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GARtrip user comments
I use Google Earth a lot to make maps of where I've been
with my GPS units - once to load it into Gartrip to make sure
it's got good fixes and to edit out bad data and to put various
attributes on the waypoints, and in the case of my exercise hikes, to
print reports showing performance over time. Gartrip is the
nucleus of my GPS data manipulation - I do all my data editing in
it. But what I've had to do after I've cleaned up the data using
Gartrip is to load it back into the GPS unit and then go load the data
into one or two other applications such as Google Earth or, less
frequently, TopoUSA. But in doing that I lose descriptive data
I've added to the waypoints in Gartrip, and that results in duplication
of effort when I have to put the descriptive data back in the other
applications. So being able to port the data into Google Earth
with the descriptions intact without uploading and downloading again is
a big help. I've tried it out already and it works great!
Just a quick note to thank you for a very functional program. I've used the program unregistered for about six months along with TopoUSA and Easy GPS. In all that time I never looked at the Map functions. When I finally looked at it and saw what you could do I immediately registered the product. I had been using TopoUSA to generate maps but it's reference maps are as much as 500 metres off in my neighborhood (suburban) but pretty accurate in the wilderness areas. With your program I was able to scan in a map of my neighborhood - do your simple as pie calibration - and wind up with highly usable maps in minutes as opposed to the half hour it took to get a decent map out of TopoUSA. Of course there's not 100% functional overlap but overall your product is easier to use and faster to a useful result. I just wish I'd figured that out when I first downloaded the program six months ago! Congratulations
on a very useful product!
GPS logging of speed sailing runs has
become a favourite with many wind and kite surfers all around the
world, and since the outset of GPS speed sailing GARtrip was the first
choice and reference for track analysis of many speedsailors. We used
GARtrip for detailed individual track analysis in the 2004 Australian
SpeedWeek:: event, and since then have also been using it for analysis
of runs made under the new worldwide GPS-SpeedSurfing network formed by
enthusiast racers based in the Netherlands. (www.GPS-Speedsurfing.com).
Mostly the racers are collecting a series of high speed short interval
trackpoints (every one or two seconds) during sailing sessions using
typically Garmin Foretrex or Gecko 201 units, then downloading at the
end of each session to analyse runs to confirm peak and averaged
speeds. The charting and color filtering of tracklogs by ( simple/user
definable) speed settings has been a very popular and impressive
feature, and printing the tracklogs to .pdf has been a great and
efficient method of storing or sharing them. It's been great to have
the interest and support of Heinrich to continue to evolve the program
to provide a customer version with even higher resolution than
previously for our requirements, and his attention to responding to
enquiries and proposing other useful solutions in a prompt and
professional manner has been first class. The price of entry is rather
small considering the functionality. Sehr eindrucksvoll. Viel Dank.
I have used Gartrip to download coordinates from all over the world from my GPS for use in research (hydrology) for quit some years now, and was very happy with its user friendliness. About a year ago I started with a new application; I used a sonar connected to a GPS to survey lakes to create bathymetric maps for sedimentation modeling. The problem then was that I had to mark every measure point as a waypoint, and pushing that button 3000 times a day did not make that work very easy. I therefore contacted Mr. Pfeifer and asked him if he could modify Gartrip for me in such a way that I could download the measure points as a track, which he implemented immediately. I do not know many software developers so devoted to their product, and so willing to help their customers out! Since then I have done surveys in Kenya, Portugal and Poland, and did the same amount of work in 1/3 of the time I needed before! And my thumb got a lot of rest since then. Thanks Heinrich, you made a nice piece of software that I can recommend to any GPS user, for hobby or for research, because its easy to use and the users comments are taken very seriously. Using Gartrip sure made my research life easier!
The more I use GARTRIP, the more I like it. I travelled through the southern African countries during September/ October this year in a private plane. Let
me give you some of the comments in brief:
I
have been a registered user for sometime now and can say that I think
it is great. From planning trips in the nearby mountains to mapping out
new back country hunting and fishing spots, Gartrip keeps all my
information where I can work with it.
I
have tried several similar free/shareware programs, but none comes
anywhere close to GarTrip! Sampled a more/less similar commercial
program on my brother's PC, but couldn't find anything that I need
which GarTrip has not (though there were lots of mostly very useless
whistles and bells). And per US$/EURO GarTrip gives very much more
"bang-for-my-buck". I
managed to link my Garmin III to my Psion 5mx (using RealMaps 5.08 and
PsiGar 5.09 beta 6) with fair results smack in the field (and much less
weight to drag around, not to mention battery problems), while GarTrip
gives the better overview on my laptop in the evening in the
hotel/camp. Once back home a GIS specialist can detail everything with
a full-fledged GIS software package.
This is a wonderful product which brings the Garmin product to life. I use Gartrip both for hillwalking and for low level, medium level and airways navigation and, with the correctly scanned maps, it can reduce the airborne workload tremendously. I recommend it to anyone who is thinking of buying a compatible GPS. Thanks for the regular updates which show your commitment to support the purchasers of the program.
I am a keen cyclist (8000 Km a year on and off road) and have been using a GPS receiver (etrex summit) and GARtrip since over a year. I've just read through the user's comments page at Gartrips homepage and was surprised to see that they were mostly comments from sailing enthusiasts, but GARtrip is my opinion just as suitable for land based navigation, especially cycling where you've got the receiver right under your nose on the handlebar! A GPS Receiver alone is in fact for cycling purposes not recommended , but in conjunction with GARtrip it becomes very interesting. I don't keep a training book anymore, I just read out my training tours to GARtrip and save them there, everything that is relevant, distance, avg. speed, time etc. is recorded, if you want to define a specific piece of road, (for comparison to last time or next time) it's no problem with this program, all the data can be quickly displayed recalculated to this particular stretch. Now with GARtrip 205 this feature is even more enhanced with a gradient read out, here you can define specific climbs and get a time, a speed , a climb rate and all sorts of other interesting data This feature is probably even more interesting for mountain bikers (or hikers) as you don't generally find any gradient signs off road. Not only is GARtrip good at analysing rides but also for advance planning, using either waypoints or the appropriate scanned map on your computer, you like riding off road or down backways and have often wondered where this or that turn of leads? Well with GARtrip you can plan your tour in advance and be it on or off road know where you are. All in all a very tidy program the price is neglectable when you consider the free updates and prompt, competent support from the author.
I
have used GARtrip for 4WD off-road trips throughout Australia with a
12XL and have found the combination to be excellent.
I
have used GarTrip for many years. I see the other commentors show their
appreciation of the program's many useful features. I agree that the
program does most everything I hope for in a GPS program. But I want to
say that your efforts to improve the program over the years is a great
example of what Shareware should be. That is a talented program
developer listening to the program user needs and over time perfecting
the program. I thank you, Heinrich, for the listening, and for the work
you have put into this program. I edit a newsletter that goes out to
about 140 trailer-sailors and I know what a program like yours means to
such sailors. We do a lot of solo sailing in unfamiliar waters. Your
program is used in the planning stage of a cruise to determine
waypoints needed to keep from getting lost. As a solo sailor, there is
little time for navigation, so these preplanned waypoints are very
handy.
Thank you for the great Gartrip software! I use registered version 204c. There are great features I haven't seen in other programs: I can handle all my 5000 waypoints and 300 routes (5 year's work) at the same time on the screen and on the map (Gartrip is the only software able to do this), there is excellent reporting features, I can move waypoints visually on the screen, great! It supports many file formats ... and a lot of other great features!
Your software is excellent! I use with a Garmin 76 after realizing that WayPoint+ does not work with this newer model unit. But I have been very pleasantly surprised at how much better it is than WayPoint+. I particularly like all the waypoint and track listing and editing capabilities -- very robust. I use it along with Calfornia Fish & Game Dept's freeware "AV Garmin" ArcView extension http://maphost.dfg.ca.gov/ to input waypoints and tracks from the Garmin GPS to ArcView GIS. AV Garmin requires data to be in either Garmin's Mapsource or Waypoint+ format, and I am very thankful you have so many Save As output choices.
Thanks
for the prompt dispatch of my registration code. Your programme
is excellent - I looked at several others including the home-grown
OziExplorer before deciding yours was best. I'm using version 2.04d.
I
just want to thank you for creating such a great piece of software. I
have tried all of the other packages for Garmin that I could find
and your product is clearly superior in many ways. Below are a few of
the functions that you have provided that no one else has and they are
extremely valuable functions to have. |
