Transferring a GPX and updating the altitude data

I have many GPX files that I am using as a basis for my hikes.  I am uploading to the inreach website and then syncing to the 66i via the Explore app on my iPhone.

Is there a way to include altitude data in the track?  When I look at the track on the 66i it is flat.

Thank you!

J

  • From Basecamp, you can transfer tracks in and out of the 66i without loss of information.  I saw something on the Garmin support web site that said the explore web site was still a work in progress.  Like most stuff there, it was not dated.

  • The Garmin Explore website is still getting improved with new features every day so that it can provide everything we are used to with the standalone programs like BaseCamp. These improvements will allow us to access, work, and share our data anywhere we are -- work, home, coffee shop, or campgrounds with Wi-Fi hotspots.

     

    Until we get to that point, there will be a few features that will need to be added and improved.

     

    On the subject of missing track data, we are currently looking into the cause of the elevation not showing up in the Garmin Explore website along with why it isn't sending that info to the device. Until there is a fix available, the elevation data for your tracks should be available in the Explore Mobile App. To get tracks with elevation data on your GPSMap 66i in the meantime, you can use Garmin BaseCamp to transfer the GPX track to the device. To send a track to your Garmin device with BaseCamp, reference the following article from our Support Center: Importing GPX Files into BaseCamp and Transferring the Data to a Garmin

  • Thanks Garmin-Niklas.  That's great that you're improving Explore website.  Users of many Garmin devices will appreciate that.

    But please notice what I think is a strange hole in the reasoning behind your hope: "These improvement will allow us to access, work and share our data anywhere we are -- work, home, coffee shop, or campgrounds with Wi-Fi hotspots." 

    The one place where the GPSMAP 66i is far and away the best device in the world is that place in the world that's far and away.  Or to put it bluntly, the one thing Basecamp does that the Explore website will never do is work in places no Wi-Fi hotspot can reach.

    I could be wrong, but I suspect the person at Garmin who thought it would be a great idea to bring all its devices and users into one ecosystem was only mostly right.  He forgot about one exception: Namely, the beautiful Garmin GPSMAP 66i that was made for places where there is no Internet.  Seriously, isn't that its purpose?

    I have personally recommended the GPSMAP 66i to dozens of people.  Several have bought one.  I would never recommend it to anyone for any activity where an hour later your smartphone is connected to the Internet.

  • I don't think the intention was to imply that continuous connectivity is (will be) required to use the "download" functionality of the Explore web site. That would be like saying that you have to lug your laptop into the back country to download things using BaseCamp. 

    That said, the workaround involving the Explore app does require connectivity while you are using the app. That is truly unfortunate.

  • Good point, toolpert. 

    But lugging your laptop into the backcountry is not as improbable as you think.  There are lots of wilderness access points, fire lookouts, guard stations, isolated vacation cabins, work stations, ranger stations (even ranger district stations), dude ranches, national park lodges, outfitter bases where people are likely to plan navigation into surrounding remote areas.  Most such places don't have Internet there or anywhere near there. Heck, there are whole communities in the West that don't have Internet.  And that's just in the United States.

    My point was that if you're someplace where you can count on Internet access sometime in the next 24 hours, you're probably not anyplace that you would need a GPSMAP 66i.  If you're road biking along a Strava route or hiking a suburban park, there are much handier, cheaper, better navigation/communication tools.

    --Jay

  • I assume you already know this, but just in case... If you have a computer, there are other ways to move data onto the 66i. Like other Garmin devices, you can drop .gpx files directly into the file system on the device. This technique can be used to import tracks. Offhand, I don’t recall if it works for waypoints, but I suspect it does.

    The same is true of maps in standard Garmin format (for example, custom OSM maps, or maps from sources such as gpsfiledepot). Works with Garmin “custom maps” as well.

  • Yes, I did know that.  But thanks for pointing it out.  In fact, there are some things like screen captures that can only be accessed with Windows File Explorer.  Basecamp doesn't seem them.