Customize "comment" field in exported GPX?

rhlee
rhlee Global Mapper User
edited February 2009 in Vector Data
Hi,

Is there any way to customize the "comment" field for point features exported to GPX format? It looks like by default the comment field is populated with the Feature Type. I'd like to customize that in some other way, perhaps by adding an attribute?

thanks,
-Rob

Edit: Sorry, the comment field is actually called "desc":
<wpt lat="..." lon="...">
<ele>-40.938</ele>
<name>PPW</name>
<desc>Dive Site</desc>
<sym>Big Red X</sym>
</wpt>

Comments

  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2009
    Rob,

    Actually GPX supports a <desc> field and a <cmt> field. The <desc> field is currently filled in with the description of the feature, which is normally the same as the type name in Global Mapper.

    I have updated the GPX exporter to also support using a COMMENT attribute tied to the feature to fill in the <cmt> field. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper10.zip with the change for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v10.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • rhlee
    rhlee Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    works great! Amazing turnaround time.

    Thanks a bunch.
  • pavlosh
    pavlosh Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    Hi
    I am using Arcpad tracklogs. Those are shp files with 23 attributes, among them time and date. GM reads them easily and i can see the attributes af each point with the "feature info" tool. Then i am exporting to GPX format, and when i open it again as GPX (with GM), i see that i have lost the date/time stamps (also almost all of the stamps).
    how can i get the date/time stamps to GPX.??
    Thanks
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2009
    The GPX format only supports a limited set of attribution for waypoints, so most of the attributes associated with a feature from something like a Shapefile won't transfer to GPX. In general you'll just get the position, name, description/type, and (in the latest release) a comment field.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • pavlosh
    pavlosh Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    Hello Mike
    I am using arcpad tracklog.shp and GM to create GPX as an input to geotag software. I need the date/time stamps to do "geotagging" on photos (jpg.files).

    This is a part of the content of a GPX file created with GM from tracklog.shp

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>
    <gpx
    version="1.1"
    creator="Global Mapper - http://www.globalmapper.com&quot;
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance&quot;
    xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1&quot;
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd"&gt;
    <metadata>
    </metadata>
    <wpt lat="40.888104" lon="22.374174">
    <ele>472.91</ele>
    <name>Unknown Point Feature</name>
    <desc>Unknown Point Feature</desc>
    <sym>Dot</sym>
    </wpt>


    This is a part of the official schema of GPX from http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd
    <
    </xsd:element>
    −
    <xsd:element name="time" type="xsd:dateTime" minOccurs="0">
    −
    <xsd:annotation>
    −
    <xsd:documentation>

    Creation/modification timestamp for element. Date and time in are in Univeral Coordinated Time (UTC), not local time! Conforms to ISO 8601 specification for date/time representation. Fractional seconds are allowed for millisecond timing in tracklogs.


    And this is part of a GPX file from another software i am testing named ExpertGPS (same shp source always)

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <gpx xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0&quot; version="1.0" creator="ExpertGPS 3.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance&quot; xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0/gpx.xsd"&gt;
    <bounds minlat="40.88810367" minlon="22.33824433" maxlat="40.91948467" maxlon="22.37417467"/>
    <wpt lat="40.88810433" lon="22.37417400">
    <ele>143.866</ele>
    <time>2009-02-06T17:29:24.703Z</time>
    <sym>Dot</sym>
    </wpt>
    <wpt lat="40.88810433" lon="22.37417383">
    <ele>143.866</ele>
    <time>2009-02-06T17:29:24.703Z</time>
    <sym>Dot</sym>
    </wpt>

    The 2 last instances of code clearly refer to date/time-stamps, so being an average user i remain puzzled for the level of GPX support given from GM.
    I think that the user could have some control on the attributes used for export.
    Thanks anyway.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2009
    What is the name of the attribute that your timestamp is associated with in the Shapefile? I can probably add support for using that attribute for a <time> attribute in the exported GPX file if it has a sensible name.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • pavlosh
    pavlosh Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    That would be great !!
    The names of the attributes in tracklog.shp are UTCDATE and UTCTIME. I am sending you also an e-mail with an attached zip (tracklog.shp), in case you will need it for working-testing.
    Keep in mind that this is the normal shapefile produced directly from ARCPAD 7.01.53 when selecting "GPS Tracklog". I have not "touched" anything, so any changes you make apply to every unit runing arcpad .
    Thanks again
    Pavlos
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2009
    Pavlos,

    Thanks for the files. I have updated the GPX export to look for UTCDATE and UTCTIME attributes and write those out to new <wpt> features. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper10.zip with the change for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v10.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • pavlosh
    pavlosh Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    Hello Mike
    I have downloaded the new build, but it seems that there is a problem with the GPX files. I can not open them at all, with GM, or any other program.
    i keep getting Error messages (parsing etc.)
    I can read the GPX file only with notepad, and i also don't see any date or time values in it.
    The following is part of the test GPX file.

    ?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>
    <gpx
    version="1.1"
    creator="Global Mapper - http://www.globalmapper.com&quot;
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance&quot;
    xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1&quot;
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd"&gt;
    <metadata>
    </metadata>
    <wpt lat="40.813735" lon="22.059294">
    <ele>397.55</ele>
    <name>Unknown Point Feature</name>
    <desc>Unknown Point Feature</desc>
    <time> <time> <time> <time</time>
    <sym>Dot</sym>

    any suggestions??
    Pavlos
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2009
    Pavlos,

    It looks like I made a mistake in the build I put out there. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper10.zip with this fixed for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v10.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • pavlosh
    pavlosh Global Mapper User
    edited February 2009
    Mike
    This time its working perfectly
    Thanks a lot
    Pavlos

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