Merging NN3D and Time Zero points & routes

[Ranger]

I tend to create marks in NN3D on the MFD-12 that represent fish catch or useful objects (float free channel markers, etc.). I prefer to plan routes and create the necessary waypoints for those in MaxSea Time Zero on a laptop. A couple hundred fishing marks can really clutter up a screen, and sometimes we don't want the navigation marks on screen, so we'd normally use the GROUP attribute to show/hide those points as needed. Not so easy to get the twain to meet, while maintaining a method to deal with screen clutter.

I can export NN3D marks, waypoints, and routes to an SD card in CSV format... and then I can import those into Time Zero, essentially merging the two data sets. The merged data set can be exported back to SD card and then imported into the MFD-12, which overwrites the previous MFD-12 set -- but also contains all the marks from the previous set anyway, along with waypoints and routes created on the laptop.

Assuming I manage the potential for duplication (not impossible), it works like a champ EXCEPT the NN3D-created marks all seem to lose their GROUP attribute while in Time Zero. Since Time Zero seems to lose the GROUP attribute for marks... a couple hundred fishing marks and the several various navigation marks in the merged file would have to be edited back into their respective "groups" on the MFD-12, one at a time, in order to show/hide the various groups as needed.

I found no GROUP attribute associated with marks in Time Zero, so no way to edit those on the laptop.

Right? Or am I missing something in Time Zero?

-Chris

 

[Anonymous]

You are correct. The group attribute capability is only available in the NN3D. It is a sorting/declutter type function that allows a user to hide/show a certain set of waypoints. The marks (points) in MaxSea TZ can be hidden on MaxSea by using the LISTS function, highlighting the waypoints to hide, right clicking and unchecking Visible. This doesn't help with the transfer of waypoints, but it does help declutter the MaxSea TZ display.

 

[Ranger]

Thanks.

Yes, I knew about hiding marks in TZ, although have only figured out how to do that one at a time... and with several hundred marks of a certain type, that's not particularly efficient.

I had also figured out how to bypass the issue, sorta kinda, by importing NN3D marks to TZ (which accomplishes the merge), exporting that newly-merged data set back to CSV format, then editing the Group attribute in the resulting name_wpt.csv file in Excel. That seems to transfer everything back to the MFD-12 OK, although the Group attributes all seem to become reset to Visible. Easy to un-visible a group after that.

But I kept thinking something available from within the TZ user interface would have been available to accomplish a decent merge. If nothing else, it helps that you've confirmed I wasn't just dealing with a blindness issue.

-Chris

 

[Anonymous]

The way to hide more than one mark at a time is by opening the Lists icon in the Ribbon (top of screen). The icon looks like a piece of an Excel spreadsheet. If it's not available, click on the configure ribbon button (gears) on the right side and add it. Once you have the lists open, click on the small gray box to the left of the mark you want to hide (this highlights the whole line), then while holding the Ctrl key on your keyboard click on the next small gray box to the left of the next mark you want to hide; both lines should stay highlighted; if you have a block of them in a row, the shift key can be used instead of the ctrl key to select everything from the first highlighted line to the last highlighted line. Keep doing that until you have your selections chosen, then right click and uncheck the Visible option in the pop-up window. This procedure is basically the same type of thing you would do in Excel if you were choosing multiple rows. It's a neat trick and will save you some time.

As far as the NN3 groups feature being added to MaxSea TZ for easy import/export functionality, I'd suggest posting a feature request under "new product suggestions". It can't hurt to ask for the feature.

 

[Ranger]

Thanks, that helps. Looks like the "small gray box" part was what I was missing. I knew about Lists, and multiple item highlighting... but every time I right-moused, all selected lines would become un-highlighted... so I couldn't get the hidden/visible toggle to work. Now that I've tried right-clicking in the right place (gray box vs. "hidden/visible toggle"), it works like a champ

I did just add a new product suggestion, focused on merging data onto each platform. Hopefully clear and understandable.

-Chris