Every community needs a retirement home.  deprecated/ is ours.

This is where formats get moved once they become unused or are little used
and problematic to refit into newer infrastructure.  Formats are moved here
so they remain examples for future developers or so that they can be revived
by interested parties and updated in the future.  As I am writing this, the
formats being deleted are each under .02% (yes, the decimal is in the correct
place) of our expected users.

This allows us to modernize our core systems without getting bogged down
in reimplementing formats that nobody[1] has used in years.  It also allows
us to more easily bring back formats if we were wrong on how popular something
was.

Epitaths

* cetus, copilot, coto, gcdb, geoniche, gpilots, gpspilot, mag_pdb, magnav,
  mapopolis, palmdoc, pathaway, pdbfile, quovadis: Palm/OS has been in decline
  for years.  We've seen no list traffic about these in years.  Many of them
  have particularly grubby internal implementations.  None of these programs
  have been updated since the demise of Palm/OS.
* hsa_ndv: Zero list traffic from anyone other than original author,
  who has quit responding to email, contributed it ten years ago.
  Use of "raw" expat (which we're removing), strange structure, poor test
  suite coverage.  Company that created HSA is gone.
* coastexp: Extremely little use (three posts since submitted ten years ago,
  zero in the last five years)   Uses expat.  Probably easier to revive than
  hsa_ndv if there's interest.
* msroute: Long a problematic format when it was added in 2005.  It read
  Microsoft AutoRoute 2002 files.  It somewhat worked until about 2007 but
  pretty much every annual Microsoft update broke it.  As AutoRoute and
  Streets & Trips has added GPX, this format has outlived its usefulness.
* psp: If desktop Microsoft S&T from 2002 was dead (see msroute)
  PocketStreets 2002 Pushpin is even more dead.  Not used or made in years.
* axim_gpb: Dell Axim Navigation (their iPaq-wannabe) hasn't been used or
  made in years.  Usage stats are near zero.

R.I.P.

-- Robert Lipe

[1] That's in the purely mathematical sense, not a personal one.  We have
 millions of users...

Translating NAV Companion waypoints to another format is as easy
as with any other format.  Just find the Companion_Waypoints database
in your palm backup directory and use it as the input file.

When translating waypoints back to NAV Companion, though, you need
to jump through some hoops:

First, you must merge any waypoints that already exist in the database
in your Palm Backup directory with the ones you are adding; failure to
do so will result in only the new points being available in NAV Companion,
even if you give the new database a different name (it will overwrite
the old database, even in your backup directory.  That's a feature of
PalmOS, not of NAV Companion.)

To merge the databases, use a command line like the following:

gpsbabel -i magnav -f Companion_Waypoints.PDB -i geo -f geocaching.loc -o magnav -F merged.pdb

Second, you must use the installer to install your new PDB file.  Don't
make the mistake of copying it over the existing Companion_Waypoints.PDB
file; the one on the handheld will overwrite it rather than merging with
it.

Finally, because NAV Companion is not designed to work with desktop
applications, you must tell NAV Companion that its waypoints database
has changed out from under it.  One way to do this is to go to the
waypoints screen and attempt to scroll; that will force it to reread
the database and fix the record pointers that it keeps on the heap.

MS Pocketstreets 2002/2003 Pushpins (.PSP) Q & A
------------------------------------------------

Q: Why should I use gpsbabel/psp to make pushpins when Streets & Trips (S&T)
   already does that for me?

A: gpsbabel/psp has the advantage of being able to create pushpins WITHOUT
   creating the associated map file and the need to "import" the waypoint
   data into S&T.  Through a series of scripts, you can create a dozen
   or so PSP files in a few seconds as opposed to a few weeks using the
   S&T interface.  The maps are not going to change between sessions,
   only the pins will.  Why waste all that time creating maps when all you
   really want are updated pins? As an aside, gpsbabel/psp creates points
   WITH THE PROPER coordinates where S&T does not in some areas of the U.S.
   (Nashville, TN for instance).


Q: I keep getting a blank (32 byte) PSP file?

A: There are either no points to write, or you have botched the command
   line for gpsbabel.  gpsbabel is sensitive to UPPER and lower case
   on the command line.  A simple command line to create PSP files
   looks like this:

   gpsbabel -i geo -f geocaching.loc -o psp -F NewOrleans.psp

   Note the use of "-f" for INPUT files and "-F" for OUTPUT files.


Q: I've created a PSP file, now what do I do with it?

A: To use pushpins in Pocketstreets, you need to have both a map and a
   pushpin file.  These two files must exist in the same folder and have
   exactly the same base name as the map.  For example, the pins that
   correspond to the map "NewOrleans.mps" should be named "NewOrleans.psp".


Q: I don't have a map?  What do I do now?

A: Create one using the "Export map to Pocketstreets" option in S&T.  You
   can also pick up some major city maps on the web from the MS Pocketstreets
   website if you are interested in seeing how it works.


Q: I have .EST files, not .PSP files.  What's up with that?

A: In order to make PSP files, you need to use the "Export map to
   Pocketstreets" function in S&T.  .EST files are for use in S&T, not
   Pocketstreets.


Q: The .PSP files differ when I use gpsbabel/psp versus Pocketstreets to
   create them.  What's up?

A: Pocketstreets makes corrections to the S&T waypoint data upon initial
   loading. gpsbabel/psp writes PSP files with these corrections already made.
   Ask MS.


Q: Does gpsbabel/psp work with (Autoroute, Mappoint, etc..) .PSP files?

A: As of this writing, I haven't seen any so I can't be sure.  If they
   follow the same layout as S&T 2002, I'd imagine so.


Q: Does gpsbabel/psp work with (S&T 2001, S&T 2002, etc...) files?

A: MS the file layout between S&T 2001 and S&T 2002.  The gpsbabel psp
   module is known to work fine with S&T 2002 and 2003.


Q: Does gpsbabel/psp work with (insert your country/location here) maps?

A: If it doesn't, feel free to email the PSP files to me at:
   geo_alexm at cox-internet.com.  I only had USA based data to work
   with while figuring out the file layout.  Please include as much
   information about the points as possible (lat/long, name, etc..)
   and do it in English.  I don't read or speak any other languages
   fluently.


Q: What do you mean S&T writes points with the wrong coordinates?

A: At some point in the "Export map to Pocketstreets" function in S&T,
   it goofs the lat/long data.  Points in Nashville tended to shift
   1.4 miles WEST of their original location.  I'm not a geometry buff,
   but I'd imagine they have a reference point for generating coordinates
   that's wrong in (at least) that area.


Q: I have 800 waypoints that cover a dozen or so Pocketstreets maps.
   Do I need to to split my points up into smaller chunks to match the
   area covered by the maps?

A: No.  Pocketstreets will "ignore" points that are outside of the map
   area.  Points that are not on the current map will be "grayed out"
   in pushpin explorer in Pocketsreets.  This is the reason the PSP
   module was written for gpsbabel in the first place.


Q: Where can I find documentation for the layout of PSP files?

A: Just about everything I know about the PSP file format is documented
   in the source.  To the best of my knowledge, there is no documentation
   (and for good reason, I've come to discover).


Q: I have some other problem, what do I do?

A: Email me at geo_alexm at cox-internet.com and I'll see if I can
   work it out.