# Best websites for sharing GPS ride info



## FM (Apr 30, 2003)

There seem to be a lot of options- Google, MTBGuru.com, GPSies.com, pathtracks.com, gpstrails.net, etc etc etc.

I have been checking them out and it seems like most all are tracks only, very few of them support waypoints. In fact, Google is the only one I have found that does support waypoints.... but it lacks the formatting and eas-of-use features some of these other sites have (like having a separate page for each ride, automatic 2d elevation profiles, ride descriptions, etc etc.

What sites do you all suggest and what are the pros and cons?

*Here's my wishlist:*

Ability to upload both tracks and multiple waypoints (all in GPX format) into a single web page for each ride
Ability for users to download those GPX files
Flexible map background (aerial or terrain)
*Nice to have:*

Text shows on waypoints
Ability to manipulate track line-styles and colors
Imbedd geo-tagged photos
2d elevation profile with net gain/loss
Ride descriptions
comments area


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

already been asked. All answers won't be here, but this will help. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=538591

For exactly what you mention, Trimble Outdoors comes close. Read up on their downloadable program (costs a little) that lets you set up a whole trip report with text, photos, waypoints, and all that. It lets you overlay DEM terrain, sat photo, topo, and roads. It has the most as far as online services go. Topofusion has more, but it's a standalone program that doesn't share like you want.


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## Nathan Cloud (Jul 18, 2005)

I run the website Crankfire.com - we are Connecticut focused mountain biking map and data community etc.. etc.. The current version is an absolute mess, HOWEVER, I have been slaving away for most of 2009 working on a complete rewrite that is very close to going live. 

I am chiming in because I think I cover most of your requirements... with one caveat: I don't break out waypoints contained in an uploaded GPX file yet (though I do on the current system) - but I do offer a way to create, download and share "tours" or whatever of trails. Basically you can add map objects to your "locker" and roll your own files to download or share or whatever. 

I should also state that our goal is collect data and present/redistribute it to other riders in a fashion that would instill enough confidence in someone to ride somewhere new. That is a terrible sentence, but I think you get the idea? Please also note that we are not looking to be a fitness tracking tool or any sort of global outdoor activity tracker. We are mtn bike focused!

It is not live and there is more work (and testing) to go, but if either of you wanted a sneak peek just drop me a PM! I would love feedback.

Thanks.


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## jkmacman (Mar 5, 2009)

I like Everytrail.com, I upload sometimes via gpsvisualizer and I can save and share the routes in everytrail.

I like it to get ideas where to bike, I don't export and dowload the data, I use garmin but there software sux, see there stock tank today? o boy...

everytrail is good, maybe one day mtb up in your neck of the woods, wife's cousin was in fairfield, ct, nice area


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## miss rides a lot (Jul 23, 2008)

It's pretty local to So Cal, but has grown a bunch in the last 1-2 years... http://www.geoladders.com

Also, have yet to look into it at all, but trails.com also just added GPS file upload.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

trails.com is irritating. Looks like you can get farther on the site for free than you used to. But you can't see anything but trailheads until you buy a subscription. I realize most sites have subscriptions, but you can at least view and download gps data without paying. IMO, trails.com needs to step up and have a comparable business plan. If they want to charge, that's fine...but you really don't get SQUAT unless you pay up.

And they act like they have a patent on topos or something. I can download high res topos for anywhere in the country completely for free...already georeferenced and ready to overlay trail data (that I can get for free nearly anywhere else).


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

jkmacman said:


> I like Everytrail.com, I upload sometimes via gpsvisualizer and I can save and share the routes in everytrail.
> 
> I like it to get ideas where to bike, I don't export and dowload the data, I use garmin but there software sux, see there stock tank today? o boy...
> 
> everytrail is good, maybe one day mtb up in your neck of the woods, wife's cousin was in fairfield, ct, nice area


BTW, that stock drop had nothing to do with Garmin's PC software or web service. Rather, it was because of Google...yes, Google. Google just released a mobile app (available only on Android 2.0 for now...other platforms later) that seems to make dedicated auto GPS receivers obsolete.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Verizons-iPhone-challenger-apf-1994528640.html?x=0

Hmmm...a smart phone is sounding good to me as they begin to implement features that *I* find useful. First, I saw that XM now has a dock that turns an ipod touch into a satellite radio receiver. And now Google makes an app that makes a car GPS obsolete. That's the kind of functionality I've been wanting for a long time (GPS + sat radio) at consumer prices. Currently, such a GPS+sat radio receiver runs about $1000. Making it so I can dock a phone once I get into the car and run both simultaneously would be perfect. Ability to run multiple apps is just now hitting the market. Give it some time and I think I'll get what I want. If such a system also integrated as a hands-free system for the phone and muting the tunes automatically, it would indeed be quite nice. The XM dock runs about $200, so the full system still wouldn't be cheap...but it would be a big improvement over $1,000.


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## CT Mike (Oct 26, 2009)

NateHawk said:


> I can download high res topos for anywhere in the country completely for free...already georeferenced and ready to overlay trail data (that I can get for free nearly anywhere else).


NateHawk, can you link to these topo sites?


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## slocaus (Jul 21, 2005)

www.gpsfiledepot.com has many topo sets ready for Garmin installs.

Google Maps, Mapquest, Yahoo, and most other online sites use the public USFS topos and the terraserver photos. TopoFusion access these.

Use Google Search (www.google.com if you are not familiar with it) and search for "topographic maps" and you will find most of them.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

CT Mike said:


> NateHawk, can you link to these topo sites?


EACH state has its own site. I don't know them all, since I don't live/work in those states. I do know a couple, however. You can at least take a look and hopefully find one relevant to your state.

http://www.pasda.psu.edu/
http://www.tnris.state.tx.us/

Some search terms you need to know for finding the site relevant to your state:
raster - scanned or digitally taken images of satellite imagery, topo maps, etc
vector - point, line, polygon map data showing all sorts of things.
DOQQ - digital orthophoto quarter quadrangle (aerial (older) or satellite (newer) photos) also called orthoimagery
DRG - digital raster graphics...aka topos, basemaps showing contours along with roads, buildings, etc
DEM - digital elevation model. used to show hillshade or 3D views, primarily on the PC. GPSes are not powerful enough to handle this yet

Some websites like TNRIS have a pretty intuitive search/browse functionality, but others do not and you have to learn the file indexing system to find what you're looking for. Figuring that part out can be a PITA, since most use a numbered index system. To be honest, these sites are often geared towards professionals in the industry, though there are rarely any restrictions on their use by private individuals, there's a learning curve.


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## FM (Apr 30, 2003)

jkmacman said:


> I like Everytrail.com, I upload sometimes via gpsvisualizer and I can save and share the routes in everytrail.


Yep, this is the ticket! I like it. :thumbsup:

Here is a map of last nights ride from my iphone. 
The intersection waypoints were indvidual gpx files created on a previous ride using motionX-GPS. I used both GPSVisualizer and GPX Merge to get the waypoints and track into a single GPX file for everytrail.com. I do like how they have the "play" button which shows a "tour".


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

That new crankfire site will rock when it goes live. Most data is in New England, but there's coverage all down the Appalachians, AZ, on the west coast, and a few other places. I've added some for TX. There are features there I haven't seen anywhere else. I like it such that I plan on using it for my purposes here in TX, over many other services available. The current site is okay, but the new one is quite an improvement.


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## cpecsek (Mar 10, 2008)

Garmin Connect has a lot of good data.

http://connect.garmin.com/explore


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## Nathan Cloud (Jul 18, 2005)

NateHawk said:


> That new crankfire site will rock when it goes live. Most data is in New England, but there's coverage all down the Appalachians, AZ, on the west coast, and a few other places. I've added some for TX. There are features there I haven't seen anywhere else. I like it such that I plan on using it for my purposes here in TX, over many other services available. The current site is okay, but the new one is quite an improvement.


Thanks again!

I feel like I am closing in on finishing it?  All the little last minute stuff is killing me.


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## chris1911 (May 26, 2009)

jkmacman said:


> I like Everytrail.com, I upload sometimes via gpsvisualizer and I can save and share the routes in everytrail.
> 
> I like it to get ideas where to bike, I don't export and dowload the data, I use garmin but there software sux, see there stock tank today? o boy...
> 
> everytrail is good, maybe one day mtb up in your neck of the woods, wife's cousin was in fairfield, ct, nice area


I have been using EveryTrial.com, but it changes my numbers after uploading. I have uploaded the same trail multiple times (different rides) and even the elevations are different on different parts of the maps. Makes the stats useless.


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## Phil73 (Nov 14, 2009)

everytrail.com is the best sharing service, no doubts!

but their free iPhone app is still not so good, better you go with EasyTrails GPS.


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

cpecsek said:


> Garmin Connect has a lot of good data.
> 
> http://connect.garmin.com/explore


I tried this one today. It only supports forerunner and Edge, not Etrex! Why in the world would they care what kind of GPS you have? 
I'd rather upload from mapsource than my garmin anyway.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

smilinsteve said:


> I tried this one today. It only supports forerunner and Edge, not Etrex! Why in the world would they care what kind of GPS you have?
> I'd rather upload from mapsource than my garmin anyway.


It's been in development for a couple years now. They just haven't rolled out support for the full line of GPS models yet. Motionbased is the old service and still handles the handheld models, however, that will eventually be converted/migrated to Garmin Connect. They are "supposed" to add handheld GPS model support this year sometime, but we'll see on that. I've noticed that they don't even support a direct .gpx upload yet. So I imagine the .gpx upload and the handheld upload will occur at the same time.

None I know of allow you to upload from the pc software directly, however, I think Sporttracks gives some kind of functionality similar to this. Your choices are either to upload straight to the web service or upload to your chosen software, export your file, and then upload to the web service.

But seriously, man....Mapsource is terrible. Why on earth do you use that one preferentially? Find another! Topofusion is great.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

smilinsteve said:


> I tried this one today. It only supports forerunner and Edge, not Etrex! Why in the world would they care what kind of GPS you have?
> I'd rather upload from mapsource than my garmin anyway.


It's been in development for a couple years now. They just haven't rolled out support for the full line of GPS models yet. Motionbased is the old service and still handles the handheld models, however, that will eventually be converted/migrated to Garmin Connect. They are "supposed" to add handheld GPS model support this year sometime, but we'll see on that. I've noticed that they don't even support a direct .gpx upload yet. So I imagine the .gpx upload and the handheld upload will occur at the same time.

None I know of allow you to upload from the pc software directly, however, I think Sporttracks gives some kind of functionality similar to this. Your choices are either to upload straight to the web service or upload to your chosen software, export your file, and then upload to the web service.

But seriously, man....Mapsource is terrible. Why on earth do you use that one preferentially? Find another! Topofusion is great.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I've been playing around with a website where I can centralize trip reports, maps, and photos. I couldn't do quite what I wanted on existing sites. I will still likely use some site to maintain all my gps info in one place, and another to maintain my photos in one place.

BUT, to put everything together, I made my own website. I only have it set up to accept my own data, however. I don't want other folks uploading their own data. But, I get a maps display with multiple options, gps data overlays (.kml or .gpx), and with .gpx files I get extra charts of performance data. So now I can put together a single cohesive trip report with gps data, photos, and text formatted how I like it.

http://thegpsgeek.com

I paid for my own URL and a basic hosting plan (we'll see how far it goes before I have to upgrade), and I'm running Wordpress (.org, not .com), XML Google Maps WP Plugin (based on the Google Maps API and making use of other scripts), and the AddToAny share and subscribe scripts. I might add some various other features eventually, but what I've got gives me an awful lot of functionality.


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

I like the ability on geoladders, to show several rides on the same course simultaneously, so you can watch your speed compared to your previous rides, or compared to other riders who have done the same course. I signed up for everytrail but it doesn't look like you can do that. Are there other sites besides geoladders that have that specific capability?


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## Park2 (Jan 4, 2007)

www.trailpeak.com
Mostly Canada (Eh?) and Northern US. But FREE if you contribute (1 up = 3 down)Tracks, Waypoints and even routes in GPX, previews in GoogleMaps and a GE option.


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## Colrob43 (Dec 25, 2009)

*Bike map*

I just found this thread after posting some details on another. But anyway, http://www.bikemap.net seems to be a good site with World coverage.


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## jkmacman (Mar 5, 2009)

*garmin & every trail*

In the past i'd view routes on every trail. Today I tried to download a route and import it into Delrome USA 8.0. It wouldn't load as the file had errors. Then I downloaded a route from garmin connect that I uploaded from a garmin foreunner. Voila to my amazement it worked.

I can't say if its the website, but I think it may have been a Iphone file. Garmin Connect you can find stuff, but you need to be specific for your search criteria, here's an query string for mtb in ringwood, nj ( a mecca for mtb near nyc)

http://connect.garmin.com/explore#a...j&keyword= &sortField=relevance&currentPage=1


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## MegaMustang (Sep 12, 2009)

+1 for bikemap.net -- I added a bunch of my routes today.


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