How do I open a GPX file????

[Quetzal]

I see that some of you guys are posting gpx files with waypoints for Garmin GPS's, but after dowloading them I haven't been able to open them with my Garmin software.

I'm no geek here, so bear with me, I'm all

[joelwebb]

[quote=Quetzal01]I see that some of you guys are posting gpx files with waypoints for Garmin GPS's, but after dowloading them I haven't been able to open them with my Garmin software.


I use LOC2WPT to convert .loc, .gpx or .csv files to be compatable with Garmins Mapsource. This freeware is available at the following link:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mdipol/gps/

[Quetzal]

Thanks

[eap]

Did it work Quetzal? My Garmin software opens GPX files with no problem. I use Mapsource 6.9.1, CityNavigator v7.

[MakMan]

All I had to do when I clicked on Open was change the file type from the default type to the GPX extension. The file opened straight up.

Not that I'll be driving from Knoxville, TN to Daytona any time soon but now I know I can grab GPX files if I want to.

[Kieth]

I have found a lot of conversion software but none that would converts these gdb files to the correct ones for my Baja 480C ?? any suggestions??

[ted.reinhard]

A great way to visualize gpx tracks (even in 3D!) is this online service:
http://www.maplorer.com/view_gpx_3D.html

Originally Posted by Quetzal

I see that some of you guys are posting gpx files with waypoints for Garmin GPS's, but after dowloading them I haven't been able to open them with my Garmin software.

I'm no geek here, so bear with me, I'm all

[EmmEff]

Originally Posted by Kieth

I have found a lot of conversion software but none that would converts these gdb files to the correct ones for my Baja 480C ?? any suggestions??

If GPSBabel can't do it, then it probably can't be done. If that's the case, you might want to seek out something that will convert gdb to GPX and then GPX to your GPS' native format.

[Jäger]

As a general comment, all .gpx files are not created equal. The .gpx standard is apparently not as standard as many would hope. We have found, for example, that not all shapefiles converted to .gpx can be opened by MapSource - they just fail. But if you use something like DNR Garmin to load the troublesome shapefile into the GPS as a .gpx file, then download that same .gpx file that MapSource wouldn't open standalone into MapSource... then MapSource sees it fine and can work with it.

It often has to do with headers and extraneous characters. But the bottom line is that not all .gpx files are created equal. Some won't open and it isn't because you're doing anything wrong.

[EmmEff]

If you or the original poster can identify the differences (or send an example of a file that doesn't open), I'd be happy to write an app/script to massage the XML output in such a way that it'd be compatible with MapSource.

[Jäger]

Originally Posted by EmmEff

If you or the original poster can identify the differences (or send an example of a file that doesn't open), I'd be happy to write an app/script to massage the XML output in such a way that it'd be compatible with MapSource.

I'm away from home right now so I'll have to remember to come back to this when I return. I'll drop you a PM.

I don't think I have any of the troublesome .gpx files anymore, but I think I can remember the project those shapefiles came from. Some GIS guys in the modelling and customization end of things (think: coders) were explaining where the errors were usually found that caused MapSource to choke. Their solution, if I remember correctly, involved stripping out the author and time tags, and doing a search and replace to replace all epth> gpxxepth and gpxx:temperature tags with nothing.

I didn't test any of that. It's rare for me to go shapefile to .gpx - usually I'm going the other way - so loading a shapefile into a Garmin via DNR Garmin and then exporting the file from the Garmin to MapSource was simply a lot easier.epth>

[EmmEff]

I work with XML almost everyday as part of my job, so it's nothing for me to write some code to remove tags/attributes/elements that are causing problems.

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by Quetzal

I see that some of you guys are posting gpx files with waypoints for Garmin GPS's, but after dowloading them I haven't been able to open them with my Garmin software.

What "Garmin software"? If it is Mapsource on PC should be no problem.

You should not have to "download", just double click file, then choose "open" with Mapsource straight off the internet. If you like it then click "save as" and save it as .gdp, with name you like, in place you like.

Is your PC set to use Mapsource as default program for .gpx?

[ted.reinhard]

I totally agree, the formats are often different for different softwares producing the gpx files. The web site I mentioned above ( http://maplorer.com/view_gpx.html ) does a pretty good job parsing different variants.

Of course it won't catch all possibilities, either, but you should give it a try.

Originally Posted by Jäger

As a general comment, all .gpx files are not created equal. The .gpx standard is apparently not as standard as many would hope. We have found, for example, that not all shapefiles converted to .gpx can be opened by MapSource - they just fail. But if you use something like DNR Garmin to load the troublesome shapefile into the GPS as a .gpx file, then download that same .gpx file that MapSource wouldn't open standalone into MapSource... then MapSource sees it fine and can work with it.

It often has to do with headers and extraneous characters. But the bottom line is that not all .gpx files are created equal. Some won't open and it isn't because you're doing anything wrong.