![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
GPS Geekery update
May. 23rd, 2008 11:21 pmThe Garmin Forerunner 305 will log detailed track data. Obviously, the included CD-ROM of software won't do Linux users any good, but GPSBabel can download the data through the USB interface and convert to all manner of file formats, notably the Google Earth kml format. You can then open the file up in GE and see tracks and go through the datapoints in excruciating detail. For example, at 07:58:35 this morning I was cycling at 23.7 km/hr on a heading of 127 degrees, with a heart rate of 170, at lon/lat of -88.031338 43.059832. I mean, you never know when this information may be of use! The nice display of your track on the map/image might be handy, though.
Besides the commute (which, no, really doesn't need to be logged in such detail, but we have the technology!), I've done one run with the Forerunner so far. Nothing was every stopping me from just randomly running for a half hour with no idea exactly how fast or far I was going, but I always want to be able to keep track of my pace, and track my improvement. With this thing, I can just head out and go wherever I choose, making up a route as I go along, and still always know my speed and distance. No need to stick to going back and forth and back and forth on a pre-measured route. In fact, the route I was planning on taking was blocked by flooding part way through, so the random re-route was quite handy.
Linux help: Make sure the garmin_gps module is not loaded. See the Linux Hotplug page for instructions on disabling autoloading of garmin_gps and getting permissions for normal users on the device. I get a nice kml file using something like this:
-t to download "track" data, -w for waypoints, the -x options to label the different tracks by date and time instead of just numbering them, and units=m for metric. The default is American units, which you can specify with units=s.
Besides the commute (which, no, really doesn't need to be logged in such detail, but we have the technology!), I've done one run with the Forerunner so far. Nothing was every stopping me from just randomly running for a half hour with no idea exactly how fast or far I was going, but I always want to be able to keep track of my pace, and track my improvement. With this thing, I can just head out and go wherever I choose, making up a route as I go along, and still always know my speed and distance. No need to stick to going back and forth and back and forth on a pre-measured route. In fact, the route I was planning on taking was blocked by flooding part way through, so the random re-route was quite handy.
Linux help: Make sure the garmin_gps module is not loaded. See the Linux Hotplug page for instructions on disabling autoloading of garmin_gps and getting permissions for normal users on the device. I get a nice kml file using something like this:
gpsbabel -t -w -i garmin -f usb:0 -x track,title="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M" -o kml,units=m -F filenamehere.kml
-t to download "track" data, -w for waypoints, the -x options to label the different tracks by date and time instead of just numbering them, and units=m for metric. The default is American units, which you can specify with units=s.
