software to split GPX into 500point sections

[Asposium]

My Garmin inReach only has the ability for 500point tracks (rubbish I know )

One work around I thought of was to split a larger GPX into 500point sections

Route-1
Route-2
Route-3
etc

Anyone know of a program that will split a large GPX into these 500point segment?

Doing a quick google came across a few, wondering people have a preference for one.

Ta

[ianfitz]

Pretty sure you can do that on bikehike

[Chew]

You can merge tracks and reduce the number of points in BikeHike, but unsure you can split them (I could be wrong)

If you can read a bit of code, its easy enough to do manually
If you open the file in Notepad it will show you the file. It starts off with some header info around unit/name etc... The actual route will start with
<trkseg>

After that its just all of the gps points
<trkpt lat="54.336800000000004" lon="-2.57392"> <ele>158.74</ele> </trkpt>

These then repeat until you get to
</trkseg>

Then theres a bit at the end.

You can just copy the files a few times and then delete an appropriate number of gps points to get you down to the required file size

[chris n]

Bikehike will do it. Load the full track and use the cut to end and reverse route functions to trim bits off the start/end/both. Then use Trackpoint Reduction in the Options to reduce them to 500 pt segments. You'll need to save each bit out separately, and reload the full track to create the next segment. A bit of experimentation will be needed to work out what the maximum length a 500 pt track can be and still give you a usable track to follow.

[Dave Barter]

GPS Babel is what you need

https://www.gpsbabel.org/

[Asposium]

GPS Babel is what you need

https://www.gpsbabel.org/

downloaded and installed
not user friendly

[Dave Barter]

It is an incredibly powerful toolkit, it will not have a "oh so you wanted to split a track into sections of 500 points" option unfortunately. But it will do almost anything you can imagine you need to do with a GPX file or other GPS data.

For those of us who know GIS it is dead straightforward. If you're still stuck just send me the file and I'll do it. I'm much more user friendly.

[Asposium]

It is an incredibly powerful toolkit, it will not have a "oh so you wanted to split a track into sections of 500 points" option unfortunately. But it will do almost anything you can imagine you need to do with a GPX file or other GPS data.

For those of us who know GIS it is dead straightforward. If you're still stuck just send me the file and I'll do it. I'm much more user friendly.

could you tell me the command line?

or perhaps split a GPX and screen capture the screen.

thanks for your help

[ScotRoutes]

Basecamp

Load the whole track
Use the scissor tool to cut it into chunks.
Rename each one to what you want.

[Dave Barter]

Basecamp option will not necessarily reduce points to < 500

Can you tell me whether GPX is track or route points? Do you know if it is split into track segments already? This makes a difference to the command line I will work out for you.

This will get it down to less than 500 points as one track but will simplify it

gpsbabel -i gpx -f INPUT.gpx -x simplify,count=499 -o gpx -F OUTPUT.gpx

[Asposium]

Basecamp option will not necessarily reduce points to < 500

Can you tell me whether GPX is track or route points? Do you know if it is split into track segments already? This makes a difference to the command line I will work out for you.

This will get it down to less than 500 points as one track but will simplify it

gpsbabel -i gpx -f INPUT.gpx -x simplify,count=499 -o gpx -F OUTPUT.gpx

the GPX is a single track

I wish to keep the detail, merely chop the GPX into segments of 500+N points, where N is the remainder and less than 500

[Dave Barter]

OK brace yourself ;-)

First convert the file to CSV

gpsbabel -i gpx -f INPUT.gpx -t -o csv -F OUTPUT.gpx

Next split this CSV into N files of 500 lines each (if you are on Mac or linux you can use split)

Finally convert each file back to GPX

gpsbabel -i csv -f FILE1.csv -t -o gpx -F GPX1.gpx

Should have sent it to me ;-)

[ScotRoutes]

Basecamp option will not necessarily reduce points to < 500

It will if you cut it at the 500th way point. You'd also have the option of splitting it somewhere convenient rather than a random point in the route.

[Dave Barter]

True but don't you have to maintain a count in the list box by hand? I'm not convinced it is easy.

[Asposium]

OK brace yourself ;-)

First convert the file to CSV

gpsbabel -i gpx -f INPUT.gpx -t -o csv -F OUTPUT.gpx

Next split this CSV into N files of 500 lines each (if you are on Mac or linux you can use split)

Finally convert each file back to GPX

gpsbabel -i csv -f FILE1.csv -t -o gpx -F GPX1.gpx

Should have sent it to me ;-)

my usual way might be easier
duplicate X times in basecamp
then delete as required to have 500 points per segment
thought there must be a better way

[ScotRoutes]

Why duplicate it X times?

[Asposium]

Why duplicate it X times?

xxxxx...........................
.....xxxxx......................
..........xxxxx..................
...............xxxxx..............

duplicate because I am deleting the unneeded points
is there a more efficient way?

[bearlymoving]

Why duplicate it X times?

xxxxx...........................
.....xxxxx......................
..........xxxxx..................
...............xxxxx..............

duplicate because I am deleting the unneeded points
is there a more efficient way?

Are you not keen on the command line at all?

If using it is an option, we might be able to take Dave's commands and wrap them up into a script.

Then you could just type "split-gpx-track route.gpx" and it would create a bunch of files for you with no more than 500 points in.

But there's probably no milage in that if you'd rather avoid the command line entirely.

[Asposium]

Why duplicate it X times?

xxxxx...........................
.....xxxxx......................
..........xxxxx..................
...............xxxxx..............

duplicate because I am deleting the unneeded points
is there a more efficient way?

Are you not keen on the command line at all?

If using it is an option, we might be able to take Dave's commands and wrap them up into a script.

Then you could just type "split-gpx-track route.gpx" and it would create a bunch of files for you with no more than 500 points in.

But there's probably no milage in that if you'd rather avoid the command line entirely.

not at all, I suppose I was just hoping there would be a nice simple way.

the command line approach will work just fine
just needs a bit more learning at the start

a lot less faff in the long run.
unless garmin remove the 500 point limitation, silly design.

[ScotRoutes]

Why duplicate it X times?

xxxxx...........................
.....xxxxx......................
..........xxxxx..................
...............xxxxx..............

duplicate because I am deleting the unneeded points
is there a more efficient way?

When you split it - using the scissor tool - the first time, you'll have a track with 500 points and another with however many are left.
So, with a track of 2,600 points...

Cut it at 500. You've now two tracks - one of 500 and one of 2,100.
Split the big one into two.
You've now two at 500 and one at 1,600
etc
etc
etc

As I said, you could choose to cut it at somewhere sensible like a junction, cafe etc as you'll have the mapping on display as you're editing it.

[bearlymoving]

the command line approach will work just fine
just needs a bit more learning at the start

Are you on a Mac? I just wrote a script to automate Dave's commands, but it'll only work on a Mac (it'll work on Linux too in principle, but I've not tested it):

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gma/g ... -gpx-track

Save that file to disk (Command+S in your browser) and call it "split-gpx-track" (you might need to trim off a .txt extension).

Then open a terminal, find the file you just saved (with the cd command), and then type "chmod +x split-gpx-track" (that'll make it executable).

Now, when you're still in that directory, you'll be able to run it. Type the name of your large GPX file as an argument to the script, and it should do the rest.

This is what you can expect to see if it worked:

$ ./split-gpx-track 'Home from Macc.gpx'
Creating 'Home from Macc-1.gpx'
Creating 'Home from Macc-2.gpx'
Creating 'Home from Macc-3.gpx'
Creating 'Home from Macc-4.gpx'

By the way Dave, nifty approach.

Any trouble getting it to work, feel free to PM me (copy and paste all the text from your terminal into your message).

[Bearbonesnorm]

I started reading all ^ that but got lost / confused and thought, surely buying a gps that actually does what you want, would be a simpler approach

[Asposium]

I started reading all ^ that but got lost / confused and thought, surely buying a gps that actually does what you want, would be a simpler approach

the above is for my Garmin inReach (tracker)

no issue for the Garmin GPS

amazed Garmin would limit the points to 500 points

[Bearbonesnorm]

the above is for my Garmin inReach (tracker)

no issue for the Garmin GPS

amazed Garmin would limit the points to 500 points

Any reason to buy that over a SPOT?

[whitestone]

the above is for my Garmin inReach (tracker)

no issue for the Garmin GPS

amazed Garmin would limit the points to 500 points

Any reason to buy that over a SPOT?

I believe that with the Delorme/Garmin you can purchase a month's subscription as and when you want rather than a full year as with SPOT