Do you really want to post the exact location of your home on the internet?

That’s what you’re doing if you share a GPS route that starts or ends at your house. Sites like MapMyRun are a stalker’s dream come true – find out where anyone lives just by checking out where their running routes start and end. My rule of thumb is that if a route starts from my house, I don’t share it online.

Are you posting your data to be helpful or just to show off?

Egotism is so 1980s and if you’re posting a route just to show off how fast, how far, or how high you traveled then we suggest you keep those routes to yourself. If, on the other hand, you want to help other travelers navigate a scenic or tricky route, post away!

Does your GPS file contain both tracks and waypoints?

GPS tracks and waypoints can be useful on their own but without both we’re missing a bit of context. A dangling track doesn’t tell us anything about the start / end point or even any interesting spots along the way. Ditto for waypoints – how do we navigate between them without a track? Wait until you’ve added both tracks and waypoints to your file before you make it public.

Did you follow an unauthorized or dangerous route?

This should go without saying but if your data shows a route through private property or cuts across dangerous terrain, don’t post it online.

If you can think of other cases where sharing GPS data online is a bad idea, we’d love to hear them and possibly include them in this post. Hit us up on the comment form below!

Name

Waypoint names typically show up on maps on your computer or GPS device so they need to be short and sweet. Older GPS devices limit waypoint names to around 8 characters while even the latest and greatest units allow just 30 characters. Needless to say, it’s not a good idea to name your waypoint “Turn right at the fallen tree to join the blue trail.” What you’ll see on your GPS is something closer to “Turn right at t”. A good choice for a Captain Jack’s Trail waypoint might look more like ‘CAPTJ1.”

Depending on your device or software you may also need to make waypoint names unique. If you have hundreds of waypoints this can be tough so try to come up with a unique naming system that works for you. I like to append numbers to the end of waypoint names within a single trail system.

Description

Waypoint descriptions are much more flexible than names so you can store more details here. The description field is a good place to write notes like “Turn right at the fallen tree to join the blue trail.” It may take some trial and error to find where descriptions are displayed on your GPS unit (if at all) but they can be helpful when you post data online or in a desktop software program.

Comment

The official GPX schema doesn’t give much guidance on the difference between descriptions and comments but some of the devices we’ve used place date and time information into the comment field (even though there is a ‘time’ field that would be a better choice). Our advice? Don’t use the comment field. In fact we don’t even include the comment field on GPSApp.net at the moment because it’s so underused. If anyone has an idea about a good use for comments vs. descriptions we’d love to hear it!

In our experience, using the internet to create and share useful, interesting maps based on data collected via GPS has been hit or miss. That’s why we created GPSApp.net. If you’re looking for a place to track your fitness goals, this isn’t the place. If, on the other hand, you want a place to store and manage GPS maps of your outdoor adventures, consider GPSApp your trailhead.

During the current beta phase we’ll be refining the GPS data import and management tools to make the experience as simple and reliable as possible. Once we get the basics down we’ll add more robust search capabilities and new ways to inspire your future expeditions.

Check back soon for tutorials and explanations of some of the features of GPSApp. In the meantime, sign up for a free account and see how GPSApp can help you find your way!