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Question about saving Track Log on GPSmap 60CSx


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I have a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx, and have some questions about Track Logs and Saving Track Logs.

 

Yesterday I was on a 12.8 mile hike and the Track Log takes up 21%, but of what? I have a 4 gig micro SD card in it, so with only 1992 points, I have a hard time believing that it occupies 21% of the micro SD card. If it references RAM, is there any way that I can have the software point to the micro SD card to place the track log before it is saved? When I hit "setup" on the track log screen, I get the option for "Data Card Setup". When I select, I see a new usage bar that shows only 1% used and a list of 7 gpx files with date stamps as names. Is there an autosave feature that drops each day's log to the micro SD? If so, how do I access these files? When I download to RoadTrip they do not appear.

 

Back to the Track Log screen...After my 12.8 mile trip, I did a 'save' of the track, and it added the track to the 'saved tracks' list on that screen. Again, where is this saved to? And is there a way for saving to the micro SD (assuming that it is not)? I also note that the saved track has only 500 points of the 1992 contained in the actual trek, and that all date/time info is stripped out. Is this an inherent limitation of the 'save track' feature?

 

The reason I need to solve this problem is that I'm headed on a 71 mile backpacking trip over 10 days this summer and want to be sure I know how to save each day's trip track so that I can piece them together upon return for a review of the entire trip. I want to be sure to adopt a save routine that does not exceed memory (RAM?) capacity, and makes maximum use of the micro SD. If there are other things I should know to help me record this trip, please mention them.

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

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Yesterday I was on a 12.8 mile hike and the Track Log takes up 21%, but of what?
The RAM for the active track log, which holds 10000 points.
If it references RAM, is there any way that I can have the software point to the micro SD card to place the track log before it is saved? When I hit "setup" on the track log screen, I get the option for "Data Card Setup". When I select, I see a new usage bar that shows only 1% used and a list of 7 gpx files with date stamps as names. Is there an autosave feature that drops each day's log to the micro SD?
The gpx files you saw are your track log files that have been recorded on the card. The fact that you have gpx files on the card means that you already had recording logs to the card enabled. It isn’t an autosave feature that drops each day's log to the card. The files on the card are recorded simultaneously with the active log in internal memory. However, a new file is created on the card each day, and as you noted they are named with a date stamp.

 

Logging tracks to the card is not “instead of” logging to internal memory, but “in addition to” it. If logging to the card is set up, the same track log data will be recorded both in internal memory and on the card. The only difference is that if internal memory fills up, the card will continue logging all track data without interruption or overwriting anything, unless the card fills up. Tracks recorded to the card are not subject to the 10000 point limitation, but they will not show up on your map screen. The active log in RAM will, if you have your map setup set appropriately.

 

You can access the gpx files on the card only by connecting the unit to a computer and putting it in Mass Storage Mode. You can then copy them to your computer and open them with MapSource or other suitable software.

I did a 'save' of the track, and it added the track to the 'saved tracks' list on that screen. Again, where is this saved to? And is there a way for saving to the micro SD (assuming that it is not)?
It is saved to RAM, and for practical purposes there is no way to save these to the card.
I also note that the saved track has only 500 points of the 1992 contained in the actual trek, and that all date/time info is stripped out. Is this an inherent limitation of the 'save track' feature?

Yes, but since you have all the points with all the time data preserved on the card, it shouldn’t really matter. This does not affect tracks recorded to the card; once they are recorded, they are unaffected by anything that you do to the logs in internal memory.

 

With the ability to record logs directly to the card, there is little need to use the Save function; but tracks saved in this way can be made to show up on the map screen (or not, individually settable). That can sometimes be useful. The Save function doesn’t just cut your track off after the first 500 points, nor does it drop points randomly. It uses an intelligent algorithm for reducing the points, so the ones that get dropped are generally from the middle of straight segments, and the ones that define significant turns are kept. This does a pretty good job of preserving the shape of the original track with the remaining points.

I'm headed on a 71 mile backpacking trip over 10 days this summer and want to be sure I know how to save each day's trip track so that I can piece them together upon return for a review of the entire trip. I want to be sure to adopt a save routine that does not exceed memory (RAM?) capacity, and makes maximum use of the micro SD.
It sounds like you’re already set up for logging tracks to the card, but check just to make sure: Tracks page>Setup>Data Card Setup>Log Track Data To Card. Verify that the box is checked.

 

Enjoy your trip!

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If you check the box to "save to card", it will save a copy of the active track log to the card in GPX files by date forever or until the card is full, which means forever.....

With regard to storage of tracks on the card, there is one possible caveat. I recently saw a post in the 60C(S)x Yahoo group which said that the user noticed that tracks were not being logged to the card, even though it was enabled, and the card was nowhere near full. He said that there were about a year and a half's worth of tracks on the card. When he cleared the files off the card, logging started again.

 

Because the GPX files are logged to the root directory of the card he suspected that the limit he reached was the number of files in the root folder. Another user posted that he had a similar experience. The second person said that he thought the number of files he had was about 255. Given how common the number 256 is in computer workings, it would make sense that there could be a limit of 255 track log files plus the Garmin folder where the user maps reside. I don’t know enough about such things to be certain.

 

I haven’t tried to test this theory, but it seems plausible. It’s a good enough reason to clear the track log files off the card once in a while.

 

Links to posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Garmin_GPSMa...Sx/message/6977 and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Garmin_GPSMa...Sx/message/6979

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Yesterday I was on a 12.8 mile hike and the Track Log takes up 21%, but of what?
The RAM for the active track log, which holds 10000 points.
If it references RAM, is there any way that I can have the software point to the micro SD card to place the track log before it is saved? When I hit "setup" on the track log screen, I get the option for "Data Card Setup". When I select, I see a new usage bar that shows only 1% used and a list of 7 gpx files with date stamps as names. Is there an autosave feature that drops each day's log to the micro SD?
The gpx files you saw are your track log files that have been recorded on the card. The fact that you have gpx files on the card means that you already had recording logs to the card enabled. It isn’t an autosave feature that drops each day's log to the card. The files on the card are recorded simultaneously with the active log in internal memory. However, a new file is created on the card each day, and as you noted they are named with a date stamp.

 

Logging tracks to the card is not “instead of” logging to internal memory, but “in addition to” it. If logging to the card is set up, the same track log data will be recorded both in internal memory and on the card. The only difference is that if internal memory fills up, the card will continue logging all track data without interruption or overwriting anything, unless the card fills up. Tracks recorded to the card are not subject to the 10000 point limitation, but they will not show up on your map screen. The active log in RAM will, if you have your map setup set appropriately.

 

You can access the gpx files on the card only by connecting the unit to a computer and putting it in Mass Storage Mode. You can then copy them to your computer and open them with MapSource or other suitable software.

I did a 'save' of the track, and it added the track to the 'saved tracks' list on that screen. Again, where is this saved to? And is there a way for saving to the micro SD (assuming that it is not)?
It is saved to RAM, and for practical purposes there is no way to save these to the card.
I also note that the saved track has only 500 points of the 1992 contained in the actual trek, and that all date/time info is stripped out. Is this an inherent limitation of the 'save track' feature?

Yes, but since you have all the points with all the time data preserved on the card, it shouldn’t really matter. This does not affect tracks recorded to the card; once they are recorded, they are unaffected by anything that you do to the logs in internal memory.

 

With the ability to record logs directly to the card, there is little need to use the Save function; but tracks saved in this way can be made to show up on the map screen (or not, individually settable). That can sometimes be useful. The Save function doesn’t just cut your track off after the first 500 points, nor does it drop points randomly. It uses an intelligent algorithm for reducing the points, so the ones that get dropped are generally from the middle of straight segments, and the ones that define significant turns are kept. This does a pretty good job of preserving the shape of the original track with the remaining points.

I'm headed on a 71 mile backpacking trip over 10 days this summer and want to be sure I know how to save each day's trip track so that I can piece them together upon return for a review of the entire trip. I want to be sure to adopt a save routine that does not exceed memory (RAM?) capacity, and makes maximum use of the micro SD.
It sounds like you’re already set up for logging tracks to the card, but check just to make sure: Tracks page>Setup>Data Card Setup>Log Track Data To Card. Verify that the box is checked.

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

Everyone,

 

Thank you for the thorough replies to my questions. I think I now much better understand the capabilities of my GPS.

 

One question...you mention putting the GPS in "mass storage mode" so that the unit appears as a drive on my computer. How do I put it in "mass storage mode"?

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One question...you mention putting the GPS in "mass storage mode" so that the unit appears as a drive on my computer. How do I put it in "mass storage mode"?

MENU>MENU>Setup>Interface>USB Mass Storage

 

To get it out of Mass Storage Mode, either unplug the cable or press and hold the power button as you would to turn the unit off. Rather than turn off, it will restart.

Edited by roybassist
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.... If you check the box to "save to card", it will save a copy of the active track log to the card in GPX files by date forever or until the card is full, which means forever.....

Unless Garmin changed this recently, there was a limit of 50 daily tracklog files on the mSD card. Once 50 was reached, the new GPX files overwrote the oldest ones.

 

Last year, I found if I copied 51 old GPX files to the mSD card, then it would continue saving new ones without overwriting old ones. I haven't checked to see if newer firmware changed this feature - 50 was more than enough for my needs.

 

Bob

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