts each line of information into Column A.
The solution is to:
1. Grab the Longitude and Latitude Data from Column A.
2. Convert the data from degrees/min/sec to decimal degrees so you can use the data in the .csv file.
For step 1, Using excel text functions, search for the first and second degree symbol and use this as a marker for selecting text with the MID text function. If you need further help, let me know and I will expand the explanation.
For step 2, you can use a converter, or I use excel for the calculation. The conversion is degrees + min/60+ sec/360. That would require that you separate the three parameters into separate fields.
Garmin StreetPilot c530, Mapsource
I did it the old fashioned
I did it the old fashioned way....I translated all of the Paul Bunyan data into Excel and saved it .csv. It should be available now for download in Offbeat tourist attractions, Outdoors, or structures.
Forest Fire Lookout Tower POI File
Wow, that is great. I sort of got sidetracked by the custom POI icons and now Tour Guide. Thank you very much! Nice job!
Excel Macro
I was able to use the select tool to grab all of the data and past it into Microsoft Excel.
The challenge is that it puts each line of information into Column A.
I have a macro that will convert rows of data to columns. One requirement is each entry has to use the same number of rows.
If this will help anyone, email me and I'll send it via an attachment.
RT
"Internet: As Yogi Berra would say, "Don't believe 90% of what you read, and verify the other half."