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I'm having problems opening an imported route in my Garmin. I copied the .GPX route file into the correct folder and can see it on the unit. I then trying to open it in the Garmin to see it overlaid on top of the OS mapping, it takes ages to open, then only a portion of route appears with about 2/3rd's of the route missing.
My initial thought is that the file is to big or has to many trackpoints but looking at the file it is about 200Kb in size with 2,700 track points making up the route - which according to the specs is way under what the Garmin can deal with.
Anyone have any advice or tips on how to get the whole route working?
I was 25 miles into a 100 mile solo ride when I first noticed a similar problem with my eTrex 20.
It turned out it didn't like any more than 300 track points per route. I'm not sure what the exact figure is (it may well be a little more than that), but it was always spot on with under 300, and that was plenty enough, even for the longer routes. 2,700 is unecesarry.
I guess the maximum stated by Garmin must be the maximum the unit can physically hold without additional memory? I don't know.
I might be wrong, but try saving it as a Track instead of Route.
The Etrex 30 has a capacity of 2,000 Waypoints and a Route is normally made up of Waypoints, not Trackpoints.
Thanks for the comments. I try the Track instead of Route and see how I get on, failing that I'll retrace and try and get it to sub 300 to see if that works.
I use Bike Hike for plotting routes and you don't need to retrace anything. If you go into the options (I think it is), there's a box where you can adjust the number of track/waypoints (whatever you call them). Type in 300. Save. Done. Go ride.
You'll be able to Load your saved route straight into there too.
I'm sure other programns will do it, but I've never used them.
Is this a 45 minute ride? It sounds like the GPX file has been created by something logging a waypoint every second, Normally, when you trace/plan a route you'd only create a waypoint at every significant direction change. Some software (e.g. Anquet) has the ability to simplify a route by excluding some of these intermediate waypoints.
The route looks like it would be about a 3 1/2 hour cycle. I think you are right and it shows a waypoint every 5 seconds or so. If I can reduce the number of waypoints to a specified max limit as Butcher is suggesting in Bike Hike then that should sort it out without having to retrace - which would be perfect!
How did you create the route? What software are you using?
Usually for a route, you would just add points at the main junctions, or significant changes of directions. And try to keep within a a few hundred points.
If you want something to follow the path exactly, it would be better to create a track instead, they usually have many more points.
I'm not sure what the limits are on the Etrex 30, but it should be able to cope with a few thousand points in a track.
Most software has the option to convert between a route and a track. eg on Bikehike, when you click save route, you can choose "GPS track" instead of "GPX route".
Also, the software should let you simplify it a bit. You could probably reduce it to about 500 points, and it would still be close enough for following a path.