Re: [Gpsbabel-misc] trouble loading route from Google Maps to eTrex
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robertl
From: Norman R. <nr...@ee...> - 2006-12-28 15:24:28
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> > I wondered why gpsbabel doesn't process all data (waypoints, routes, > > tracks) per default if none of the three options -w -r -t was given. > > IMHO this would be much more straightforward to the user (though I > > respect that someone has made a decicion with reason). > > I made that decision because it can be very time consuming - if you want > that data, flip that switch to get the data... > CPU power doesn't matter a lot in this regard, but passed time does. A > serial GPS may take 5-8 minutes to transfer tracks and if we did that > just to read a waypoint, we'd be lynched. I couldn't agree more. And with the GPS battery running down the whole time! (Hello eTrex owners.) > This has lead to some inconsistency in our various options. Since our > very first module was a (serial) GPS format, we had this whole modal > tracks or routes or waypoints thing going on and that's leaked into a few > of the formats. The various file-based ones try to read and write as much > as they can of all three types without requiring -t/-r. It's just this inconsistency (and the very large size of the manual) that makes it difficult for at least one user to retain the correct method of use. (Though the software's author is extremely helpful on the mailing list.) An idea to consider might be that if a user should attempt to transfer a file that contains route data or track data but no waypoints, gpsbabel might issue a warning message saying You tried to transfer a file containing only tracks/routes but no waypoints, but as a result of the default settings, nothing was transferrred. Try again with -r or -t. Of course then you'll get more blowback from users: if gpsbabel knows the right thing to do, why doesn't it just do it? A truly manly decision for fmt_garmin would be that if a file contains but a single route or track, do the transfer regardless of options. Norman |