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I've found these GPS charts to be helpful in correlating what I think
happened to what really happened during a race. I like to do this as
soon as possible before I forget the details. Making the chart sounds
much more complicated than it is. Now that I have it figured out,
it takes about a half hour to do. If you have any questions click here to
contact me.
Before you start, you'll need a
cable to connect your GPS to your computer so you can download the track
data.
- Set your GPS to record your track at the
desired intervals during the race (I use 15sec.).
- After the race, download the track data
from the GPS. I use a program called GPS TrackMaker which can be downloaded
for free from: http://www.gpstm.com/
- Save the track data in Garmin PCX5 format.
This creates a file listing your track data and waypoints in a text format that can be easily edited.
- Open the Windows "Edit" program
by clicking <Start>, <Run>, Enter "EDIT" in the
<Open> box, and click <OK>.
- Open the PCX5 you just saved from
TrackMaker.
- If you wish, delete all of the track data before the start and
after the finish and delete any waypoints you don't want. Delete only the lines of data, not the header lines before
each section. Track data lines begin with "T" and waypoint lines
with "W". Be sure to delete the entire line.
- Copy the position at each desired interval from
the track data to the waypoint area at the bottom of the list. Copy each
line up through the "Alt" column.
- Change the first letter of each line you've
copied to
"W" to indicate it is waypoint data rather than track data and type
in a name for the waypoint. Do not change the original track data lines. The names can be anything, but I use the time
from the start. The ":" character is not allowed so use 105
instead of 1:05. Make sure the columns line up
with the original Waypoint data columns.
- Save the edited track.
- Open the file again with GPS TrackMaker and
zoom/pan to display the track as desired. You can "Right-click on any of
the waypoints to change the symbol.
Continue below if you want to save the image as a picture.
- Copy the screen onto the Windows
clipboard by pressing and holding down the "shift" key.
While holding the "shift" key down, press the "Print
Screen" key.
- Click on <Start>, <Programs>,
<Accessories>, <Paint> to open the "Paint" program that
comes with windows.
- Click <Edit>, <Paste> to paste the
contents of the clipboard into the Paint program.
- Trim the picture by changing the height and
width. Click <Image>, <Attributes>, and change the height
and width as desired. Click <OK>. If you trim off too much you can
click <Edit>, <Undo>. Caution! You can only undo the
last 3 edits you performed.
- When you are finished, click <File>,
<Save As>, Enter a name for your chart, and click <OK>.
If you have any questions click here to contact me
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