<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>CUCC Expedition Handbook: Uploading files/photos</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/main2.css" />
</head>
<body>
<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook</h2>
<h1>Saving GPS tracks and locations</h1>

<h2>The end-result you are trying to achieve</h2>
What you are trying to do is to get your recorded locations (waypoints) and wanderings (tracks) 
<ol>
<li>recorded somewhere, 
<li>eventually	appear properly in the cave survey database.
</ol>
<p>To make this happen you have to  transfer 
the tracks and waypoints in a GPX file to the right place. 

  <p>For most people, the simplest way to achieve this is described in the <a href="#simplegpx">simplified upload instructions</a> below. If this does not work for you, try the <a href="#generalgpx">general upload instructions</a> further down the page.

<p><em>(If you are looking for how to upload some photos instead, those instructions are 
<a href="uploading.html">here</a>)</em>.

  <p>This page is part of the <a href="myphone.html">My Phone on Expo</a> instructions.</p>

<h2 id="simplegpx">Simplified upload instructions</h2>
<p>Based on an Android phone in 2024.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Connect your phone to a laptop in USB mass storage mode ("File transfer" option in Android).</li>
  <li>Locate the GPX file in the folder that should have popped up representing your phone storage. For a clean OsmAnd installation on Android in 2024, GPX files can be found in: <pre>/Internal shared storage/Android/data/net.osmand/files/tracks/rec</pre></li>
  <li>Copy the file to a temporary location on the laptop</li>
  <li>Go to the <a href="/gpxupload/">GPX upload form</a>. Log in with the usual <i>cave:beer</i> password.</li>
  <li>If there is already a propsepctor directory listed in your name, navigate to it. Otherwise create one in the same format using the form at the bottom of the page first.</li>
  <li>Browse to your GPX file, rename it to something sensible (all lower case names preferred) and press Upload.</li>
</ul>

  <h3>Editing your tracks</h3>
We would much rather have any track than nothing at all: any weirdness can be fixed later. But if you really want to edit out the glitches yourself, the online GPX editor <a href="https://gpx.studio/about.html">GPX Studio</a> is very good. Or you can download <a href="https://activityworkshop.net/software/gpsprune/">GPSprune</a> to your laptop (it's a java app) and run it locally.

<h2 id="generalgpx">General upload instructions</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="#getgpx">Get the GPX file</a> that holds your locations and wanderings from your phone.
<li><a href="#uploadgpx">Upload the GPX file</a> to the proper place.
</ol>

<h3 id="getgpx">Getting the GPX data out of your phone or device</h3>
<ol>
<li>Use the "Wikilocs" app (or another app with GPS tracking function) to record your track as you walk across the plateau. 
<li>When you have finished your walk and are back on the internet, publish your track using the app.
<li>In the app, if there is an option to "share" your track by email:
<ul>
<li>Share it with yourself i.e. email it to your own email address.
<li>Share it with someone who knows how to do the GPX thing and upload it properly.
</ul>
<li>On your laptop (or possibly on your phone) look at the email and visit the web page by clicking on the link.
<li>The web page has a "Download" button: click on it.
<li>It may give you options such as "Garmin", or "File". Choose "File". 
<li>It will ask for a filename to use. Pick something like "northplat-asmith-2018-07-29" (if your name is Aaron Smith)
<li>A GPX file "northplat-asmith-2018-07-29.gpx" will be downloaded to the Downloads folder on your laptop.
<li>Write a note in <a href="../logbooks.html">the expo logbook</a> to say what you have done with a short description of what you saw and found.
</ol>

<p>
Congratulations. You now have your track recorded using GPS as a GPX file.


<h3 id="uploadgpx">Upload instructions</h3>

<ol>
<li>Email the public link from the app to someone who knows how to do it. <br>
<li>Email the  GPX file to someone who knows how to do it. <br>
GPX files are small enough for email systems, so don't be shy of adding them as attachments.
<li>Write a note in <a href="../logbooks.html">the expo logbook</a> to say what you have done with a short description of what you saw and found.
</ol>

<p>If you can't find someone who knows how to do it, find the most extreme nerd you can find and point them at the 
<a href="#expert">Expert instructions</a> below.

<h3>Slightly less simple upload instructions</h3>
<p>Using your own laptop on expo, or after you return from expo, 
use the "more complex" instructions for <a href="uploading.html">uploading photos</a> to /uploads/, 
but upload your GPX files instead. But <em>none of this will work</em> on  your own laptop until you have also done the <a href="keyexchange.html">key-pair setup</a> procedure.

<h3 id="complexgpx">More complex upload instructions</h3>
<p>OK you now have a file produced by your device, something like XTR20170714X2345.GPX .

<ol>
<li>First you rename it
to something recognisable such as 'top-camp-to-toilet-grike.gpx' (all lower case).
<li>On the <i>expo laptop</i> copy it to a folder in/home/expo/Downloads/gpslogs/YourName/
<li>Tell someone you have done it.
<li>Write a note in <a href="../logbooks.html">the expo logbook</a> to say what you have done with a short description of what you saw and found.
</ol>


<br><br><br><br>

<h2 id="expert">Experts only</h2>
<p>
GPX data is stored in two places. 
<ul>
<li>initially in <em>expofiles/gpslogs/...</em>
<li>some key selected tracks are later stored in the cave survey <a href="repos.html">repository</a> <em>:loser:</em>
</ul>
<p>
GPS tracks are voluminous and we also get a lot of repetition 
as people tend to follow the same routes for part of their walks. So the initial raw data is kept in 
<pre>
expofiles/gpslogs/&lt;year&gt;/&lt;MyName&gt;/
</pre>
e.g.
<pre>
expofiles/gpslogs/2018/PhilipSargent/
</pre>
<p>and you can create sub-folders for raw data and edited data, or for different parts of the plateau. You should always
keep the raw, untouched data as well as any hand-edited data.

<p>The process for uploading the GPX files to a specific folder <em>expofiles/gpslogs/...</em> is exactly the 
same as for uploading photographs, so go to <a href="uploading.html#morecomplex">these "more complex" instructions</a>
to learn how to do it.

<p>Note the  naming convention for this folder created by Philip Sargent in 2018. 
Human names in folders in expofiles are written in CamelCase; not lower-case letters. 
This is for consistency with the naming for
<a href="uploading.html#experienced">uploading photos</a>.
<p>
If you have edited GPS tracks and waypoints with no extraneous data 
then, after agreeing this with other people as to its qualityand appropriateness, 
it will go into the <a href="/repositories/">Loser git  repository</a> 
in folder <em>/gpx/&lt;year&gt;/</em> e.g. <br>
<em>:loser:/2018/stone-bridge-to-fischgesicht_aday-2018-07-12.gpx</em><br>
<p>Note the  naming convention for this file created by Anthony Day on July 12th 2018. 
Everything in any repository is always named using lower-case letters.
<hr />
Go back to 
<a href="myphone.html">My Phone on Expo</a></body>
</html>