Basically, QuoVadis 6 has the same structure as version 4, so the basic philosophy of spreading the program in a database for centralized and efficient data organisation and one or multiple map windows for data visualisation is untouched. Thus QV4 upgraders will feel familiar and will not face problems with the new user interface. For them, the most noticeable change will be the plotting of maps in the new 2D-3D map window.

The professional database approach has - with no doubt - many advantages. But cross-graders or new QuoVadis users may need some time to get familiar with this approach. However you will experience that getting into this philosophy won´t take much time and you will get habituated to this database approach soon and then quickly discover the advantages of such an approach.

By all means, the new assistant based user interface will help you a lot: Beginners will be guided step-by-step through a given task while advanced users can specify the obligate settings and finalize directly using the “Finish” button. We hope that this userface is an approch which will fit a wide spectrum of user expectations.

In this chapter the most important functions of QV are introduced and quick start instructions are given.

You will find step-by-step instructions to the most important tasks such as importing and plotting of maps or creating waypoints, tracks or routes. Cross reference is given to chapters where you find detailed information.

Please also have a look at the video clips which will give an on-screen-demonstration of the basic functions. Choose ? > video from the main menu and select the topic of interest in order to watch the corresponding video clip.

After program installation, start QV by clicking the - icon from the start menu or by a double-click on the icon on your desktop.

After starting the program, the QV main window will appear and the globe will be zoomed from the universe.

A world map will be plotted over the surface of the earth and all stars will be visualized at their exact location above the earth. If you enable the function “open last map view on start”, QV will start lateron in a different way and plot the last layout instead of the initial globe.

Using our Topomap Germany, 1 : 25.000 scale, the QV main window may look like this:

The main window features all important elements required for operating QV:

• The main menu bar with the pull-down menus File, New, View, GPS, Options, Window and ? (= help).

* The Standard symbol bar with the most important functions like Open X-Plorer (or toggle between Xplorer and Map window), AutoMap mode, Serach for coordinates, Search for names (geographic database), Units, 3D-Options, Open geographic database, GPS Online mode (driving mode), Project manager, Street Routing, Roadbook editor and Settings.

* The View symbol bar with icons for controlling the look of the map window. This symobol bar starts with icons for the sacle such as Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom 100%, Zoom on selection, Zoom on entire map, Center zoom on cursor. Further to the right icons follow adressing the chronology of commands like Undo, Redo with command history and Set Reference Point (bookmark). Further to the right, various icons follow for selecting maps with other scales like Open map with larger scale, Open map with smaller scale, Open another map with the same sacle. Finally some icons with various functions such as Map overview, Map legend, Display map scale and Grid overlay.

* The New symbol bar with icons for creating New Waypoint, Save cursor as waypoint, New Route, New Track, New Drawing, Edit, Download from GPS, Import, Automatic map import from CD/DVD, Import new map.

• Please note that some icons may not be available if no suitable map is available or no suitable object has been selected. In case of the Roadbook Editor, the icon will only be available if you have purchased the corresponding plug-in or the Poweruser edition. The Street Routing icon will only be available if you have purchased a NAVTRQ Routing or NAVTEQ Navi option.

• At the bottom of the window the status bar which summarizes important information on the actual mouse and cursor position like the coordinates, the distance and bearing between mouse and cursor position, the magnetic offset or the name of the country. You will also find a Show in Map button there (center) and a button to switch between several crosshair designs.

• The actual window area is filled either with the map window, the overview window or the X-Plorer, depending on what you have opened. You will find a detailed description of all options in the chapter “Main Window”.

• You can open (or close) additional Toolbars in the View menu under Toolbars. Those toolbars are specialized for specific tasks and are described in the corresponding chapters below.

At the buttom of the map window, you will find the map status field which summarizes important information:

Left column

1. The position of the map cursor including altitude
2. The actual position of the mouse pointer including altitude

Central column

1. Name of the used map
2. Distance, course, altitude difference and corresponding slope in % between map cursor and mouse pointer

Right column:

1. World mode (2D or 3D)
2. Name of the used DEM (digital elevation model) and the actutual map datum

Remark: Please note that all coordinates are specified in the units according to the unit settings.

First of all: Before you can open and visualize a map, this map must have been imported to QV before!

You will find a wide spectrum of QVMAPs in our webshop, which come ready-to-use for QV and only require to run the corresponding setup utility on the disk. These maps are especially recommended for unexperienced users as they require minimum preparation before you can use them in QV. This applies to all maps which come in our QBR or QV5DB formats.

In QuoVadis 7 we have also implemented a couple of online maps which can be used right-away and do not require an import. These include: Open Street Maps® (OSM), Google Maps®, Yahoo Maps®  and Bing-Maps®. Most of these maps are available as street maps, satellite images and relief/terrain maps, some of them also as “hybrids”. However, a fast internet connection is obligate in order to use such maps!

There are also many other maps which are published by third-party suppliers which can also be used in QV. Those require different setup procedures and are usually imported to QV after they have been installed with the setup utility of the third-party supplier. Importing such maps to QV may require different import mechanisms to QV which are described in the maps chapter.

You can also use existing maps from older QV versions (see Import of existing data).

A last option is to scan and calibrate your own maps (see Calibrating your own maps). However, this option is only recommend for experienced users with basic knowlege in cartography.

To summarize: For getting started we suggest that you use one of the maps which require minimum effort to implemet them in QV.

Please also note that you require a map activation in order to be authorized to open maps which are subject of copyright protection!

When opening a map which requires a map activation, the following window will appear:

Please refer to the chapter Unlocking maps for a description on how to activate the map.

After a map has been imported to QV and is listed in one of the QV-Xplorer databases, you have several options to open a map:

• Mark the map in the QV-Xplorer and double-click. The open map assistent will open.
• Mark the map in the QV-Xplorer and click the Show in map icon. The open map assistent will open. If you push the Ctrl button before clicking the icon, the map will be opened in a new map window.
• You can also just drag and drop the map from the QV-Xplorer to an open map window. It will automatically be plotted in 2D or 3D depending on how you have configured your map window.

The open map assistent looks as follows:

In this window you can specify how the map should be visualized. You have the follwoing options:

World mode:

• Flat, 2D - Use this option if you want the map to be plotted in a conventional 2D view.
• Globe 3D - Use this option if you want the map to be plotted in real 3D. It will be projected on the digital elevation model (DEM)of the globe. For this it is obligate to have DEMs installed in your QV installation! Please note that the accuracy of this 3D modelling will strongly be affected by the resolution of the used DEM. The DEM resolution which comes with QuoVadis 6 is 30“ which corresponds to approx. 900 m grid length at the equator. Digital elevation models with a higher resolution are available at our webshop. All QV Topomaps come with a 3” DEM (approx. 90 m resolution). Extra high resolution DEMs are available for some areas with a 25 m resolution and excellent accuracy of elevation values (data source INTERMAP®).
• Last mode - If you choose this option QV will open the map in the same style which you have been using with the last map.

Initial view:

• Map center - QV will initially zoom to the center of the map
• Whole map - QV will zoom to the whole map extent
• Last view - If you choose this option QV will open the map in the same way which you have been using with the last map.

If you have more than one map window opened, you will also have the choice of one of the following options:

Open in which window?:

• In new map window - This is the only option if no map window has been opened before.
• In current map window - This option will add the map in ther currently active map window.
• Add as overlay to the current map window - In this case the map will be opened as an overlay to a map which has already been plotted in the active map window.

Important Remark:

• The setting of the AutoMap mode will influence the maps which are offered when pressing the  Show in map icon. If the AutoMap function is disabled and the icon has this appearance , you will only be able to open a map which you explecitely marked. In this case just enable the AutoMap mode by click the corresponding icon until it looks like this: . Then maps which are stored in other databases will also be offered in the selection of maps to be opened.

Here two examples on how the Top25 Germany topomap will look in a 2D and 3D mode (2D upper, 3D lower):

Top25 Germany - 2D view

Top25 Germany - 3D view (please note that due to the limited resolution of the DEM with a 90 raster the slopes along the eastern shoreline are not perfectly modelled):

In order to adjust the 3D characteristics of the 3D map window, you can use one of the following keys / key combinations and/or the mouse. Additionally the corresponding functions for the 2D window are listed:

Key / Mouse	Function in 2D window	Function in 3D window
	Pan the map to the left	Pan the map to the left (constant altitude)
	Pan the map to the right	Pan the map to the right (constant altitude)
	Pan the map downwards	Pan the map downwards (constant altitude)
	Pan the map upwards	Pan the map upwards (constant altitude)
Shift +	Turn the map contra-clockwise	Turn the camera contra-clockwise
Shift +	Turn the map clockwise	Turn the camera clockwise
Shift +	(not used)	Turn camera downwards
Shift +	(not used)	Turn camera upwards
Ctrl +	(not used)	Turn the map contra-clockwise (Cursor centerd)
Ctrl +	(not used)	Turn the map clockwise (Cursor centerd)
Ctrl +	(not used)	Increase camera distance from cursor (Zoom Out)
Ctrl +	(not used)	Decrease camera distance from cursor (Zoom In)
Page	Zoom In	Decrease camera elevation (Zoom In)
Page	Zoom Out	Icrease camera elevation (Zoom Out)
Mouse wheel	Without additional keys: Zoom In / Zoom Out (with focus on the mouse position) Shift + wheel: Accelerate / decelerate movement Ctrl + Wheel: Move towards cursor / move towards map center
Mouse movement	Drag with left mouse button pushed: Move map (any direction) Horizontal move with right button pushed: rotate map (relative to map center) Vertical move with right button pushed: camera tilt (NOT in 2D)

• Using the N key you can always orient the map towards North!

Some additional remarks:

Click at any spot of the map with the left mouse button in order to place the map cursor (purple circle) at this position. The coordinates of this point will be specified in the white field of the status bar below the map window. The grey field at the left shows the coordinates of the mouse indicator which are permanently updated as you move your mouse over the screen.

In the field right of the Show in Map button the distance and direction from the map cursor to the mouse position is continually updated.

Use the horizontal and vertical windows scroll bars in order to move the map within the window. You can also drag the map within the map window by click, hold and move with the left mouse button.

Click on the Center zoom on cursor to skip back to the cursor point from any map position.

Using one of the lens icons / / / / (describtion see above), you can zoom the map to any scale or map extent. You can also select from a pop-up menu with zoom factors at the status bar below the map window or enter a specific zoom factor.

You find a detailed description of all map window options in the  Map Window chapter.

There are a couple of different categories of geodata and it is important to note their specifics and differences. So, first of all, some short definitions.

Waypoints: A waypoint is a unique location on the globe which is defined by its coordinates (lattitude and liongitude or easting and northing) and its elevation. In case an elevation value is missing, it is supposed that the pont is located on the suface of the earth, so the elevation value is taken from the DEM or it is left empty. Waypoints are plotted in a map using a specific, user-derined symbol.

Routes: A route is a list of consecutive waypoints which are linked by a line. So each position along a line is represented by a route waypoint with its specific symbol. Usually a route is used in order to plan a trip which is lateron uploaded to a GPS unit. Generally route waypoints are placed at locations where navigation decisions have to be taken (crossings) or at other important locations (restaurants, fuel stations, lodges, etc.). Intersections between route waypoints are plotted as line-of-sight, so the line intersections do not show the exact course of the path but only the direction and distance to the next waypoint. A route will only represent the real way to go if they have been calculated with “routable maps” such as the NAVTEQ street maps with a “Routing” or “Navi” option.

Tracks: Tracks are nothing more than positions (also defined by coordinates) in a ranked and numbered order. Physically they are identically with waypoints but their labels and symbols are fixed. Usually tracks represent the exact course of a path or street. They can be downloaded as “tracklog” from a GPS unit where they have been recorded when driving/walking/hiking. However, they can also be created on the PC by simple mouseclicks and lateron be uploaded to a suitable GPS. This can be a helpful option with older GPS models, where tracks can contain more points than routes.

Geocaches: Geocaches are pretty much the same as simple waypoints but they include a couple of attributes which describe important characteristics of the “geocaches” such as size, difficulty, suitability for families, etc.

Trainings: A “training” is very similar to a tracklog recording from a GPS unit but additionally to the positions, pysiological parameters like heart rate or cadence are recorded along with the track. This implies that tranings cannot be generated in the PC software, they always come from a downloaded recorded of a suitable GPS unit.

QV4 users will find a new menu in the QuoVadis 7 main menu named “New”. This menu makes the creation of new geodata a lot easier! It also facilitates the access to functions which are required on a regular basis like downloading of geodata from a GPS or importing new maps.

Important remark:
Generally we recommend to use a 2D map window to create geodata because the positions can be defined more accurately. For controlling the positions in a multidimensional context, you can switch to the 3D map window after the geodata have been created.

The easisest option to create a waypoint is to save the actual cursor position as a waypoint. This function is directly available in the Drop-down list of the main menu New. You will also find the menu item New waypoint in the drop down menu.

An assistent will open to guide you through the steps of this function:

So this is how you proceed:

1. Open a map of your choice which is best suited for creating the waypoint.
2. Choose New > New waypoint; the New waypoint assistant will open (see fig. above left). In this window you can define a name for the waypoint (“new waypoint” is the defailt). You can also change the waypoint symbol by clicking the change button in the lower part of the window. Then continue with Next.
3. The second window of the assistant will open (see fig. above right). As default “Save in QV-Data\My Data\My Waypoints” is activated. Use this option in case you aggree with the file where QV will save the waypoint. If you want to choose another file, click “Select table from list” and specify in which database and waypoint table you want the waypoint to be created. Confirm your setting with Finish. Finally switch to the map window and create the new waypoint by a simple left click with your mouse at the position where the waypoint should be created. The coordinates will automatically be defined through the calibrated map. In case you have not had a map opened before, QV will ask you to open a map from a suggested list. The maps which are listed are defined by your Automap settings.

Some theory and practical aspects first:

As described above, a route is a list of waypoints, connected in a specific order and is usually used in order to plan a tour. When a route has been created on the PC and has been uploaded to a GPS-receiver, the GPS unit will compare its own position with the next waypoint of the planned route and will guide you to this destination. It is important to distinguish in this context whether we are talking about line-of-sight navigation or a navigation along routable maps. In case of tour planning off the public street network, most GPS units will use conventional line-of-sight navigation showing the direction and distance along the beeline usually with a compass as navigation aid. If you reach the first wapoint, the GPS-receiver will automatically skip to the next one of the route and so on.

However, some sophisticated GPS units will allow for autorouting capabilities in case topomaps with autorouting functionality are installed. The same holds true for navigation along the public street network. For most GPS units autoroutable street maps are available or already installed on the GPS units.

Whether you are using GPS units with routable maps or not, this will not have a big influence on route planning with QV. Just open a map which is best suited to provide you with the kind of details you need for planning your tour in the way you like. Then define the route waypoints (e.g. starting point, crossings, places for breaks, fuel stations, points for spending the night, etc.) and finally upload the route to your GPS unit.

However please note, that in case of autoroutable maps installed in your GPS unit, your GPS will guide you according its own intelligence from point to point (for example along the shortest or quickest path). So it is of high importance how you define your route waypoints (i.e. your “stop-over-points”).

If you want to “force” your GPS unit to calculate the route along the path you originally intended, we highly recommend to insert some extra stop-over-points on the intersections between your route waypoints. If you place route waypoints only at junction points, your GPS unit has the option to calculate the route through different paths. As soon as you define an additional stop-over point in the midlle of the intersection you really want to use, your GPS unit won't find an alternative to the way you really wanted to go!

No matter if you will follow your route conventionally or with dynamic autorouting: By an intelligent planning of a route on your PC at home, you can later on find the best way out in the real world by foot, using a vehicle, a boat or plane. Your GPS unit will exactly lead you to the waypoints which you defined on your map with the PC.

This is how you proceed:

1. Open a map of your choice which is the best suited for planing your tour.
2. Choose New > New route; the New route assistant will open (see fig. below left). In this window you can define a name for the route (“new route”). You can also change the route style by clicking the Change button in the lower part of the window. Then continue with Next.
3. The second window of the assistant will open (see fig. below right). As default “Save in QV-Data\My Data\My Routes” is activated. Use this option in case you aggree with the storage location where QV will create the route. If you want to choose another storage location click “Select table from list” and specify in which database and route table you want the route to be created. Confirm your setting with Finish. Finally switch to the map window and create the new route point by point by simple left clicks with your mouse at the positions where the route waypoint (“stop-over points”) should be created. The route waypoints will be numbered from RWP1 to RWPn. The coordinates will automatically be defined through the calibrated map. In case you have not had a map opened before, QV will ask you to open a map from a suggested list. The maps which are listed are defined by your Automap settings.

QV will automatically switch to the Edit mode when creating geodata. This is indicated by the Edit Toolbox which will be docked to the top of the map status field:

For further advice please refer to the chapter Creating and Editing Geodata.

When your new route is finished your map window will look similar to this:

3.5 Uploading a route into your GPS unit

Connect your GPS with the serial or USB cable with your PC and switch it on. You have to configure the interface to your GPS unit once in order to enable data communication. Most GPS units will be identified automatically when clicking the Send to GPS or Receive from GPS icons. For further advice please refer to the chapter Connecting your GPS to a PC.

This is how you proceed:

1. Open the QV-Xplorer by clicking on the icon.
2. Mark the route(s) which you want to upload (see below).
3. Click on the Send to GPS icon. The GPS Upload assistant will open.
4. In the first window (below right) QV will list the detected GPS unit(s) and the corresponding ports. If more than one GPS unit is connected, you can choose from various brands or ports, or trigger an automatic scan through the Find GPS button. Simply tickmark one of the listed models.
5. Continue with Next or directly start the export by clicking Finish.

- If you continue with Next windows 2 and 3 of the assistent will open. Currently window 2 (below left) only allows to activate an additional option. In window 3 you can specify if the GPS unit should be switched off after the upload has been finished.

- The Upload process will be visualized by a progress bar (see description below under track download). When the data upload is finished, window 4 of the assistent will be updated and show a summarizing message about the uploaded data.

As described above, a track is also a set of points in a specific order. However, in contrast to a route, the trackpoints are not named but only consist of geographic coordinates. Most GPS-units feature an automatic logging of trackpoints. Please note that some GPS units will store additional information on time/date or altitude. If available, these data will also be downloaded to QV and can be analyzed. These tracklogs can lateron be downloaded and stored in QV. Thus, you can document on any suitable map where you have been and also when.

You can also express it in another way: The route is the theory of where you wanted to go and the track is the reality about where you have really been.

Please note that some GPS units will store additional information on time/date or altitude. If available, these data will also be downloaded to QV and can be analyzed.

This is how you proceed:

You have two options to download data from your GPS unit:

a) You click on the Receive from GPS icon in the X-Plorer.

b) You select New > Receive from GPS

In both cases, the GPS Download assistent will open (see below) and guide you through the required steps and settings:

In the first window (above left) QV will list the detected GPS units and the corresponding ports. If more than one GPS unit is connected, you can choose from various brands or ports, or trigger an automatic scan through the Find GPS button.  You can also simply tickmark one of the listed models and click Next.

In the second window of the assistant (above right) you can select which kind of data you are interested in. Choose at least one category, however you can also tickmark all categories which are active.

In the third assistant window (above left) you can choose the destination where the data will be stored. In cases where several data categories are imported, QV will usually suggest to import all data to a new database. The default name will be derived from the date, e.g. New Database_YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY represents the year, MM the month and DD the day of the month. Continue with Next.

Finally you can choose in the fourth assistant window (above right) what you want to see after the data import has finished. The options are Show data in map and/or Show data in X-Plorer. Then click Finish.

All selected data will then be imported and you will see a progress bar (see below left). Please also note that, according to the amount of data stored in the GPS unit, this might take quite a while. When the data import is finished, you will also get a summarizing message (see below right):

After the download is completed, the corresponding tracktable will look similar to this example:

You can also double-click a tracklog of your choice to see all individual trackpoints listed:

To visualize a track just mark the track(s) of interest with a left mouse click in the track table listing (to mark multiple tracks use Ctrl + mouse-click) and then click the Show in map icon .

The Show in map assistant will open (see below):

In the first window of this assistant (above left) a selection of suitable maps is listed. Please not that the selection of maps is influenced by your Automap setting (see below).

Just choose the map of your choice, define if you want the map to be centered and zoomed on the track (with the options to center on the first point or the entire track) and then click Next.

In the second woindow of the assistant (above right) you can define in which style the map should be plotted. The options are Flat, 2D or Globe, 3D. You can also choose Last mode. The function Activate map window is enabled by default and will automatically switch to the map window. Confirm with Finish in order to see the track(s) plotted on the selected map.

If a suitable map is already open, you can also just drag-and-drop the track(s) into the map window. If you double-click on a tracklog of your choice, all individual trackpoints are listed. Thus you can also show single trackpoints.

The visualisation of other geodata works in the same way. For further details please refer to the chapter Displaying geodata.

The Automap function is a highly efficient tool to keep the perfect overview in cases where may different maps of various sources are installed in QV. You will find it in the first window of the Show in map assistant or by clicking the corresponding icon in the Standard toolbar :

Using the AutoMap setting you can define which maps will be listed for visualizing geodata. The following settings are available:

• AutoMap off: Use only the map which is open.
• Just current Map Table: Only the maps of the currently marked map table are listed.
• Just Tables of the current database: Only the maps of map tables in the currently marked database are listed.
• All marked Map Tables: Only the maps of currently marked map tables are listed.
• All Map Tables: All available maps are listed without regard if they are presently marked or available.
• Only existing maps: In this case only maps are listed which are currently available (for example maps which are stored in currently unavailable external drives or an unavailable LAN will not be listed)

As described above all you have to do to visualize a track is to mark it and click the Show in map icon or to drag-and-drop it from the X-Plorer into an open map window. Following you find an example showing a part of the Ligurian borderline street in a MairDuMont general map (1 : 200.000 scale):

There are several options to modify the visualisation sytle of a track. Right-click on the track and choose Style or mark the track in the X-Plorer and click the icon.

A Track Style Window will open with seperate tabs for modifying various characteristics:

Through the General tab (above left) you can specify if a track should only be visualized in a certain scale range. Clicking the Current Scale button, you can copy the scale corresponding to the actual zoom setting into the input field. You can also enable or disable a Preview in map option on this tab. Finally you can reactivate factory default settings through the Defaults button.

Through the Label tab (above right) you can specify several parameters which influence the style of the track labelling like font, size and color, text background color and placing and alignment of the text. You can also select which kind of information should be plotted as track label. These are the options: Name, Coordinates, Date, Description, Altitude, Distance/Course, Track summary and Info. Additionally a label line to the first track line can be displayed.

On the Symbol Trackpoint tab (above left) you can specify if trackpoints should be plotted and, if so, in which which symbol, color and size. You can also specify how a symbol should be projected in the 3D mode and if you want to apply a rotation or tranlation to the symbols.

On the Linestyle tab (above right)you specify the line type, line strengths, color and size of the trackline (for the line strength the outline and filling will be seprate). You can also deactivate that tracklines are being plotted.

Select normal on the Trackcolors tab if you want the trackline to be plotted in the color which you specified in the Linestyle tab.

If you want the trackline to be colored according to Speed, Altitude, Acceleration, Vertical Speed, Slope or Age of the trackpoint, tickmark the corresponding option.

You can also choose an alternating or user-specified colour coding. The color spectrum which you want to use is defined by the two sliders below the color range bar. In the fields above the color bar, please enter the Minimum and Maximum values you want to use. If you enable the Auto function, QV will automatically define adequate settings for the Min. and Max. values. If you want smooth color gradients, just enable the corresponding function.

The last tab of the Track Style Window summarizes options related to Altitude in the 3D mode and to Links which can be attributed to the track.

Concerning altitude, you can assign the track to sealevel (Down to zero), stick it to the ground surface (Clamp to ground) or plot the track according to the measured altitude value of the GPS unit (Absolute).

Under Height, Links in map, you can link symbols or photos to trackpoints and define a size and an offset for their placement relative to the corresponding trackpoint.

QV features an animated track-replay function which allows for a replay of the track directly on the map in real time or fast motion.

• Click with the right mouse button on the track name and choose Simulation… from the pop-up menu:
  
• The track-replay window will open which consists of a tachometer, a watch, an altimeter and a couple of buttons to control  the replay: start, fast-forward, pause and stop and record.
• Click start and watch the arrow follow the track on the map.
• With the speed indicator bar you can control the speed of the replay function, ranging from real time (left) to 1000 x fast motion (right).
• To stop the replay just close the track-replay window.

With the X-Plorer, QV comes with a very powerful tool for organizing your geodata efficiently, simple and safe.

Allthough you already learned in this chapter how to import, store, plot, print and replay a track at any time, we would like to focus here on how to organize your valuable geodata optimally.

If you take a little care on this, you will soon discover that using your geodata will be much more comfortable and time for searching is signifficantly minimized.

The X-Plorer provides all options for organizing your data in an optimal way:

• You can create as many databases as you like. These databases contain several tables in which elements of a given geodata type are stored (i.e. waypoints, tracks, routes, etc.). Thus, databases are hirarchically structured and represent the data category which is also physically stored on your harddisk in a certain directory.
• In any database you can create as many map, waypoint, track, route, geocaching, training and drawing tables as you like.
• Additionally you can create project tables which include all corresponding maps and geodata of a given project including the layout, and search tables for storing search requests in order to repeat a given set of search criteria at any time.

The queation on how to organize your data in an optimal way is mainly the question on how to organize your geodata according to a systematic order. Such a systematics can be based on geographic categories, certain events or chronology. It can also make sense to organize your maps according to geograpic criteria, e.g. Africa, America, Asia, Europe or Scandinavia, Central Europe, Iberian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, Balkans, etc. or organize your geodata according to events, e.g. Bavarian Alps 2006, Slovenia/Croatia 2007, Lybia 2008, Great Britain 2009, Transsyberia 2008, Black Forest Ultra 2010, etc.

You find an example of such a database below:

In order to reorganize your data, open the X-Plorer by clicking on the icon in your symbol bar of the main window.

Then right-click mouse button on the QV Data directory and choose New Database from the pop-up menu:

QV will create a new database with the default name New Database which will be listed in the X-Plorer tree window at the adequate place. You can also directly rename the new database. Push the Enter button of the keyboard in order to confirm the name:

If you click on the small [+] icon beside the name of the database, the content will be listed. You will  recognize that empty tables for all geodata categories have been inserted automatically, e.g. a map table, a waypoint table, a track table, a route table.

If a  database is intended to store only geodata of certain categories, just delete the tables which you do not need. For this purpose simply right-click on the corresponding table(s) and choose Delete from the pop-up menu. Confirm the following security check with Yes.

If you would like to rename any of the created tables, right-click on the table and choose Rename from the pop-up menu. Specify the new name and confirm with O.K.

If you need more than one table of a given category in the same database, right-click on the database and choose New Track Table in case you want to create an addition table for tracks.

Important Remark:

Please note that you MUST always use tables of the adequate categories in order to import, create or save your geodata, i.e. waypoints only in a waypoint table, tracks only in atrack table, routes only in a route table, etc.!

When reorganizing your data you will wish to move tracks or even whole tables from one database to another. You can achieve this very simply by a drag-and drop operation where you just drag for example a given track from one track table to another. Or you do the same thing with a complete track table which you can drag from one database and just drop it at another database of your choice.

You can also right-click on the element that should be moved and select Cut from the pop-up menu. Then move to the target database and table where the elemet should be inserted, right-click on it and choose Insert from the pop-up menu. This functions also on different categories, for example with several waypoints, routes and so on or with complete waypoint-, track- and route-tables etc. An example is given below:

Generally we recommend that you directly import / download your data to an adequately named database and table.

But with the functionality the X-Plorer database provides you can also optimize your data lateron.

Any map window can be plotted together with all waypoints, routes and tracks, etc.

Just follow these steps:

• Plot all desired waypoints, routes and tracks, etc. in a map of your choice by marking them and clicking on the Show in map icon.
• Choose, if you want the map to be visualized in a 2D or 3D mode.
• Adjust the map to the desired scale and extent. In case of a 3D map representation also adjust the camera perspective (see above).
• Choose Print… from the pull-down menu of the main window.
• The Print Map window will open.
• Choose the Page Preview function and another window will open which will show how the print-out will look like with the current printer settings. You have several options to modify the printing result which are all automatically updated in the preview window in order to allow for a direct control of the selected changes.
• After everything has been adjusted just click Print and the map will be printed.

You find a detailed description of all printing options i

The Getting Started chapter has introduced the most important functions of QV.

You have imported, opened, visualized and printed maps. You also learned how to create a route and upload it to your GPS unit and how to download tracks from your GPS. You learned how to organize your data in databases with the X-Plorer.

In the following chapters all functions are described in detail. However, in order to limit the volume of this manual, we have to focus the content to the main issues.

You will see that many functions follow the same general principles, so the basics are repeated for several times. For instance, it doesn't make a difference if you download waypoints or tracks from your GPS unit. You just choose a waypoint or track table as the adequate QV destination. The basic function Download from GPS  keeps the same.

The same holds true for the functions New Routes, New Waypoints, New Tracks etc. to create new objects on a map. This is always done through the New menu. However, what you are going to create and where you are going to store it, is simply defined by the destination you define in the corresponding assistent or by the table you choose in the QV X-Plorer.

In general you will find out that there are often several ways to execute a specific task.

Be advised to check the right mouse button frequently: many functions can be accessed from a pop-up menu after clicking the right mouse button.