AVIATIONTOOLBOX: plot GPS log

[Kyler Laird]

I needed a break this morning so I whipped up a trivial little script
to create a sectional image from GPS data.
https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/kyler/tools/trip_plot

It just barely works but it takes NMEA $GPRMC sentences and generates
a JPEG. I noticed that there are people who like to document their
flights in this way so I thought such a tool might be useful.

Lots of improvements to make to it but I need to get back to other
things right now.

Enjoy.

--kyler

[John Clonts]

"Kyler Laird" > wrote in message
...
> I needed a break this morning so I whipped up a trivial little script
> to create a sectional image from GPS data.
> https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/kyler/tools/trip_plot
>
> It just barely works but it takes NMEA $GPRMC sentences and generates
> a JPEG. I noticed that there are people who like to document their
> flights in this way so I thought such a tool might be useful.
>
> Lots of improvements to make to it but I need to get back to other
> things right now.
>
> Enjoy.
>

Kyler,

I think that's a great idea! My suggestion would be to use as input some
format other than NMEA sentences though. My favorite would be of course
oziexplorer ".plt" file format-- but any format to which gpsbabel can
translate would be preferable over the NMEA (to which gpsbabel can NOT
translate AFAIK).

Thanks for your efforts!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas

[Kyler Laird]

"John Clonts" > writes:

>My suggestion would be to use as input some
>format other than NMEA sentences though. My favorite would be of course
>oziexplorer ".plt" file format--

Try it now.

--kyler

[John Clonts]

"Kyler Laird" > wrote in message
...
> "John Clonts" > writes:
>
> >My suggestion would be to use as input some
> >format other than NMEA sentences though. My favorite would be of course
> >oziexplorer ".plt" file format--
>
> Try it now.
>
> --kyler

Excellent, thanks!!

John

[Kyler Laird]

"John Clonts" > writes:

>Excellent, thanks!!

O.k., so real Ozi files work. I appreciate knowing that. (I tested with
an NMEA file that I'd converted to .plt. BTW, GPSbabel *can* convert back
to NMEA sentences.)

Are there other commonly used formats? I've only made direct captures from
a GPS receiver so I don't have any experience with the various flavors but
GPSbabel sure does support a bunch. I'm hesitant to just enable all of
them because it looks like some might require extra parameters to be
specified. I'd rather enable just those that people want to use.

I'll also take requests for enhancements. I have a few in mind already.

Thank you.

--kyler

[John Clonts]

"Kyler Laird" > wrote in message
...
> "John Clonts" > writes:
>
> >Excellent, thanks!!
>
> O.k., so real Ozi files work. I appreciate knowing that. (I tested with
> an NMEA file that I'd converted to .plt. BTW, GPSbabel *can* convert back
> to NMEA sentences.)
>
It does? I've only used it through http://wayhoo.com/index/a/gpsbabel/. I
don't see NMEA in the options list-- am I missing something?


> Are there other commonly used formats? I've only made direct captures
from
> a GPS receiver so I don't have any experience with the various flavors but
> GPSbabel sure does support a bunch. I'm hesitant to just enable all of
> them because it looks like some might require extra parameters to be
> specified. I'd rather enable just those that people want to use.
>
> I'll also take requests for enhancements. I have a few in mind already.
>

Enhancement to track-plot: have an option to produce the sectional chunk
WITHOUT the actual track.

Other enhancement: produce a sectional chunk given two airport id's.


> Thank you.
>
> --kyler

Cheers!
John

[Kyler Laird]

"John Clonts" > writes:

>> O.k., so real Ozi files work. I appreciate knowing that. (I tested with
>> an NMEA file that I'd converted to .plt. BTW, GPSbabel *can* convert back
>> to NMEA sentences.)
>>
>It does? I've only used it through http://wayhoo.com/index/a/gpsbabel/. I
>don't see NMEA in the options list-- am I missing something?

Yes. Get the real thing.
http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/

The file format is "nmea".
http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/capabilities.html

>Enhancement to track-plot: have an option to produce the sectional chunk
>WITHOUT the actual track.

That's not an enhancement...that's the only way I can produce GeoTIFFs
right now. (I had it working that way for awhile.) I haven't gotten
to where I can modify an image (using PIL) and then put the geo data
back on it.

So this is useful? It's not much of a "plot" but I've enabled it.

>Other enhancement: produce a sectional chunk given two airport id's.

Hmmm...we're getting into less plotting and more chunking. I can see
where you're headed. I'll try to build another tool for specifying
chunks easily.

--kyler

[John Clonts]

"Kyler Laird" > wrote in message
...
> "John Clonts" > writes:
>
> >> O.k., so real Ozi files work. I appreciate knowing that. (I tested
with
> >> an NMEA file that I'd converted to .plt. BTW, GPSbabel *can* convert
back
> >> to NMEA sentences.)
> >>
> >It does? I've only used it through http://wayhoo.com/index/a/gpsbabel/.
I
> >don't see NMEA in the options list-- am I missing something?
>
> Yes. Get the real thing.
> http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/
>
> The file format is "nmea".
> http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/capabilities.html
>

Ok.

> >Enhancement to track-plot: have an option to produce the sectional chunk
> >WITHOUT the actual track.
>
> That's not an enhancement...that's the only way I can produce GeoTIFFs
> right now. (I had it working that way for awhile.) I haven't gotten
> to where I can modify an image (using PIL) and then put the geo data
> back on it.
>

If I understand you correctly, the "TIFF" option does not produce geotiff
info, but does produce the graphical plot of the track. The "GeoTIFF
without plot" option produces the geotiff without the graphical plot. This
is indeed the "enhancement" I was talking about, thanks :)

> So this is useful? It's not much of a "plot" but I've enabled it.
>

I like having the sectional boundaries chosen to include the specified
track. The plot is not as important, as Oziexplorer does that part very
well.

> >Other enhancement: produce a sectional chunk given two airport id's.
>
> Hmmm...we're getting into less plotting and more chunking. I can see
> where you're headed. I'll try to build another tool for specifying
> chunks easily.
>

Where AM I headed?

I'm saying, give me the sectional whose boundaries are chosen to include the
specified airports, in a similar way as it works with the plot above.

Thanks Kyler!

Cheers,
John