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gpsbabel

Converts between GPS file formats and talks to the receiver

What it does

Reads and writes something over a hundred GPS and mapping file formats -- GPX, KML, Garmin's several, NMEA, CSV, OziExplorer and the rest -- and converts between any pair of them. It also uploads and downloads waypoints, routes and tracklogs directly to and from a receiver over serial or USB, and can filter what passes through: simplify a track, drop duplicate waypoints, split by distance or time.

Why you would want it

Every mapping program and every receiver has a favourite format and it is never the one you have. This is the tool that stops that mattering. For amateur radio specifically it is how a SOTA or POTA track comes off a handheld and into something you can put beside a log, and how a set of repeater locations becomes waypoints on a receiver.

Before it will work

A file to convert, or a receiver on serial or USB and access to its device -- the dialout group for a serial adapter. Knowing which format your receiver actually speaks, which is not always the one its manual claims.

How it installs

  • apt: gpsbabel

Known problems

The filter and format options are numerous and interact; a conversion that silently drops a field is more common than one that errors, so check the output rather than the exit status. Direct device transfer works best with Garmin hardware and is patchier elsewhere. For live position rather than stored tracks, gpsd is the right tool and this catalog carries it -- the two do different jobs and the dispositions pair them deliberately.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The GPSBabel project. Documentation on the site is thorough and format specific, which is where the answer to "why did my field disappear" usually is.

Source: catalog/packages/gpsbabel.yaml