Rambling with a lunch stop at the pub

Former Member
Former Member
Hello, first post, sorry for any repetition, errors, breaches of etiquette, etc.

I have a Garmin GPS62s. I walk with the Ramblers, typically about 12 miles on a Sunday with a lunch stop near a pub where we can avail ourselves of the "facilities".

Because we are typically stopped for about 45 minutes, some of which time is spent indoors, when downloaded the route looks as if a spider had gone on the rampage at our lunch stop and the reported mileage covered is inaccurate.

I also (usually) "Reset" the data on the device at the start of each walk. Occasionally I forget and as a result, the start point is nowhere near the actual start point and I start the walk with a huge distance covered at lightning speed.

For this reason I would very much like to "edit" the .GPX file. I have experimented with this using WordPad, deleting the offending sections between <trkpt> and </trkpt>. However, this doesn't "correct" the summary data in the early part of the file described as <gpxtrkx> - Distance, TotalElapsedTime, etc.

Three questions:
  • Can this be conveniently / easily handled in BaseCamp?
  • If so, is there a handy, comprehensible description on how to tidy up a .GPX file in BaseCamp?
  • Is there any description of the various data elements in a .GPX file?

Thanks in advance for any help and guidance.

Incidentally, the "distance covered" as recorded by the GPS62s is ALWAYS greater than that reported on someone else's MemoryMap device - the ascent and descent on the other hand is always much more accurate.
  • Yes, BaseCamp handles that easily. Simplest way if you haven't used BaseCamp before is to use the Erase tool to rub out all the points you don't want.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    I first save the GPX track file in its entirety to the appropriate place on the PC, rename appropriately, leaving the original as a backup, still in the GPS in case I make a mistake.

    I then select the track file to display it on the map, enlarge as necessary to allow good visibility of the route. Double click on the track name and it displays the pop up window with every track point displayed. I normally change the colour of the track to magenta or some other bright colour, purely to make it more visible against the general background noise. If for instance I have forgotten to reset the trip computer, so it shows one or more points and the track in between that need to be deleted (e.g. from home to the carpark) then I select the first point in the drop down list. On the map the selected point is surrounded by a washed out orange disc. Providing the point is displayed in the drop down list against a dark blue background, then I can delete that point, and the orange disc moves to the next recorded point. Continue until you are happy with your start point.

    You can scroll down the list until you get to the set of points you wish to delete as indicated by negligible or zero distance between the points and delete those as required. Note that if you select a point on the map when using the pointer tool, slightly annoyingly, the drop down list does not automatically move this selected point within the displayed list of points, so you may have to scroll up and down to find it. You must display from the highlighted point in the list - you cannot do it from the track point on the map as you will delete the whole track. But don't worry if you do that, the undo function works well.
  • Basecamp track editing

    Basecamp makes it easy to edit your tracks. I also like to save my tracks afterward but need to clean them up a little to improve the accuracy. The eraser tool can be used to remove the random stray points that get recorded when you are stationary for a while. You can also 'correct' your track when you see a random stray point going off the road or trail. I use the scissor tool to snip out the excess track at the beginning or end when I have forgotten to clear the track at the beginning of a hike or I forgot to turn off track recording at the end of the hike. The track statistics get automatically updated when you edit the track. No programming or gpx file editing is required. :D