TopoFusion

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

Mapping

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

designed to plan and analyze

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

s using

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

s and GPS tracks.

History

The software was created in 2002 by two brothers who were outdoor

bikepacking The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

enthusiasts and felt software could help them plan better

s. They developed the first version of the software in 2002 and one included it as part of his doctorate dissertation on ''GPS Driven Trail Simulation and Network Production''. In 2004 the developers and one other jointly presented the paper ''Digital Trail Libraries'' which illustrated some of the

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of '' graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conn ...

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

s used by the software. the software remains supported with refined functionality and improved support for additional maps and GPS Devices.

Features

The software was designed to plan and analyze trails. When used for planning proposed routes may be planned and checked against different maps, and the result(s) downloaded to a

GPS tracking device A GPS tracking unit, geotracking unit, satellite tracking unit, or simply tracker is a navigation device normally on a vehicle, asset, person or animal that uses satellite navigation to determine its movement and determine its WGS84 UTM ge ...

. Topofusion is particularly noted for eased of switch and combining maps and for capability of simultaneously managing multiple trails. After a trail has been executed the resultant GPS log can be uploaded to TopoFusion and the actual route analyzed with the addition of any photographic images recorded on route. The product is marketed as a fully featured 'professional version and a more basic version with reduced functionality at lower cost. A fully featured trial version which is not time limited is available which restricts usability by

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

ing map display tiles by overlaying the word 'DEMO'. The software is available directly Microsoft Windows only, however TopoFusion has claimed users have reported success using

VMWare Fusion VMware Fusion is a software hypervisor developed by VMware for Mac computers. VMware Fusion allows Macs with Intel or the Apple M series of chips to run virtual machines with guest operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS, ...

and Parallels emulation on Mac OS.

Applications

TopoFusion has been found useful by those engaged in the sport of

geocaching Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific ...

. The software has been used in assisting analysis of GPS routes. A survey reported in 2004 of GPS tracking of motorists visiting the

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is an American national park located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park preserves about half of Mount Desert Island, part of the Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, an ...

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

, United States was assisted by use of Topofusion to review the scenes visited. It has also been used in studies of agriculture transportation logistics. TopoFusion can also assist in determining where photographs have been taken on a trail and can

geocoded photo A geotagged photograph is a photograph which is associated with a geographic position by geotagging. Usually this is done by assigning at least a latitude and longitude to the image, and optionally elevation, compass bearing and other fields may ...

the image or tag it onto a map. For this to be successful the digital camera's time must be synchronized with the GPS unit time, and both the GPS track and digital images made available to Topofusion. The time when the image was taken can then be matched to the time on the GPS log and this enables the image to be enhanced with geocode fields when

Real-time geotagging Real-time geotagging refers to the automatic technique of acquiring media (such as photos, audio or video), associating a specific location with the media, transferring the media to an online map and publishing the media in real time. It is thus a ...

was not available when the image was taken. TopoFusion can also optionally

annotate An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For ann ...

maps with images.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Topofusion Photo software Wireless locating Global Positioning System Plotting software