Author: Sandy Janas

GPS tracks that are attached to walk reports will have been recorded on the day of the walk, either by the walk leader or by another person on the walk. The GPX file may be downloaded for uploading into your GPS device or for importing into an app on your phone or tablet device, so that you can follow the route of the walk on another occasion. Please be aware that use of the GPX file is entirely at your own risk, and no liability can be accepted by the walk leader or the person who recorded the track, or by Linlithgow Ramblers, for any consequences arising from the use of the track.

Walk leaders: you may attach a GPX file to your walk report, in the same way as you attach a photo. This is entirely optional, if you have not tracked the walk on the day, or you do not wish to make the track available for download, then you may simply ignore this option. Please only attach a GPX file recorded on the day of the walk, not from an earlier recce or any other occasion. If you have given another person permission to send in a GPX file, please confirm this in the “notes” section of the walk report form.

Other walkers: if you have recorded a GPS track on a walk for which you were not the leader, you may send in the GPX file to walks@linlithgowramblers.org.uk but only if you have first obtained the permission of the walk leader for it to be attached to their report.

It is helpful to include the OS Grid Reference for the start point of your walk in your description, so that people can find it to drive there. The Offer of Walk form on this site has a place where you can enter it, and it will then appear in the walk entry on Walks Manager.

You can get a GR from a paper map in the traditional way (the scale along the edge of your compass is useful for this), but there is an easier way, using the streetmap.co.uk web site.

Visit that site in your browser, and in the search field where it says “Enter Postcode, Street, Place or Other”, type in the name of the nearest town, or another land feature such as a loch or mountain name – choose something which is likely to be named on the OS map, and click on “Go”.

You will most likely be presented with a list of possible locations, some common names may be found in more than one part of the country, so click on the most appropriate one. A map will open up showing the town or other location, with an orange arrow at the centre of the map. If the start point of your walk is not visible within the boundaries of the map, move the map around either by clicking and dragging, or by clicking on the arrows around the edges, until you can see it.

Now that your start point is visible, click on the button labelled “Move arrow” which you will find to the right of the map, and move the mouse pointer back onto the map (you will see it change to cross-hairs). With the cross-hairs over your start point, click the left mouse button.  The orange arrow will move to the spot, and the map will re-centre on it.

Now look below the map, you will see “Click here to convert coordinates” in small print. Click on the word “here”. A new tab (or window) will appear, with the title “Convert/Measure Coordinates”. The item you need is usually third line down, labelled “Nat Grid”. Copy the one with two letters followed by six digits, this is what is required for the Offer of Walk form.

Photos attached to walk reports are copyrighted by the photographer, but you may save copies for your own personal use.

To download a photo, right-click on the thumbnail at the foot of the report, and from the menu which pops up, select “Download Linked File” or “Download Linked File As…” in Safari, or “Save target as” in Windows 10 Edge, or “Save link as…” in Firefox. Other browsers may use slightly different terminology but the result will be the same.

The image will then be saved to your “Downloads” folder, or whatever other location you selected.

Please note that photos are stored on the server with a maximum dimension of 2048px. If you require higher resolution you will need to contact the photographer, who is always credited in the caption attached to the photo.

You must also contact the photographer if you wish to use the photo for any other purpose such as publishing elsewhere on the world wide web, or in printed material, and obtain permission for that use.

If you find that messages from the Linlithgow Ramblers’ mailing list are being routed to a “junk mail” or “spam” folder, there are steps you can take to ensure that they arrive in your INBOX. The procedure depends on which email service provider you use. Instructions for some of the most common providers are listed here.

btinternet

In your browser go to signin1.bt.com/login/emailloginform
Log in with your email address and password. From the Settings tab, select the “Safe senders” folder and click on the Add button

Add the email domain you want to mark as safe, i.e.: linlithgowramblers.org.uk
and click Save

By using just the email domain name rather than the full email address, you will ensure that all mail originating from Linlithgow Ramblers will arrive in your INBOX.

Yahoo Mail

Visit uk.yahoo.com and click on Mail (top right).

Sign in if necessary, then once in the Mail page, click on the gear wheel, top right, then from the drop-down menu select “More settings”. On the next page select Filters,  you should then see a list of filters (may be empty at the moment). Click on Add.

Give the filter a name (whatever  you like, but “Linlithgow Ramblers” is as good as anything) and then click on “from”  fill in:
linlithgowramblers.org.uk
as the filter value, select  “contains” from the filter criterion options, and click on the “Match case” box to select it. Below the options, where is says  “Choose a folder to move to” select Inbox from the drop-down list. Then click on Save to return to the Settings panel, click Save again and you are done.

Outlook/Hotmail

Visit https://outlook.live.com/ and sign in if necessary. Click on outlook.com to be taken to your INBOX, if you aren’t taken there directly.

Click on the gear wheel, top right, then from the drop-down menu select “Options”. On the panel which is displayed, under “Junk email” select “Safe senders”.

In the box  fill in:
linlithgowramblers.org.uk
and click on the + sign to the right.  Then be sure to click on the “Save” icon at the top. Return to the INBOX page by clicking on the arrow to the left of “Options” at the top of the page.

Gmail

Visit Gmail in your browser at mail.google.com and sign in if necessary. Click on the gear-wheel icon, top right. In the drop-down menu, click on Settings. You wil be taken to the General Settings page.

At the top, click on Filters and Blocked Addresses to go to a list of filters (which may be empty at the moment). Click on Create a new filter at the foot of the list.

In the From box, enter
linlithgowramblers.org.uk
then click on Create filter with this search.

On the next panel, select Never send it to Spam and then click on Create filter, and you are done.

Other email service providers have similar features, although the terminology may vary. If you have any difficulties, please contact the Mailing List Administrator via the Contact Us page.