ccWay guide: map selection
Map selection on Google Maps
Geographical selection on Google Maps
Map selection
This geographic selection mode is active when you choose the first option in the Geographical selections (opposite). It is displayed on a Google Maps map at the bottom of the page. If you choose another option (administrative level or maps) the Google Maps will not be displayed.
Zooming and moving
Entire Google Maps
The map is initially centred on the country concerned, at a zoom level that allows the whole country to be viewed. The map actually measures 800 x 600 pixels but is too large to be included on this help page. We will therefore make do with partial views of the map. Opposite, the map displayed when the country selected is Switzerland.
Google Maps search box
To be able to select a particular region on the map, you first need to zoom in. You can do this with the mouse using Google Maps' zoom and pan controls, but this can be tedious. To speed up your access to the area you're interested in, you can use the search field at the top of the map (opposite, right). In this field you type in the name of the place you want to get closer to, for example Andermatt, a village located at a well-known crossroads in Switzerland.
The names may be those of communes, hamlets or other place names such as lakes, rivers, mountains or passes. Google does the geocoding searches, so if you don't find it immediately, try another place name. Spelling and language can be very flexible: for the Simplon pass, you can search for Simplon Pass, Passo del Sempione, Simplonpass, Simplon Pass, Simplon Passcase is irrelevant. However, Simplon will take you ... to the metro station Simplon from Paris! In this case, you can specify Simplon, Switzerland or Simplon, ch to return to the Helvetians.
Once the map is displayed in the desired area and at a zoom level that suits you, you can draw a polygon on the map that will define exactly where ccWay will include the passes. Only passes located within the polygon will be included in your ccWay extraction (subject to filters, like all geographic selections).
- To start drawing your polygon, simply left-click on the first point.
- You then add other points by simply clicking on the left. The polygon is drawn as you go.
- As soon as you have 3 points, the polygon closes.
- You can delete points by right-clicking on them.
- To delete the entire polygon, click on the
- You can also move existing points; you can always go back one step if you make a mistake.
- Each side of the polygon has a semi-transparent point halfway along. If you move one of these points, you split the straight line into two segments.
First polygon point
Second point and first side
Third point and closing the triangle
Fourth point and in grey the median points
4th side splitting and reversal control
A polygon can be concave or even twisted: this is still valid!
Once you have completed your selection polygon, use the filters if you wish, choose an output file format and generate your catalogue extract as normal.
Whatever your polygon selection, the maximum number of cols extracted from paying catalogues that you have not purchased is limited to 100 in "member" mode. In "visitor" mode, the total number of collars extracted by ccWay is limited to 100, whatever the catalogue, even free catalogues. Note that the results will depend on the status of each collar. For example, if you have only purchased the France catalogue, and you carry out a cross-border extraction covering part of France, the whole of Andorra and part of Spain, you will obtain
- An unlimited number of collars in France (according to your selection criteria), because you have purchased this catalogue.
- An unlimited number of passes in Andorra (also according to your selection criteria), because this catalogue is free.
- A maximum of 100 passes in Spain.
Please note that if you had purchased the old Spanish road passes catalogue, you would then get an unlimited number of road passes in the Spanish part of your selection, plus up to 100 non-road passes.
Examples
Here are three examples of map selection on Google Maps with the resulting pass extractions:
Passes around Andermatt, Switzerland
Selection polygon around Andermatt
Cols obtained around Andermatt
This selection includes the major road passes (Oberalp, Lukmanier, Nufenen, Grimsel, Susten, Furka and Gotthard) around Andermatt. Once the selection was complete, the filters were set to include passes made and to be made, all altitudes and all types of pass.
A GPX file was chosen for the output format, with the GPXX Garmin extension included in the settings, and proximity labels and alarms removed, also in the settings. The resulting GPX file was saved to the hard disk and displayed on a summary map on MapSource.
Cross-border selection in the Pyrenees
Selection of passes in the Pyrenees
Google Earth tree structure after Pyrenees selection
This selection focuses on the Pyrenees. To extract passes from multiple countries, select the "Europe" flag on ccWay. Once the selection is complete, the filters have been set to include passes made and to be made, all altitudes and only road passes.
A KML file was chosen as the output format. The extracted KML file was saved to the hard disk and displayed on Google Earth.
View Pyrenees mountain passes
And here is the Google Earth tree structure resulting from this map extraction. The display of the mountain passes on Google Earth (here in 'night' mode to accentuate the contrast - of course you would never do this in real life!)
Major passes in the French Alps
Sélection route des grandes Alpes
Mountain passes on the Grande Alpes route
This selection runs from Nice to Pré-St.Didier following the routes of the major passes, Bonette, Vars, Izoard, Lautaret, Galibier, Iseran and Petit St.Bernard. Once the selection has been made, the filters have been set to include all passes made and to be made, all altitudes and only road passes.
A KML file was chosen for the output format. It was saved to the hard drive and displayed on Google Earth. On the second image, the display of the passes on Google Earth (here in "night" mode to accentuate the contrast - of course you would never do this in a real situation!)
This type of selection, which follows a given route, is useful because it will extract all the passes on that route. It's up to you to determine the size and shape of the polygon to include more or fewer nearby passes. Note that a selection by circle, in addition to that by polygon, will be added at a later date. This will enable those who do 'star' passes around a fixed drop-off point to determine all the passes within a certain radius. nn kilometres from this drop-off point.