GPS tracks in iMatch, overview of walks.

[Jos van Eekelen]

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum and to iMatch. Currently I'm in my month trial period and I have a question regarding GPS tracks. Primarily I'm looking for DAM software to control my photo collection but next to that it would be nice if I could also keep track of my GPS tracks. I have a growing collection of about 300 GPS tracks. These are .GPX files of walks I have made. I'm losing track of these data: it is increasingly difficult to have an overview of where exactly I went. I would like to have a database of GPX files and a map that shows me where I have already been so I can look at the map and see that a certain area is already part of walks A and B.
Is it possible to view this in iMatch? I have looked in the forum and couldn't find an answer and in my trial period I would like to focus on my primary goal: pictures.
Thanks for your help.

[Mario]

Hi, welcome to IMatch.

You can import your GPS track files in the IMatch Map Panel (View menu > Panels > Map Panel).
This will show you the track on the map and you can also add GPS data to your images based on the track if you want.

IMatch can also reverse geo-code your files after you have added GPS coordinates, filling metadata like country, city and location based on the GPS data in your files.

You can find detailed information about these features and how to use them in the IMatch help system.



If you want 'visual' way to manage your tracks, maybe make a screen shot from the map panel, save as JPG and add that to your IMatch database...

[Jos van Eekelen]

Thanks Mario for your prompt reply. Is it possible to show multiple tracks on a Map panel?

[Mario]

You can load only one GPX file. A GPX file can contain multiple tracks when I recall correctly.

This feature is not primarily designed to show the track on the map, but to geo-code images based on the log. For that purpose, loading one track is sufficient.
If you want to display multiple tracks, I'm sure there is specialized software available for exactly this purpose. This is not something you typically need in a DAM.

[pajaro]

Thanks Mario for your prompt reply. Is it possible to show multiple tracks on a Map panel?

As a keen hiker I was also looking for a software that shows multiple tracks and that would give me overview of my hikes in individual months/years along with some statistics. I currently use QMapShack (https://bitbucket.org/maproom/qmapshack/wiki/Home). It does everything I need. You may give it a try.

[Mario]

Geez, when I was a kid all we had was a compass and a paper map 

[Aubrey]

Check out this software...
http://www.gpstrackeditor.com/
Simply loaded 2 tracks, selected both and said merge and then saved new track. Loads perfectly into IMatch map.
I just tried it. works a treat.

Aubrey.

[pajaro]

Geez, when I was a kid all we had was a compass and a paper map 

Yes, I used those too. But to be honest, a GPS device is more convenient, especially when one is at an unknown place at night  .

[ubacher]

I am intrigued by this request. Should be easy to implement with a script. Just as we have a script
to display GIF files so we could have a script to display (one-or-more?) gpx files.

Any scripters out there who could look at this - at least for doability?

PS: I use viking to show all tracks walked during a trip.

[Mario]

I am intrigued by this request. Should be easy to implement with a script. Just as we have a script
to display GIF files so we could have a script to display (one-or-more?) gpx files.

Any scripters out there who could look at this - at least for doability?

PS: I use viking to show all tracks walked during a trip.

Should be doable.
IMatch ships with my imatch-tracklog.js library (in the system\imatch folder) which does the hard work of reading track log files and do the math.

You only need to combine that with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps and you can display the tracks easily. This is maybe the hardest part. It took me a while to figure out how to use all this, the APIs are quite complex and extensive.

But once you have that, you can add all kinds of exciting additional features of course, from calculating the length to all sorts of timing, nearby POI etc.
And combine that with everything you have in IMatch.

[pajaro]

I am intrigued by this request. Should be easy to implement with a script. Just as we have a script
to display GIF files so we could have a script to display (one-or-more?) gpx files.

Any scripters out there who could look at this - at least for doability?

PS: I use viking to show all tracks walked during a trip.

Should be doable.
IMatch ships with my imatch-tracklog.js library (in the system\imatch folder) which does the hard work of reading track log files and do the math.

You only need to combine that with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps and you can display the tracks easily. This is maybe the hardest part. It took me a while to figure out how to use all this, the APIs are quite complex and extensive.

But once you have that, you can add all kinds of exciting additional features of course, from calculating the length to all sorts of timing, nearby POI etc.
And combine that with everything you have in IMatch.

That would be fantastic  ! Too bad I cannot write scripts  otherwise I would start to work on it right away.

P.S. I use viking too, but mostly just to correct gpx tracks, because it becomes slow once you store more tracks in a single file.

[Jos van Eekelen]

Thanks all for your replies. Gives me lots to think about while evaluating the main functions of iMatch.

[Carlo Didier]

You can load only one GPX file. A GPX file can contain multiple tracks when I recall correctly.

This feature is not primarily designed to show the track on the map, but to geo-code images based on the log. For that purpose, loading one track is sufficient.
If you want to display multiple tracks, I'm sure there is specialized software available for exactly this purpose. This is not something you typically need in a DAM.

Actually, I think it might be useful. When I import files from my cards with Breeze Downloader, it looks up all GPX files in a folder which I specified (all my track logs go there) and finds any that match my images. Very convenient. So if I could specify such a folder in iMatch, I wouldn't need to search and select the correct GPX file myself (and there might be several for one set of images!).

[Mario]

The best place for feature requests is the feature request board.

On the other hand, if BreezeDownloader already does it for you - no need to re-invent the wheel in IMatch?

[Carlo Didier]

The best place for feature requests is the feature request board.

On the other hand, if BreezeDownloader already does it for you - no need to re-invent the wheel in IMatch?

You're right, not necessary for me, but it might be an idea for somebody else, hence I just wanted to mention it.

[Jingo]

I bought Breezedownloader so many years ago...  it is quite a powerful program.