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

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>.

Offline maps

OziExplorer maps, TrekBuddy maps/atlases and GeoTIFF images are supported by GPXSee. Supported map projections are Web Mercator, Transverse Mercator, 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.