Convert Garmin Track files into a Google Map

• Example 1 - motorcycle ride around Lake Jacomo.
• Example 2 - Bikers for Babies, 100 mile charity ride.
• Example 3 - Loop in Eureka Springs Arkansas.
• Main page

• Capture a track file with your Garmin GPS unit.
• Connect the GPS unit to your PC, and transfer to Mapsource.
• From MapSource, save the file to disk as text.
• Open the file with a text editor. It should have a format similar to the following:

  Track	ACTIVE LOG	7/29/2006 5:15:13 PM 	00:57:19	33.4 mi	35 mph	
  
  Header	Position	Time	Altitude	Depth	Leg Length	Leg Time	Leg Speed	Leg Course
  
  Trackpoint	N39 01.108 W94 34.750	7/29/2006 5:16:07 PM 	972 ft		129 ft	00:00:04	22 mph	93true
  Trackpoint	N39 01.087 W94 34.732	7/29/2006 5:16:14 PM 	973 ft		154 ft	00:00:07	15 mph	147true
  Trackpoint	N39 01.060 W94 34.734	7/29/2006 5:16:18 PM 	966 ft		162 ft	00:00:04	28 mph	182true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.938 W94 34.796	7/29/2006 5:21:01 PM 	989 ft		16 ft	00:00:02	5.6 mph	184true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.940 W94 34.775	7/29/2006 5:21:06 PM 	992 ft		98 ft	00:00:05	13 mph	83true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.936 W94 34.687	7/29/2006 5:21:15 PM 	981 ft		417 ft	00:00:09	32 mph	94true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.854 W94 32.716	7/29/2006 5:24:39 PM 	939 ft		280 ft	00:00:05	38 mph	93true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.868 W94 32.670	7/29/2006 5:24:43 PM 	923 ft		235 ft	00:00:04	40 mph	68true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.879 W94 32.635	7/29/2006 5:24:46 PM 	910 ft		179 ft	00:00:03	41 mph	67true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.886 W94 32.612	7/29/2006 5:24:48 PM 	904 ft		114 ft	00:00:02	39 mph	71true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.894 W94 32.580	7/29/2006 5:24:51 PM 	896 ft		163 ft	00:00:03	37 mph	71true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.897 W94 32.535	7/29/2006 5:24:55 PM 	888 ft		212 ft	00:00:04	36 mph	85true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.897 W94 32.499	7/29/2006 5:24:58 PM 	873 ft		171 ft	00:00:03	39 mph	90true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.897 W94 32.487	7/29/2006 5:24:59 PM 	874 ft		58 ft	00:00:01	39 mph	90true
  Trackpoint	N38 59.881 W94 32.401	7/29/2006 5:25:06 PM 	868 ft		416 ft	00:00:07	40 mph	103true
  

• Select as many lines as you would like and paste them into the maptrack cgi script (maptrack.cgi). The script will process the lines beginning with "Trackpoint", and create a Google Map with a polyline connecting the Trackpoints. The script actually returns a page with a JavaScript function using Google's map API to draw a map centered at the first point in your list, and a polyline segment made up of your trackpoints.
• When you see the map, you can save it by Viewing the source and saving the file to disk.
• To serve the map, transfer it to you server, and sign up for a google map key. Then edit the page to include your key instead of mine.
• That's it!

Alternate Formats