Waypoints and Waypoint Sets

How to create and edit and waypoints and waypoint sets.

A waypoint is a point at a specific geographic location, stored as a pair of coordinates specifying longitude and latitude. Waypoints can contain further information, such as a name, depth at the location the waypoint was taken, notes and attached images. Additionally, all waypoints have an assigned symbol.

Each waypoint belongs to a Waypoint Set, which is simply a named collection of one or more waypoints. Waypoint sets are differentiated by colour; each waypoint set is assigned a colour, and all waypoints within that set are shown in that colour.

Viewing Waypoints and Waypoint Sets

·Waypoints can be viewed and edited in the edit windows of all asset types.

·Waypoint sets are listed under the Waypoints header in the Asset Library, from where they can be opened for editing, exported to file or deleted.

·When viewing waypoints in a graphical edit window, the visible waypoint sets, and how individual waypoints look, is controlled using the Waypoint Toolbar (see below).

Waypoints Toolbar

The Waypoints Toolbar is part of the graphical display toolbar and is shown in all edit windows that display waypoints.

(1) Lock or Unlock Waypoints

Waypoints are locked by default, which them from being dragged by the mouse (when using the Select tool). Locking waypoints is useful to prevent accidentally moving them whilst performing other operations in the edit window. Use the Lock or Unlock Waypoints button to toggle the waypoint lock; the icon will change to an unlocked padlock when waypoints are unlocked.

When trying to drag a locked waypoint, a large padlock is shown in the centre of the edit area.

(2) Show or Hide Labels

Show or hide waypoint name labels using the Show Labels toggle button. Note that display performance can be reduced if a very large number of waypoint labels is shown on screen.

(3) Waypoint Size

Waypoints can be shown in two sizes; large and small. Use the Waypoint Size toggle button to switch between the two.

(4) Show or Hide Waypoint Sets

Toggle the visibility of individual waypoint sets within the current edit window.

A list of available waypoint sets is shown when the Show or Hide Waypoint Sets button is pressed. Toggle the display of individual waypoint sets individually using the check-boxes shown next to each waypoint set. Use the Show All or Hide All buttons to show or hide all waypoints.

Creating and Editing Waypoints

Waypoints in ReefMaster can either be imported from a GPS device or created within ReefMaster.

New waypoints can be created by clicking in the graphical display area with the mouse in Drop Waypoint mode (circled). A waypoint is created at the position of the mouse pointer and the Edit Waypoint Window is shown where further waypoint details, such as name and precise coordinates, can be edited (see below).

The Edit Waypoint Window

Individual waypoints can be edited in the Edit Waypoint window, which can be opened by:

·Creating a new waypoint by clicking in the graphical area, with the mouse in Drop Waypoint mode.

·Double clicking on a waypoint in any graphical view, whilst the mouse is in select mode.

·Double clicking on a waypoint in the waypoint list in the Waypoint Edit Pane (see below).

·Using the right mouse button menu in either graphical or list views and selecting the option Edit Waypoint.

(1) Symbol

Select a waypoint symbol from the drop-down list (see below for more on waypoint symbols).

(2) Name

Waypoint name.

ReefMaster can accept any string as a waypoint name, but many GPS devices cannot. Be aware of the limitations of your target device when entering waypoint names. For example, Humminbird waypoint names are limited to 11 characters long and display some characters differently, or not at all (e.g. the underscore character). When exporting, waypoint names will be truncated to suit the target device.

(3) Latitude and Longitude

Latitude and longitude can be entered by hand using the latitude and longitude fields. The format is specified in the Global Settings. All coordinates in ReefMaster use WGS84.

(4) Waypoint Set

All waypoints belong to a waypoint set (see below). The waypoint can be moved to another set by selecting a set from the drop-down list box of available waypoint sets. Use the New button (5) to create a new waypoint set and move the waypoint into it. Note that you cannot copy a waypoint to another set from within the waypoint edit window.

(6) Time

The time the waypoint was taken, displayed in local or UTC time, depending on the Global Settings. This can be edited if required.

(7) Depth

The depth of the waypoint, as recorded by the originating device. This cannot be edited.

(8) Show/Hide Notes and Images

Show or hide the notes and images control (see below).

Waypoint Notes and Images

Any number of notes and images can be attached to waypoints using the Notes and Images panel, which can be expanded by clicking the Show/Hide Notes and Images button at the bottom left of the waypoint edit window. The notes and images panel contains separate tabs for notes and images, with buttons for adding, deleting and navigating through the notes or images shown underneath.

Notes

Notes are simply text, entered in a text editing window, with an associated time. There is no limit to the amount of text that can be entered for an individual note.

To add a new note, make sure that the notes tab is selected (1). Click the Add button (5) and type or paste the required text into the text editing window (2). The time of the note defaults to the current time, and can be edited if required (3). To delete the currently displayed note, use the delete button (4). Multiple notes can be navigated by using the arrow buttons next to the Add button.

Images

Images from disk can be attached to waypoints, so that they can be easily viewed within ReefMaster.

To add a new image, select the images tab and click the Add button (3). A file selector window is show, from where an image file can be selected. Files in formats JPG, PNG and BMP can be selected.

Images can be "popped out" of the edit window using the button (2). The image is enlarged and shown in the centre of the screen, and can be further zoomed with the mouse wheel. Click the screen anywhere outside of the image to close the pop-up.

Waypoint Symbols

ReefMaster has its own collection of waypoint symbols, most of which are related to the marine environment.

Symbols for Imported Waypoints

Many of the ReefMaster waypoints have near equivalents on most brands of GPS device. ReefMaster has internal mappings to the appropriate symbols for Humminbird and Lowrance devices, and is able to make "educated guesses" when importing waypoints from generic GPX files. This means that when importing a waypoint, ReefMaster tries to choose an appropriate symbol to match the symbol already assigned to the imported waypoint. If an appropriate symbol is not available, the default round pin symbol is used.

Preservation of Symbols on Export

When importing waypoints, the original waypoint symbol is saved internally, so that the same symbol can be used when exporting - regardless of the waypoint symbol that is shown in ReefMaster. This feature only works when exporting to the same file format as the original import format.

Waypoint Sets

·All waypoints belong to a Waypoint Set, which is simply a named collection of one or more waypoints.

·Individual waypoints belong to one and only one waypoint set, but a waypoint may be copied to multiple waypoint sets. Once a copy has been made of a waypoint, no link is maintained between the original waypoint and the copy; for example, changing the name of the copy will not affect the name of the original waypoint.

·Waypoint sets are single assets and as such can be exported individually or added to Data Sets.

·Any number of separate waypoint sets can be maintained in a single workspace, and viewed together in any edit window.

·The visibility of Individual waypoint sets in a particular edit window can be toggled using the Show/Hide Waypoints button in the waypoints toolbar.

Creating a New Waypoint Set

A new waypoint set can be created by using:

·The New Asset button in the Waypoint header of the Asset Library.

·The New button in the Waypoint Edit Pane (see below).

·The New Waypoint Set option when copying or moving waypoint(s).

·The New Asset option in the Global View screen-level context menu.

·The New Waypoint Set button in the Waypoint Edit Window (see above).

The New Waypoint Set window is shown, where a name and colour can be selected for the new set.

Moving and Copying Waypoints Between Waypoint Sets

Waypoints can be freely moved or copied between waypoint sets, either singly or in groups.When moving or copying a group of selected waypoints, the waypoints can originate from any number of different waypoint sets.

To move or copy one or more waypoints between sets:

·Use the context menu of singly or multiply selected waypoints in the graphical edit area (multiple waypoints can be selected using the region select tool).

·Use the context menu of one or more selected waypoints in the waypoint list in the Waypoint Edit Pane (see below).

·Individual waypoints can be moved to another waypoint set from within the Waypoint Edit Window.

Waypoints can be moved or copied to a new waypoint set by choosing the New Waypoint Set (circled) that is displayed above any existing sets.

The Waypoint Edit Pane

The Waypoint Edit Pane contains properties and edit options for waypoint sets, as well as a sortable list of waypoints. for each set.

The waypoint edit pane is part of the Global View, displayed by using the Waypoints button in the display area of the global view or by selecting a waypoint set for editing from the Asset Library, through double clicking or use of the context menu.

(1) Active Waypoint Set

Set the active waypoint set, for which the properties in and waypoint list are shown.

(2) New Waypoint Set

Create a new waypoint set.

(3) Name

The name of the waypoint collection. Waypoint set names are only used by ReefMaster so there are no length or character restrictions.

(4) Colour

The colour for the waypoint set can be selected from the drop-down list.

(5) Time Zone

The time zone of the waypoint set. All waypoints within a set are assigned to the same time zone. If waypoints within a set belong to different time zones, and viewing local times is required, the set should be split such that all waypoints in a set belong to a single time zone. The time zone property only affect the display of waypoint times, not how they are stored.

(6) Collection Properties

Read-only properties of the waypoint set including number of waypoints, geographic and time ranges. If the waypoint set was imported from a file, the name of the source file is also shown. Otherwise, the source file field is left blank.

(7) The Waypoint List

All waypoints in the selected waypoint set are shown in a sortable list.

·Each waypoint is shown as a separate item in the list with Symbol, Name, Latitude and Longitude, Time and Depth columns. Icons indicate whether images or notes have been attached to the waypoint.

·The list can be sorted on any column value by single clicking once on the column header. Clicking on the column header once more reverses the sort order.

·Waypoints can be singly or multiply selected in the list; to select multiple waypoints, use the left mouse button in conjunction with the Shift key. Toggle individual selected waypoints using the mouse left button in conjunction with the Control key.

·Standard waypoint actions as Edit, Delete, Write to File, Move or Copy to Set can be performed on selected waypoint(s) using the context menu, activated with the right mouse button. The additional option Show in Global View pans and zooms the global view to show the selected waypoint.

·If an image is attached to the waypoint, it can be previewed by holding the mouse pointer over the image icon. Single clicking the icon "pops out" the image to the centre of the screen, from where it can be further zoomed with the mouse wheel if required. The image can be closed by clicking in any part of the screen apart from the image.