Making My Own Gpx Files For Cachemate

[Parsa]

I want to be able to make my own gpx files for CacheMate. These are not for geocaches but for various stone circles and other megalithic sites in Britain and Ireland. I have coordinates, descriptions, ratings for quality and accessibility on 1-5 scales, and directions. I think I can make it fit into a cachemate format.

So, how do I make a custom gpx file that doesn't come from a pocket query? I have GPSBabel (MacGPSBabel actually) and was wondering if there's some way to use a text or html file and import it into Babel....

 

Anyone done this before?

 

Parsa

[+Maingray]

http://www.gsak.net

 

Add the waypoints into a database there, and then export to Cachemate using the built-in exporter (which is Babel, "under the hood")

[Parsa]

Nope, can't use GSAK.

 

Parsa

[+Maingray]

I want to be able to make my own gpx files for CacheMate. These are not for geocaches but for various stone circles and other megalithic sites in Britain and Ireland. I have coordinates, descriptions, ratings for quality and accessibility on 1-5 scales, and directions. I think I can make it fit into a cachemate format.

So, how do I make a custom gpx file that doesn't come from a pocket query? I have GPSBabel (MacGPSBabel actually) and was wondering if there's some way to use a text or html file and import it into Babel....

 

Anyone done this before?

 

Parsa

A-ha! I see the Mac now!

[+Steve L]

Use the command-line version of gpsbabel. It can accept comma-separated and tab-separated text files as input and write gpx files on output.

 

I haven't done it myself, but it's a documented feature. If it works as well as everything else I've tried in gpsbabel, it will be just fine.

[Parsa]

Thanks. So... it can't accept the tab or comma stuff directly without going into the UNIX command stuff? I haven't really done command line stuff much. I know the GPX is supposed to be XML, so it makes sense. It's just that I'm not sure how to even start if I had to do it.

 

I did once use MacGPSBabel do a GPX-to-text from a pocket query to see what it looked like, and it did make a pretty handy text file of all the caches. It won't work the other way?

 

Parsa

[+NightPilot]

I don't know about MacGPSBabel, but if GPSBabel will do the .csv or .txt to .gpx, then the Mac GUI should also do it. It should be very straight-forward.

[Parsa]

I could do the comma values if I knew the correct format. I converted a pocket query GPX file into a comma form and all I got was three fields:

 

32.73322, -117.21338, GCJ8WM

etc.

 

The text and html files seem to be an output, not an input, format. When I converted the GPX file to text or html, I got a lot of information.

 

I would gladly make a database or spreadsheet file that would generate the proper CSV file, and I would even be willing to venture into the world of the command line terminal, if I knew the correct format and how to enter the commands needed to create the GPX file.

 

Parsa

Edited March 19, 2005 by Parsa

[robertlipe]

"text" and "html" are indeed output only; they're really meant for printing or syncing to a PDA or web browsing or whatever; they don't parse freeform web pages or text.

 

There are 17 different something-separated formats in GPSBabel in addition to the 41 others. If you need a format that isn't one of those, you do indeed have to do it from the command line; none of our GUIs allow you to do the arbitrary mapping of fields to slurp up just any ole file. The good news is that it's not hard to do.

 

Show us a clear example of the file you're trying to convert and we can almost certainly help.

[Parsa]

Well, thanks for the offer. Now if I knew what to give you...

 

I tried playing around with a GPX file I downloaded. I eliminated what seemed to be unneeded for my GPSr and for Cachemate. I reduced the file quite a bit. The only thing I couldn't change was the tags that Cachemate reads. I found I could put just about anything inside the tags. For instance I could put "Stone Circle" in for type instead of "Traditional Cache." I can't change "Container" in the tag, but I can put in "56 meters" instead of "Micro" (or whatever).

I would think I could make some kind of database that would insert information I want into some kind of "tag template." I seem to have no trouble on my Mac saving a text file with the .gpx suffix and having it work.

 

In any case, there's a CD and two web sites that carry a lot of the information I need. I'd have to spend the man hours to make the database for myself.

 

The Megalithic Portal

Sample entry: Merry Maidens

 

Specifically for Ireland:

Megalithomania

Sample entry: Drombeg See left side for data.

 

Tom Bullock's CD-ROM:

Stone Circles CD-ROM

Sample entry: Merry Maidens

Tom says he has an Excel file of the coordinates he can send me, and that should help some.

 

Parsa

[robertlipe]

I think you have a couple of questions here, including:

 

A) What is the technical format of a GPX file (answered at http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp)

Does cachemate impose any additional requirements on things like icons? (Dunno)

C) Are there any compromises required when using Cachemate with things that aren't actually pocket queries (i.e. GPX with Groundspeak extensions)?

D) How could I best format Excel output to feed to GPSBabel (without knowing what's _in_ that file and how you expect that to map to GPX fields, it's hard to say.)

 

At the risk of sounding self-serving, let me offer that if you want to stay out of the data processing/file format business and can send me a specific examples of what you're trying to convert and how you think it should map to GPX, I'm not adverse to doing custom conversions (including any needed programming) for a fee. I do little "one off" projects like this that I can usually stamp out fairly readily from time to time.

 

I started doing this kind of thing because I was spending hours trying to explain this kind of thing to people that were burning tens of hours when all they really wanted was a Mapsend file of ancient radio towers rom a Visicalc file (or whatever) when in reality this is a small task for a programmer with the right tools.

 

Contact me privately if you want to pursue that. Be prepared with sample data

and a list of expected consumers of the resulting GPX and describe how you envision the mappings going. (For example, do you want the descriptions to be unique, which field contains what you'd want to see as the waypoint name, from where do you want the icons set, do you want the icons renamed as you go, etc.)