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ccWay guide: output formats

Here you specify the type of geolocation file to be produced, then launch the extraction request by clicking on the "Generate / Download" button:

Three types of file are currently available. Others will be added according to demand and the time available to the author. Those shaded above have already been accepted and will be added later.

GPX. This is the universal format, the basic standard accepted by virtually all software. Abbreviation of English GPS EXchange FormatThis is an XML file containing the basic information needed to exchange point definitions, including a name, description, coordinates, altitude and a symbol to be displayed. It was designed by the American firm Topografix.
KML. This format is also based on XML and is used primarily by Google Earth. Abbreviation of English Keyhole Markup LanguageThe HFCK is a product of the development laboratory Keyhole Incfunded in part by the CIA, which designed it to describe the objects in the images received by spy satellites. Keyhole. Keyhole Inc was subsequently acquired by Google.
Carto Exploreur 3/3D. This is an internal format used by the French software Carto Exploreur, a Bayo product. This format only appears when the country selected on ccWay is France.

The aim of this page is not to be a tutorial on how to use this software. We assume that you are at least basic users, if not experienced users. We will therefore confine ourselves to the interface between ccWay and these programs and the ccWay settings that affect the display of passes.

When you click on the the requested file will be downloaded to your computer by your browser. Depending on the configuration of your browser, several options will be available:

The software associated with the type of file in question will be launched automatically and will open the file.
The file will be saved automatically to your browser's download area on your hard drive.
Your browser will ask you whether you want to save the file or open the associated software.

GPX files can also be processed by Google Earth and Carto Exploreur, but it's best to use the formats specific to these software packages to get the most out of them. Below, an extract of GPX passes (with the GPXX extension) on MapSource (left), then the same file read by Carto Exploreur (centre). On the right, the same region on Carto Exploreur with a specific Carto Exploreur file. Note that the colour codes associated with the different pass categories are highlighted on the right-hand image, whereas on the centre image they are all identical. MapSource uses the GPX as its main feed file and therefore displays the different categories correctly.

Universal GPX files or files with Garmin extension (GPXX)

The GPX format is used by a multitude of software applications. When you use ccWay in Member you can configure the display of passes on software using the GPX file, and by extension their characteristics on GPS receivers. Note that ccWay does not interface with your GPS; it simply provides the GPX files to the specialised software that does interface with your GPS, such as MapSource for Garmin GPS. GPX options are configured on the Settings page (details); these options concern the presentation of collar codes, the content of and tags and the definition of symbols associated with the different collar categories.

Although GPX is a universal format, it can be extended. One such extension is the GPXX which is a Garmin proprietary extension. Although the spirit of ccWay is to remain neutral in relation to the various commercial software packages, we have included, as an option, the generation of the GPXX extension because it has become practically a standard in itself. This extension enhances the display of your passes on Garmin MapSource software and GPS receivers that use MapSource to transfer their waypoints. The GPXX options are also described in detail in the help page of the GPX section of the Settings page mentioned in the previous paragraph. By default the GPXX option is omitted; if you plan to use your GPX files on MapSource software, give preference to the GPXX extension in your settings.

Preparing to use the GPX file with GPXX extension on MapSource or BaseCamp

For optimum use of GPX files on MapSource or BaseCamp, include the GPXX extension in your settings. To use the symbols and categories specific to ccWay, you need to do two things first, only onceon MapSource or BaseCamp. Only MapSource use is described here. For BaseCamp, follow the same steps.

Downloading "ccWay" symbols

In your settings, you will see the option opposite in the GPX/GPXX section. Choose the language used by your Garmin GPS (normally the same language as your MapSource software), and click on Download symbols. If you don't have a Garmin GPS, the language doesn't matter. A zip file will be downloaded. It contains 48 image files:

24 BMP files with a name nnn.bmp (000.bmp to 023.bmp). These files are used by MapSource.
The same 24 BMP files, with a name in the format "Waypoint symbol nnn.bmp" (Waypoint symbol 000.bmp to Waypoint symbol 023.bmp). This second set is specific to Garmin GPSs, and their names vary depending on the language of the GPS (for example, on a Dutch Garmin GPS, the names would be Waypointsymbool 000.bmp to Waypointsymbool 023.bmp). This is why the language of your GPS is required before downloading the zip file. To use these symbols on your GPS, see the section Transferring personalised symbols to your GPS.

Unzip the entire contents of the zip file into the My DocumentsMy GarminCustom waypoint symbols (on Windows). If your MapSource is in another language, the directory path will have another name; for example, on an English MapSource, it would be My DocumentsMy GarminCustom Waypoint Symbols. Normally this directory already exists because it is created when MapSource is installed. You will then overwrite the 24 existing symbols, which are completely identical on installation. If you don't want to overwrite the existing files, make a copy of them before unzipping the new symbols.

The 24 symbols specific to ccWay are now available on MapSource (see opposite). These are files 000.bmp to 023.bmp.

The first line (round dots) represents the 8 pass categories already climbedwhatever their altitude.
The second line (square dots) represents the 8 pass categories to climb, of less than 2000 m.
The third line (cross) represents the 8 pass categories to climb, 2000 m or more.

Note that MapSource can manage up to 64 different custom symbols, but we have limited them to 24 so that this corresponds to the maximum of 24 symbols that can be used on most Garmin GPS units. What's more, it's less important to know the altitude range of passes already climbed than that of passes still to be climbed. The colours correspond to the 8 categories of pass: Road, Cycle, Easy push, Difficult push, Portage, Acrobatic, Unrated road and Unrated.

Defining pass categories on MapSource

GPX files produced by ccWay with the GPXX extension use the MapSource category system. There are 8 categories corresponding to the colours defined below, a "Done" category, a "To Do" category, a "< 2000 m" category and a "≥ 2000 m" category. You need to define these categories on MapSource before using a ccWay GPX file. This is on the Edit :: Preferences :: Waypoints categories menu. Unfortunately, you have to type or paste them one by one. The insertion point doesn't matter - you can start inserting them in box 5 as well as box 1, and the order isn't important. What is important is that you paste the text exact. To avoid any problems, copy the texts from the following table and paste them into the MapSource boxes :

Road	Cycling	Easy to push	Diff push	Portage	Acrobatic
Unlisted road	Not listed	Already climbed	Climbing	< 2000 m	≥ 2000 m

Using MapSource

Once your "ccWay" symbols have been stored on MapSource from the zip file mentioned above and your categories defined on the MapSource settings, you can import your GPX/GPXX files from ccWay. You can then select by category. See example below. Unfortunately, although MapSource accepts multiple categories for each waypoint, it does not allow them to be displayed in this way - only one category can be selected for display.

Transferring personalised symbols to your Garmin GPS

The files Waypoint symbol 000.bmp à Symbol Waypoint 023.bmp that you have unzipped in your directory My DocumentsMy GarminCustom waypoint symbols can now be transferred to your Garmin GPS so that the same "ccWay" symbols can be used to display waypoints on the device.

To do this, you need to use the point transfer utility that corresponds to the model of your Garmin GPS. Given the different transfer methods and utilities, we will not describe them on this help page. Please refer to the documentation specific to your GPS.

After the transfer, your GPS will contain the customised "ccWay" symbols as shown opposite.

Remarks

If you do not use the automatic inclusion of the GPXX extension in your settings, you can of course use these GPX files on MapSource and on your GPS. The categorisation and proximity radii associated with each type of pass will be missing; the waypoint symbols defined in your settings will be used instead of the specific "ccWay" symbols. These predefined symbols are those shown opposite, with the red numbers from 0 to 7 indicating the passes already climbed for each pass category, and the green numbers from 0 to 7 indicating the passes yet to be climbed. Unlike the "ccWay" symbols, there is no differentiation between passes < 2000 m and passes ≥ 2000 m. You can change both sets of symbols in the settings, 'GPX' section (details).

If you want to use the "ccWay" GPX files on MapSource and your GPS with the specific ccWay symbols, but without the GPXX extensions (i.e. without MapSource categorisation and proximity alarms), simply follow all the preparatory steps above which involve downloading the symbols from the zip file, and optionally transferring them to the GPS (omit the step which defines the "ccWay" categories on MapSource). Then, on the Settings page, omit the GPXX section. Finally, still on the Settings page, give the waypoint symbols in the basic GPX files the names Custom 0 à Custom 7 for passes already climbed, and Custom 8 à Custom 15 for the passes to be made. You can then use basic GPX files, without GPXX extension. However, there will be no differentiation on MapSource or the GPS between passes < 2000 m and passes ≥ 2000 m (all passes will appear with round dots or square dots).

KML files (Google Earth)

There is only one option on the settings page (pass code format) for KML files produced by ccWay (details). Apart from this, the KML file opens in Google Earth without any further manipulation.

ccWay's KML files are structured in a 4-level hierarchy: country, first administrative division, second administrative division and pass category. Unused levels are not displayed.

Passes that have already been climbed are differentiated from those still to be climbed by the colour of the pass label. Two different types of symbol are used to differentiate between passes < 2000 m and passes ≥ 2000 m. The same symbols and choice of colours are used as on the GPX/GPXX files (previous section). By clicking on the header at the root of the folder () you can display the legend for symbols and texts.

An example of a group of passes on Google Earth (night view to accentuate the contrast). Note the two symbols (squares and crosses) to differentiate between altitude ranges, the different colours of symbols to differentiate between pass categories, and the pass already climbed in yellow, the others in green. For Google Earth, the colours and symbols used by ccWay are fixed and cannot be changed on the settings page. If this proves to be a limitation, you may be able to introduce choices.

KML file of an entire country in 4 clicks

Prior to the launch of ccWay, the catalogue zip files contained a KML file opening the entire catalogue on Google Earth. With ccWay, these files will no longer be supplied in order to eliminate the repetitive manual tasks associated with their production. If you want to have a KML file that encompasses an entire catalogue, you can recreate it in 4 clicks: Make sure you're in Memberand then follow the steps below. You can even produce a file encompassing all the catalogues in Europe, also in just 4 clicks.

Remarks

When a KML extract contains more than 500 cols, the Google Earth folders do not open automatically to speed up the loading of the file on Google Earth. You will then need to tick the folders that interest you. If you are making an extreme selection, such as all of Europe, avoid ticking at the root level as this will slow down Google Earth enormously.

When you click on a pass that appears on Google Earth, a tooltip is displayed. If you are in visitor nothing interesting happens; you're simply told to identify yourself and make sure you've bought the catalogue to get more information (left image opposite).When you're in member and you have purchased the catalogue in question, the name of the pass and how to access it will be displayed. What's more, the pass code in the tooltip is a link that allows you to display the pass in the viewer specific to the country where the pass is located, without having to leave Google Earth (image on the right). The viewer that opens is the same one that would open when you click on the 'Documents' link on the Excel files in a catalogue.

Internal Carto Explore files

Text and background colours on Carto Exploreur

For Carto Exploreur, three options are available on the settings page: the format of the pass codes, the symbols to be used on the GPS if Carto Exploreur is used to transfer waypoints to the device, and the colours of the text and background appearing on the pass labels displayed by the software (details).

By default, the colours of the pass labels on Carto Exploreur are those shown in the table opposite. There is no differentiation between passes < 2000 m and passes ≥ 2000 m.

The files produced by ccWay for Carto Exploreur are plain text files, the content of which is specific to this software. No other software can process this internal Carto Exploreur format.

Importing an internal file into Carto Exploreur

To use this type of file, you must first save it to your hard disk when it comes out of ccWay. The file names are in ccWay----.txtfor example ccWay-100-4889-20120516172855-158.txt

Then follow these steps to import the file into Carto Exploreur :

Create a new workspace. This step is not strictly necessary, but when importing a very large file, it is much quicker to delete the workspace than to delete folder by folder, which tends to crash Carto Exploreur. So create the workspace and open it.
Open the waypoint library. On the menu, click the first icon on the left, Import.

Select the file you wish to import from your hard disk and click on OpenCarto Exploreur will import the file and when finished will display a message like the one shown.

Choose the file to import

Once the waypoints have been imported, the folder tree will be displayed in the left-hand window. By default they all open. You'll probably want to close them to make the tree more manageable. Once the tree is partially closed, you'll get something like the following. In the right-hand window, you'll see the passes in the selected folder (in this case, the Routiers des Pyrénées-Orientales). The GPS symbols associated with each pass are the same as for basic GPX files, 8 red digits from 0 to 7 for passes already climbed and 8 green digits from 0 to 7 for passes yet to be climbed. You can change these symbols in the settings.

A preview of the labels for most of the 8 collar categories, using the default colours (map background omitted for clarity).

Carto Exploreur file for the whole of France in 4 clicks

Prior to the launch of ccWay, the Chauvot informatique zip file contained an internal Carto Exploreur file opening the entire catalogue on Carto Exploreur. With ccWay, this file will no longer be supplied in order to eliminate the repetitive manual tasks associated with its production. If you want to have an internal Carto Exploreur file that encompasses the entire catalogue, you can recreate it in 4 clicks: Make sure you are in MemberThen proceed as described in the previous section to generate a KML file for an entire catalogue. In the third step, choose the Carto Exploreur 3/3D format instead of the KML file. The rest is identical. Of course you cannot produce an internal Carto Exploreur file for the whole of Europe, Carto Exploreur being a product focused solely on France.