managing tracks

[Anndean]

I am having a bit of difficulty understanding tracks and the saving of them for my Garmin 60csx.

 

I would like to record a track of a trail I am on, and only the trail, not including driving to the trail head, and heading back home.

 

What is the best way to do this effectively.

 

I would also like to have the date and altitude to show on the tracks saved.

 

I then would like to get it to mapsource and analysis it.

 

I know I can split tracks in map in mapsource, but that seems cumbersome.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated

[+Roland_oso]

At the start of you trek you will have to clear the track log and then save it at the end of your trek. If you do not want to loose the data in the GPS before you start, save it just before you clear the log.

 

I usually reset my trip odom as well so I can have a track and odom reading of my hike.

Edited January 29, 2007 by Roland_oso

[+Red90]

Noooooooooo

 

If you save the track log, you will lose the elevation and date data.

 

Clear the track log at the start and turn the track log off at the end. Then upload to Mapsource.

 

Personally I don't worry about it. The driving part of the track is easy to trim off within Mapsource with the built in track tools.

[Anndean]

Noooooooooo

 

If you save the track log, you will lose the elevation and date data.

 

Clear the track log at the start and turn the track log off at the end. Then upload to Mapsource.

 

Personally I don't worry about it. The driving part of the track is easy to trim off within Mapsource with the built in track tools.

 

If I follow the above procedure and save the track to the microcard will it save elevation and dates?

[Hertzog]

Personally I don't worry about it. The driving part of the track is easy to trim off within Mapsource with the built in track tools.

I agree. It is much easier and less error prone to manage your tracks sitting comfortably in front of your computer than it is changing GPSr settings on the run. I always leave my GPSr set with track logging on and saving to the SD card.

 

Of course, we are assuming the OP is talking about an "x" model; but even with the previous models this would be my approach, with an appropriate track log rate set to handle the trip interval. If I really needed the whole 10,000 track points on the non-x models for the hiking part of the trip, then I would handle it on the road; but with the x models this is no longer a problem.

 

Oops; I guess he did say 60CSx.

Edited January 29, 2007 by Hertzog

[+Red90]

 

If I follow the above procedure and save the track to the microcard will it save elevation and dates?

 

You can not "save" the track to the SD card so to speak.

 

You enable saving to the SD card and all future active tracks are saved there. These them must be accessed by turning the card into a drive and copying off the relavent GPX file.

[Hertzog]

If I follow the above procedure and save the track to the microcard will it save elevation and dates?

(Nothing like real time forum messaging )

The microcard data is an (almost) exact replica of the active track file. The only difference is the gpx file data is text based - looks like this:

 

<trkpt lat="33.930350" lon="-118.026817">

<ele>32.078</ele>

<time>2007-01-20T16:34:01Z</time>

</trkpt>

<trkpt lat="33.930351" lon="-118.026818">

<ele>32.017</ele>

<time>2007-01-20T16:34:02Z</time>

</trkpt>

 

So if you want more that 6 decimal places of precision, then you will want to use the active track file instead