New to OSMAND, trying to import gpx

[Out Door]

So i'm new to this app and trying to figure it out.  I've tried importing a gpx.  The ottawa ride for dad route.

It appears the waypoints or poker stops are not in file and the route does not follow exactly the roads intended.

Not sure what i'm doing wrong.  Do i have to add the waypoints/poker stops as intermediate and if so, how.  How do i make sure the route is exactly as intended?  Do i attach roads?  If so at 5m (the smallest).  Not exactly sure what this does.

[Wolfgang Studer]

Most probably the reason why you got no answer is that you want to use a route, not tracks.

While using tracks in GPX files in OSMAND is easy and straight forward and well supported, using routes is, how to say, a kind of unloved child in OSMAND. It works but!

Note: To determinate if you have route or tracks, have a look into your GPX file. You will find a <rte> segment, which indicates a route.

Also note: The advantage of a route is that it works on various navigation devices/apps with different map versions. The disadvantage is that the route is calculated based on the device/app settings and maps, which may result into different ways to be driven.

So how to use routes in OSMAND?

1) Go to "Map markers", there to "Groups"

2) In case there is any group, disable the group by slide the right sided switch to the left. On the next OSMAND start, these disabled groups will be deleted.

3) Now go to "list" and make sure, there is no remaining item. In case there are any, go to "More" and select "Move all to history".

4) Finally go to "History" and use the "clear" link on the top right corner till all is gone and your history is empty.

5) Leave "Map markers"

6) Go to "My Places"

7) In case there is any entry except "Personal" or "Favorites", click on the 3 dots on each and click on "Delete".

8) Leave "My Places"

==> You have now a clean environment to start on. Sometimes it is also good to restart OSMAND at this point ...

9) Go to "My Places", click on the + sign and import your GPX file with the route

10) You may see now a new entry, e.g. named "user".

11) click on the 3 dots and choose "Add to map markers".

12) "My Places" are closed and you are back on the map.

13) Go to "Map markers", there to "More" and choose "Plan a route".

14) In the appearing popup, click to "Options", then "Select All".

15) make sure that your waypoints are in correct order.

==> Note: so called shaping points you have in your route, which does not exist as a waypoint are not loaded by OSMAND!

16) Click to "Options" again, then "Navigation".

Voila, your done. You have your route inside OSMAND which each individual waypoint in proper sequence.

After your route is completely driven, just follow step 1-8 as described above to make sure, you can start fresh on your next route.

Also a note in case of multi day routes: Do not export them all in one GPX. OSMAND makes a big mess when importing them and does not distinguish between the individual routes but just import the waypoints ....

A better choice is to export each day as an individual file and import the next only after you completed the previous (and clean up after prev route is completed).

[SonWon]

Thank you very much for posting this. I have been struggling with importing GPX files to create a navigation route. I will test this out, if it works for me it will be helpful!

Also, it appears the Attached to Road feature is now usable (it is no longer painfully slow on certain GPX track files). I had it work twice for me with positive results. I do need to test the feature out more thoroughly so...

I also have an open issue in github with the OsmAnd developers requesting a feature that allows the importing of waypoints from a GPX file into the Navigation List.

At any moment, you have a choice, that leads you closer to God or further from God.

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[Wolfgang Studer]

You're welcome.

Normally I plan my routes on my Mac with BaseCamp.

The issue there is (I do not know how it works with other apps), that all routes are imported into OSMAND group "User", due to this value in a tag in all waypoints.

Also as written above, shaping points (defined points in the route not declared as waypoints) are not imported into OSMAND.

Due to I'm currently writing a python app which solves me these two issues, plus a few goodies, by modifying  GPX route file (a step between export from BaseCamp and import into OSMAND).

SO far 90% works well but it's not available as an executable, just as source.

Let's see when I get time to complete it.

[SonWon]

I was using BaseCamp when I was using Garmin for a Navi. I find BaseCamp in serious need of an update. :) Anyway I wanted a web based solution since I prefer to use Linux. I suppose I could use BaseCamp in a virtual machine. I wonder how much trouble BaseCamp would be in a VM? And my Android tablet would have no access. I discovered Furkot however I am not completely pleased with Furkot and support is sometimes non existent. 

After importing from Furkot into OsmAnd I discovered there is not an actual GPX file format standard that everyone follows which is a headache. My last trip was a navigation nightmare when I discovered this. So I may replace Furkot although the only other routing service I found that has most of the features I want is Kurviger. I am hopeful that in the soon future importing waypoints into the OsmAnd Navigation List will work. That feature may even be in the OsmAnd beta 4.8 as I write this. I was looking for another Navi app however OsmAnd has most all of the bells and whistles I want so here I am.

I was just thinking a universal GPX file translator between all of the GPX file formats (KML too?) would be a good idea that people may even pay money for. I suppose the files usually work unless you want routing? Routing appears to be the weak spot. I wish you all of the best in your BaseCamp to OsmAnd translator!

Thank you again!

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[Wolfgang Studer]

Well, GPX is a standard.

My script also is no translator, it just fixes some strange behaviors in OSMAND when loading GPX Routes in order to make my life easier.

[SonWon]

Test import worked flawlessly! I will test ride this when the weather clears. If they implement my idea then this will no longer be necessary. However for now it looks like a great workaround. I wish I had known about this two months ago. Do I have your permission to share this at github? I will of course give you credit!

At any moment, you have a choice, that leads you closer to God or further from God.

On Thu, Jul 4, 2024 at 7:45 AM Wolfgang Studer <in...@wolfgangstuder.ch> wrote:

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[Wolfgang Studer]

Hi

Sure you can share this info.

There is no secret about that.

Note, there might be - especially in the clean up part - some shortcuts.

But doing it as described is the safe path ;-)

Would be nice if you post the link to GitHub here.

[SonWon]

I sent an email directly to you.

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[Wolfgang Studer]

Can you provide the title of your thread ?

[SonWon]

It is under issues, Import Waypoints from GPX File into Navigation #20100

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[Akkana Peck]

SonWon writes:
> I was just thinking a universal GPX file translator between all of the GPX
> file formats (KML too?) would be a good idea that people may even pay money
> for. I suppose the files usually work unless you want routing? Routing
> appears to be the weak spot. I wish you all of the best in your BaseCamp to
> OsmAnd translator!

SonWon, you might want to look into gpsbabel and ogr2ogr (which is part of the larger GDAL mapping package). They're both command-line utilities and they're very good at at translating between many different GIS formats, though I haven't tried making routing GPX files.

...Akkana

[SonWon]

Thank you, these look interesting.

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[LadakhRider]

Would not a GPX track do what you are after?

I create all my tracks at Plotaroute.com, import them into Osmand, and if I want it to navigate with turn-by-turn and have audio instructions, then I select attach to map.  This then tells Osmand that the long string of co-ordinates that constitute a GPX track, which it would otherwise interpret as nothing much more than a straight-ish line, that it now passes through road junctions, such as a standard 4 way junction, or a T-junction, which effectively chops up that string into smaller road segments, each going from junction to junction, and then telling you to turn left in 200 metres etc.

I have done this a lot and it generally works fine.  It does however interpret some road bends as a junction, and so you get instructions to turn left in 200 metres, get there and find no junction, just a bend.  But only some times.

So when I export the GPX out of Plotaroute.com, I select it to be a track, not a route, and with no directions or waypoints.  Easy!

[SonWon]

Thank you for the suggestion.

In the past the 'Attach to Roads' function has been unusable because it was simply to slow. This may now be fixed with the current release of OsmAnd. However it still does not fix the micro turn instructions that happen way to often in my testing, of which I find annoying. Another complaint I have with using a GPX track file is when the track point falls on an overpass routing will navigate you off the Autobahn and back onto the Autobahn. So GPS track files in my opinion are only suitable for off road usage and not for serious road tours (200-400 kilometers). Another problem with navigating GPS track files is the lack of what road you are on and the name of the road to turn onto.

I am currently using Kurviger for route planning and exporting via GPX Route file and then importing the waypoints to create a proper navigation route. This combo works very well. I have entered several routes and can now say Kurviger is as good as Google Maps for finding cities and POIs. It still struggles a little with street addresses. If I have a street address it cannot find then I would look for it with Google Maps, note the GPS location and then drop a waypoint on that spot in Kurviger.

This is my current solution.

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[LadakhRider]

" So GPS track files in my opinion are only suitable for off road usage and not for serious road tours (200-400 kilometers). Another problem with navigation  GPS track files is the lack of what road you are on and the name of the road to turn onto. "
I did 800~900km trip through Japan in May by motorcycle, starting in Osaka and traversing lots of dense farming country, and I found it worked fine on the whole, just the occasional bend thing I mentioned above.  As for road names, well in Japan there basically aren't any! :)  A few streets in Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo and Sapporo have names, but the other 99.99% don't, so I never noticed the naming deficiency in Osmand.  A week today I'll be off to Ladakh in the Himalayas, so it will be interesting tosee how it performs there.  At least they have road names there.

[Wolfgang Studer]

First point: Wow, Trip through Japan and now Ladakh. I wish I could join ... ;-)

Second: From my point of view, there are 2 different navigation styles. 1) you plan a trip with exact way to drive: you use a Track. 2) you plan a trip with several waypoints you want to reach, the streets to drive has lower priority: you use a Route

Personally I prefer to use Routes, because it is much easier to add additional or remove obsolete waypoints.Thinking about a paper chase, you may have 1, 2, 3 points and with each reached you add a new one into. Or maybe you have 20 points planned, and due to various circumstances you have to rearrange the order of the points. With Routes that's just a matter of seconds, as each point is a separate item in the navigation list.

Therefore, both Tracks and Routes has their usages. The only thing is, that Track GPX are very good supported in Osmand while Route GPX are not.

[Tom Musolf]

I mention this in case it's of help with your similar issue.

I use Google Maps (GMaps) to create custom maps when I'm trip planning.  Downloading the tracks and waypoints from these maps has always been disappointing with lots of important information lost in the importing process.

I ended up creating a utility GoogleMapsToOSMAndGPX to convert a GMap into OSMAnd compatible GPX files.   The utility extracts the GMap KML data and does icon and track conversion.  It maps icon symbols and preserves icon color and description text.  It separates tracks into individual files preserving track line color and description and allows you to specify a line width.

The above link has documentation, python code and windows executables.

Hope it's of use.