Understanding tracks

[shacker23]

Hi all - I'm just getting started, and am having a bit of trouble getting the Tracks feature to work the way I would expect it to work (I have a Legend CX).

 

I would expect that I could say "Start tracking" when I set out and then "Stop tracking" at the end of my hike, and that I would get an independent, named track for future reference.

 

What actually happens is that when I save a track, it's appended to the previous track, even if I toggle the On/Off switch in the track interface. If I bike to work and save a nice 5 mile track, then bike home again and save that track, the 2nd track registers 10 miles, and shows up as a double line when I export the .gpx file.

 

I feel like I'm missing something really obvious here - there must be a simple way to make tracks independent of each other. The manual says you can save a "partial" track by clicking on start and end points, but that's really unwieldy and unintuitive - all I want is to be able to tell it when to start and when to stop tracking, and have it be a discrete unit, not appended to previous tracks.

 

Or is this just the nature of the beast?

 

Thanks,

Scot

[+StarBrand]

What software are you using to "view" the track? I have used the Garmin "trip and waypoint" manager software and it saves each track as an independent piece. Only software I have ever tried it with.

[+Chuy!]

You needs to pull out the manual, or wait for someone more knowledgeable to respond.

 

My tracks in my 60cs and Etrex Vista behave quite differently. Just turning the unit on and off creates independent tracks. Also turning the tracks on and off.

 

I do know that MapSource allows you to copy and paste track points to customize a track route. First create a copy of the tracks (gotta change the name after copying it); then Right-click on a track and select PROPERTIES. Then simply delete the coords.

[+Miragee]

I'm not sure this will exactly answer your question, but this is what I do. Whenever I get back from a caching adventure, I download the tracks and waypoints to my Mapsource maps on my computer. I never save the tracks on my GPSr.

 

In Mapsource, I use the tools to edit the tracks down to the exact point I started on the hike and the point I returned to my car. This is what the tracks and profile look for a recent hike I made.

 

 

When I was returning to a challenging area, the Domelands region of the desert, I opened the saved track from a previous visit to that area, copied it to a new instance of Mapsource, edited the points down a bit, and uploaded that to my GPSr so I could follow those tracks for the new adventure.

 

I understand if you save the tracks on the GPSr you lose a lot of information.

[+michigansnorkelers]

Does your GPSr unit allow you to SAVE separate tracks?

 

In your examples, did you really save two separate tracks, or simply turn the track off for a while, then turn the same track on again later?

 

With my Garmin GPSMap60cs, I find that I must SAVE the first track.

 

If I simply turn the track off, then drive 30 miles away, and then turn the track feature on again, it will connect a straight line from the end of my first track to the beginning of my new track, as if this were a continuation of the same track. If I saved the first track, this doesn't happen.

[shacker23]

Wow, what an amazing community this is.

 

michigansnorkeler: Yes, the Legend lets you save separate tracks, and that's what I did, but it STILL appends them to one another, which kind of stinks IMO.

 

Others here are recommending doing all of this in software such as MapSource, but that's what I'm hoping to avoid - first because it's a pain to try and locate a Windows machine and Garmin still hasn't released much in the way of Mac software (I've spent the past five years getting all of my family, all of my clients, and my entire school off Windows and onto the Mac, only to enter the GPS world which turns out to be completely Windows-centric; I do have an old Windows laptop in the closet, but am not eager to haul it out every time I want to edit a track) and second because it just doesn't make any *sense* that tracks should be appended to each other even after saving the previous one - I feel like I must be missing something, but maybe that's just the way the unit is programmed.

 

I'll try turning the unit on and off and see if that helps.

 

Thanks all for the great responses.

[+Chuy!]

I'm waiting for delivery of my new Venture Cx, the Legend's little brother. I will check this out and report back.

[shacker23]

Today I realized that when you select "Clear all tracks," it will give you a clean break. I had previously not wanted to select that because I thought it would also clear my saved tracks. But it actually leaves saved tracks intact and just clears the current track log. Not a perfect solution, but it makes this process a lot easier (if you only want to work with a single track).

 

Found my first cache today! (GCHTEQ)

[+French.]

Hi all - I'm just getting started, and am having a bit of trouble getting the Tracks feature to work the way I would expect it to work (I have a Legend CX).

 

I would expect that I could say "Start tracking" when I set out and then "Stop tracking" at the end of my hike, and that I would get an independent, named track for future reference.

 

What actually happens is that when I save a track, it's appended to the previous track, even if I toggle the On/Off switch in the track interface. If I bike to work and save a nice 5 mile track, then bike home again and save that track, the 2nd track registers 10 miles, and shows up as a double line when I export the .gpx file.

 

I feel like I'm missing something really obvious here - there must be a simple way to make tracks independent of each other. The manual says you can save a "partial" track by clicking on start and end points, but that's really unwieldy and unintuitive - all I want is to be able to tell it when to start and when to stop tracking, and have it be a discrete unit, not appended to previous tracks.

 

Or is this just the nature of the beast?

 

Thanks,

Scot

 

I'm so glad you started this thread. I've been pretty confused on how tracks are supposed to work, too. I'm going to subscribe to this thread.

 

One thing I've struggled with is in Mapsource, trying to connect two tracks. It's probably just my stupidity, but I don't want a straight line between them that shoots through the middle of nowhere. I'm sure I just need to play with it some more.

[+jackrock]

Today I realized that when you select "Clear all tracks," it will give you a clean break. I had previously not wanted to select that because I thought it would also clear my saved tracks. But it actually leaves saved tracks intact and just clears the current track log. Not a perfect solution, but it makes this process a lot easier (if you only want to work with a single track).

 

Found my first cache today! (GCHTEQ)

 

That's exactly how the Venture Cx works. Just clear the track in memory when you start out and then save the track when you've finished. You can name it whatever you want. Any previously saved tracks are not affected by clearing the memory.

[+GO Team K.]

Or is this just the nature of the beast?

 

 

Scott, two great thing about GPX files is that they are xml, and that they can contain multiple tracks, waypoints etc within the one file.

What really sucks is the lack of editing software for the Mac. Unfortunately I have to use my work windows laptop to run mapsource so I can load the GPX file and then select which track I want to save.

 

Be careful with saving your logs on the gps itself, most garmins will reduce the resolution of the track (generalise the points) when you save the track. It's much better to pull off the active log which retains the original resolution. As a test save the active log and then pull off both the saved log and the active and compare them.

[shacker23]

Wow - I had no idea track resolution was generalized on save. That's disappointing. But thanks for the headsup on that. I wonder why they do that - these XML files are miniscule amounts of data.

[+French.]

There is also an option to save the tracks to a card. From what I can tell it saves a new file each day (if you had any tracks that day). The tracks don't clear, though, until you manually clear them. And if you manually save a track it saves in the menu (not the card).

 

I hope that made sense.

[+Chuy!]

... Others here are recommending doing all of this in software such as MapSource, but that's what I'm hoping to avoid - first because it's a pain to try and locate a Windows machine and Garmin still hasn't released much in the way of Mac software (I've spent the past five years getting all of my family, all of my clients, and my entire school off Windows and onto the Mac, only to enter the GPS world which turns out to be completely Windows-centric; I do have an old Windows laptop in the closet, but am not eager to haul it out every time I want to edit a track) and second because it just doesn't make any *sense* that tracks should be appended to each other even after saving the previous one - I feel like I must be missing something, but maybe that's just the way the unit is programmed. ...

I got my new Venture Cx and, as promised, I took a peek at tracks and now understand better this 'lil issue.

 

And I think I have the solution:

 

When you go to save a track log, select that you do NOT want to save the entire track. You will be directed to your map page centered on entire unsaved track. On the bottom you are directed to select the beginning point for the saved track; then to select the ending point. You can then change the settings for your saved track. It's that simple! Your arrow don't even need to be pinpoint accuracy - as soon as you press on the toggle switch, a start/end point is created nearest the track.