Not to be too much of a geek, but there have been a few times where I have been out in the middle of nowhere or someplace new that I was unfamiliar with and had a GPS track to show me where to go. I have collected a few tracks in CA at Hollister and hope to add at other places. Is there someplace that we could share tracks?
-4ist

 

I have often thought that it would be nice to have a central place to download GPS Trail tracks as well. I'm from Minnesota, and have just a few tracks that I could share. It is really nice not to have to pull out paper maps while on the trail.

 

A club I belong to is trying to put together tracks. So far the only thing there is where we've camped at Pismo.

GPS

Google didn't return much, except on GPS anti-theft things (like LoJack vehicle recovery). I think some of the specific sites for Glamis have GPS areas. But that would only be for the Glamis area. I had some but lost them in a computer crash. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

I need to look into loading in a GPS system myself-has anyone done it? Is it hard. I'm so not a technology person, I just learned how to use that t9 fast text feature on my phone-and it's been years, but I want to go off roading so I need to just bite the bullet and get it going. There has to be a book on it or something.

 

Mitsu, it really depends on your particular GPS and the software you use to interface with the GPS. I use Linux, so I'm probably not much use to you for what aps and hot to use them. Most of the GPS companies sell software for doing what you need to do. And many of them have support for a standard protocol (NMEA) that you can use a 3rd party application (like what I do on Linux). I beleive there are some free applications out there for Windows that can either talk NMEA or some of the proprietary formats (GARMIN, etc.)

Most people post GPS files in the GPX (GPS eXchange...or something like that) format. It's an interchange format that a lot of GPS programs use, or can use. It's just a text file (well, technically it's XML).

Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

Thanks man

 

I've been playing with GPS data and am still new to it, but here's what I know...

I use a free program called G7towin (http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/). after a long flight or ride, I download the track data into CSV format as it is easy to manipulate w/ excel. There are a number of formats, but the only one I've used is CSV. This might be a good topic for sobody who knows more about this to discuss.

As for a cable, I bought one (https://www.bluehillsinnovations.com/). But have since learned where to buy the connectors for $10 a pair (http://www.pfranc.com/) and make my own.

It takes a little doing, but I'm able to format the data and import it to MS strees and trips. My Cousin pipes it to the National Geograpic Topo software with much success.

The beauty of copying the tracks is that I can load a track of someplace I've already been even if I had deleted the track in the interim. I don't necessarily use the GPS to tell me where to go, but it's nice to have a reminder where I've been so I don't stray to far off the beaten path (unless I want to!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]). It's also nice to plot where Ive been to show my family...
-4ist