Track/Trail Conversion Programs

[YukonBob]

Your GPS outputs a file that nobody else can understandhttp://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/cry.gif You want to share your GPS file with others but they don't own your brand of GPShttp://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/cry.gif The question is how do we all communicate information from different types of systems. The answer isn't easy because there are so many different formats out there.


It seems like a lot of people have Garmin GPS receivers and the record of their journey is output as an mps file. They have posted them on websites and I haven't been able to use them because I don't have a Garmin GPS. The first was Jack with his trip to Lake Tahoe. His track file was unusable to me. He couldn't convert it to a file I could use and I couldn't find a program to convert it to a file a could use. We were stuck in Babel.


Now, I have found a program that makes the conversion along with a lot of others. It is GarTrax (http://www.p-terminator.nl/geocaching/gartrax.php?language=english). I was able to convert Scott's trip to El Golfo in mps format to an OziExplorer plt file. It was a perfect overlay on maps of my previous trips. Looks like it works really well. And you can convert from Ozi back to mps.


Let's talk about conversion programs and what programs we use to record our journeys. http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/idea.gif

[BajaTaco]

Looks like it doesn't support Magellan MapSend, and I don't have Ozi, so...


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[alanh]

Here is another program that can convert a number of formats. I've never tried it, and haven't really looked at the documentation either, but you might take a look to see if it will do what you want.

http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/index.html

Alan

Alan

[YukonBob]

Baja


It appears the mapsend is a proprietary Magellan map format and not a plot/track or trail. If you were to download a track from your GPS, what would the the file extension be?



Post Edited (YukonBob) : 11/25/2003 6:59:55 AM GMT

[JackSilb]

Standards. How may manufacturers of consumable GPS do we have anyway. Can't understand why they don't adopt early standards. It is always like this on new tech ...

How about the made in Japan GPS staff, when are they coming in a store near you? We need more competition in this area. Can you imagine Sony and Panasonic getting to the GPS world?

-JACK


So much to see, so little time. Try using your 4WD tosee and do more.
Tread Lightly! empowers generations to enjoy the outdoors responsibly...
http://www.4wdtrips.net

[BajaTaco]

YukonBob said...

Baja


If you were to download a track from your GPS, what would the the file extension be?

It would be .trk


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[WhiteThaiGer]

BajaTaco said...



YukonBob said...

Baja


If you were to download a track from your GPS, what would the the file extension be?

It would be .trk
</div>this is supposed to do it: http://www.gpsu.co.uk/index.html, the eval version only handles 500 pts.

I don't know if this can do it, almost sounds like it: http://www.kolumbus.fi/eino.uikkanen/geoconvgb/index.htm


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[YukonBob]

Baja

There is a program called G7toWin. It's a program to download tracks from GPS to a computer. I see it covers Magellan. It has the added benefit of being able to write (and read) Ozi .plt tracks. The program is free and small.

Why don't you download the program (http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/)and download your hiking track from the GPS. Save it as an Ozi .plt file and post it on the forum. Let's see what it looks like? Maybe soon your hike will be on one of those spiffy sat. images.

Post Edited (YukonBob) : 12/2/2003 8:51:49 PM GMT

[BajaTaco]

YukonBob said...
Baja

There is a program called G7toWin...Yea, I had seen that one before. I used your link and downloaded it, but I can't get it to work. If I try and open a .trk file from my computer, the program crashes. If I try and load from the GPS, it cannot connect (port connection fail). I checked my port connection settings for my GPS software, and it is using COM1 with 9600 baud. So, I set G7toWin for that, but it still doesn't work. Any ideas?

BTW, I checked for that DLL file that the programmer says I will need, and I have a bunch of copies of it on my computer (WinXP Pro).


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[YukonBob]

That's not good. Crashes computerhttp://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/chairfall.gif Don't try that anymore.

The configuration screen is pretty straight forward. Let me first ask the obvious and you have selected Magellan as the GPS. I thought so.http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/headscratch.gif


The only other thing I can suggest is to change your upload/download speed in both your GPS and the program to 4800. Sometimes different versions will work at different speeds. If that doesn't work try a couple of other speedsand see if they connect. The key is they both have to be the same.


If not, I'll see if I can find you a different program. What kind of outputs does you GPS software have? What is the GPS software?

[WhiteThaiGer]

Baja, I just tried the G7toWin with my SporTrack Map and it worked after I selected Magellan and 9600 bps in the config dialog. The program seems to have problems with higher speeds, it claims it's Magellans fault, but I use 115200bps when uploading to the Palm... As Bob says, the baud setting must be the same on the GPS and in the program.</div>
The .trk format they have is something different from Magellan, it crashes the program here too.</div>
If nothing else works send me the track and I'll upload it to my GPS and then pull it down into Ozi or G7ToWin. Only limitation is that my GPS can only handle 2000pts.</div>
Bob, With Mapsend (Magellans interface software) we can only export to .xls. Now from there we could save as text, probably could write a macro to write a file that Ozi or one of the conversion program can read. Or just write our own little conversion program, shouldn't take much.</div>



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[BajaTaco]

Yea, I had it configured for Magellan.

I'll have to play around with it some more. If Uwe can get it to work, I'll bet I can. I was kind of disappointed to see that there is no option of loading a track file from my hard drive, that it has to come from the GPS. Don't most people store tracks on their hard drive? Maybe Uwe can tinker with the program to allow it to open a file on the hard drive - that would be mch easier than messing with the serial port. (Remember, my GPS has a removeable memory card, so I usually use a card reader instead of a serial port connection).


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[WhiteThaiGer]

BajaTaco said...

...If Uwe can get it to work, I'll bet I can....What does that mean??? http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/headscratch.gif http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/joker1.gif



BajaTaco said...
...I was kind of disappointed to see that there is no option of loading a track file from my hard drive, that it has to come from the GPS. Don't most people store tracks on their hard drive? Maybe Uwe can tinker with the program to allow it to open a file on the hard drive - that would be mch easier than messing with the serial port. (Remember, my GPS has a removeable memory card, so I usually use a card reader instead of a serial port connection).
The problem is that these conversion programs are usually written by people who don't have access tot the propriatary file formats. From looking at some of these conversion utilities it looks like no one has taken the time to decipher the Magellan .trk files.Unless they are somehow encoded/encrypted it should be possible to figure out the structure, would take some patience...
G7ToWin can read a number of formats from the hard drive. I have used it to convert TopoUSA tracks to Ozi.

G7ToWin is not open source, so it won't be possible to tinker with the program http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/cry.gif

Why are the GPS makers creating such trouble? Is it really getting people to stick to their brand? Isn't it dangerous with Garmin so large that we all dump out Magellans and get Garmins out of frustration?


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[BajaTaco]

WhiteThaiGer said...



BajaTaco said...

...If Uwe can get it to work, I'll bet I can....What does that mean??? http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/headscratch.gif http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/joker1.gif
I just meant that since you have a magellan, and you made it work - it should work with my magellan http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/biggrin.gif




WhiteThaiGer said...

[quote]
Why are the GPS makers creating such trouble? Is it really getting people to stick to their brand? Isn't it dangerous with Garmin so large that we all dump out Magellans and get Garmins out of frustration?
</div>Didn't you know? Bill Gates ownsGarmin http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/freaked.gif


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[YukonBob]

Your mission is to find a conversion program for Magellan. That's kind of what started this is that I couldn't find one. Ithought a temporary solution might be for you to download it. I just wanted to see your hike. But your right that's a pain.</div>



Uwe pointed you to some links for a couple of programs. Do you have any luck with those?</div>

[BajaTaco]

YukonBob said...

...I just wanted to see your hike. But your right that's a pain.

Uwe pointed you to some links for a couple of programs. Do you have any luck with those?
By the way, which hike? The one I did with Jack at Lake Tahoe?

I haven't had time to check those other programs. I need to see what's up with USAPhotomaps - last time I opened up the program, it wasn't finding the maps - maybe the terraserver files have been moved somewhere else on the 'net? Anyway, that program might work too. I'll check it out.


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[YukonBob]

The hike in KOFA.http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/ok-kewl.gif

[WhiteThaiGer]

Okay, here is another one, it's not the most direct method, but the best we found so far, I guess.</div>
This one is an Excel spreadsheet with macros: http://www.geocities.com/zaccarja/trackextract28.zip</div>
It's from this site: http://www.geocities.com/zaccarja/trackextractpage.html</div>
I loaded a .trk file and exported it to .gpl, from there I should be able to get it top .plt. I'll try later....</div>






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[alanh]

If this isn't too late to help, something about Terraserver did change, so there was an update to USAPhotomaps a few months ago if I remember correctly.

Alan

[WhiteThaiGer]

I've had enough of wasting my time looking for a conversion program. I sat down and put a little hack togetherhttp://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/cool.gif. I'll email it to Baja for testing and then we can work on some refinements.

If anyone has Magellan track files (.trk), I could use something for testing. I only have my version of MapSend at this point and I only have one track.
</div>


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Post Edited (WhiteThaiGer) : 12/6/2003 5:30:23 AM GMT

[YukonBob]

There is the solutionhttp://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/supercool.gif

[BajaTaco]

All I can say is, Uwe ROCKS! http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/supercool.gif He did a good job.

Alan, thanks for the info http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/emoticons/wink.gif I will check out the update.


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[YukonBob]

When are you going to attach one of your files (KOFA hike) so we can see where you went?

[BajaTaco]

Bob, I will attach that file as soon as I get on my other computer. As Uwe knows, the hike is not saved as a separate track though. The whole weekend is on one track. But I guess Uwe can extract it with Ozi (and so could you).


http://www.bajataco.com
Vibram or BFG - getting there on rubber and seeing it all!

[YukonBob]

OziExplorer puts out a free conversion program that converts .mps. and .trk files to the Ozi.plt format. Unfortunately. it doesn't convertthe other wayright now.