GPSMAP 60Cx - Log track to data card

[Laurontario]

Hello,

 

I was wondering, what is the benefit of logging the track to data card?

The manual says: 'Using this option allows you to record a large number of track points', but it doesn't say how many.

Normally, the unit can record tracks up to 10,000 points. Does it mean that if I enable this option I can record tracks with more than 10,000 points, up to the capacity of my card?

Anyone using this on their GPS?

Thanks,

 

Laurentiu

[+GPSlug]

Without logging to the data card turned on, the active tracks will be stored in the internal memory. When they get to 10,000 points, it will start deleting the older points so that you have the last 10,000 points.

 

When you turn on logging to the data card, it still saves the active tracks to internal memory the same way. But it also stores them to the data card as one GPX file, which may contain multiple tracks, per day. This will keep all your tracks, presumably until the memory card is full. But compared to map data, they don't take up much space at all.

 

But note that when you download tracks into MapSource, it's only getting the active tracks which max out at 10,000 points. To get the data card tracks, you need to set it as a USB mass storage device or use a card reader.

 

I think the main benefit is that, even if you are away from a computer for an extended time and hit the maximum, you can still retrieve all your tracks.

[+Prime Suspect]

I was wondering, what is the benefit of logging the track to data card?

This ability is very nice for geotagging your photos. When geocaching, I routinely clear my tracks so I have a clean map trail to follow back, should that be necessary. But it doesn't clear the card data, so the info is still there for geotagging purposes. And I don't even have to download the track data to do the geotagging, since the software can see the data card as just another drive, when I activate the USB Mass Drive.

[Laurontario]

This ability is very nice for geotagging your photos. When geocaching, I routinely clear my tracks so I have a clean map trail to follow back, should that be necessary. But it doesn't clear the card data, so the info is still there for geotagging purposes. And I don't even have to download the track data to do the geotagging, since the software can see the data card as just another drive, when I activate the USB Mass Drive.

 

Hey, Prime Suspect,

 

You read my mind! That's why I was asking...

I recently learned about geotagging. I was surprised to learn that I don't need an expensive camera or equipment to geotag my pictures: what I have is more than enough - a D80 plus a Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx. I already played a little bit and tagged a few photos, using the GeoSetter, which in my opinion works perfectly!

 

I was wondering, though: what Interval setting do you use on your GPS for recording tracks? I have mine on Auto but I fear that probably I would hit the max number of points that can be recorded (which is 10,000). Should I change this to distance?! I realize that if I put, let's say, every 0.01km (which is every 10m - say... 3ft), this would be enough for 100km (~60 miles). If I am on foot, that is more than enough, but if I travel by car, definitely not!

 

If I change it to Time and set it to every 10 seconds, then I would cover >27 hours. Probabky this would make more sense, since I was thinking about saving each track at the end of the day and start a fresh one the next day.

 

Then, I remembered this option, which, BTW, I have it enabled anyway! I wanted to know if this would allow me to record longer tracks. Since I carry my GPS with me almost everywhere, I could make use of this. This way I won't ask myself, five years later, where was I when I took this picture?!

[+Prime Suspect]

This ability is very nice for geotagging your photos. When geocaching, I routinely clear my tracks so I have a clean map trail to follow back, should that be necessary. But it doesn't clear the card data, so the info is still there for geotagging purposes. And I don't even have to download the track data to do the geotagging, since the software can see the data card as just another drive, when I activate the USB Mass Drive.

 

Hey, Prime Suspect,

 

You read my mind! That's why I was asking...

I recently learned about geotagging. I was surprised to learn that I don't need an expensive camera or equipment to geotag my pictures: what I have is more than enough - a D80 plus a Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx. I already played a little bit and tagged a few photos, using the GeoSetter, which in my opinion works perfectly!

 

I was wondering, though: what Interval setting do you use on your GPS for recording tracks? I have mine on Auto but I fear that probably I would hit the max number of points that can be recorded (which is 10,000). Should I change this to distance?! I realize that if I put, let's say, every 0.01km (which is every 10m - say... 3ft), this would be enough for 100km (~60 miles). If I am on foot, that is more than enough, but if I travel by car, definitely not!

 

If I change it to Time and set it to every 10 seconds, then I would cover >27 hours. Probabky this would make more sense, since I was thinking about saving each track at the end of the day and start a fresh one the next day.

 

Then, I remembered this option, which, BTW, I have it enabled anyway! I wanted to know if this would allow me to record longer tracks. Since I carry my GPS with me almost everywhere, I could make use of this. This way I won't ask myself, five years later, where was I when I took this picture?!

I leave it set on Auto. The tagging software I use (gPicSync) will look for the closest location timestamp up to 120 seconds from the picture timestamp. I've never had it fail at that setting, though I can change it to whatever time interval I want.

[+DanOCan]

The tagging software I use (gPicSync) will look for the closest location timestamp up to 120 seconds from the picture timestamp. I've never had it fail at that setting, though I can change it to whatever time interval I want.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the tip. I only started looking at geotagging my pictures a few weeks ago and, believe it or not, I had been doing it manually by snapping a waypoint everytime I stopped to take a picture. I tested gPicSync out today on a short cache run and it works WAY better.

 

I also didn't realize (after a full year of owning the unit!) that the track logs were being stored on the data card as GPX files, even as I clear and reset the Active Log repeatedly. Always nice when an old dog can learn a new trick.

[+Prime Suspect]

The tagging software I use (gPicSync) will look for the closest location timestamp up to 120 seconds from the picture timestamp. I've never had it fail at that setting, though I can change it to whatever time interval I want.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the tip. I only started looking at geotagging my pictures a few weeks ago and, believe it or not, I had been doing it manually by snapping a waypoint everytime I stopped to take a picture. I tested gPicSync out today on a short cache run and it works WAY better.

 

I also didn't realize (after a full year of owning the unit!) that the track logs were being stored on the data card as GPX files, even as I clear and reset the Active Log repeatedly. Always nice when an old dog can learn a new trick.

The Garmin stores each day's tracklog as a separate file. If you ever need to run gPicSync over multiple days, here's a trick. Just drop all the days' tracklogs into the program G7ToWin (freeware), and then save them as a single GPX file. You can now run that single file against all your pictures. Much easier than doing each day's separately.

Edited October 4, 2008 by Prime Suspect

[+Okiebryan]

Well now I guess I have a reason to reset the date and time in the camera every time I change batteries....