I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm releasing in
the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their own. :-)

GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write waypoints
in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other backends
include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan, Garmin
PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau Tiger, and
CSV for S&A 9.

It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
(Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with an "M"
are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output validates
OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
ExpertGPS.

The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few thousand
waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and such are
sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
version number.

It has a temporary home at:

	 http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html

I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.

RJL

This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
much time indoors.

One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
we'll see output from this program everywhere.


--- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>
> I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
releasing in
> the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
own. :-)
>
> GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
waypoints
> in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
backends
> include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
Garmin
> PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
Tiger, and
> CSV for S&A 9.
>
> It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
> OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
> (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
> silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
an "M"
> are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
> contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
validates
> OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
> ExpertGPS.
>
> The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
thousand
> waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
such are
> sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
> version number.
>
> It has a temporary home at:
>
>  http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>
> I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>
> RJL

davewissenbach wrote:

>    This is great.

Thank you.

>    I downloaded this and noticed that you've published under the GPL.

Since the problem i was trying to solve would have been less of a
problem if the various programs were Free Software, it would have been
wrong for me to solve the problem with anything else.

I thought it would be of special interest to this groups since it
includes an example of using expat to process GPX and it makes a
reasonable "stepping stone" since I think most of us are using GPX AND
something else.

>    Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
>    unless someone else does first.

I verified it builds and passes the testsuite under Cygwin but don't
know if that really is an an "acceptable" approach for someone that
actually likes to use Windows.

>    One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
>    Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
>    we'll see output from this program everywhere.

Is the file format documented?  If it's a sensible format at all, a
backend can probably be slotted in in about an hour.

RJL

i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and wanted
to be able to use them for my geocaching site.

TOPO actually uses bilinear interpolation which was quite a pain... but
i got a little help from one of the engineers in the right direction.

if you want to take a look at what my code outputs get and idea take a
look at my site http://www.azgeocaching.com

if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
it is in php right now...

jason poulter



davewissenbach wrote:
> This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
> under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
> unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
> now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
> much time indoors.
>
> One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
> Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
> we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>
>
> --- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>  >
>  > I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
> releasing in
>  > the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
> own. :-)
>  >
>  > GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
> waypoints
>  > in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
> backends
>  > include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
> Garmin
>  > PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
> Tiger, and
>  > CSV for S&A 9.
>  >
>  > It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>  > OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>  > (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>  > silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
> an "M"
>  > are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>  > contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
> validates
>  > OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>  > ExpertGPS.
>  >
>  > The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
> thousand
>  > waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
> such are
>  > sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>  > version number.
>  >
>  > It has a temporary home at:
>  >
>  >       http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>  >
>  > I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>  >
>  > RJL
>
>
> *Yahoo! Groups Sponsor*
> Click here to visit our exclusive feature of ACUVUE2 Colours at
> LensExpress.com!
> Click here to find your contact lenses!
>
>
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>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>
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> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.

----- Original Message -----

From: Jason Poulter

To: gpsxml@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 1:53 PM

Subject: Re: [gpsxml] Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.

i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and wanted
to be able to use them for my geocaching site.

TOPO actually uses bilinear interpolation which was quite a pain... but
i got a little help from one of the engineers in the right direction.

if you want to take a look at what my code outputs get and idea take a
look at my site http://www.azgeocaching.com

if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
it is in php right now...

jason poulter



davewissenbach wrote:
> This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
> under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
> unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
> now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
> much time indoors.
>
> One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
> Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
> we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>
>
> --- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>  >
>  > I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
> releasing in
>  > the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
> own. :-)
>  >
>  > GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
> waypoints
>  > in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
> backends
>  > include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
> Garmin
>  > PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
> Tiger, and
>  > CSV for S&A 9.
>  >
>  > It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>  > OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>  > (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>  > silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
> an "M"
>  > are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>  > contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
> validates
>  > OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>  > ExpertGPS.
>  >
>  > The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
> thousand
>  > waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
> such are
>  > sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>  > version number.
>  >
>  > It has a temporary home at:
>  >
>  >       http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>  >
>  > I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>  >
>  > RJL
>
>
> *Yahoo! Groups Sponsor*
> Click here to visit our exclusive feature of ACUVUE2 Colours at
> LensExpress.com!
> Click here to find your contact lenses!
>
> <http://rd.yahoo.com/M=225674.2075965.3644786.1829184/D=egroupweb/S=1706030390:HM/A=1153156/R=0/*http://www.lensexpress.com/tracker/trackclick.aspx?Page=ACUVUE%202%20Colors&AffUrl=273&AffCode=14>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> gpsxml-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
gpsxml-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Jason Poulter wrote:

>    i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
>    MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and

If you can provide doc or sample code (I can read most languages, but
might need help with some details) I'd be very interested in Mapsource
format.

>    look at my site [1]http://www.azgeocaching.com

Seeet.

>    if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
>    it is in php right now...

Bring it on!

I'll have this on Sourceforge in the next couple of days.

RJL

I agree that TOPO! is an important format to support. I find topo files
everywhere and rarely see anything else. The biggest challenge here is .tpo
files as they're a proprietary binary format.

.tpg files aren't that tough, but if any of you have figured out how to convert
routes from a .tpo file to .gpx, I'd love to hear about it.

Troy

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: gpsxml@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: gpsxml@yahoogroups.com
Date: 30 Jul 2002 23:12:49 -0000

>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>gpsxml-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>There are 6 messages in this issue.
>
>Topics in this digest:
>
>      1. ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>      2. Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: "davewissenbach" <davewissenbach@...>
>      3. Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>      4. Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: Jason Poulter <polt@...>
>      5. Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: "Joel E. Williams, Jr." <joel@...>
>      6. Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>           From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 1
>   Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 23:46:42 -0500
>   From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>Subject: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>
>I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm releasing in
>the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their own. :-)
>
>GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write waypoints
>in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other backends
>include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan, Garmin
>PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau Tiger, and
>CSV for S&A 9.
>
>It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>(Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with an "M"
>are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output validates
>OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>ExpertGPS.
>
>The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few thousand
>waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and such are
>sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>version number.
>
>It has a temporary home at:
>
> http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>
>I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>
>RJL
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 2
>   Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 12:57:02 -0000
>   From: "davewissenbach" <davewissenbach@...>
>Subject: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
>under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
>unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
>now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
>much time indoors.
>
>One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
>Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
>we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>
>
>--- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>>
>> I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
>releasing in
>> the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
>own. :-)
>>
>> GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
>waypoints
>> in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
>backends
>> include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
>Garmin
>> PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
>Tiger, and
>> CSV for S&A 9.
>>
>> It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>> OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>> (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>> silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
>an "M"
>> are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>> contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
>validates
>> OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>> ExpertGPS.
>>
>> The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
>thousand
>> waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
>such are
>> sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>> version number.
>>
>> It has a temporary home at:
>>
>>  http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>>
>> I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>>
>> RJL
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 3
>   Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 09:42:16 -0500
>   From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>Subject: Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>davewissenbach wrote:
>
>>    This is great.
>
>Thank you.
>
>>    I downloaded this and noticed that you've published under the GPL.
>
>Since the problem i was trying to solve would have been less of a
>problem if the various programs were Free Software, it would have been
>wrong for me to solve the problem with anything else.
>
>I thought it would be of special interest to this groups since it
>includes an example of using expat to process GPX and it makes a
>reasonable "stepping stone" since I think most of us are using GPX AND
>something else.
>
>>    Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
>>    unless someone else does first.
>
>I verified it builds and passes the testsuite under Cygwin but don't
>know if that really is an an "acceptable" approach for someone that
>actually likes to use Windows.
>
>>    One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
>>    Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
>>    we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>
>Is the file format documented?  If it's a sensible format at all, a
>backend can probably be slotted in in about an hour.
>
>RJL
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 4
>   Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 10:53:28 -0700
>   From: Jason Poulter <polt@...>
>Subject: Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
>MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and wanted
>to be able to use them for my geocaching site.
>
>TOPO actually uses bilinear interpolation which was quite a pain... but
>i got a little help from one of the engineers in the right direction.
>
>if you want to take a look at what my code outputs get and idea take a
>look at my site http://www.azgeocaching.com
>
>if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
>it is in php right now...
>
>jason poulter
>
>
>
>davewissenbach wrote:
>> This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
>> under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
>> unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
>> now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
>> much time indoors.
>>
>> One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
>> Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
>> we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>>
>>
>> --- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
>> releasing in
>>  > the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
>> own. :-)
>>  >
>>  > GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
>> waypoints
>>  > in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
>> backends
>>  > include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
>> Garmin
>>  > PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
>> Tiger, and
>>  > CSV for S&A 9.
>>  >
>>  > It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>>  > OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>>  > (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>>  > silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
>> an "M"
>>  > are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>>  > contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
>> validates
>>  > OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>>  > ExpertGPS.
>>  >
>>  > The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
>> thousand
>>  > waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
>> such are
>>  > sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>>  > version number.
>>  >
>>  > It has a temporary home at:
>>  >
>>  >       http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>>  >
>>  > I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>>  >
>>  > RJL
>>
>>
>> *Yahoo! Groups Sponsor*
>> Click here to visit our exclusive feature of ACUVUE2 Colours at
>> LensExpress.com!
>> Click here to find your contact lenses!
>>
>>
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=225674.2075965.3644786.1829184/D=egroupweb/S=1706030390:H\
M/A=1153156/R=0/*http://www.lensexpress.com/tracker/trackclick.aspx?Page=ACUVUE%\
202%20Colors&AffUrl=273&AffCode=14>
>>
>>
>>
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>> gpsxml-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>>
>>
>>
>> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
>> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 5
>   Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 14:19:08 -0400
>   From: "Joel E. Williams, Jr." <joel@...>
>Subject: Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>Jason:
>
>I could really use that code in php.  I'm trying to put together a page where
folks can input their waypoints and download their waypoints now.  That
input/output should be converted to EasyGPS so they can use Dan's program to
upload/download to their GPS.  That would sure save a lot of time.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Joel E. Williams, Jr.
>www.coastaloutdoors.com
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Jason Poulter
>  To: gpsxml@yahoogroups.com
>  Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 1:53 PM
>  Subject: Re: [gpsxml] Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>
>  i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
>  MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and wanted
>  to be able to use them for my geocaching site.
>
>  TOPO actually uses bilinear interpolation which was quite a pain... but
>  i got a little help from one of the engineers in the right direction.
>
>  if you want to take a look at what my code outputs get and idea take a
>  look at my site http://www.azgeocaching.com
>
>  if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
>  it is in php right now...
>
>  jason poulter
>
>
>
>  davewissenbach wrote:
>  > This is great. I downloaded this and noticed that you've published
>  > under the GPL. Maybe this fall I'll attempt to use this on Windows--
>  > unless someone else does first. I don't have much spare time right
>  > now, or rather, I'm busy hiking and bicycling and don't spend too
>  > much time indoors.
>  >
>  > One format that would be very useful is for National Geographic
>  > Topo. This program is being aggressively marketed and I think that
>  > we'll see output from this program everywhere.
>  >
>  >
>  > --- In gpsxml@y..., Robert Lipe <robertlipe@u...> wrote:
>  >  >
>  >  > I'll give this group a little head start on a program I'm
>  > releasing in
>  >  > the hopes that a group of programmers will be kinder to their
>  > own. :-)
>  >  >
>  >  > GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write
>  > waypoints
>  >  > in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other
>  > backends
>  >  > include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan,
>  > Garmin
>  >  > PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau
>  > Tiger, and
>  >  > CSV for S&A 9.
>  >  >
>  >  > It works on POSIXy operating systems and is ISO C.  I've run it on
>  >  > OpenUNIX 8, Solaris 8, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5, Linux, and Cygwin.
>  >  > (Non-Intel processors choke on Magellan's Mapsend files becuase of
>  >  > silliness involving FP formats.) Ports to OSes that start with
>  > an "M"
>  >  > are welcome as long as they don't gunk up the code too much.  Other
>  >  > contributions or comments are similarly welcome.  The output
>  > validates
>  >  > OK, and I've successfully interchanged data with EasyGPS, demos of
>  >  > ExpertGPS.
>  >  >
>  >  > The code seems solid enough and I've used it to process a few
>  > thousand
>  >  > waypoints of differing kinds.  Things like doc, web pages, and
>  > such are
>  >  > sort of shaky.  That's the only reason for the downgraded "sub 1.0"
>  >  > version number.
>  >  >
>  >  > It has a temporary home at:
>  >  >
>  >  >       http://robertlipe.0catch.com/gpsbabel/index.html
>  >  >
>  >  > I'll move it somewhere else within a few days.
>  >  >
>  >  > RJL
>  >
>  >
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>[This message contained attachments]
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 6
>   Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 13:37:41 -0500
>   From: Robert Lipe <robertlipe@...>
>Subject: Re: Re: ANN: a GPX reader/writer.
>
>Jason Poulter wrote:
>
>>    i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
>>    MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and
>
>If you can provide doc or sample code (I can read most languages, but
>might need help with some details) I'd be very interested in Mapsource
>format.
>
>>    look at my site [1]http://www.azgeocaching.com
>
>Seeet.
>
>>    if ya would like i could help contribute the code to the project...
>>    it is in php right now...
>
>Bring it on!
>
>I'll have this on Sourceforge in the next couple of days.
>
>RJL
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>

This is just to let you folks know that there is now a Beta Test
version of "GPS Utility" (4.10.e) which imports/exports GPX files at:
http://www.gpsutility.co.uk/files/gpsu410e.zip

You need to download this, unzip and manually install in the existing
GPSU program installation directory - probably "C:/Program Files/GPS
Utility"  (so you will need to download and install the standard
version first (4.04.3)).

I have not yet implemented every field type, so there will be some
transfer limitations.  I have tested it against EasyGPS and Wissenbach
Map and this seems to work OK, but there could be the odd bug lying
around.  However it should allow the interchange of some GPS data
between GPX applications and the other file formats supported by GPSU.

Please let me know by direct email of any problems/shortcomings etc.
as I don't check the newsgroup that often.

Cheers,

Alan Murphy  (author GPSU)

http://www.gpsu.co.uk/
at approx N50°53.8' W001°23.2'

Hello,

Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 8:03:01 PM, Troy wrote:

TH> I agree that TOPO! is an important format to support. I find topo files
everywhere and rarely see anything else. The biggest challenge here is .tpo
files as they're a proprietary binary format.

TH> .tpg files aren't that tough, but if any of you have figured out how to
convert routes from a .tpo file to .gpx, I'd love to hear about it.

TH> Troy

Let them know you want an XML file format for import/export:
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/ngmaps/contact.cfm?topocontact=yes

I just wrote them a nice email asking them to support some form of XML
for file interchange.  If enough of their users write to them, they'll
take notice.  Take 5 minutes and send them a note.

I've looked at the .tpo file format, and it's ugly.  I suspect it
changes from release to release, but don't have any proof of that.
.tpg is the way to go, but apparently they've dropped support for .tpg
in their new Topo!Sync program.

--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

Hello,

Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 1:53:28 PM, Jason wrote:
JP> i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
JP> MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and wanted
JP> to be able to use them for my geocaching site.

and then on Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 2:37:41 PM, Robert wrote:
RL> If you can provide doc or sample code (I can read most languages, but
RL> might need help with some details) I'd be very interested in Mapsource
RL> format.

Since there seem to be a number of us working on import/export of
various file formats, and since we are working on many different
platforms (Palm, Linux, Windows, Mac...) and in many different languages
(PHP, ASP, C...) I'd like to join Robert in asking for a sharing of
knowledge.  Source code is good, but documentation of the file format
is probably more useful since we've all got different programming
requirements and backgrounds.  I'd like to propose that we write up
some quick descriptions of the file formats we know and put them up on
the web "for the benefit of humanity".  I can contribute Topo! .tpg
and MapTech .mxf, and maybe some others.

I'll offer to host some of the files on my website, but due to DMCA
nonsense, I'd suggest that file formats with even the most basic of
"encryption" be kept on servers outside the US.  Any volunteers from
saner nations?

--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

ya that sounds like a good idea... i will write up the file description
for TOPO and MAPSOURCE....

Dan I did notice that your TOPO algorithm is a little bit off... you
loose a couple of digits of precision in your conversion... with a
little help from one of the engineers and National Geographic I was able
to get my algorithm, to what i've tested, actually match theirs...
havent heard any complaints from my users about it being bad either.

so we might want to go with mine, or merge the two or something?

Dan where should we send them? to your email?


jason poulter

Dan Foster wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 1:53:28 PM, Jason wrote:
> JP> i have all ready reversed engineered the TOPO format and garmins
> JP> MAPSOURCE file formats.  i use those programs the most myself and
> wanted
> JP> to be able to use them for my geocaching site.
>
> and then on Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 2:37:41 PM, Robert wrote:
> RL> If you can provide doc or sample code (I can read most languages, but
> RL> might need help with some details) I'd be very interested in Mapsource
> RL> format.
>
> Since there seem to be a number of us working on import/export of
> various file formats, and since we are working on many different
> platforms (Palm, Linux, Windows, Mac...) and in many different languages
> (PHP, ASP, C...) I'd like to join Robert in asking for a sharing of
> knowledge.  Source code is good, but documentation of the file format
> is probably more useful since we've all got different programming
> requirements and backgrounds.  I'd like to propose that we write up
> some quick descriptions of the file formats we know and put them up on
> the web "for the benefit of humanity".  I can contribute Topo! .tpg
> and MapTech .mxf, and maybe some others.
>
> I'll offer to host some of the files on my website, but due to DMCA
> nonsense, I'd suggest that file formats with even the most basic of
> "encryption" be kept on servers outside the US.  Any volunteers from
> saner nations?
>
> --
> Dan Foster
> TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
> http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...
>
>
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Hello Jason,

Wednesday, July 31, 2002, 3:31:24 PM, you wrote:

JP> ya that sounds like a good idea... i will write up the file description
JP> for TOPO and MAPSOURCE....

JP> Dan I did notice that your TOPO algorithm is a little bit off... you
JP> loose a couple of digits of precision in your conversion... with a
JP> little help from one of the engineers and National Geographic I was able
JP> to get my algorithm, to what i've tested, actually match theirs...
JP> havent heard any complaints from my users about it being bad either.

JP> so we might want to go with mine, or merge the two or something?

I'll be interested to see how yours works.  It's been a few years
since I wrote mine, so perhaps it needs an update.

JP> Dan where should we send them? to your email?

You can send them to this email address: egroups@...

Robert already sent me links to several formats - I'm quoting his
email below.  I'll throw together a webpage to hold all this sometime
next week.

From Robert:
Magellan's Serial Protocol is
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/m330/files/Magellan%20protocol%202-7.doc

Magellan Mapsend is
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/m330/files/MapSend%20Formats.doc

   Note that whay they call a "String" has a one byte value containing
   the length of the following (non-null terminated) string.   Yes, this
   means their strings can only be 255 bytes long and makes it hard to
   represent in C.

GPSMan is
   http://www.ncc.up.pt/~mig/gpsmanhtml/manual/html/GPSMandoc.html
    under "Files"

GPSUtil is
    http://www.cs.uakron.edu/~hennings/gpsutil
    Version 0.10 has a very simple file format of fixed length fields separated
    by a single space.
[1     ] [ 2     ]  [ 3     ] [ 4    ] [ 5                          ][6]
BNAGqltI 3607.888N  8654.238W       0M BNA Geoquilt II Cache Stash    a

[1] Eight characters for waypoint name.  Must be "Magellan-legal".
[2] Lattitude*100, followed up uppercase hemi.
[3] Longitude*100, followed up uppercase hemi.
[4] Altitutde in meters.  Must be followed by "M".
[5] 28 characters of waypoint comment
[6] Icon token in Magellan format.

Garmin's PCX5 is described in:
   http://www.garmin.com/manuals/pcx5.pdf



--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

Robert Lipe wrote:

> GPS Babel is a free (in both senses) utlity to read and write waypoints
> in a variety of forms.  GPX input and output works well.  Other backends
> include Magellan serial protocol, Geocaching.com *.loc, GPSMan, Garmin
> PCX5 for Mapsource, Magellan Mapsend, gpsutil, Census Bureau Tiger, and
> CSV for S&A 9.

[ blah blah blah ]

> It has a temporary home at:

It now has a permanent home.  (Well, as permanent as anything gets on
the web.)  It will disappear from the temporary location in coming days.

Dan, please add GPSBabel at

	 http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/

to the list of programs that read and write GPX.


Enjoy.
RJL

GPS Users,

I just created a new Yahoo group for the new Garmin Rino.  If you
have not heard or read about this new GPS device you are missing
out.  The Garmin Rino is the first GPS device to have a GMRS/FRS
radio integrated into it. It also is the first GPS device to support
the Peer-to-Peer Positioning, this patented technology makes it
possible to transmit your location to a friend or family member.

What really separates the Rino from the rest of the FRS herd is the
ability to "beam" your exact location to another Rino user within a
two-mile range using the FRS spectrum.

Even if you don't have a Garmin Rino I think you will find this group
useful and informative.

To go to the website or subscribe to the new yahoo group use the
information below.

Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garmin-rino
To Subscribe:  garmin-rino-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Thanks!

Matt

P.S. I've already got lots of links, files, pictures, calendar items,
and polls at the new Yahoo group website.  It's going to be a great
group for all GPS users.

Background:

www.geocaching.com maintains a data base of geocaches. An entry in the data
base is sort of a waypoint, but with a lot of additional information. This
additional information includes such things as a description of the geocache
and logs people enter to describe their attempts to find the cache.

Members of www.geocaching.com can search the database using a feature called
"pocket query". In response to the query, the web site will email a reply
containing those entries that match the search criteria. The web site makes
information available in .loc files so that people can download it into GPS
receivers, and it also makes the additional information available as an
Ebook for people to download to PDAs. They are currently developing an
extension to GPX format to make this additional information available in an
XML format.

You can see an example of a preliminary version of the GPX/geocache
extension at http://www.geocaching.com/media/example.gpx

This extension is being discussed in the geocaching forum, and in the
discussion, two questions have come up that, in my opinion, are general to
the idea of extending GPX, so I thought I'd raise them in this forum.

The Questions:

1) If you examine the example file, you will see that all of the
geocaching.com extension are in a separate 'groundspeak' namespace. This
leads to what I hope will be the easy question: Should this be a recommended
practice for adding extensions to GPX?

I think this is a good thing because it reduces the likelihood of extension
name collision and makes it easier to track extensions back to their source
and to use multiple extension sets in the same GPX file.

I'm curious what other people think.

2) In response to some requests for additions to the extension, Jeremy Irish
is proposing adding some redundant information like lat/long to the
extension. I believe the reasoning has to do with how the xsd for the
extension will be built. (My apologies to Jeremy if I misunderstand.) His
comment in the forum was

      Yes. I'll have an xsd available for it, I suspect. Which means I'll
probably have to add
      redundant information like lat/lon so if the namespace is used alone,
the Groundspeak
      format can be decoded and used.

from the point of view of a software purist, such redundant information is a
Bad Thing (r) but I don't know enough about XML to understand whether the
reasoning should apply here.

Anyway, the question here is: if a datum is an element of the base GPX
specification, should that element be duplicated in an extension?

My own opinion is that no, it shouldn't, because it's an opportunity for
having two watches and never knowing what time it is.

Marty

Hello,

Saturday, August 10, 2002, 5:05:54 PM, Marty wrote:

M> Background:

M> www.geocaching.com maintains a data base of geocaches.
M> They are currently developing an
M> extension to GPX format to make this additional information available in an
M> XML format.

M> You can see an example of a preliminary version of the GPX/geocache
M> extension at http://www.geocaching.com/media/example.gpx

M> This extension is being discussed in the geocaching forum, and in the
M> discussion, two questions have come up that, in my opinion, are general to
M> the idea of extending GPX, so I thought I'd raise them in this forum.

M> The Questions:

M> 1) If you examine the example file, you will see that all of the
M> geocaching.com extension are in a separate 'groundspeak' namespace. This
M> leads to what I hope will be the easy question: Should this be a recommended
M> practice for adding extensions to GPX?

Yes.  This is the required practice for adding private extensions to
GPX.  I'm using topografix:foo for my private extensions, and Dave
Wissenbach is using wissenbach:foo for his private extensions.  As you
noted, this prevents namespace collisions.

If you've got a set of extensions that might be useful in other GPS
applications, it's best to propose them here in the forum.  If there's
enough interest in getting them into GPX, they could become part of
the public GPX format in a future version, or at least you may get a
group of people interested in supporting that set of private
extensions in their programs.

An example of something that might be useful in the public standard or
as a common private extension would be map calibration points.

M> 2) In response to some requests for additions to the extension, Jeremy Irish
M> is proposing adding some redundant information like lat/long to the
M> extension. I believe the reasoning has to do with how the xsd for the
M> extension will be built. (My apologies to Jeremy if I misunderstand.) His
M> comment in the forum was

M>      Yes. I'll have an xsd available for it, I suspect. Which means I'll
M> probably have to add
M>      redundant information like lat/lon so if the namespace is used alone,
M> the Groundspeak
M>      format can be decoded and used.

M> from the point of view of a software purist, such redundant information is a
M> Bad Thing (r) but I don't know enough about XML to understand whether the
M> reasoning should apply here.

M> Anyway, the question here is: if a datum is an element of the base GPX
M> specification, should that element be duplicated in an extension?

M> My own opinion is that no, it shouldn't, because it's an opportunity for
M> having two watches and never knowing what time it is.

Again, you're correct.  If it's in the public GPX standard, it doesn't
need to (and shouldn't be) be duplicated elsewhere.

The sample GPX file on the geocaching site isn't valid GPX yet.
Jeremy needs to create a schema for his private groundspeak
extensions, and reference it in the GPX file.  Until it validates as a
proper GPX file, it's not valid GPX.  See
http://www.topografix.com/gpx_validation.asp

I know there are a number of geocachers on this list and using
GPX-enabled software, and we're all looking forward to having the
Geocaching Pocket Queries available in GPX format!
--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

I would be grateful to anyone who can help me with these points:

1.  Is there a gpx convention for describing longitude and lattitude position
formats, for instance hddd mm ss s, hddd mm mm, British Grid, UTM, etc.  Without
this field, how does a gpx file describe the type of
position format of this data?

2.  What is the difference between <ele> and <geoid>?

3.  I don't understand <bounds> - what does a bounding rectangle do?

Answers on a postage stamp, please!

Regards,

Steve Galloway

Hello,

Sunday, September 15, 2002, 12:18:35 PM, Steve wrote:

s> I would be grateful to anyone who can help me with these points:

s> 1.  Is there a gpx convention for describing longitude and
s> latitude position formats, for instance hddd mm ss s, hddd mm mm,
s> British Grid, UTM, etc.  Without this field, how does a gpx file
s> describe the type of position format of this data?

GPX is a data transfer format, not a display format.  GPX always uses
WGS84 datum, decimal degrees.  This ensures that every GPX program
knows how to interpret the lat/lon values they receive from the GPX
file.

GPX-enabled programs can display the GPX data they receive in any
format they wish.  For example, if a GPS Utility user in the UK opened
a GPX file I saved with EasyGPS, it would display in British Grid
coordinates (assuming that was the display format set in GPS Utility)
even though EasyGPS and GPX know nothing about British Grid.

By the way, this is the way your GPS receiver works - all data is
stored in WGS84 datum internally, and it gets converted to your
favorite datum and grid format for display purposes.

s> 2.  What is the difference between <ele> and <geoid>?

<ele> Elevation - I didn't define this very precisely in the
documentation.  It means what you think it means - the height, in
meters above mean sea level, of an object.

<geoidheight> Height, in meters, of WGS-84 earth ellipsoid above mean
sea level at the point. (This value is useful if you're processing the
NMEA GGA message)

Why do we have both?  Kjeld (CetusGPS) wanted to be able to express
all of the data in the standard NMEA messages in GPX.  Geoid Height
was needed for that purpose.  For 99% of the applications out there,
<ele> is all you need.  If you care about geoid height, your GPS will
be happy to tell you the current value, and GPX has a place for you to
store it.

s> 3.  I don't understand <bounds> - what does a bounding rectangle do?

<bounds> is an optional tag which specifies the geographic area
covered by the data in the file.  Imagine that someone wrote a search
engine for GPX files, and you were using it to find all GPX data in
the UK.  If the <bounds> tag was present, the search engine could
quickly determine if the GPX file overlapped any part of the UK.  If
the <bounds> tag wasn't there, the search engine would have to test
each waypoint, route point, and track point in the GPX file to see if
any of them were located inside the UK.

We added a number of metadata tags (<bounds>, <keywords>, etc) to the
main <GPX> element to describe the GPX file to search engines,
websites, and other programs.

Of course, all of the tags discussed above are optional in GPX, so you
can ignore them if your application doesn't need them.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions about GPX!
--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

Hi,

Just for the benefit of us lurkers,
Anybody working towards SVG display of the GPX data?
How about XLST conversion from GPX to SVG? (or conversion w/o xlst ?)

Where I'm coming from:
Ok when I got my program downloading data from my Garmin
I went looking for a storage format I wouldn't have to invent.
I was hoping for something XML related - I found this group and GPX.
I read though all the messages in the archives, thought about it and
figured I've got nothing to lose and much to gain.
So now my program reads and writes GPX files. And supports drag and drop
of waypoints/routes/tracks from one GPX file to another.
(it's a hack - I'm parsing the XML in VB myself and I'm sure it'll break
eventually :)

One of the things on my 'shopping list' was displaying the GPS/GPX data in
a graphical format. (on a web page - not a window's picture box)
I go looking at the few sites with GPX samples and I find they show mostly
text/HTML
representations of the data. Some may have GPX information overlaid on JPG's
...
but that's not quite what I'm looking for.
I don't want to dust off my Flash/SWF writing code so, I take a look at SVG
instead.
(it's already XML and I didn't want to add another 20 classes to my project
anyway :)
I've zero experience with XSLT but I'm not shy of VB :) so now my GPX files can
be exported as SVG. (well actually they're 'your' GPX files :)
Kinda simple and clumsy SVG right now but it's early days.

Before I go off charging further down this avenue I figured I should touch base
and find out what the concensus on that avenue is.
My avenue leads to GPX integrated with other content into web pages.
GPX data displayed as SVG in one frame with media content displayed in other
frames.
Click on a waypoint and up comes a picture or pano or web page.
I'm toying with ideas for GPX display in a psuedo/virtual GPS ... (think Flash
thingy's)
with pannable maps and searchable content. At least that's the plan/dream ...

Anybody have any suggestions or comments on all that?

Think that's enough for my first post ...

- Les Johnson

PS: Thanks Dan, Kjeld, et al for all the work you've put into making GPX a real
thing.

Hello,

Wednesday, September 18, 2002, 5:59:12 AM, Les wrote:

L> Just for the benefit of us lurkers,
L> Anybody working towards SVG display of the GPX data?
L> How about XLST conversion from GPX to SVG? (or conversion w/o xlst ?)

L> Where I'm coming from:
L> Ok when I got my program downloading data from my Garmin
L> I went looking for a storage format I wouldn't have to invent.
L> I was hoping for something XML related - I found this group and GPX.
L> I read though all the messages in the archives, thought about it and
L> figured I've got nothing to lose and much to gain.
L> So now my program reads and writes GPX files. And supports drag and drop
L> of waypoints/routes/tracks from one GPX file to another.
L> (it's a hack - I'm parsing the XML in VB myself and I'm sure it'll break
L> eventually :)

L> One of the things on my 'shopping list' was displaying the GPS/GPX data in
L> a graphical format. (on a web page - not a window's picture box)
L> I go looking at the few sites with GPX samples and I find they show mostly
L> text/HTML
L> representations of the data. Some may have GPX information overlaid on JPG's
L> ...
L> but that's not quite what I'm looking for.
L> I don't want to dust off my Flash/SWF writing code so, I take a look at SVG
L> instead.
L> (it's already XML and I didn't want to add another 20 classes to my project
L> anyway :)
L> I've zero experience with XSLT but I'm not shy of VB :) so now my GPX files
can
L> be exported as SVG. (well actually they're 'your' GPX files :)
L> Kinda simple and clumsy SVG right now but it's early days.

L> Before I go off charging further down this avenue I figured I should touch
base
L> and find out what the concensus on that avenue is.
L> My avenue leads to GPX integrated with other content into web pages.
L> GPX data displayed as SVG in one frame with media content displayed in other
L> frames.
L> Click on a waypoint and up comes a picture or pano or web page.
L> I'm toying with ideas for GPX display in a psuedo/virtual GPS ... (think
Flash
L> thingy's)
L> with pannable maps and searchable content. At least that's the plan/dream ...

L> Anybody have any suggestions or comments on all that?

L> Think that's enough for my first post ...

L> - Les Johnson

L> PS: Thanks Dan, Kjeld, et al for all the work you've put into making GPX a
real
L> thing.

Yes, I'm starting to look at SVG as well.

For anyone who doesn't know about Scalable Vector Graphics, it's an
XML language for controlling the display and positioning of text and
graphics.  It's like Flash, only XML-based.  Adobe makes a free SVG
plugin for your web browser, and it's likely that future browsers will
have SVG support built-in.

Some SVG links:
http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html
http://www.adobe.com/svg/basics/intro.html

GPS tracking with SVG:
http://www.svgopen.org/papers/2002/bennett__gps_tracking_with_svg/

The Bennett demo is worth checking out.  It simulates tracking a car
through Minnesota, and lets you zoom in on maps to get a more detailed
view of any part of the state.

Here's what I've been doing with SVG:
Eventually, I'd like to be able to transform any GPX file into an SVG
map using XSLT.  Since I'm still getting up to speed on SVG and XSLT,
I decided to start by hacking up ExpertGPS to export SVG files
directly.  Once I get that working to my liking, I'll try to create an
XSL transform that converts my GPX output to match my SVG output.

A few general questions:
Does anyone know of a tool, preferably a freeware Win32 app, that will
take a generic XML file, transform it with a generic XSL file, and
output the transformed XML?  This seems like a basic development tool,
but I haven't been able to find one.

My initial attempt to create an XSL file that would transform XML to
SVG failed because Internet Explorer wouldn't recognise the result as
an SVG stream and wouldn't pass it to the Adobe plugin.  Anyone know a
way to do this, preferably without any server-side processing?

I'll try to put up some sample SVG maps in the next week or so.  The
Export SVG functionality will be in the next beta release of
ExpertGPS.

Anyone else using SVG, or interested in working together on a GPX->SVG
converter?

--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

Thanks for your help, appreciated.. SJG

--- In gpsxml@y..., Dan Foster <egroups@t...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sunday, September 15, 2002, 12:18:35 PM, Steve wrote:
>
> s> I would be grateful to anyone who can help me with these points:
>
> s> 1.  Is there a gpx convention for describing longitude and
> s> latitude position formats, for instance hddd mm ss s, hddd mm mm,
> s> British Grid, UTM, etc.  Without this field, how does a gpx file
> s> describe the type of position format of this data?
>
> GPX is a data transfer format, not a display format.  GPX always uses
> WGS84 datum, decimal degrees.  This ensures that every GPX program
> knows how to interpret the lat/lon values they receive from the GPX
> file.
>
> GPX-enabled programs can display the GPX data they receive in any
> format they wish.  For example, if a GPS Utility user in the UK opened
> a GPX file I saved with EasyGPS, it would display in British Grid
> coordinates (assuming that was the display format set in GPS Utility)
> even though EasyGPS and GPX know nothing about British Grid.
>
> By the way, this is the way your GPS receiver works - all data is
> stored in WGS84 datum internally, and it gets converted to your
> favorite datum and grid format for display purposes.
>
> s> 2.  What is the difference between <ele> and <geoid>?
>
> <ele> Elevation - I didn't define this very precisely in the
> documentation.  It means what you think it means - the height, in
> meters above mean sea level, of an object.
>
> <geoidheight> Height, in meters, of WGS-84 earth ellipsoid above mean
> sea level at the point. (This value is useful if you're processing the
> NMEA GGA message)
>
> Why do we have both?  Kjeld (CetusGPS) wanted to be able to express
> all of the data in the standard NMEA messages in GPX.  Geoid Height
> was needed for that purpose.  For 99% of the applications out there,
> <ele> is all you need.  If you care about geoid height, your GPS will
> be happy to tell you the current value, and GPX has a place for you to
> store it.
>
> s> 3.  I don't understand <bounds> - what does a bounding rectangle do?
>
> <bounds> is an optional tag which specifies the geographic area
> covered by the data in the file.  Imagine that someone wrote a search
> engine for GPX files, and you were using it to find all GPX data in
> the UK.  If the <bounds> tag was present, the search engine could
> quickly determine if the GPX file overlapped any part of the UK.  If
> the <bounds> tag wasn't there, the search engine would have to test
> each waypoint, route point, and track point in the GPX file to see if
> any of them were located inside the UK.
>
> We added a number of metadata tags (<bounds>, <keywords>, etc) to the
> main <GPX> element to describe the GPX file to search engines,
> websites, and other programs.
>
> Of course, all of the tags discussed above are optional in GPX, so you
> can ignore them if your application doesn't need them.
>
> I hope this helps answer some of your questions about GPX!
> --
> Dan Foster
> TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
> http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@t...

> A few general questions:
> Does anyone know of a tool, preferably a freeware Win32 app, that
will
> take a generic XML file, transform it with a generic XSL file, and
> output the transformed XML?  This seems like a basic development
tool,
> but I haven't been able to find one.

Yup. On MSDN you'll find msxsl.exe, a command line tool that will do
this. The syntax is

msxsl generic.xml generic.xsl -o transformed.xml

Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?
URL=/code/sample.asp?url=/msdn-files/027/001/485/msdncompositedoc.xml

or, in case Yahoo munged the URL, just search msdn on "msxsl.exe" -
one result is returned.

Binary and source is available for download.

Don

--- In gpsxml@y..., Dan Foster <egroups@t...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Anyone else using SVG, or interested in working together on a GPX-
>SVG
> converter?
>
I'm interested in using SVG, but with a slightly different twist.
I'd like to use the SVG coordinate transform as a way of
Georeferencing basemaps. SVG requires that both PNG and JPEG image
types be supported. What I'd do is publish a GPX file with a
reference to the SVG basemap, which in turn would reference either
PNG or JPEG image data. The SVG and associated JPEG/PNG data would
be output by the program at the time that the GPX file was written.

This SVG basemap data would serve as a sort of universal screen dump
of the GPX file. I think that the basemap could also include the
vector representation of the GPX trails in SVG format, or the trail
could be output without the SVG.

I don't have the time to develop this idea in the next few months
because of both employment and continuing education.

But I'm very interested in SVG as a method of representing image
data (of all kinds.)

Dave


> --
> Dan Foster
> TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
> http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@t...

Hi, Crew.

I've not (yet) asked the user whence said file came, but it's an
interesting question.   What localization is legal in a GPX file?
Is "1.00001" treated identically to "1,00001"?

I'm handing the data to sscanf which claims to be able to handle this.
But before I get into bits and bytes with the user, I'd like help
determing what exactly is legal in this regard in well-formed GPX.

Assume that "gpx" in his question below means my implementation of
the GPX reader in gpsbabel via expat and not the actual file format.

Thanx,
RJL





> To: "Robert Lipe" <robertlipe@...>
>
>    A  friend in the Netherlands tested a pre-release of gpsbabel with
>    holux support, but the program didn't work for him.
>
>    After I looked at his files I found  the problem.
>
>    The gpx file he created used "," as a decimal point.
>
>    In most European countries ","  (comma) is the decimal point and gpx
>    cant work with it.
>
>    Is there a way ( like an option or better two options, one for input
>    and one for output ) to implement this into gpsbabel?


----

Gpsbabel now supports Garmin and Windows.   See http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net

Hello,

Sunday, September 22, 2002, 10:39:13 PM, Robert wrote:

R> Hi, Crew.

R> I've not (yet) asked the user whence said file came, but it's an
R> interesting question.   What localization is legal in a GPX file?
R> Is "1.00001" treated identically to "1,00001"?

R> I'm handing the data to sscanf which claims to be able to handle this.
R> But before I get into bits and bytes with the user, I'd like help
R> determing what exactly is legal in this regard in well-formed GPX.

A quick check with SAXCount.exe shows that lat="1,0001" contains
invalid characters for the latitudeType defined in GPX.xsd

If you have a question about whether some GPX data is valid, your
first step should be to check the validator.  That's what it's for.
http://www.topografix.com/gpx_validation.asp

--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

Hello,

Several of us are working on programs that can use a bitmap image as a
basemap.  I'd like to start a discussion about exchanging map
calibration information using GPX.  I've included a sample XML snippet
below, which shows the "gpxmap" structure that I've been using as a
prototype.  The <mappt> structures hold the georeferencing information
- they associate a lat/lon coordinate pair with a specific pixel
location on the map.

<gpxmap:map url="D:\MyMaps\SampleMap.jpg">
  <name>Hiking Trails in the Middlesex Fells Reservation</name>
  <mappt lat="42.449383000" lon="-71.086467000" x="342.0" y="117.0"/>
  <mappt lat="42.443667000" lon="-71.072100000" x="877.0" y="403.0"/>
  <mappt lat="42.437933000" lon="-71.082850000" x="479.0" y="692.0"/>
</gpxmap:map>

Is anyone else interested in creating a public definition for map
calibration information?

--
Dan Foster
TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@...

--- In gpsxml@y..., Dan Foster <egroups@t...> wrote:
>  I'd like to start a discussion about exchanging map
> calibration information using GPX.

How about using the "world file" specs instead of creating another
format or "standard"?
  Aerial photographs and scanned topo-maps in JPG and TIFF format are
georeferenced using six numbers that describe the pixel size, the
latitude/longitude of the southwest corner, and the rotation of the
image (usually zero). The units used are UTM meters, so it should be
easy to plot GPS data over the image. The graphics would be in a
format compatible with other graphics and GIS projects. World files
have the extentions JGW and TFW.
  Terraserver delivers images and "world files" in this format.

Kevin Haywood

--- In gpsxml@y..., Dan Foster <egroups@t...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Several of us are working on programs that can use a bitmap image
as a
> basemap.  I'd like to start a discussion about exchanging map
> calibration information using GPX.  I've included a sample XML
snippet
> below, which shows the "gpxmap" structure that I've been using as a
> prototype.  The <mappt> structures hold the georeferencing
information
> - they associate a lat/lon coordinate pair with a specific pixel
> location on the map.
>
> <gpxmap:map url="D:\MyMaps\SampleMap.jpg">
>  <name>Hiking Trails in the Middlesex Fells Reservation</name>
>  <mappt lat="42.449383000" lon="-71.086467000" x="342.0"
y="117.0"/>
>  <mappt lat="42.443667000" lon="-71.072100000" x="877.0"
y="403.0"/>
>  <mappt lat="42.437933000" lon="-71.082850000" x="479.0"
y="692.0"/>
> </gpxmap:map>
>
> Is anyone else interested in creating a public definition for map
> calibration information?
>
> --
> Dan Foster
> TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps
> http://www.topografix.com - mailto:egroups@t...

I think that the concept could be extended to include other metadata
as well. I published 50 copies of Wissenbach map, but I couldn't get
too much of Idaho on one CD. I'd like to convert my DRG files to PNG
files. (Pretty easy, just run tif2png), but I lose the metadata
necessary to georeference. A format like this one would let me put
the georeference information back. But I think that other metadata
might be useful as well.

This is probably way more complicated than what you're thinking, but
consider a PNG or JPEG format replacement for geotiff as a use case.
I prefer to use PNG because the compression is lossless, but I'd use
JPEG if I had to.