Track Editing
Editing a track (e.g. on the website, from an external unit) requires another tool (e.g. QGIS). Some of these tools are overkill for doing a simple editing of a track or tracks. I'd like to be able to upload my tracks to Gaia and be able to edit them on the website. This would greatly streamline the workflow GPSing hikes.
Editing a track (e.g. deleting/moving data points) is aided greatly by the maps that Gaia provides. Also, being able to split and combine tracks would be good.
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Hi there,
Thanks for posting - Gaia GPS doesn't currently offer robust track editing tools, so I recommend using http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/ to edit tracks.
You can import your edited tracks back into Gaia GPS at https://www.gaiagps.com/upload. -
Robyn, that is a real clunky solution. I continue to use MayMyRun to collect data and I really appreciate its track editing features in the app. After years of using tracking apps, I STILL forget to turn off tracking when I get back to my car. I then add a mile or two or three of data at freeway speeds to my track. It's REAL annoying that you don't have a simple way to truncate a track and adjust the time on the track. MapMyRun allows that simple truncation in their app.
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I just edited a track where I forgot to turn on GaiaGPS until I had gone a mile. Here are the steps I figured out:
- Export GPX data from GaiaGPS
- You need to modify the file name exported by GaiaGPS to be able import it to the "GPX Editor" app on Mac (this is a GREAT app!). Had to erase the ".xml" extension from the "foothills-park-boronda-lake-vista-hill-palo-alto.gpx.xml" leaving "foothills-park-boronda-lake-vista-hill-palo-alto.gpx." This imported properly to GPX Editor.
- Create a second track in GPX Editor.
- Add new points to the second track. This is fast and easy -- Command-click on the map.
- Add an estimated initial departure time and a final time to the second track. I set the final time on the new second track is the same as the departure time on the original (incomplete) track.
- Have GPX fill in missing times for the new track points based on the added start and end times you added.
- Merge the two tracks into one.
- Export as revised GPX file.
- Import the new GPX file into web app http://www.gpsvisualizer.com to add missing elevation data on the new track points.
- Export GPX file from GPSVisualizer web app.
- Import the final GPX file into GaiaGPS. Imported GPX files create a new folder with the same name as the track.
- Rename your original track. I added "ORIG" to the original track.
- Move the new track in GaiaGPS from the new folder into my your desired destination folder.
- Compare the original (partial) track and the new (complete) tracks. They should match except the new track will have the missing data.
- Delete the original (partial) track.
Moral of the story. Learn to turn on tracking when you leave at the trailhead and turn tracking off when you get back to the trailhead. Whew.
I hope somebody else finds this recipe useful.
This recipe should also work for deleting points at the end of a track where you forgot to turn off tracking.
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> You need to modify the file name exported by GaiaGPS to be able import it to the "GPX Editor" app on Mac (this is a GREAT app!). Had to erase the ".xml" extension from the "foothills-park-boronda-lake-vista-hill-palo-alto.gpx.xml" leaving "foothills-park-boronda-lake-vista-hill-palo-alto.gpx."
Weird, I'm also post-processing my Gaia GPS tracks with 'GPX Editor' on the Mac (indeed a GREAT app!), but I never had to rename a file. When I export the track under 'Data/GPX' from my track folder on gaiagps.com my browser downloads the gpx file with a '.gpx' extension, and I can load this directly into the app.
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@sdrenker,
For the scenario you're describing, you are able to crop a track's start/end point in the app. Here are the steps for iOS or Android.
For adding to a track, the steps you described work well.
If you are on the iOS app, you can skip using http://www.gpsvisualizer.com and look up the elevation for a newly imported GPX track right in the app: Lookup Track Elevation -
Hey @JTipp,
Thanks for using Gaia GPS.
Currently, you can crop the end or beginning of a track in the app by following these steps:
If you need to more extensively edit a track or route, I recommend you export your track as a GPX file and use an editing program like Adze or GPX Editor to make changes to your track.
Click the "Help" button at the bottom of the screen if you have any other questions. -
Hey @snell,
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any GPS Editor apps that run in iOS.
Adze and GPS Editor are available for Mac.
Tap the "Help" button at the bottom of the screen if you have any other questions. -
Thanks Melanie. I have used the other edit feature often. It is useful for trimming the end of a route. However, it might be nice to have a better editing option on the mobile app for features in the middle of a route. A great tool would be to select all points within a box and have those removed, with the box UI done in the same way for downloading maps. This way one can edit any spurious spatial points in the middle or even at the end of a route with better precision. The slider often is hard sensitive to really trim it at a desired time. For trimming colocated points, the slider is the only option, but this would be a powerful addition. It would be great to have this in the desktop app as well.
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In addition to trimming, if you need to edit some parts of the track (move, add or delete points) you can try https://gpxstudio.github.io it is a free online GPS track editor.
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@Claborne
If you forget to stop recording when you get in the car, you can crop the end of your track with these steps:
If you have any further questions, please contact Support here. -
Is there the capability to Merge tracks? For example this week I was on an out-and-back trip and at some point, GAIA stopped recording (IOS), I didn't realize it for about a mile and a half when I reached my turnaround point. I restarted GAIA and ended up with 2 tracks. I was hoping there'd be a simple solution (similar to cropping a track) that would allow you to add two tracks together (or append a track). If I could merge the tracks on GAIA, then filling in the missing track points using GPX Editor would "seem" to be a breeze.
Note: I do have GPX Editor on my Mac but find it cumbersome and have a lot of trouble getting it to combine tracks or track segments, and subsequently export as a single GPX file (an issue I am submitting to GPX Editor support)
Thanks,
Dale -
@CoachDale
Sorry, but there isn't a way to merge two tracks.
To physically stitch the two tracks together, you could consider a 3rd party GPS program to combine the tracks:- Export the tracks from Gaia GPS
- Combine the tracks: I recommend Adze for Mac users and GPS Track Editor for PC users.
- Import the combined track into Gaia GPS
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I find Gaia's response to these issues unacceptable - one should be able to modify tracks as requested from within the phone app. One simple fix might to simply be able to break the track at some selected point and save both parts. The trim function could then be used on each part. The scenario mentioned when the user forgets to stop tracking at the end of the hike is easily resolved by truncating the track, but if you go on another hike before you stop the tracking, then you have two hikes on one track. Yes, you can download the track from the cloud, edit using a third-party software, re-upload the two parts, but that's inconvenient to do, especially if you're on a trip and not at your computer.
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Goodmorning everyone. GaiaGPS is a great software. However, the most important part is missing, that is the possibility to edit the tracks completely. And this even after creating the track. It is not normal that you have to use a different tool to edit the tracks. We (all) ask for the creation of a tool for editing the tracks.
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+1 for track and route trimming/editing on the web app, but also allow changing direction. Another edit feature would be to force an imported track which has no elevation data to "clamp to ground" based on topographical data. Some tracks I've imported show no elevation profile, even though they are in the mountains.
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@bernk, you can correct imported track elevations using Elevation Lookup:
- iOS: Elevation Lookup in iOS
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web: append
&elevationlookupto the data summary URL. Example:
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+1,000 for track/route split and merge features. AlpineQuest GPS app on Android even lets you do this on a mobile device, it should be relatively trivial to implement on the website version. Caltopo has it on their web version. The only reason I'm currently paying for Gaia is the ability to plan trips and then edit them in an integrated tool (the gaia website). I shouldn't have to use a second tool for such basic features.
Please add trace & route splitting and merging features to gaiagps.com. thank you!
similar/related requests:
https://help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360049415733-ability-to-split-a-route
https://help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360047891334-split-route-function
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Just tried this app for the first time on a long hike. Really impressed, except for one section that went completely wonky and probably added a km out more to our track. Firstly, if you have chosen hiking as the Activity, the app should ignore GPS faults that make you travel more than say, 20km/h. Or you could make it an option to turn that on. The fact done use it for aeroplane travel is not an excuse to fix that. What is it predominantly used for?
Not being able to edit the track in the app or at least on the website also sucks big time. Surely this could be fixed by adding waypoints that could turn be joined up.
The first person posted about this 2 years ago from what I can see. Still no interest in fixing it. Disappointed in my purchase.
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I enter this thread because the situation is really getting tough. GaiaGPS costs a lot, but user requests are not listened to. For two years, many people have been asking for the possibility of editing tracks. Why are (paying) users not being listened to? What is the GaiaGPS road map? -
Interesting discussion on an issue which apparently has not been successfully resolved. But my recent issue wasn't answered:
In iOS, I cannot select a single track. When I press or touch my finger on the track, it isn't selected, like it used to. Is there some setting which "locks" the screen? I have no problem doing this on the web application, except that I can't trim the track there.
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