Mapping Hacks

Speak in Geotongues: GPSBabel to the Rescue #51

Chapter 5, Mapping with Gadgets

|

225

HACK

Using GPSBabel to Merge Files

You can specify more than one input file and more than one output file, so

you can use GPSBabel to merge multiple files. This command will merge the

GPX-format waypoint files way1.gpx and way2.gpx and put them into both

the GPX file merge.gpx and the Geocaching loc file cache.loc:

$ gpsbabel -i gpx -f way1.gpx -f way2.gpx -o gpx -F merge.gpx -o geo -F

cache.loc

This is useful when you have multiple files full of waypoints and you want

to create one canonical list. This is especially useful when combined with

the

-x duplicate filter (discussed in “Using Filters”) to remove waypoints

that mark the same place.

Using Filters

GPSBabel also lets you filter your results. This command takes two GPX files

as inputs and then outputs those waypoints within five miles of 40.75ºN,

119.25ºW into the GPX file merge.gpx:

$ gpsbabel -i gpx -f way_iii.gpx -f way_rino.gpx \

-x radius,distance=5M,lat=40.75,lon=-119.25 -o gpx -F merge.gpx

You can also filter waypoints by different criteria. This command searches

two GPX files, way_iii.gpx and way_rino.gpx; outputs all the waypoints that

are within 10 miles of the toll plaza of the Golden Gate Bridge; and then

sorts that list by waypoint name. Since there is no output type (

-o),

GPSBabel sends the output to the terminal:

$ gpsbabel -i gpx -f way_iii.gpx -f ...