# Garmin GPS data processing -- Software comparison

May 19, 2003

Created by Charlotte Quarnberg, GIS Specialist, Ashley Natl. Forest.

This is a comparison of 3 different applications that let you take
Garmin GPS Data and bring it into your GIS. Each application had its
strengths and weaknesses and they have been summarized in the following
table. There are also some brief overview info about each application as
well as an attachment that shows how arcview treats the data from each
application. Waypoint + maintains your precision the best but, the other
two applications are a bit easier to use for downloading and uploading
data. DNR Garmin was the easiest but also degraded your precision due to
truncation and arcview interpretation of the DNRGarmin data.

Here are their internet sites where you can download the software:

Waypoint+: <http://www.tapr.org/~kh2z/Waypoint/>

DNR Garmin:
<http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mis/gis/tools/arcview/extensions/DNRGarmin/DNRGarmin.html>

GPS Utility: <http://www.gpsu.co.uk/>

+------------+------+------+-------+---------+-----------+----------+
| ## Type o  | ## P | ##   | ##    | ##      | ## Outpu  | **Pr     |
| f Software | reci |  Eas | Advan |  Disadv | t Formats | ojection |
|            | sion | e of | tages | antages |           | Co       |
|            |      |  Use |       |         |           | nversion |
|            |      |      |       |         |           | s        |
|            |      |      |       |         |           | upport** |
+------------+------+------+-------+---------+-----------+----------+
| **W        | Most | Easy | Main  | You     | You can   | Can      |
| aypoint**: | pre  | to   | tains | have to | select    | define   |
| To be able | cise | use  | data  | convert | what      | down     |
| to upload  | of   | and  | preci | the txt | format    | load     |
| and        | the  | b    | sion. | file    | then it   | pr       |
| download   | th   | ring | No    | into    | is saved  | ojection |
| Routes,    | ree. | into | size  | dbf     | to a text |          |
| Tracks,    | S    | GIS  | limit | file    | fileUtm's |          |
| and        | eems | with | on    | and     | in a txt  |          |
| Waypoints  | to   | a    | files | change  | file.     |          |
| from the   | main | li   |       | some    |           |          |
| Garmin 45  | tain | ttle |       | he      | Download  |          |
| to a PC,   | data | mani |       | adings. | File      |          |
| s          | i    | pula |       |         | types:    |          |
| implifying | nteg | tion |       |         | .txt      |          |
| the        | rity |      |       |         | (comma    |          |
| processes  |      |      |       |         | separated |          |
| of         |      |      |       |         | value)    |          |
| creating   |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| and        |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| editing    |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| these      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| data.      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Saved data |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| files can  |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| be in      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| ASCII      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| format     |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| with comma |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| delimited  |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| fields and |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| can be     |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| easily     |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| edited     |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| using      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Windows    |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Notepad or |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Wordpad,   |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| taking     |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| advantage  |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| of their   |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Cut and    |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| Paste      |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| c          |      |      |       |         |           |          |
| apability. |      |      |       |         |           |          |
+------------+------+------+-------+---------+-----------+----------+
| **GPS      | T    | Very | Easy  | Some    | You can   | Can      |
| Utility**: | runc | easy | tra   | pr      | select    | define   |
| Is a stand | ates | to   | nsfer | ecision | which     | download |
| alone      | 2    | use. | of    | is lost | format.   | pr       |
| a          | dec  |      | data  | but it  |           | ojection |
| pplication | imal |      | both  | is      | Download  |          |
| for        | pl   |      | direc | m       | File      |          |
| ma         | aces |      | tions | inimal. | types:    |          |
| nipulating |      |      |       | Limited | .dbf      |          |
| waypoint,  |      |      |       | to 150  | (shape    |          |
| route and  |      |      |       | wa      | file)     |          |
| trackpoint |      |      |       | ypoints |           |          |
| i          |      |      |       | at a    |           |          |
| nformation |      |      |       | time.   |           |          |
+------------+------+------+-------+---------+-----------+----------+
| **DNR      | Lo   | Very | Very  | Pr      | Lat/long  | Has to   |
| Garmin**:  | west | easy | easy  | ecision | WG84      | be       |
| designed   | pr   | to   | to    | is lost |           | c        |
| to work    | ecis | use, | bring | as you  | Download  | onverted |
| with       | ion. | once | into  | go from | File      | thru     |
| arcview as | Data | you  | arc   | l       | types:    | arcview. |
| an         | is   | have | view. | at/long | .dbf      | Has no   |
| extension. | degr | the  |       | to utm. |           | stand    |
| (see       | aded | DNR  |       | The     |           | alone    |
| insert)    | from | Ga   |       | con     |           | pr       |
|            | the  | rmin |       | version |           | ojection |
|            | int  | ext  |       | process |           | utility  |
|            | erat | lo   |       | in      |           | so data  |
|            | ions | aded |       | arcview |           | stored   |
|            | to   |      |       |         |           | without  |
|            | get  |      |       |         |           | going    |
|            | it   |      |       |         |           | thru     |
|            | into |      |       |         |           | arcview  |
|            | L    |      |       |         |           | will be  |
|            | at., |      |       |         |           | saved as |
|            | Long |      |       |         |           | lat/long |
|            |      |      |       |         |           | WGS84    |
+------------+------+------+-------+---------+-----------+----------+

This arcview screen capture shows the difference in the data tables from
the different applications as they are brought into arcview. The tables
have been named according to which application they belong to.

![](media/image1.png){width="6.794444444444444in"
height="7.535416666666666in"}

### **Application Overviews:**

### **WAYPOINT +**

Feature Summary:

Upload and download data directly from a Garmin GPS receiver.

Reads and writes waypoint, routes, tracks and almanac data in Waypoint+
format.

Exports waypoint, route, track, and proximity data into text format.

Exports waypoint, route and tract data into SA3 (Street Atlas v3.0)
format.

Imports waypoint and route data from SA3 and SA4. Allows creation of
waypoints and routes in SA3 and then uploads them to the Garmin GPS
receiver. And the creation of waypoints, route and tracks in SA4 and
then uploaded them into the Garmin GPS receiver

Imports and exports proximity waypoints into SA4 format.

Allows storage of lat/long in Degrees, Degrees/Minutes, or
Degrees/Minutes/Seconds in a packed decimal format.

Waypoints can be created and edited within Waypoint+. Routes can be
created and edited.

Waypoints, routes and tracks can be displayed graphically.

![](media/image2.png){width="6.933333333333334in"
height="8.055555555555555in"}

## DNR Garmin 4.0 Overview

![](media/image3.png){width="6.86875in" height="8.0in"}