Editing and organizing GPS waypoints can be confusing. Not only are there multiple data fields to consider for each waypoint but each of those fields has different restrictions and uses across devices and software programs. I’ll try to clear things up.

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!