The .csv File Format and Information

The .csv file contains your data. It may be manually created or generated by another program. If you are not familiar with .csv files, you can view a brief .csv primer.

For the purposes of using the convert_csv_yml.py program, the data represents coordinates or waypoints with one waypoint per line. Here is a sample of a typical coordinate file in .csv format with a header row.

Name,Latitude,Longitude,Depth
A,41 30,-75 30,3.0
B,41 22.1557,-75 5.2336,2.0
C,41 11.0544,-75 4.2312,1.0

Commas are not allowed within a value, because they are used as the separator between values.

In addition to the list of coordinates/waypoints, the program requires that the first line of the .csv file provide information about the mission, and the header row either needs to be removed or identified as a comment by using a "#" as the first character. Lines with the "#" symbol as the first character on the line are considered comments. You can also use the "#" to exclude specific coordinates from the conversion.

Here is the required mission information:

Name,Color,Color Propagate,Locked,Units Type,Degrees Format,Auto Increment Waypoint Names

The sequence of the mission data elements must be in the order listed above, and this order cannot be modified like it can be for waypoint data elements.

Here is an example of a working .csv file that the program can read and convert correctly (defaults must be set accordingly). This example conforms to the defaults as defined in the initial installation.

My Mission,#00FFFF,False,False,Feet,DDM,False
#Name,Latitude,Longitude,Depth
A,41 30.2,-75 30,3.0
B,41 22.1557,-75 5.2336,2.0
C,41 11.0544,-75 4.2312,1.0

Mission Information

Mission Name = My Mission
Mission Color = #00FFFF (Blue, Default colors can be selected using a color picker.)
Mission Color Propagate = False (Do not propagate mission color)
Mission Locked = False (The mission is not locked)
Units Type = Feet(the values are in feet)
Degrees Format = DDM (The degrees format is Degrees, Decimal Minutes)
Auto Increment = False (Do not add an auto incremented number to waypoint names)

Waypoint 1 Information

Waypoint Name = A
Waypoint Latitude = 41 degrees, 30.2 minutes (North)
Waypoint Longitude = -75 degrees, 30 minutes (The - indicates West)
Depth = 3.0 Feet

You may notice that this data does not include many of the .yml parameters. The program will insert the default values for any missing parameters. You can also omit entire columns as long as they are at the end of the rows.

For more information about data elements and their definitions, see the CFG File page.

A sample data set is included in the mission.csv file that is included as part of the installation. It uses a blank line as the first line - All mission data is defined by defaults and not the .csv file.