Pong

## July 19th 2014, CSV Track Format

The first application of the transmission client/server system will be to record GPS tracks on an Android device and send them home.

When recording GPS tracks there are various formats like GPX, KML and TRK involved that a particular GPS recording software is using. There is not a single standard that can be shared between different devices, if it comes to more than exchanging just latitude and longitude and maybe elevation and time. The GPS device usually acquires much more than that:

 Latitude degrees Longitude degrees Elevation meters Heading degrees Accuracy meters Velocity meter/s Time ISO date format Power W Frequency 1/min Heart beat 1/min Inclination degrees Description String Metadata String

GPX is designed to support all of the above and therefore is the most portable format in theory, but unfortunately many GPS devices that are able to export GPX, do only record lat/lon coordinates and not much else. Sometimes not even the elevation or time.

For example, the Google MyTracks app does not record the heading and accuracy when exporting GPX. It does only export the entire device state when using the CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.

CSV is a simple row-based text-format designed to store tables with arbitrary columns. It is used mostly in spread-sheet calculation software like Libre Office Calc.

Each table in the CSV format starts with a row containing a comma-separated description of the table’s fields for each column. Then each following row contains the comma-separated values of the fields. A new table is started with a line break.

A typical CSV file generated by MyTracks looks like the following:

"Name","Art der AktivitÃ¤t","Beschreibung"
"13.03.2014 11:33 Schennaer Waalweg","Walking",""

"Segment","Punkt","Breitengrad (Â°)","LÃ¤ngengrad (Â°)","HÃ¶he (m)","Peilung (Â°)","Genauigkeit (m)","Geschwindigkeit (m/s)","Zeit","Leistung (W)","Trittfrequenz (Umdrehungen pro Minute)","Herzfrequenz (SchlÃ¤ge pro Minute)"
"1","1","46.675068","11.191078","","","20","","2014-03-13T10:33:09.876Z","","",""
"1","2","46.675068","11.191078","","","20","","2014-03-13T10:34:00.687Z","","",""
"1","3","46.675164","11.191243","633.9000244140625","","52","","2014-03-13T10:34:02.809Z","","",""
"1","4","46.67519","11.191226","631.0","","37","","2014-03-13T10:34:05.669Z","","",""
"1","5","46.675227","11.191185","627.5","","27","","2014-03-13T10:34:05.746Z","","",""
"1","6","46.675229","11.191187","627.5","84.0","23","0.5","2014-03-13T10:34:06.755Z","","",""
"1","7","46.675278","11.191119","617.5","84.0","18","0.25","2014-03-13T10:34:07.963Z","","",""
"1","8","46.675286","11.191181","607.4000244140625","75.0","6","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:06.863Z","","",""
"1","9","46.67529","11.191194","606.5999755859375","71.0","6","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:07.788Z","","",""
"1","10","46.675291","11.19125","604.5999755859375","99.0","5","1.3463","2014-03-13T10:35:11.817Z","","",""
"1","11","46.675292","11.191268","603.2000122070313","78.0","5","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:12.783Z","","",""
"1","12","46.675308","11.191305","601.9000244140625","65.0","5","1","2014-03-13T10:35:19.923Z","","",""
"1","13","46.675329","11.191304","605.7000122070313","24.0","5","1.82","2014-03-13T10:35:20.913Z","","",""
"1","14","46.67536","11.191348","605.7999877929688","62.0","5","1.118","2014-03-13T10:35:24.923Z","","",""
"1","15","46.675367","11.191363","605.0999755859375","58.0","5","1.118","2014-03-13T10:35:25.924Z","","",""
"1","16","46.675407","11.191384","606.2000122070313","31.0","5","1.5","2014-03-13T10:35:28.922Z","","",""
"1","17","46.675421","11.191391","606.0999755859375","30.0","5","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:29.931Z","","",""
"1","18","46.675451","11.191421","604.7999877929688","38.0","5","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:32.916Z","","",""
"1","19","46.675463","11.19143","604.5","36.0","5","1.25","2014-03-13T10:35:33.874Z","","",""
... snip ...