GPS Tracks

[kiwipete]

Well, aside from how the system is made to work, I have the following tracks on file for anyone who wants to use them.
These are in TXT format, suited to NZMapped GPS mapping software only.
If you want any of them, PM me please.

Banks Peninsula tracks, Ladies day drive
Banks Peninsula, Paper roads (Takamatua and Robinsons Bay)
Gore Bay
Lake Sumner
Montgomerie Hut
Motunau Bay
Mt Torlese
Napoleons Hill
No Name Rd
Rakaia Gorge to Burnham, Paper Roads
Rapaki Track
Worsleys Spur
Clay Range and Pinnacles, Colleridge area
Lees Valley
Waipara River
Ahuriri Rd, Motukara
Ashley/Okuku Rivers
Ashley River, Gorge to rangiora
Beach Run, Sumner to Waipara
Mt Benger Station
Big River
Huntsbury track
Pahau and Huruni Rivers
Mt Winterslow Station
Akaroa and Bossu Rd
Molesworth
Lake Tennyson
Kowhai River, Amberley area
McDonald Downs, Lions club fundraiser
Poulter river
Beckenham Hills, St Andrews fundraiser
Selwyn River
Kaiwara Rd and Random Spur Rd

There may be a couple of others too somewhere.

[Azza]

I have created an online application that allows users to easily upload, browse and share GPS tracks...

http://projects.warpedcow.com/gpstracks/

At the moment it will only allow .gpx files to be uploaded, if you have GPS data in another format, you can convert them to .gpx format using GPSBabel;
http://www.gpsbabel.org/

If there is enough interest I will extend the application to include automatic maps, descriptions, track difficulty, ratings and such... this is, as Mark has mentioned, a pretty big job requiring some serious man hours to complete. There is much to consider about just how to make it all 'fit' together.... suggestions and comments welcome

Az

[Swaney]

Ah yeah! Good work Azza!

[Jerry]

Just a suggestion , can you include Landowner contact details, area's to keep off, if a permit and or insurance is required, area's that we can play in.

[wjw]

Just a suggestion , can you include Landowner contact details, area's to keep off, if a permit and or insurance is required, area's that we can play in.

I think the privacy act might be an issue with that, specially as the site is public access at the moment.

[Azza]

Just a suggestion , can you include Landowner contact details, area's to keep off, if a permit and or insurance is required, area's that we can play in.

I think the privacy act might be an issue with that, specially as the site is public access at the moment.

I had considered including a field that shows the land access status of a paticular track;

-Public=Everyone Can Access.
-Private=No Access!
-Restricted=Special Conditions Or Permission Must Be Granted.

If the field was set to restricted, The user could include contact details of who would grant permission to gain access (I assume that the person posting the track info would have knowledge and permission to do this).... but I haven't even really gotten to that stage of the project yet and nothing is set in stone.

As for privacy I was wondering about that and will have to do more investigation... I would expect that it would be considered in the same way as someone mentioning a persons name within a forum post.

And of course the tracks, when browsed, could be filtered appropriately, ie: non-members don't see private or restricted tracks in the list

[kiwipete]

At the moment it will only allow .gpx files to be uploaded, if you have GPS data in another format, you can convert them to .gpx format using GPSBabel

No good for me with NZMapped GPS txt files as its not supported.

[Azza]

At the moment it will only allow .gpx files to be uploaded, if you have GPS data in another format, you can convert them to .gpx format using GPSBabel

No good for me with NZMapped GPS txt files as its not supported.

Sorry kiwipete, wasn't trying to exclude you on purpose

I believe Polymedia are not even supporting their own software any longer... I wasn't aware it was still used.

How many people on here still use NZMapped GPS?... If it's still widely used for uploading and downloading directly to your GPS unit, I will consider building in support for that file type in the final application

[albundy]

At the moment, this is all beyond me, but then that's not surprising. I will have to sit down and play with it to see if I can use it. You running any tutorials in CHCH pete
Al

[wjw]

The user could include contact details of who would grant permission to gain access (I assume that the person posting the track info would have knowledge and permission to do this).... but I haven't even really gotten to that stage of the project yet and nothing is set in stone.

Legally the site operator will need permission from the land owner to hold/publish their contact details. You could call them and ask?

[4wdnuts]

i stumbled across this website this morning. is this the sort of thing you visualised for the gps tracks?

http://magnalox.net/

[Azza]

i stumbled across this website this morning. is this the sort of thing you visualised for the gps tracks?

http://magnalox.net/

Yup well, the mapping part of it anyway...

The vision I have in my mind at the moment would be most similar to an online, interactive version of a page out of Ken Sibly's 4x4 book.

Members would be able to create their own tracks using data from their personal gps unit, post the data online along with track descriptions, difficulty ratings, comments and photos etc... Other users could then browse these tracks, view them and also download the track data to their personal gps unit so that they can then re-trace the steps of the original poster...

I expect users to be able to also download track data into their own mapping/viewing software too, like google earth for example (just in case they don't have a gps unit)

Tracks could be browsed by certain criteria, if someone was planning a trip to the 'other' island they could easily filter the results to show only tracks of a paticular difficulty and in a certain region...

When users are viewing tracks online, along with descriptions and such, they would also see a nice interactive map of the track that would be overlayed on top of satellite imagery (via google map)... users would be able to rate the 'coolness' of any track and submit comments about it too.

This is very much a 'work-in-progress'... there is a lot to consider, the technology is pretty straight forward (well, most of it... the xml parsing and conversion to other formats is kinda complicated ), hopefully it shouldn't take too much before I can post a demo 'proof-of-concept' so that everyone here can actually see what it's all about and how it's going to work

Az

[Alan]

I have been recording all my 4WD trips over the years on my PDA with a GPS connected to it.
I would be very interested in swoping info about tracks.
I am not often online to this fourm so please keep me updated about devlopments about the data base.

[Mistralmadness]

This is a cool idea, any updates from you azza?
Any infomatiom would be great as i am embarking on alot of csmping trips and want to make a visual record of my trips for family/ friends to see.
Cheer, stevo

[kbushnz]

This is a cool idea, any updates from you azza?
Any infomatiom would be great as i am embarking on alot of csmping trips and want to make a visual record of my trips for family/ friends to see.
Cheer, stevo

Don't like your chances for an answer... this thread stopped in 2008... 5 years ago
And looking at Azza's profile the last time he visited the site was Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:06 pm

[snotgoblin]

Had a scan of this thread - searched ORE for GPS related info. I am a relative newbie to my GPS device. But learning fast.

Anyhow - what coordinate/datum system is best for use in NZ?

NZGD 2000?
WGS 84?
Good old Lat/Long?

I am picking that if I get a hold of some NZ Topo maps they will be in NZGD 2000? Or will they be NZTM?

The GPS inof that was on the Marlborough Clubs latest trip info made no sense to me in terms of how to enter it into my device. "GPS Co-ords 595663045E 5374167N" I know they are Eastings and Northings is about as far as I get. I found the place by driving there and when I added it as a way point in my GPS it came up as; 000663027E 005374144N using NZGD2000 datum.

Confused. Any help or guidance appreciated.