I been 'playing' with my new GT-31. Took it out in the car with me so I got some data. I stored the data on a SD card and then put the card into a card reader. Copied the files to my hard drive. I read doing it this way is faster than connecting the GPS to the PC and transferring it that way.

I got .TXT files and .SBP files in my resultant folder. The .TXT files contain data and the .SBP files are all 1k in size (so me think do not contain much data).

What software do you recommend to analyse this data. I realise that http://www.gpsteamchallenge.com can do it, don't want to join YET until I see what my data tells me (you know..., the tall poppy syndrome )

I read that google maps will not import the .txt files, is that correct?

or should I just use the supplied NAVILINK program to transfer the data files to the PC?

cheers

Hi Pat,
Follow the settings here http://mtbest.net/setting-up-navi-GT31.htm The Navi will automaticly write a SBN file to your card. The software I use is Realspeed, Aussie product written by Mal Wright www.intellimass.com/index.htm Realspeed will of course accept SBP files which you have saved from the internal memory but this will have hours of sessions in it.

The way I get my tracks into Google, in Realspeed I save file as a GPX file which Google accepts.

Cheers Bob.

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firiebob said...
Hi Pat,
Follow the settings here http://mtbest.net/setting-up-navi-GT31.htm The Navi will automaticly write a SBN file to your card. The software I use is Realspeed, Aussie product written by Mal Wright www.intellimass.com/index.htm Realspeed will of course accept SBP files which you have saved from the internal memory but this will have hours of sessions in it.

The way I get my tracks into Google, in Realspeed I save file as a GPX file which Google accepts.

Cheers Bob.

many thanks Bob, I'll try it

As firey says, but it sounds like you have the wrong format selected, .txt instead of .sbn and you have the wrong "file size" selected, that should be set to "card size", that way you get one continuous file instead of lots of small ones.

The .sbp file is generated when you hit "save to card", this is a compressed file that's stored on the small internal memory and I only use it in an emergency, ie when for some reason or another the .sbn file hasn't been written to the card.

A small file is also generated if you turn the unit on and then off again after it's found the card and satellites, (if you have selected "on fix")

Follow the Mt Best guide to the letter. If there is confusion following the guide then advise what the issue is.

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Mobydisc said...
Follow the Mt Best guide to the letter. If there is confusion following the guide then advise what the issue is.

EXCEPT!!! Set the logging to 'ON' and NOT, 'ON-FIX'

We have seen issues with lost datapoints when the unit switched from logging to not logging as it got a fix. There is no shortage of recording space so it is best to just log everything and throw out the rubbish later if necessary.

I also set the card logging to 0 speed and log everything.(no minimum speed)

The SBP file is an smaller file than the SBN. It does not contain some of the less essential data like the satellite positions. It is actually very useful if you want to send files by email as they are much smaller files. In RealSpeed SPBfiles often process a lot faster than SBN as well, so to me they are more than just emergency back up files, and I always 'SAVE ALL' to card at the end of every session. The other advantage of this is that it makes a nice summery of you Genie speeds in the text file with the .SPD ending.

To the OP: It sounds like you are logging NMEA data, hence the 'text' files. Switch to SBN (binary) as per the MtBest Guide.

There are 3 recommended programs for analysing GPS speed data on your own computer. RealSpeed, GPS-Results and GPSAR-Pro. All have a licence fee, but you can use RealSpeed in limited capacity free.

Of the three, I personally find the first two easier to use. If you run MacOS, the second two are best.

... still playing around with it

I notice that if I setup the GT31 for metres (Settings | Unit | Metre) and drive in the car, when I analyse the data in RealSpeed the Speed column displays the value in Knots

i.e. car speed was about 75km/h and RealSpeed displays 41 (41knots = 75.932km/h)

so I guess RealSpeed does this conversion internally? RealSpeed is designed only for 'water sports'? RealSpeed thinks 'ah this dummy has set his GT31 up in metres, so I'll help him out by doing the conversation internally'?

This is no great drama I just like to know how things work.

I don't think the units selection affects what's stored, (and thus what realspeed processes), I'm fairly sure it's only for display purposes.

I have a feeling there's a "unit" selection in realspeed, but knots is the default, GPSarPro certainly is this way.