GPSBabel Documentation

This format can...

This format is a very flexible module that can be used to read or write nearly any plain-text record-based waypoint file. This flexibility is achieved by combining this format with "style" files that describe the format of the waypoint files.

There are several formats built in to GPSBabel that use the underlying xcsv machinery. Each of those formats takes the same options as the xcsv format, with the obvious exception of the style option. Those formats are all based on style files that can be found in the "style" directory in the GPSBabel source distribution.

This format can...

GPSBabel supports .wpr and .trl files for Alan Map500 devices running operating system versions 2.xx.

.trl contain files tracklogs. If you use a CF-Card based operating system, tracklog files must have a .TRL extension when copied to the CF-Card. The default filename is TEMP_TRK.TRL. Only one .TRL file may be present.

Alan's operating system 3.0 for Map500 is not supported yet. At the time of this writing, OS3 is still beta. Documentation on the new dataformats is sparse.

The Alan Map500 handheld GPSr is identical to the Holux GM101. This GPSBabel module has only been tested against the Alan Map500. Still, if you use a GM101, GPSBabel will probably be able to convert your waypoints, routes and tracklogs.

For more information on the Alan Map500 visit Alan Germany. There is very informative forum, too. The forum language is German but posts in English will be answered, too.

This format can...

GPSBabel supports .wpr and .trl files for Alan Map500 devices running operating system versions 2.xx.

.wpr files contain waypoints and routes. If you use a CF-Card based operating system, waypoint files must have a .WPR extension when copied to the CF-Card. The default filename is TEMPWPRT.WPR. Only one .WPR file may be present.

Alan's operating system 3.0 for Map500 is not supported yet. At the time of this writing, OS3 is still beta. Documentation on the new dataformats is sparse.

The Alan Map500 handheld GPSr is identical to the Holux GM101. This GPSBabel module has only been tested against the Alan Map500. Still, if you use a GM101, GPSBabel will probably be able to convert your waypoints, routes and tracklogs.

For more information on the Alan Map500 visit Alan Germany. There is very informative forum, too. Forum language is German but posts in English will be answered, too.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This format, like the custom format, is mainly used for the purpose of testing GPSBabel. It is supposed to contain one field for each piece of information supported by the xcsv format writer, but it may not be entirely in sync with the documentation at Appendix C, GPSBabel XCSV Style Files.

For a list of fields, see the style/tabsep.style file in the GPSBabel source distribution.

This format can...

Serial download protocol for the Brauniger IQ series of barograph recording flight instruments. This format creates a track of altitude vs time which can be merged with a GPS track of the same flight to create a three dimensional IGC file.

This format can...

This format supports tracks from Bushnell GPS receivers, notably the Onix 400™.

This format reads individual .trl files as written by the GPS. As this is a reverse-engineered format, it's not understood how (or even if) long tracks, in particular, span multiple files so initially this format is most effective on tracks under a few thousand points.

When writing tracks, a maximum of 4502 points is supported as this is the most we believe these units can represent in a track.

The output base filename, converted to uppercase and stripped of everything but letters and digits, is used for the trail name inside the file itself.

This format can...

This format supports reading and writing wayponts to Bushnell GPS receivers, notably the Onix 400™.

It's an oddity for many GPSBabel norms that this format requires each waypoint be in a separate file. Our "output filename" argument, -F is modified to take an "output filename template". The output filename you specify will have a dash, and a sequentially increasing integer, and the ".wpt" extension appended to it. When the names are shown on the GPS itself, the shortnames from the source format are used and not these "made up" names.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Support for Cambridge and Winpilot flight analysis and planning software for glider pilots.

This format can...

With this format we can read CarteSurTable data files. CarteSurTable is a shareware program widely used in France. The data inside have to be seen as a mixture of a waypoints list, one route and several tracks.

This format can...

This format has the following options: dbname, appendicon .

Cetus GPS is a program for Palm/OS. Working with Ron Parker and Kjeld Jensen, we can now read and write files for that program.

This format can...

This is the format used by CoastalExplorer™. The format is XML with items uniquely identified by Windows-style UUIDs. http://www.rosepointnav.com

This format can...

Read-only support for the csv file format used by Visiontac VGPS-900™ and Columbus V-900™ GPS data loggers. These seem to be two brand names for the exact same product.

The the V-900 stores logs on a microSD card in a custom csv format. This format contains NULL chracters and fixed length fields, and therefore can not be handled by the normal csv module in GPSBabel.

Visiontac VGPS-900

The device support logging of trackpoints, waypoints, and voice recordings (.wav files).

If you create voice recording waypoints, a link (url) to the corresponding wav file is added to the waypoint. If you happen to use this for OpenStreetMap.org project, you can easily click on a waypoint and open the wav file from within JOSM. For this you must use gpx version 1.1 as the output file. The next example shows exactly how to do that.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

There are a billion variants of Comma Separated Value data. This is the one specifically that makes Delorme S&A Deluxe 9™ happy. It's also a very simple program and useful for many other programs like spreadsheets.

CSV is also the correct format for Lowrance MapCreate™, their commercial mapping program, or GDM6 (their free waypoint manager) for iFinder which is available at lowrance.com

On write, this format writes simple "latitude, longitude" pairs, but on read it will read anything supported by our human readable definition.

For something-separated data that has headers identifying the various fields, see our universal csv format.

35.97203, -87.13470, Mountain Bike Heaven by susy1313
36.09068, -86.67955, The Troll by a182pilot & Family
35.99627, -86.62012, Dive Bomber by JoGPS & family
36.03848, -86.64862, FOSTER by JoGPS & Family

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, index, radius, snlen .

CompeGPS data files are those read and written by the CompeGPS™ TwoNav software (running on a Mac, a PC, or on select cell phones) as well as CompeGPS Land, and CompeGPS Air. These files are also used by the CompeGPS TwoNav Aventura and TwoNav Sportiva GPS receivers when they are in mass storage mode.

Release 6.1 of CompeGPS Land and CompeGPS Air added GPX as an import export format for waypoints, routes, and tracks. As GPX is a more heavily used format, you should probably use that for new applications.

For more information please see http://www.compegps.com

This format can...

This code is mostly intended to convert CoPilot Flight Planner for Palm/OS" databases into other formats. You probably should not use this to write CoPilot databases, although the code is there, because GPSBabel doesn't convert magnetic declination values.

This version now reads all CoPilot file versions up to 4, but only writes version 4 files. If you have a need for a version flag, please let me know.

Questions, bug reports, etc, to ptomblin at xcski.com

http://xcski.com/~ptomblin/CoPilot/ and http://navaid.com/CoPilot

This format can...

This format has the following options: zerocat .

This format supports cotoGPS™, a Palm™ GPS program. It can read both track and marker (waypoint) files. It is currently unable to write track files, so only marker files can be written. The marker categories are written to and read from the icon description. The 'Not Assigned' category leaves the icon description empty on read. Currently geocache info is ignored.

In addition to the documented options, this format also has a debugging option called internals which takes an XCSV delimiter value. It writes some internal values (distance, arc, x and y) of the cotoGPS track format to the notes field.

Contributed by Tobias Minich.

cotoGPS

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This format is not actually used by any real product. It is most useful for debugging purposes when developing a new format module for GPSBabel.

To understand the contents of this file, look at the style/custom.style file in the GPSBabel source distribution as well as Appendix C, GPSBabel XCSV Style Files.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This is the format used by the software that comes with the Transystem i-Blue747 GPS

Notice that the iBlue 747 logs the sum of "height above sealevel" and "height of geoid above WGS84". If precise altitude matters to you, check out the height filter which allows you to compensate for this.

This format can...

This format reads the binary (.gpb) track logs recorded on Dell Axim Navigation Systems.

This is a read-only format for now as the format was reverse engineered and there are many unknown bytes. We can successfully extract the common GPS data.

This format can...

This format has the following options: type, road, nogc, nourl, deficon, color, zoom, wpt_type, radius .

This format supports the DeLorme ".an1" drawing file format. It can currently be used to either read or write drawing files. If you use this format to create drawing files with routes or waypoints from another source, by default it will create "Red Flag" symbols for waypoints, and thick red lines for routes or tracks. It is possible to merge two drawing layers by doing something like this:

gpsbabel -i an1 -f one.an1 -f two.an1 -o an1 -F merged.an1

In this case, the merged data will contain all of the properties of the original data.

GPSBabel has a page describing creating routable onramps in Street Atlas with GPSBabel.

 "road=I-599!limited!Beecher St.!major" 

This format can...

This is the 'gpl' format as used in Delorme mapping products. It is a track format and contains little more than the tracklog of a GPS that was attached while driving. frontiernet.net

This format can...

This format has the following options: get_posn, logs, long_notes, nukewpt, nuketrk, nukerte, hint_at_end, gcsym .

The 'delbin' module supports DeLorme PN-20, PN-30, PN-40, and PN-40 SE receivers.

Only the 'usb:' device is supported. If you're on Windows, do not attempt to run this through the serial driver.

On Linux, a name of the form 'hid:path-to-hidraw,path-to-hiddev' is also supported. You will need to use this only if the HID device nodes on your system are not named /dev/hidrawN and /dev/hiddevN or /dev/usb/hiddevN.

This module implements the (undocumented) waypoint extensions introduced for enhanced geocaching mode in 2.5 for PN-40 and 1.6 for PN-20. As these are reverse engineered, there may be issues with those modes in particular.

If you receive a message that the device is busy, especially on Windows, that could be because another program, likely Delorme's own, has the device open even though it's not actively interacting with the GPS. In Topo 8, on the GPS tab, look for GPS Options. Uncheck "Start GPS" and "Automatically detect GPS". Then just click the Exchange button when you're ready for Topo to interact with the GPS. Other Delorme software may be similar.

The GPS should not be in 'map exchange' mode. When in that mode, it appears as a disk to the USB system, thus GPSBabel will be unable to find the GPS.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This format is for Delorme Street Atlas USA 2004 Plus and later.

For geocachers importing data from a tool like GSAK or Spinner, import the file twice in XData. One will create a file with the Cache description as a hyperlink on the flag. This can clutter up the screen and when you try to zoom in, it causes problems. So the second one will only have a flag. Thus you can turn off and on which one you want to view. The first time you import the file, in the assign field types, check the circle above Full Name and then next. The second time you import the file do not check any circle and in the second to last column, change URL to none and then click next. Use the same name you used the first time but add -Flag to it.

This format can...

This format has the following options: turns_important, turns_only, split, controls, times .

This format reads route files from many Delorme mapping products. It supports the anr, rte, and rtd formats as either tracks or routes.

All options only apply to route files from newer (anr) versions of DeLorme software; older versions didn't store the turn information with the route.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Delorme TopoUSA/XMap Conduit is one of the bazillion CSV variants variants mentioned above. It's just like Delorme Streets & Atlas with the addition of a completely pointless line at the beginning and end of the file. This is the format used to hot-sync to XMap from withing TopoUSA. Done with help of Dan Edwards.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Delorme XMap2006 Conduit is just like XMap , except there are no spaces between fields and the coordinate format is slightly different. The completely pointless header and footer lines are the same, at least. Use this to create the XMapHHWptsSend.txt file needed to sync to Street Atlas Handheld 2006.

Note that in order to keep from creating duplicates on your handheld, you must first remove the file "XMapWptsDB" from your handheld, restart SAHH2006 on the handheld to create an empty database, and THEN sync the new file.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Delorme XMapHandHeld Street Atlas USA is another of the billion CSV variants. This is the format used by XmapHH SA USA on (at least) PocketPC O/S.

This XMap is not the same as the simpler XMap format, which is used with Topo USA 4.0 and XMapHH for Palm.

Delorme XMap Handheld .WPT for PocketPC is a bit of a kludge. This chapter covers XMap Handheld Street Atlas USA edition.

XMap on the PocketPC stores its waypoints in individual .wpt files. For example, waypoints generated by XMap on the PocketPC are stored by default in the "My Documents" folder using the sequential names "XMap1.wpt", "XMap2.wpt", ad nauseum. Needless to say, this is not very efficient.

As writing multiple waypoint files is outside of the scope of GPSBabel, GPSBabel chooses to write one big file, one waypoint per line. Extracting lines from this file is left as an exercise for the end user. A simple Perl script to handle this conversion is included at the end of this chapter.

It should also be noted that reading multiple files is indeed possible, but if you have more than a few points, it can be a task. For example:

gpsbabel -i xmapwpt -f Xmap1.wpt -f Xmap2.wpt -o mapsend -F mapsend.wpt

will read the two Xmap .wpt files and write one mapsend file. This is fine for a small handful of points, but could be quite cumbersome for folks like me who have 100+ waypoints loaded into XMap. For *nix folks, something as simple as:

cat *.wpt > /tmp/foo.wpt gpsbabel -i xmapwpt -f foo.wpt -o mapsend -F mapsend.wpt

will do the trick just fine.

#!/full/path/to/perl
$INPUTFILE = @ARGV[0];
$TARGETDIR = @ARGV[1];
$FILENAME  = @ARGV[2];

if (! $FILENAME) {
    print "Usage: xmap_split.pl " . 
	"INPUT_FILE OUTPUT_DIRECTORY FILENAME_BASE\n";
    print " (i.e. xmapl_split.pl points.wpt /tmp/points GPSB)\n";
    print " (created GPSB0001-GPSBXXXX " .
	" in /tmp/points/ from points.wpt)\n";
    exit;
}

open (INFILE, $INPUTFILE) || die "Cannot open $INPUTFILE for read!\n";

while (<INFILE>) {
    $lc++;
    $filename = sprintf("%s/Gpsb%04d.wpt", $TARGETDIR, $lc);

    open (OUTFILE, ">$filename") || 
	die "Cannot open $filename for write!\n";

    print OUTFILE $_;

    close(OUTFILE);
}

exit;

Contributed to GPSBabel by Alex Mottram.

This format can...

Support for Destinator™ itinerary files.

These have (mostly) extension .dat and are binary files. The file structure is undocumented and so this format was reverse engineered from some .dat files. At this time we can read and write name, comment and the coordinates of the route points.

Destinator™ by Destinator Technologies is a software for PNDs, Smartphones and PDAs.

gpsbabel -i destinator_itn -f from_A_to_B.dat -o gpx -F from_A_to_B.gpx

This format can...

Support for Destinator™ binary POI files (.dat).

The basic information was found at mozoft.com. GPSBabel can read and write all fields described at this document. Please note that 'house number' isn't supported as a separate field. This field, if available in any source file, will be stored together with 'street' into GSPBabel's internal 'address' field.

Destinator™ by Destinator Technologies is a software for PNDs, Smartphones and PDAs.

gpsbabel -i destinator_poi -f interesting_places.dat -o gpx -F interesting_places.gpx

This format can...

Support for Destinator™ binary tracklogs (.dat).

The basic information was found at mozoft.com. In addition to the standard GPS track data of coordinates and timestamp, this format also stores the position fix and the number of satelites seen during recording.

Destinator™ by Destinator Technologies is a software for PNDs, Smartphones and PDAs.

gpsbabel -i destinator_trl -f last_trip.dat -o gpx -F last_trip.gpx

This format can...

This is the binary file format used by EasyGPS format is seemingly being phased out in favor of GPX in newer versions of EasyGPS, but this allows conversions to and from the old binary .loc format.

Information about and sketchy code to implement this file format were provided by Eric Cloninger.

This format can...

This format has the following options: filename, frame, name, overwrite .

This format reads and writes GPS information embedded in EXIF, the Exchangeable Image Format, data. EXIF is a standardized method of encoding data in pictures such as JPEG, TIFF, and WAV and is frequently used by mobile phones with cameras, cameras with built-in GPS.

EXIF is frequently used for Geolocating photographs so their images can be correlated with time and location.

This format can...

This MGL Avionics format holds waypoints or routes. This routes can be loaded by the MGL Stratomaster Enigma EFIS series (Enigma, Odyssey, Voyager, Explorer).

The format is designed for microcontrollers. The use is free for any none military application. You can find a detailed description in the MGL Documentation.

This format can...

This format has the following options: timeadj .

FAI/IGC Data File -- Used by the international gliding community to record gliding flights. IGC files can be converted to and from tracks representing recorded flights, and routes representing task declarations in other formats.

This format can...

This format has the following options: wayptspd, split .

This is a write-only format used to feed waypoints, tracks, and routes into Franson Technolgies' GpsGate simulator.

To use these files in GpsGate, select 'Simulator' and then "File->Open".

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This was a requested CSV format, and is not the proprietary binary format used by Fugawi. Like any other CSV format, GPSBabel cannot read tracks in this format, but converting a track into it and then importing as track in Fugawi works.

It is known to work with Fugawi V3.1.4.635. When importing/exporting waypoints, one has to specify the order of fields as follows (names of fields may depend on the language used by Fugawi):

When importing tracks, use "[ignore]" instead of "Name", "Comment" and "Description".

http://www.fugawi.com/

This format can...

Like GPSBabel, G7ToWin is a program which allows uploading and downloading information from several GPS devices (Garmin, Lowrance/Eagle, Magellan). G7ToWin has its own data format, which is an enhanced format used in Gardown.

This format can read both file types, G7ToWin (.g7t) and Gardown (.gdn).

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This is a very simple format that is most useful for exporting data from units that support heart rate data such as Garmin Forerunner 301™, Garmin Forerunner 305™, and Garmin Edge 305™, and to other programs for analysis. It's a simple comma delimited format that includes the timestamp, 3D position information and heart rate so you can pull it into a spreadsheet or graphing program.

This format can...

This is the XML format used by the Garmin Logbook product that ships with Forerunner and Foretrex. As of early 2006, this program is apparently been discontinued in favor of Garmin Training Center. See: http://www.garmin.com

This format can...

This format has the following options: cat, bitscategory, ver, via, roadbook .

Support for the "Garmin GPS Database" format used by default in MapSource™ versions since release 6.0 of that product. By default GPSBabel creates gdb files of version 2. Version 2 is used in Mapsource 6.3 and 6.5.

Garmin GPS database is an undocumented file format. The basic info for this module came from the existing MapSource conversion code.

This format can...

This format has the following options: snlen, snwhite, mpsverout, mpsmergeout, mpsusedepth, mpsuseprox .

This format supports the Garmin Mapsource™ product family.

This format is based on significant reverse-engineering and guesswork. GPSBabel's output appears to be compatible with the various versions of MapSource. Icon mapping is attempted between different MapSource versions. Altitude is supported, but proximity and depth are not.

Naming files *.mps will allow file->open in Mapsource to find the files more easily.

Versions 3, 4, and 5 of the Mapsource data format are handled automatically on input. By default the output is version 5. (Until 3/2004, it was version 3, but since Mapsource updates are free, the convenience of having modern icon sets outweighs the backward compatibility concern. Users of other versions can either upgrade or specify the switches to get output in a compatible format.) Waypoints, routes, and tracklogs are all handled, but map sets are ignored.

Information on the Garmin Mapsource format was provided by Ian Cowley and Mark Bradley. The code was implemented by Robert Lipe and Mark Bradley.

This format can...

This format has the following options: date, datum, dist, grid, prec, temp, time, utc .

This is a textual format that contains nearly all of the information contained in the MapSource™ main format, GDB. This format also contains some computed values such as distances between routepoints and trackpoints, speed, and course (heading).

The main goal of garmin_txt is to make aviation data more available. Because MapSource™ supports only the export, GPSBabel gives you the possibility to bring aviation data into MapSource™.

During the export with MapSource™, some fields are written using local settings of MapSource™ and Windows. These include grid format, gps datum, distance and temperature units, and the representation of date and time fields. GPSBabel tries to read all items automatically. Problems with date and time format can be solved with the 'date' and 'time' options.

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, cartoexploreur .

Garmin documents only PCX5, an older format limited to the lame NMEA six-character waypoint names that's treated as a second-class citizien in current versions of MapSource. In Mapsource, use file->import to read these files. If you name the files *.wpt, Mapsource will find them more easily.

In general, you should prefer the "mapsource" file format to this one.

This format has been extended to handle many - but not all - files from GPS Utility. If you encounter something that GPSBabel does not handle well, use the free version of GPSUtil to read it and save as something more common.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

The Garmin POI loader loads custom points of interest into certain models of Garmin GPS receivers. (As of this writing, only the models introduced in 2005 and later are supported. See Garmin's site for more info.) The garmin_poi format produces csv files that can be converted into POI files by Garmin's POI loader.

This format was mostly useful when POI Loader couldn't read GPX and we couldn't write GPI. See GPSBabel's GPI doc.

This format can...

This format has the following options: alerts, bitmap, category, hide, descr, notes, position, proximity, sleep, speed, unique, units .

The format garmin_gpi supports the binary POI (.gpi) files that are useable on newer Garmin GPS receivers. See garmin_poi for additional information about Garmin's own Poiloader program. Garmin POI-Loader is the standard application that creates GPI files with all possible features.

The layout of GPI files isn't documented and our module was created via reverse engeneering. If you get a problem on reading or writing a GPI file, please provide that file (mailto:gpsbabel-misc@lists.sourceforge.net).

At this time we don't support special features as "Tour-Guide" or links to sounds and pictures.

This format can...

This format has the following options: snlen, snwhite, deficon, get_posn, power_off, erase_t, resettime, category, bitscategory .

GPSBabel supports a wide variety of Garmin hardware via serial on most operating systems and USB on Windows, Linux, and OS X.

For serial models, be sure the GPS is set for "Garmin mode" in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.

Supported Garmin GPS receivers with USB include

the following Bluetooth Garmin products:

and most serial Garmin GPS receivers including:

The following Garmin GPS receivers are supported, but they do not support Garmin communication protocol and don't work with the garmin option. To use these receivers, read or write GPX files from the mass storage device as mounted on your computer.

None of the GPSBabel developers has access to every model on that list, but we've received reports of success and/or have reasonable expectations that the above models work. If you succeed with a model that is not on that list, please send a message to the gpsbabel-misc mailing list with the details so that we may add it.

Not every feature on every model is supported. For example, while we do extract data such as heart rate and temperature from tracks on the sporting models like Edge and Forerunner, GPSBabel is not a fitness program at its core and does not support features like workouts or calorie/fitness zone data. Furthermore, sporting models don't support track upload. When trying to upload tracks to these devices, GPSBabel converts them to courses on the fly and uploads these instead. When uploading waypoints at the same time, these are converted to course points by mapping them to the nearest track point on the track/course (no matter how far away from the track they are). Since course point creation requires time stamps for the track points, they are created automatically assuming a speed of 10 km/h for tracks that lack them.

To communicate with a Garmin GPS serially, use the name of that serial port such as COM1 or /dev/cu.serial.

To communicate via USB use usb: as the filename on all OSes. Thus, to read the waypoints from a Garmin USB receiver and write them to a GPX file:

gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx

If you have multiple units attached via USB, you may provide a unit number, with zero being the implied default. So if you have three USB models on your system, they can be addressed as usb:0, usb:1, and usb:2. To get a list of recognized devices, specifiy a negative number such as:

gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb:-1

When reporting problems with the Garmin format, be sure to include the full unit model, firmware version, and be prepared to offer debugging dumps by adding -D9 to the command line, like:

gpsbabel -D9 -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx

Custom icons are supported on units that support that. Neither GPSBabel nor your firmware know what is associated with any given slot number. They don't know that the picture you placed in the first slot is a happy face, they only know they're in the lowest numbered slot. GPSBabel names the them consistently with Mapsource, so they are named 'Custom 0' through 'Custom 511'.

For models where the connection on the GPS is a serial interface, be sure the GPS is set for "Garmin mode" in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.

For models connected via USB, we recommend use of the usb: filename. For this to work on Windows, you must install the Garmin driver. For Linux, this will fail if you have the garmin_gps kernel module loaded. See the Operating System Notes for details.

This module also supports realtime tracking which allows realtime position reports from a Garmin GPS receiver over USB or serial.

This format can...

This format has the following options: course, sport, course, sport .

GPSBabel supports reading and writing of tracks in the .tcx format used by Garmin Training Center (GTC). GTC is the successor to Garmin's Logbook program for their workout units. It is a free upgrade.

GPSBabel can read GTC v1 and v2 files, and can write v2 files. v2 files are most likely to have a .tcx extension. v1 files typically have a .hst or .crs extension, depending on whether they are in the "history" or "course" format.

There is a fundamental mismatch between this format and most of what we support. GPSBabel deals in waypoints, tracks, and routes. While we do record things like heart rate and temperature when we know it, the fundamentals of Training Center are different. It deals in concepts like laps and calories, which are rather alien to GPSBabel and most of the formats we support. As such, while we can describe the tracks pretty accurately, things like calories and heart zone tracking are not supported.

One of the most useful things you can do with this format is to send .tcx files found on the web or elsewhere to any supported GPS unit. You will probably want to include the transform (rte=trk) and simplify filters in this process. For example,

gpsbabel -i gtrnctr -f somefile.tcx -x simplify,count=50 -x transform,rte=trk -r -o garmin -F usb:

where you select the count not to exceed the number of available waypoints for routing on your device.

This format can...

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, nuke_placer .

This format supports the Geocaching.com/EasyGPS ".loc" format. This format was created specifically for Geocaching.com and is not the same as the standard EasyGPS .loc format. See the EasyGPS or GPX formats for more general EasyGPS support.

This is a simple XML-based format containing only very basic information about geocaches. If you can use the GPX format instead, you should consider doing so as it is a much richer format.

We have a separate page describing how to send from Geocaching.com pages to GPS

This format can...

This is format for the GeocachingDB program by DougsBrat. It works with v2 and v3 of this program.

This format can...

Overlay files used by Geogrid™-Viewer has to be in ASCII format. Make sure you save the files correctly.

Lines or polygons within the Geogrid™-Viewer (type 3 and 4) will be converted to tracks, except they are grouped. In this case GPSBabel creates routes.

During the creation of an overlay file, a circle will be added to each postion of a waypoint or a route.

Sample layout of the ASCII overlay file

    [Symbol <number # >]
    Typ=<1=picture,2=Text, 3=line, 4=area, 5=retangle, 6=circle, 7=triangle>
    Group=<1=no group, number > 1=group number>
    Col=<number of the line color>
    Zoom=<1=no zoom, 2=zoom>
    Size=<size can be between 101 and 118>
    Art=<style>
    Punkte=<number of XKoord>
    XKoord0=<decimal X coordinate (Longitude) of the waypoint>
    YKoord0=<decimal Y coordinate (Latitude) of the waypoint>
    [MapLage]
    MapName=Top. Karte 1:50.000 Nieders.
    DimmFc=100
    ZoomFc=<zoom level of the map>
    CenterLat=<map center in decimal Y coordinates>
    CenterLong=<map center in decimal X coordinates of >
    RefOn=0
  

This format can...

Binary track logs used by the Geogrid™-Viewer, a very popular product in Germany.

GPSBabel has full support for version 1.0 of this file format.

We can also read some GPS data (including coordinates) from version 2.5. But it seems, that this newer version no longer stores time stamps. This can be a problem when converting to other formats or if you want to use our track filter.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Input support for the GEOnet Names Server (GNS) country file structure. Export to this format is not possible, as this format has too many fields that we never get populated by any other format.

This format can...

This format has the following options: dbname, category .

Geoniche is a Palm/OS application oriented for the off-road user. This module was contributed by Rick Richardson.

This format can...

This format has the following options: erase, erase_only .

Serial download protocol for the GlobalSat DG-100™, GlobalSat BT-335™, and GlboalSat BT-338X™GPS data loggers.

While the DG-100 has a button to record waypoints, they seem to be indistinguishable from trackpoints. Therefore, all points will be presented as trackpoints, disregarding whether they were recorded automatically or manually.

GlobalSat DG-100

The DG-100 provides a physical USB interface to the host computer, but internally it uses a Prolific PL-2303 chip to do this. So you must have drivers installed on your computer to recognize the PL-2303 and provide that data as a serial port to software like GPSBabel. Such software comes with the unit for Windows. Prolific provides software for Mac OS/X, but unfortunately their driver has a defect which makes it unusable with GPSBabel.

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, lines, points, line_width, line_color, floating, extrude, track, trackdata, trackdirection, units, labels, max_position_points .

KML, the Keyhole Markup Language, is used by Keyhole and Google Earth.

There are concepts in KML that GPSBabel can't support very well on read becuase they don't map well into other programs. For example, KML has ideas of camera views and names and descriptions can have arbitrarily complicated HTML in them. KML files may have tiered "Styles" which can identify sizing info and URLs of associated icons. Reading such files with GPSBabel - even if your goal it to out to KML - can often have suprising results. Simple files with waypoints and paths (which GPSBabel represents internally as tracks) work fine.

Google Earth also uses GPSBabel internally for receiver communications and several file format imports and exports.

In general, GPSBabel's KML writer is relatively strong. GPSBabel handles simple KML on read fairly well, but if you're dealing with handcrafted KML that uses extensive features that have no analog in other formats like nested folders, ringgeometry, camera angles, and such, don't expect GPSBabel to do well with them on read.

Google Earth 4.0 and later have a feature that can suprise users of this format. Earth's "time slider" feature controls what timestamped data gets displayed. If you're using data that has timestampes (e.g. GPX points that contain time or almost any track data) this will be important to you. The time slider defaults to the far left position and fully closed. This means that only the first data point will be displayed. You can tweak Earth's settings to "view->show time->never" or you can widen the time slider to show the range of data of interest.

See Google Earth's documentation on timelines for more info.

This format can...

This format is designed to read the XML emitted when you tack "&output=js" onto the end of a Google Maps route URL (use the "link to this page" option to get a usable URL.) This allows you to plan a route using Google Maps, then download it and use it in your own mapping program or GPS receiver. To get a file suitable for use with GPSBabel, plan your route as usual with Google Maps. Once you've got it the way you want it, click the "Link to this page" link in the upper right-hand corner of the Google Maps page. Then, edit the URL that appears in your address bar by adding "&output=js" (without the quotes) onto the end. Hit enter, and the resulting page will be mostly empty. It doesn't look like much, but it contains exactly what GPSBabel needs. Save it to disk using whatever menu option your web browser provides.

Note that if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, you should make sure to save the web page as "Web Page, HTML Only". If you save it as "Web Page, Complete", it will be reformatted into a non-XHTML format that GPSBabel cannot read.

If you use a Unix-compatible operating system, this shell script might be useful:

#!/bin/sh 
FROM="233 S. Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL" 
TO="1060 W. Addison St, Chicago, IL" 
wget -O - "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=$FROM to $TO&output=js" \
2&>/dev/null >google_map.js
gpsbabel -i google -f google_map.js -o gpx -F google_map.gpx

This format can...

Binary (little endian) tracklogs containing coordinates, timestamps and altitude values.

Google Navigator is an application for PDAs running under Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0.

This format can...

This format has the following options: date, maxspeed, minspeed, clean .

The gopal format is a track format written by the GoPal Navigation program.

The format of the file itself is quite simple:

        Fileformat GoPal
        TICK;   TIME UTC; LONG;    LAT;       HEIGHT; SPEED km/h;  FIX; HDOP;     SAT
        3801444, 080558, 2.944362, 43.262117, 295.28, 0.12964, 2, 2.900000, 3
      

Filenames are automatically created by the device as follows:

        trackYYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.trk  

and/or, depending on software version and settings:

		A_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.trk
              

with HHMMSS local time (not UTC!)

The file format lacks the correct date value for each trackpoint, so it has to be computed starting from the date given in the filename. To handle files without a parsable date in the name, the command line option 'date' is provided.

Conversions from gopal into any other format are a bit lossy concerning the first field of each line wich looks like an useless time tick value and is simply discarded while reading. If written, there will be a time_t value from the current (computed) timestamp.

Somehwere around Gopal 4.8 or 5.0, Electrobit added three more fields to the end of this format. They are, in order, date (which eliminates most of the silliness above), an unknonw field, and a bearing. GPSBabel now reads the date and ignores the other two. We don't yet write these three fields for compatibility with earlier versions.

Filtering out invalid data points is handled by the options 'clean', 'minspeed' and 'maxspeed'. For each datapoint the speed needed to come the from the last valid point is calculated and compared with the limits. Thus one cat easily discard unreliable points.

This format can...

This format has the following options: dbname .

This is a Palm/OS file format for GPilotS. It was tested against version 6.2 of GPilotsS

Neither tracks nor routes are supported at this time.

This format can...

Input and output support for waypoints, tracks and routes in the GPS TrackMaker binary format.

Code implemented by Gustavo Niemeyer.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This format is used by GPSBabel itself as the input to the arc and polygon filters. See those filters for more information.

The arc format reads two numeric fields, a latitude and a longitude, in any format recognized as human readable and writes as simple degrees decimal. It really is intended for GPSBabel's own internal use more than general use, though it turns out to be a convenient way of expressing simple polylines and polygons.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

GpsDrive way.txt file format. A space seperated format file. Tested against GpsDrive v 1.30 found at gpsdrive.de. Contributed by Alan Curry.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Format used by GpsDrive to save tracks. Like GPSDRIVE a space seperated format file. See above for a link to GpsDrive. Contributed by Tobias Minich.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

GPS Manager can read and write formats GPSBabel doesn't understand. The format defaults (WGS84, DDD) work reliably. Tracks, routes, and non-default format options are not supported.

This format is documented at the GPS Manager doc site.

This format can...

This format has the following options: dbname .

The file format for GPSPILOT gpspilot.com was provided by Ron Parker. The output from this module has been tested with GPSPilot Tracker v5.05sx, but it is based on reverse-engineering so it may not work with all versions of all GPSPilot products. It had read-only support for Airport, Navaid, City and Landmark files but will read and write Point files.

This format can...

The format we call gpsutil is a simple file format used by a program that runs on POSIX- compliant OSes like UNIX and Linux. Reads and writes of this format are very reliable. (The lead developer of GPSBabel also contributed to this that 'gpsutil' the early days.)

Note that 'gpsutil' is a different format - and program - than the one called GPS Utility; for that one, you should probably use our PCX module.

This format can...

This format has the following options: snlen, suppresswhite, logpoint, urlbase, gpxver, humminbirdextensions, garminextensions .

This is the most capable and expressive of all the file formats supplied. It is described at topografix.com and is supported by EasyGPS, ExpertGPS, and many other programs described at topografix.com

GPSBabel's reader of this module attempts to preserve tags it doesn't really understand. It also tries to glean interesting data from

This format can...

This is the .gps format used by the Mac OS X applications written by HikeTech. These include TopoDraw, Link2GPS, and GPSWrite. More information about these products can be found at hiketech.com

This format can...

The Holux gm-100 (e-fox) gps receiver uses standard compact flash cards. File formats were provided by Holux-Taiwan holux.com to the author. The code was tested against version 2.27E1; other versions and receivers may work but have not been explictly tested. Anyone with information on other Holux receivers is encouraged to contact jochen@bauerbahn.net.

When copying the .wpo file to a flash card, the file must be named tempwprt.wpo as the receiver will ignore all other files.

Comparing the waypoints of a .wpo files against other formats like .gpx you may notice a small difference in the latitude and longitude values. The reason is the low resolution of the coordinates in the wpo file format. In a .wpo file the reolution is 1/10"; in gpx for example it is 1/100". A a practical matter, this loss is only about 1.7 meters (5 feet).

The generated waypoint failes can also be used by MapShow version 1.14. This program is free of charge from the Holux web site.

This format was contributed by Jochen Becker.

This format can...

This format has the following options: csv .

The Holux m241 is a small datalogger using the MTK chipset, with a couple small differences in the binary format. In its default configuration, it can store ~100000 trackpoints with very limited data; to configure extended logging you can use the BT747 open source software bt747 Waypoint storage is possible only if "recording reason" (RCR) is enabled in the settings.

Holux GPSport 245 is a datalogger with display suitable for cycling, walking and running. It can store ~200k trackpoints with limited data. The m241 and m241-bin format is able to automatically detect GPSport 245 data and handle the differences from Holux M-241 devices. Note: GP245 does not log any quality of the position.

Use the m241 format to connect with the unit serially and m241-bin to read files saved by the device.

This format can...

This format has the following options: erase, erase_only, log_enable, csv .

The Holux m241 is a small datalogger using the MTK chipset, with a couple small differences in the binary format. In its default configuration, it can store ~100000 trackpoints with very limited data; to configure extended logging you can use the BT747 open source software bt747 Waypoint storage is possible only if "recording reason" (RCR) is enabled in the settings.

Holux GPSport 245 is a datalogger with display suitable for cycling, walking and running. It can store ~200k trackpoints with limited data. The m241 and m241-bin format is able to automatically detect GPSport 245 data and handle the differences from Holux 241 devices. Note: GP245 does not log any quality of the position.

Use the m241 format to connect with the unit serially and m241-bin to read files saved by the device.

This format can...

This is the log format output by factory-installed Honda/Acura (Alpine) Navigation Systems in (at least) 2006 models and newer. (Though I've seen indirect data that says that Acura nav systems at least as far back as 2004 use it too)

This format is definitely known to work with the following model cars specifically:

Logging may be enabled by simultaneously holding down the MAP/GUIDE, MENU, and CANCEL buttons for 3-5 seconds, then selecting "Functional Setup", "Log Data". A PCMCIA card must be inserted into the system (behind the Nav LCD) for logging to work. (The system can read MP3/WMA files on this card and will also write logs to it. Generally, a PCMCIA to CF or PCMCIA to SD adapter is used with a corresponding CF/SD card) With logging successfully set up, the system will create a directory named "VPlog" off the root of the card. Inside this directory, files will be created with names corresponding to the date and time of engine start, in GMT. (YYMMDD_HHMM.vpl)

The VPL format contains quite a bit of data, much of which remains undecoded. This format currently reads only lat/lon, altitude, speed, heading, date/time, visible sats, HDOP and VDOP.

Generally, the layout of the format seems similar to NMEA, with discrete sentences containing different fields of data, followed by a 1-byte XOR'd checksum. Some sentences are generated only once per engine start, others every few seconds, many every second, and a few on the order of five and in one case, up to twenty five times per second. All data in the file is written in ASCII; most of it simply as hexadecimal characters. Most fields are fixed width, though a few can be variable. (Those that are variable have a field count as the first field after their sentence identifier) Currently, only the '75'-sentence is processed (and only about 70% of it), though this provides all the data necessary for position information. Some fields in other sentences have been decoded, but they are not currently processed. Information on the data in these fields can be found in vpl.c.

This format can...

HSA Systems Endeavour Navigator format - will import both the old version 4.x binary files, and the newer XML based ones. Only writes the new XML (5.0 and above) format. (use the .exp extension)

This format can...

This format has the following options: stylesheet, encrypt, logs, degformat, altunits .

GPSBabel's HTML output generates a single HTML file of all of the waypoints in the input file. It supports a number of Groundspeak GPX extensions and filters out potentially harmful HTML from the input file while maintaining almost all of the source HTML formatting. This makes this format well suited for generating HTML to hand to programs like Plucker for putting in a PDA and especially so for "paperless caching" for Geocachers with pocket queries.

This format is similar to the text format.

The following command line reads a GPX file with Groundspeak extensions and writes an HTML file with encrypted hints that is rendered using a custom stylesheet:

gpsbabel -i gpx -f 12345.gpx -o html,stylesheet=green.css,encrypt -F 12345.html

This format can...

See the Humminbird format for docs on this.

This format can...

This format supports:

If you do "save all nav data" on the device, you'll get a data.hwr and a 000.ht file on the flash card (on a 797 in the matrix directory).

The humminbird module can read all of these file formats, but you need to tell it which ones to write. By default, you get a .hwr file, to get a track (.ht file), use the "humminbird-track" format.

Note:.dat files are read-only, they only make sense together with their images.

Supported models:

(They should all work, but this is the only one tested so far.)

Known limits:

This format can...

This format has the following options: index .

This format supports IGN Rando track files. IGN Rando is a program mainly used in France for Topo maps. The files are XML based and are "windows-1252" encoded. Trackpoints do not have time stamps.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

igo2008_poi supports POI files from Nav N Go iGO 8 Europe™. This is a GPS Navigation Software for Windows Mobile™ based PDA devices and Smartphones.

This format can...

This format has the following options: tracknum, title, description .

iGo8 is the successor to the "iGo My way" software package that is reasonably prolific for GPS devices manufactured by Mio, Sony, LG, as well as many other small manufacturers. iGo8 is notable in that it has full 3D rendering of terrain as well as buildings and landmarks for most large cities. The software can also be bought pre-loaded on a mico-SD card for use in many PPC phones that are GPS enabled.

The track format used by iGo8 is rather rudimentary, consisting of a list of coordinates and a time resolution of 1 second. While iGo8 supports exporting tracks to GPX format, importing tracks is not natively supported.

This format can...

From the file format description:

The JTR file format is used by the Jelbert GeoTagger device to record location information relating to where photographs have been taken. One record entry is created for each press of the shutter on the camera.

The JTR file format will be updated in the future so it is important to check for the current version ID within the file that is present at the beginning of each line of data. It is currently “GEOTAG2”

Each line of the JTR file currently starts with the word “GEOTAG2” followed by a comma and then two NMEA sentences separated by a comma character with a CR at the end. The $GPRMC (date, time and position) data is followed by the $HCHDG (magnetic compass) data.

Although the $GPRMC data segment contains a compass bearing, this should be ignored unless the $HCHDG compass direction is null which can happen if the electronic compass is switched off. Use the magnetic compass bearing in preference to the GPS derived compass. The two NMEA checksums can be ignored for the time being.

This format can...

This read-only format reads the XML marker files from Jogmap as tracks. Each "markers" entry is a new track with each "marker" entry being a trackpoint.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Support for Kartex 5 trackfiles. For more info see kwf2.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Support for Kartex 5 waypoint files. Kartex is a Swedish map and GPS positioning system. GPSBabel can read and write files from Kartex 4 and 5 with WGS84 coordinates. UTM or Swedish grid are not supported.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This module supports track files used by Kompass and DAV "Deutscher Alpenverein".

Kompass is a publishing company from Austria. If you want to get more information about DAV, the German alpine association, and if you are familiar with the german language, please have a look at their homepage.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This module supports waypoint files used by Kompass and DAV "Deutscher Alpenverein".

Some more information under kompass_tk format.

This format can...

This is a text format created by KuDaTa's PsiTrex program for the Psion PDAs. The format can't be readily handled by XCSV, so this format is handled explicitly. Waypoints, routes and tracks are all handled, with icon names used corresponding to verison 1.13 of PsiTrex. This module was contributed to GPSBabel by Mark Bradley.

This format can...

This format has the following options: ignoreicons, writeasicons, merge, break, wversion .

The Lowrance iFinder GPS series has the unique capability to output its data to an MMC card. The data is saved to the card as a .USR file and can be read by your computer using a card reader. Waypoints, icons, routes, tracks are supported. Event marker icons contain a symbol, name, latitude and longitude only. By default, Event marker icons are converted to waypoints on read. On write, you are able to create icons from waypoints.

This format can...

This format supports the on-card format used by the Magellan Explorist 400, Explorist 500, Explorist 600, Explorist 210, and Explorist XL to describe geocaches. Notice what while the format can hold an infinite number of geocaches, the unit will read and silently discard all but 200 geocache POIs at a time.

You should name any file created with this format with a ".gs" extension so the firmware can read it.

This format does support reading .gs files, but it's kind of a pointless operation as the units can't create or edit these files. Round-tripped data is lossy for all but the most trivial cases as many fields are shortened or discarded on write. "Date last found" is discarded on read as there are no logs stored on the device in which to store the date last found.

This format can...

This format has the following options: trkver .

This format supports the Magellan MapSend™ native file format.

Kudos to Magellan for having the foresight to document their file formats, making software like this possible.

This format can...

Magellan NAV Companion for Palm/OS is not really designed for this sort of use, but its file format is supported and with a little bit of patience you can both read and write NAV Companion waypoints. This conversion is based on partially incomplete reverse-engineering of the record format, so it may not work with all versions of NAV Companion. It has been tested with version 2.10 and 3.20.

Translating NAV Companion waypoints to another format is as easy as with any other format. Just find the Companion_Waypoints database in your palm backup directory and use it as the input file.

When translating waypoints back to NAV Companion, though, you need to jump through some hoops:

First, you must merge any waypoints that already exist in the database in your Palm Backup directory with the ones you are adding; failure to do so will result in only the new points being available in NAV Companion, even if you give the new database a different name (it will overwrite the old database, even in your backup directory. That's a feature of PalmOS, not of NAV Companion.)

To merge the databases, use a command line like the following:

gpsbabel -i magnav -f Companion_Waypoints.PDB -i geo -f geocaching.loc -o magnav -F merged.pdb

Second, you must use the installer to install your new PDB file. Don't make the mistake of copying it over the existing Companion_Waypoints.PDB file; the one on the handheld will overwrite it rather than merging with it.

Finally, because NAV Companion is not designed to work with desktop applications, you must tell NAV Companion that its waypoints database has changed out from under it. One way to do this is to go to the waypoints screen and attempt to scroll; that will force it to reread the database and fix the record pointers that it keeps on the heap.

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, maxcmts .

This is the SD card format used by the Magellan Explorist 400, Explorist 500, Explorist 600, and Explorist XL and internally on those devices plus the Explorist 210. Stored waypoints are identical to the Magellan SD format used by Meridian, but the newer models allow longer waypoint names. Routes are subtly different.

You should name any file containing waypoints created with this format with a ".upt" extension so the firmware can read it. Similarly, routes should be named ".rte" and tracks should be named ".log".

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, maxcmts .

GPSBabel supports the following Magellan receivers:

This format is used for both the serial protocol used on the devices with serial ports such as Map330 and Meridian and for the files stored either in either the unit's internal memory (Explorist 210, Explorist 400, Explorist 500, Explorist 600, Explorist XL) or on removable memory.

If you specify a serial port for the file (.e.g. "COM1", "/dev/ttyS0") to be read or written, GPSBabel will use serial protocol. Specifying a file, either on local filesystem or on a mounted flash card reader, will results in the file-based format being used.

This format can...

This format has the following options: deficon, maxcmts, baud, noack, nukewpt .

GPSBabel supports the following Magellan receivers:

The RoadMate family of products is not supported.

This format is used for both the serial protocol used on the devices with serial ports such as Map330 and Meridian and for the files stored either in either the unit's internal memory (Explorist 210, 400, 500, 600, XL) or on removable memory.

If you specify a serial port for the file (.e.g. "COM1", "/dev/ttyS0") to be read or written, GPSBabel will use serial protocol. Specifying a file, either on local filesystem or on a mounted flash card reader, will result in the file-based format being used.

Users of the Explorist generation of receivers should probably prefer to use the magellanx format over this one.

This format can...

This is the format for MagicMaps project (.ikt) files.

MagicMaps "Das interaktive Kartenwerk"™ is a Software from Germany. It's a route-planning software with a 3-dimensional envirounment.

The project files are XML based and we can read the main GPS items (names and coordinates). For an output these files are too complex.

This format can...

This format has the following options: routevia .

TEF, internally called "TourExchangeFormat", is an XML based export format used by Map&Guide Motorrad-Routenplaner 2005/06™.

Because this is only an export format, GPSBabel does not support writing to this format.

GPSBabel also supports the bcr format, which may also be used with this program and supports both reading and writing.

gpsbabel -r -i tef,routevia -f in.xml -o gpx -F out.gpx

This format can...

With this format we support the Palm/OS export for Map&Guide based products like "PowerRoute", "Motorrad-Routenplaner" and (maybe) other software. The exported files can contain maps and/or route descriptions. The reader for this format has been tested with PowerRoute 5+6, Motorrad-Routenplaner 2002(-2006).

This format can...

Mapking provides a set of tools for GPS navigation.  The location of distributed maps is mainly in Asia, so the software seems not (yet) well known in Europe or US.  Some of the GPS tools (e.g. Mapking 2007 for Windows Mobile) can also be used to write waypoints and save them under the .tr7 format which can be translated by GPSBabel.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Mapconverter is a format that is read by Mapopolis.com's mapconverter application.

Mapconverter is an application used to create userland maps and map data for Mapopolis.com's Mapopolis program. The mapconverter format is essentially waypoint data prepared in a format that the mapconverter application will accept.

The steps for using GPSBabel and Mapconverter go something like this:

Step 1: Create a mapconverter file using gpsbabel.

gpsbabel -i geo -f geocaching.loc -o mapconverter -F foo.txt

Step 2: Launch mapconverter.exe and choose foo.txt as your input file. Click the begin button to have mapconverter process foo.txt.

If all goes successfully, you should have a file called "foo.pdb" ready for syncing with your PDA. Put it wherever Mapopolis thinks it should be on your PDA.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Maptech Exchange Format - Another CSV format file. This format complies with (at least) Maptech Terrain Navigator, Terrain Professional, Take a Hike, and ExpertGPS import/export MFX. Contributed by Alex Mottram.

This format can...

This format has the following options: locked, visible, ver .

The 'mmo' format provides support for binary .mmo files used by the Memory-Map Navigator software.

Our module was reverse engineered from a couple of .mmo files found in the www. The results of the writing code have been tested with a current Memory-Map Navigator trial ('Viewer') release.

Because of different file versions and sometimes slightly different file structure we cannot ensure, that every .mmo file is loadable at this time. If you have one, which causes errors, please provide it [mailto:gpsbabel-misc@lists.sourceforge.net].

More information can be found at the Memory-Map site.

This format can...

Input support for Microsoft AutoRoute 2002-2006 .axe files and Microsoft Streets and Trips .est files. This is for reading routes created this program and is different than the s_and_t format used for writing pushpins.

These files contains only routes. We can extract the coordinates and the names of the points within route. An export to this format will not be supported.

Only the start, stops, and end points are stored in the .est/.axe/.ptm files. Turn-by-turn route data is not stored in the .est/.axe/.ptm files, and is recalculated by the Microsoft title each time on opening the file. This means that the output of GPSBabel will not contain turns needed for driving directions.

One possible approach to achieve similar results is to use the Streets and Trips drawing tools to trace a line over the interesting parts of the route to capture intersections or key turns. GPSBabel will capture stops in the route and insert those as turns, so adding stops at intersections can also improve the results when converting.

This format can...

Input support for Microsoft AutoRoute 2002-2006 .axe files and Microsoft Streets and Trips .est files. This is for reading routes created this program and is different than the s_and_t format used for writing pushpins.

These files contains only routes. We can extract the coordinates and the names of the points within route. An export to this format will not be supported.

Only the start, stops, and end points are stored in the .est/.axe/.ptm files. Turn-by-turn route data is not stored in the .est/.axe/.ptm files, and is recalculated by the Microsoft title each time on opening the file. This means that the output of GPSBabel will not contain turns needed for driving directions.

One possible approach to achieve similar results is to use the Streets and Trips drawing tools to trace a line over the interesting parts of the route to capture intersections or key turns. GPSBabel will capture stops in the route and insert those as turns, so adding stops at intersections can also improve the results when converting.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This is a format for creating data to be read by Microsoft Streets and Trips. It's been exercised on versions from 2003 through 2008. Detailed instructions on how to use it, including preserving hyperlinks, are at gpsbabel.org

We have an additional page describing how to solve the traveling salesman problem with Streets & Trips to efficiently optimize a trip with many stops, such as is often made by geocachers.

This format has nothing to do with the .est/axe format used by this program to store routes.

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This format has the following options: ftype, trk_header .

This format can...

This format has the following options: index, name, radius, prefer_shortnames .

This file format (extension .bcr) is used in Map&Guide Motorrad Routenplaner 2002™ and later versions. BCR is a route-only format. If you own a newer release (2005 or later) you may also use the XML export with GPSBabel's tef input format.

There may be other products from Map&Guide that use this format as well.

Coordinates are stored in a BCR file in a Mercator projection. The conversion from the Mercator projection to polar (latitude/longitude) coordinates and back again may result in visible differences. Experience reports are welcome.

This format can...

Microsoft's PocketStreets 2002 Pushpin (.PSP) format is not yet completely documented. The .PSP module does not work with MS Streets & Trips 2002 .EST files To create .PSP files from Streets & Trips 2002, you will need to have PocketStreets support installed.

Please note that MS Streets & Trips only exports .PSP files. It does not import them. MS Streets & Trips 2002 only imports CSV files. To use .PSP files, simply copy them over to the same folder on the mobile device as the map (.MPS), and open PocketStreets. It should also be noted that in the case a pushpin is outside of the exported map area, the pin will be "grayed-out" and unused in PocketStreets. This is a good thing as it allows us to create one big .PSP file that covers multiple .MPS files. Unfortunately, you need one .PSP file for every .MPS file.

This format can...

This format has the following options: csv .

Binary file protocol converter for MTK based GPS loggers. This format reads the raw binary format created by the MTK Windows application and outputs to other formats supported by GPSBabel When using the csv option a MTK application compatible output file will also be created.

It has been tested with Transystem i-Blue 747™ but other devices should work as well (Qstarz BT-Q1000, iTrek Z1, ...)

All position items (including button push) will be listed as trackpoints in the output. Log items due to button push are presented as waypoints. In theory we would not add waypoints to the list of trackpoints. But as the MTK logger restart the log session from the button press we would loose a trackpoint unless we include/duplicate it.

Transystem i-Blue 747

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This format has the following options: erase, erase_only, log_enable, csv .

This format is the serial download protocol for the MTK chips. Mediatek's MT3301/3179 (MTKv1) and MT3318 (MTKv2) chips are used in a large number of products sold under different names.

Many GPS products, especially of the data logger variety, expose the Mediatek protocol to the user via USB. Some modify Mediatek's protocol in minor ways, but the core protocol is very commonly seen in loggers.

The Holux M-241 and GPSport 245 are examples of a device using an incompatible variation of the MTK protocol.

The following products are known or are expected to work with this module. As the products are typically very low cost, they tend to have a short product life cycle and are often imported to different areas under different names. Keeping track of the list is difficult. Often the "same" GPS is sold in different plastic or with different Windows software or different options such as compass or motion sensors or charging cables with different model numbers. If you can confirm success with others, please share with us.

The Mediatek chip offers a native serial port. Data logger designers frequently pair this with commodity USB/Serial converter internally. So these devices typically look like Prolific, FTDI, or Silab usb/serial devices to the host OS. You'll need drivers for that whatever chip your product uses for your operating system.

Downloaded data will be stored in data.bin file in the current directory together with the choosen output format. This is a rather uncommon feature in GPSBabel's formats and is likely to change in future versions.

See mtk-bin on how trackpoints/waypoints are handled

For more info and tweaks on MTK based loggers: MTK Tips and Tweaks and iBlue 747 Logger For info about the used log format, see MTK binary format

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This format has the following options: datum .

National Geographic Topo! Waypoint and Route Format. This module reads and writes .TPG files created by various editions of NG Topo! Reading/writing of route data is not supported yet.

Contributed by Alex Mottram.

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This module reads tracks from .TPO files created by National Geographic Topo! version 2.x

Contributed by Steve Chamberlin.

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This module reads .TPO files created by National Geographic Topo! version 3.x and 4.x. It will read tracks, routes, waypoints, map notes, symbols, and text notes. The latter three are converted to waypoints.

Contributed by Curt Mills.

This format can...

This format has the following options: noretired .

This is the XML format that's used by Navicache.com for their geocaching data. There are a number of fields in it that are marked "required" but are Navicache-specific, so GPSBabel can not write these files, but we can still read them. navicache.com

This format can...

This format has the following options: index .

Support for Navigon Mobile Navigator route (.rte) files. This is a very simple text format that only requires coordinates, but has fields for many other things. We only write coordinates as fields like 'city' and 'street' cannot typically be populated from other formats. www.navigon.com

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This is the waypoint file format for Navigon units such as the Navigon 7100.

To actually manipulate the file on the unit, use a USB cable or SD card reader and work with MN6\Settings\Favorites.storage The waypoints are be created with a minimal amount of data; the unit will fill in the other fields on use. The other fields appear to be data the unit infers, such as nearby streets.

Note that this is the waypoint/placemark format (.storage) and not the route file format (.rte, .mn4) that is used by routes.

This format can...

This format has the following options: nuketrk, nukerte, nukewpt, nukedlg, datalog, power_off .

GPSBabel supports the Navilink protocol used by the Locosys GT-11 and GT-31 GPS receivers. These are sold under a variety of names including:

This format is used for both the serial protocol used on the USB link and for the files which can be copied from the internal memory to the SD card using recent firmware versions.

If you specify a serial port for the file (.e.g. "COM1", "/dev/ttyUSB0") to be read or written, GPSBabel will use the serial protocol. Specifying a file, either on local filesystem or on a mounted flash card reader, will results in the file-based format being used.

To access the device using the serial protocol over USB the device needs to be in Navilink mode, which can be activated from the main menu of the device.

Details of the Navilink serial protocol can be found here.

This format can...

This format is for SBP datalog files saved to the SD card by the Locosys GT-11/BGT-11/GT-31/BGT-31.

This format can...

This format is for SBN datalog files saved to the SD card by the Locosys GT-11/BGT-11/GT-31/BGT-31.

On the device, logging in this format is enabled by choosing SBN from the NMEA ITEMS menu on the MEMORY CARD screen.

Not all data logged in this format is converted by GPSBabel, but the following are:

The specification of this format can be found in the SiRF Binary Protocol Reference Manual, in the section called Geodetic Navigation Data - Message ID 41.

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This format has the following options: output, reorder .

Naviguide 3.02 is off-road navigation software. Naviguide covers the area of Israel and uses the Israeli old grid as a reference; Naviguide uses Hebrew as its default language.

Naviguide uses unique map file format and binary file format (.twl) as route file. The *.twl file contains a route that is comprised of a list of waypoints. Naviguide does not support a file that contains only waypoints.

GPSBabel supports reading and creating Naviguide route files. Plot files are not supported.

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NavitelNavigator is very popular navigation software in Russia and it's neighbors.

This binary format only stores the latitude and the longitude of a trackpoint and is limited to 10000 points per file.

This format can...

This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

Navitrak DNA marker format - Another CSV format file. This is the format that is compatible with the DNA Desktop import/export command. Reading the binary Markers.jwp format directly off the data card is not supported yet. Contributed by Tim Zickus.

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This format has the following options: nseicon, nsneicon, seicon, sneicon, snmac .

This format reads summary files from NetStumbler™ 0.4 or MacStumbler™.

The default behavior when creating waypoints is to use the SSID for the short name, and information about the access point for the description. When the SSID is not unique, is not available, or consists of whitespace, a short name is synthesized.

Different icons are assigned to encrypted, non-encrypted, stealth, and non-stealth access points; these may be changed with options.

NetStumbler

MacStumbler

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This format is derived from the xcsv format, so it has all of the same options as that format.

This is a CSV format from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

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This format has the following options: snlen, gprmc, gpgga, gpvtg, gpgsa, date, get_posn, pause, append_positioning, baud, gisteq .

This format is the file representation of the NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) 0183 log and waypoint format for GPS devices. Some hardware and software that work with NMEA-0183 formatted data include:

This module also supports realtime tracking which allows realtime position reports from a GPS, such as one connected serially, over Bluetooth, or a USB module emulating a serial port, to be used with selected output formats. Just specify an input file that is the device name such as COM1: for Windows or a device-dependent name like /dev/cu.usbserial for Mac or /dev/ttyUSB0 for Linux. (Note that serial device names vary on Mac and Linux.)

When used in realtime tracking mode, if GPSBabel does not sense incoming NMEA sentences arriving from the port, it will send Sirf "reset to NMEA" commands to the port at a variety of speeds in an attempt to communicate with an attached GPS. This lets devices like the Microsoft GPS or Pharos GPS that are Sirf chips with an integrated USB/Serial adapter work with this input format.

This format can...

This format has the following options: binary .

This format supports Nokia Landmark Exchange (LMX) files used by several Nokia phones. GPSBabel supports the traditional XML format for reading and writing. The compressed binary format (WBXML) can be written, but most current Nokia phones do not support it (confirmed with N82 and N95).

With this format, landmarks can be imported into the landmark store of the mobile phone. This landmark store is then used to display them on a map with several applications. The most common ones are the pre-installed Ovi Maps (or its predecessor Nokia Maps) and Google Maps Mobile.

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This format has the following options: tag, tagnd, created_by .

This format is used to exchange data with the OpenStreetMap project. The main goal of this collaborative project is to create free editable maps.

These data files are XML based. Every GPS element (way or node) described by the files has a unique number as identifier. When we write OSM data files and don't know something about the id's, negative numbers will be used as identifier. This has been tested with JOSM.

Because the resulting timestamps of OSM ways differ from real GPS tracks, we read OSM ways into routes. On the output side we write all available routes and tracks into the osm target file.

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This format has the following options: pack, snlen, snwhite, snupper, snunique, wptfgcolor, wptbgcolor, proximity, altunit, proxunit .

OziExplorer Waypoint Format - Another CSV format file. Tested against OziExplorer v 3.90.3a / Shareware. Contributed by Alex Mottram

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This format has the following options: nosep, dbname, encrypt, logs, bookmarks_short .

PalmDoc output is similar to Text output, except that it generates a Palm Database (PDB) file suitable for use with programs like CSpotRun, TealDoc, AportisDoc, Palm Reader, and others. The resulting file also contains bookmarks to make it easy to jump to a particular waypoint.

The following command line reads a GPX file with Groundspeak extensions and writes a Palm document with encrypted hints and logs:

gpsbabel -i gpx -f 12345.gpx -o "palmdoc,dbname=Unfound Geocaches,encrypt,logs" -F 12345.pdb

This format can...

This format has the following options: date, dbname, dbicon, deficon, snlen .

PathAway is a Palm software designed for handling "most" GPS devices (including BlueTooth). In this time (I mean 2005) a free tool to convert this database is located on the homepage of PathAway (www.pathaway.com). But I've read there ... for windows and the output formats are also very limited.

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This format provides support for binary breadcrumb files from PocketFMS. The default filename is GPS followed by the timestamp with no file extension.

PocketFMS breadcrumbs files contain track information. That is latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, course, variation, separation, GPS error, fix type and timestamp. With exception of separation all info get processed by GPSBabel in both in and out direction.

This format can...

This format provides support for XML flightplans from PocketFMS.

PocketFMS XML flightplans contain route and waypoint information and much more flight planning info as airspaces, aircraft performance, fuel managment etc. This format cannot be read by PocketFMS. Hence GPSBabel supports only input of route and waypoint information.

The PocketFMS flightplan converter take into account the -w waypoint flag. If set then additional waypoints are stored to the route point and path information.