Software to do more with my tracks

Discussion in 'GPS Software' started by Mabel, May 27, 2017.

  1. Mabel

    Mabel

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    Hi I'm new here so I'm probably asking some dumb questions, but I assure you I really spent time trying to find answers on the web and failed.
    Since a few years now I've been 'tracking' tours and walks on my phone. All very nice, but I've always thought I could do a lote more with these data.
    So, I'm looking for software enabling me to do just that but I couldn't find anything which even remotely comes close to what I imagined. My fault no doubt - I hope for some tips here!

    I'll describe what I ideally would which for (but of course tips for anything less sophisticated are very welcome!)

    - A 'Central Storage' for all track-info we gathered over the years from various devices. Preferably with the option to organise the tracks in groups, rename them etc. (The option to import the organisation of tracks from an app would be a boon.)
    - Visualising the tracks depicted on downloaded maps (preferably maps from the Open Streetmaps projects, but I' not choosy.)
    - Coupling photographs (and video's?) to the track. As both .jpg and .gpx contain date&time info, this should be a cinch.
    This demands, of course, that a well organised (and stable) picture archive is available. (Doesn't seem much of a problem to me.)

    Some extra whishes:
    - Editing tracks. (Notably: cutting of the tail, where I forgot to stop tracking. Possibly also 'smoothing' tracks, but that's less important for my purposes.)
    - Importing 'Way Points', with accompanying texts and photographs.
    - Adding Way points
    - Adding texts (to a way point and/or, somewhat more sophisticated, in the form of a daily log.)
    - Ideally the software should allow writing back the geo-information as obtained from the track to the .jpg- files. (This because many serious amateurs work with camera's which have no GPS-option and also because the GPS-info is often coming in much too late if you forgot to activate GPS beforehand.)
    - Not just .jpg's, but also MP4-video's could conceivably be (automatically) coupled to tracks.

    Evidently, software should be available to display all of this information. It could look something like what Google does (click somewhere on the map and see the pictures and other extra info) or maybe something more suited to 'a presentation at home'. (With more stress on personal notes, for instance.)

    One step further: if all the info (tracks, notes, photo's, video's) is in a central place (no doubt some kind of database will be necessary) it seems a cinch to add extra options for searching and making selections from tracks, including the relevant texts and pictures. E.g. something like 'all walks from the 2016 holiday' or all tracks in the vicinity of a certain point; preferably in different colours according to date.

    Most enjoyable would be a 'show' of diary texts followed by the appropriate photographs and/or video-clips.
    Also, a question like "What was I doing on May 23 2013?" should easy to answer for the software, if only in the form "I've no idea what you were doing on May 23, 2013, but I DO know you were here on May 19 and here on May 30." With, of course, all pics, clips and texts readily available.

    It all seems possible with current technology; it even doesn't look very complicated to make - so this kind of software must be out there somewhere. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
    Tanx! Mabel
     
    Mabel, May 27, 2017
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  2. Mabel

    Nuvi-Nebie Moderator

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    It is possible to do most if not all you require using free to download software, however, you may have to use more than one program to cover all your needs, I would start by downloading Garmin Basecamp for Windows / Mac, this program is free to download and was obviously written to support Garmin products, however it will import/export files in GPX format, it will handle Tracks, Routes and waypoints contained in GPX format, once in Basecamp, tracks can be edited, joined, re-named etc., Basecamp normally uses maps it finds on the Garmin devices connected to the computer, however you can download free Open Street Maps free of charge and use them with this program, (See link HERE), it is also possible to export tracks in KML format and then view the track in Google Earth

    For the Geotagging of photos, I would recommend :-
    http://geotag.sourceforge.net/
    This program will take in a GPX track and a series of digital photos and add a GPS co-ordinates to the photos by matching the time of the photo to the time in the GPX track information, the GPS time will always be correct (atomic clock time), it is possible to enter a time offset for photos as the time on digital cameras is usually inaccurate, the result is a set of photos that are Geo-tagged, you can also export a KML file so that your photos/locations can be viewed on Google Earth
     
    Nuvi-Nebie, May 27, 2017
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  3. Mabel

    Mabel

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    This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for! Thankx a lot; I'm gonna try it.
    Mabel
     
    Mabel, May 28, 2017
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