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Automated Plotting of Transit Tracks

I have a Macro Express macro for plotting transit tracks using Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002.  One nice thing about that method is that it lets me choose the color of pushpins, as well as the orientation of the pushpin labels (upper right, lower left, etc.).  Click here for more information about this approach.

A convenient way to plot transit tracks is to use the free Emacs text editor to convert a transit report to a form that can be imported by a mapping program, such as Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002, or DeLorme Street Atlas USA, or Topo USA:

GNU Emacs FAQ For Windows
emacs-21.3-fullbin-i386.tar.gz

You can unpack a tar.gz file with WinZip.

Here are the Emacs essentials:

• Ctrl-x Ctrl-h gets you help
• you copy a selection by holding down the left mouse button and dragging from selection-begin to selection-end
• you paste by moving the mouse to the insertion location and clicking the middle mouse button (or you can use Ctrl-y)

Emacs has a .emacs configuration file.  With Windows, the default location is C:\.emacs  Using the simple configuration file below, one can convert the transit report format to a DeLorme import format using the F6 key, or to a Microsoft format using the F7 key:

(global-set-key [f6] 'delorme)
(global-set-key [f7] 'microsoft)
(fset 'delorme
   [?\C-y ?\C-x ?\C-x ?\C-  C-home ?\C-w C-home ?\C-\M-% ?^ ?. ?\\ ?{ ?1 ?5 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?7 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?. ?\\ ?{ ?1 ?9 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?8 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?  ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?9 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?. ?* return ?\\ ?2 ?, ?\\ ?3 ?, ?\\ ?1 return ?! right ?E ?N ?D return ?B ?E ?G ?I ?N ?  ?L ?I ?N ?E return up up ?\C-  C-home ?\M-w ?B ?E ?G ?I ?N ?  ?S ?Y ?M ?B ?O ?L return C-end ?\C-y ?\C-x ?\C-x ?\C-\M-% ?. ?\\ ?{ ?8 ?\\ ?} ?$ return return ?! right ?E ?N ?D return ?\C-x ?\C-w ?\C-  home ?\C-w ?c ?: ?\\ ?p ?l ?o ?t ?. ?t ?x ?t])
(fset 'microsoft
   [?\C-y ?\C-x ?\C-x ?\C-  C-home ?\C-w C-home ?\C-\M-% ?^ ?. ?\\ ?{ ?1 ?6 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?6 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?. ?\\ ?{ ?1 ?8 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?9 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?\\ ?( ?. ?\\ ?{ ?1 ?0 ?\\ ?} ?\\ ?) ?. ?* return ?\\ ?1 ?, ?\\ ?2 ?, ?\\ ?3 return ?! C-home ?  ?  ?N ?a ?m ?e ?, ?  ?L ?a ?t ?i ?t ?u ?d ?e ?, ?  ?L ?o ?n ?g ?i ?t ?u ?d ?e return C-end ?\C-x ?\C-w ?\C-  home ?\C-w ?c ?: ?\\ ?p ?l ?o ?t ?. ?t ?x ?t])
(custom-set-variables
  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom -- don't edit or cut/paste it!
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 '(auto-show-mode t)
 '(column-number-mode t))
(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom -- don't edit or cut/paste it!
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 )

(The highlighted stuff should already be in your .emacs file; just copy & paste in the non-highlighted portion.  Or, click here to download the file- be sure to save it as .emacs, rather than [1].emacs or something.)

For example, I select and copy several lines from my emailed transit report:

Now I start Emacs:

If I want, I can left-mouse-click at the cursor position, but that shouldn't actually be necessary.  Simply by pressing F6, the selection from my transit report is pasted into Emacs, then converted to DeLorme format:

With TopoUSA, for example, when you import a file, it's drawn using your existing drawing tool settings.  If I've selected a blue line color, and blue push pins, I get this:

Since I have a DeLorme GPS, I can simply throw my laptop in the car, and drive to a point on the transit line!

Alternatively, F7 converts to the Microsoft format:

Streets & Trips makes you click a few times when importing a file- and I had to use its drawing tools to "manually" draw in the transit line- but other than that, it's pretty simple and quick: