One of the normal functions of GPS is to keep a "Track Log" of your
locations as you move, but, afaik, there is no inexpensive or free ppc
software that accomplishes this.

Turns out, it's possible to use any terminal program which will save to
disk along with a serial or BT gps receiver.

Saving the GPS NEMA serial data stream to a disk file allows the
possibility of using a GPS utility such as GPSBabel on any PC or Mac to
process the disk file into a "track log" after the fact.

hth,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:OCyW$KlyGHA.4336@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> One of the normal functions of GPS is to keep a "Track Log" of your
> locations as you move, but, afaik, there is no inexpensive or free ppc
> software that accomplishes this.

Well, I guess it depends on your definition of
"inexpensive" (always been <$30 USD), but GPS
Dash has always been able to do this:

http://wimobi.com/gpsdash/overview.ppc2.php

Even back when it was not possible to tell the program
the amt. of time you wanted between saved points,
(default was 1 sec. which, when you're walking, is WAAYY too often)
I had written a program to "decimate" the NMEA logs
that GPS Dash generated by only keeping every nth entry
(where n was adjustable) such that you would only keep
the NMEA sentence for every 30 sec, 60 sec, whatever.

This functionality is now built into the program.

>
> Turns out, it's possible to use any terminal program which will save to
> disk along with a serial or BT gps receiver.
>
> Saving the GPS NEMA serial data stream to a disk file allows the
> possibility of using a GPS utility such as GPSBabel on any PC or Mac to
> process the disk file into a "track log" after the fact.
>
> hth,
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

>> http://wimobi.com/gpsdash/overview.ppc2.php <<

Thanks for that information... wasn't aware of it, especially the fact
that it saves a running track with time/date.

The primary point of my post was the "ah-ha" that with only a receiver,
a complete gps track can be stored using only a terminal program for
later use which I have been doing for a while.

With respect to manually capturing "points" along a walk, that's also
possible using pocket streets and a receiver (also not free) by sticking
pushpins into the gps pointer as you move and converting those into
waypoints or routes after the fact.

>> every second <<

Interesting... my primary track experience comes from the Magellan
Meridian's tracks. Took me a long time to understand that the Meridian
didn't store based on a "time interval" but rather (apparently) a
direction change.

Driving across West Texas a couple of years ago, I noticed that the
"trackpoints" were very far (many miles) apart, then, after dumping them
into MapSend, it became clear that each trackpoint was at the place
where the very straight roads made a minor direction change... very
smart from my viewpoint ;-)

Beverly Howard [MS-MVP Mobile Devices]

VisualGPSCE is free and will do this.

Dale

Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:

> One of the normal functions of GPS is to keep a "Track Log" of your
> locations as you move, but, afaik, there is no inexpensive or free ppc
> software that accomplishes this.
>
> Turns out, it's possible to use any terminal program which will save to
> disk along with a serial or BT gps receiver.
>
> Saving the GPS NEMA serial data stream to a disk file allows the
> possibility of using a GPS utility such as GPSBabel on any PC or Mac to
> process the disk file into a "track log" after the fact.
>
> hth,
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

--
_ _ Dale DePriest
/`) _ // http://users.cwnet.com/dalede
o/_/ (_(_X_(` For GPS and GPS/PDAs

Dale DePriest schrieb:
> VisualGPSCE is free and will do this.
>
> Dale
>
> Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:
>
>> One of the normal functions of GPS is to keep a "Track Log" of your
>> locations as you move, but, afaik, there is no inexpensive or free ppc
>> software that accomplishes this.

You might as well try the available soaring pilot freeware like
http://www.soaringpilotsoftware.com/GPS_LOGpage.htm
or others. They all have as a basic feature the logging and much more.

Elmar