I've had a SPOT satellite tracker for a couple of years and have used it for distance racing. I've been underwhelmed by the tracking map that SPOT provides on their website. The Topofusion tracking used for the Tybee 500 this year was good, but this is not a regular feature of their retail software.
So, after a recent training run I tried to figure out how to analyze our SPOT data (showing our track and speed). This turned out to be more difficult than expected - so I thought I'd post this to help out anyone else trying to do this.
1) Export data from the SPOT website.
I found the GPX file did not contain valid time stamp data. The date/time exists in the description field, but not in a valid time field. This means you can't work out speed. In addition, the data is exported as waypoints, rather than tracks. The .CSV file format does have the time data but is not read directly by programs like topofusion or mac alternatives like trailrunner.
2) Convert data to GPX format
GPSBABEL to the rescue. This command line program is the swiss army knife of GPS data conversion. I had to create a
custom .style file to map the CSV fields to GPX. I also used GPSBABEL to convert the data from waypoints to tracks.
3) View data
Plenty of options here - such as Topofusion (Windows) or Trailrunner (Mac), or free on-line services such as
uTrack or
motionbased.com. You can also open the .gpx file in Google earth and fly your route.
Here is
our training report on motionbased.com. Gotta love how technology is advancing!
I know you could just carry a regular GPS unit on board and download the tracks afterwards - but why make life easy? Plus I normally keep my GPS turned off when racing, and it is shoved up the side of my rashguard top and often the antenna will be facing down so it loses satellite reception even when it is on.
Chris.
