GPXSee - Documentation

Data files

GPXSee opens GPX, TCX, FIT, KML, IGC, NMEA and Garmin CSV files, however not all format features are supported for all formats. Generally, GPXSee supports three kinds of data objects:

Tracks
Routes
Waypoints

Naturally, if a format supports only a subset of the objects, GPXSee also supports only this subset. Some formats - especially KML - have support for a plenty of other data objects like surfaces or even 3D structures. Those are not supported by GPXSee.

In addition to GPS data, data from the following sensors is supported by GPXSee:

Heart rate
Cadence
Power
Temperature

Maps

Two kinds of maps are supported by GPXSee - online maps and offline maps. You may either load them "ad hoc" from the GUI or they can be loaded automatically at program startup from the following directory:

Windows:	C:\Program Files\GPXSee\maps
Linux:	/usr/share/gpxsee/maps
OS X:	/Applications/GPXSee.app/Contents/Resources/maps

User specific map directories that - when present - override the global map directory are also supported. The paths are as follows:

Windows:	%HOMEPATH%\GPXSee\maps
OS X, Linux:	$HOME/.gpxsee/maps

The map directory is recursively searched when loading the maps, so it may contain an arbitrary directory structure.

Online maps

OSM/Google tiles

GPXSee supports most tile server based online maps out there, but the list of maps distributed with the official packages is limited to those that are "freely distributable". You may however easily extend (or change) the default map list with your own map sources definitions.

The mapsource definition file format is based on XML and is fairly simple. The root map element contains two mandatory elements - name and url, and two optional elements - zoom and bounds. The tile X and Y coordinates are replaced with $x and $y in the URL and the zoom level is replaced with $z. An example map source definition file could look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<map>
  <name>Czech Republic</name>
  <url>http://tile.server.cz/map/$z/$x/$y.png</url>
  <zoom min="2" max="15"/>
  <bounds left="12.3" bottom="48.6" right="18.9" top="51.2"/>
</map>

The bounds are WGS84 latitude/longitude values in degrees. If omitted, the default zoom range is <0, 19> and the default bounds are <-85.0511, 85.0511> and <-180, 180>.

WMTS

WMTS maps are distinguished by setting the type attribute of the map element to WMTS. Both the KVP and REST access methods are supported.

For KVP, the url element represents the WMTS base URL and three additional elements are required - layer, style and set (TileMatrixSet in WMTS). An optional format element may be specified defining the desired image format. If not set, image/png is used.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<map type="WMTS">
  <name>CUZK</name>
  <url>http://geoportal.cuzk.cz/WMTS_ZM_900913/WMTService.aspx</url>
  <format>image/png</format>
  <layer>zm</layer>
  <style>default</style>
  <set axis="yx">ogc:1.0:globalcrs84pixel</set>
</map>

For REST access, the url element's type attribute must be set to REST. The URL then represents the URL of the capabilities XML document. The three mandatory elements - layer, style and set - must be present like in the KVP case. Defining the format has no relevance for the REST access method.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<map type="WMTS">
  <name>Wien - Ortho</name>
  <url type="REST">http://maps1.wien.gv.at/wmts/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml</url>
  <layer>lb</layer>
  <style>farbe</style>
  <set>google3857</set>
</map>

There is one more important attribute - the axis attribute of the set element. It specifies the axis order for the CRS used for the tile matrix set. Technically the order should be obtainable from the CRS definition, but in praxis many servers use the wrong order. This is why GPXSee uses x,y (lon,lat) as default and if the set uses the reverse order, the axis attribute must be set to yx in the map definition.

For the formal mapsource file syntax see the mapsource XSD file.

Offline maps

OziExplorer maps, TrekBuddy maps/atlases and GeoTIFF images are supported by GPXSee. Supported map projections are Web Mercator, Transverse Mercator (including UTM), Lambert Conformal Conic, Albers Equal Area, Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area and Latitude/Longitude (2D geographic). For list of supported datums and PCSs see the ellipsoids.csv, GCS.csv and PCS.csv configuration files (can be modified or overridden by user files like the map directory).

You may easily create offline atlases from online map services by using Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC).

POI files

All of the supported formats with waypoints capability - GPX, KML, TCX, NMEA and Garmin CSV - can be loaded either as data files or as POI files. When a file is opened as a POI file, only waypoints reasonable near the tracks/waypoints of the loaded data files are displayed.

To make GPXSee load a POI file automatically on startup, add the file to the POI directory in one of the configuration paths.