Route Mapping and Sharing

Mapping a route needn't necessarily mean that you have to sign-up for the Paris-Dakar Rally. Something as simple as taking a walk around the neighborhood can be mapped and shared with your friends. You can use this to keep track of the amount you've walked (ideal for weight watchers), or if you like to hike outdoors, you can save a favorite trail and pass it around. Take a look at figure 1 to see how this works. I took a small trip around Bangalore and mapped the journey with a phone GPS. Later, I plugged the phone into my computer, and copied over a small .GPX file that contained all the track information. This can then be converted into a track on Google Maps, and I was even able to see average speeds, total distance travelled, and the change in elevation.

To do all this, I used TrekBuddy. This useful little software installs on Blackberries, Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60 phones, so pretty much any current generation phone can be used. The best part? The software is completely free. Download it from wiki.trekbuddy.net/index.php/Main_Page. It's not enough to just download the software though. You also need to load up some maps on the device. This can be a little complex and confusing the first time around, but there are various tools that make this a lot easier. TrekBuddy Atlas Creator is one of the easier ones to use. Get it from tinyurl.com/7vrlwz. You can load maps from different sources onto your mobile device, and use it even when you hike out of range of a cellular signal.

GPSed available at www.gpsed.com is another great tool for route mapping. After signing up here (for free), you can download the client application onto your cellphone. This has the added advantage of taking care of the mapping for you. If you have an active GPRS connection, it uploads the track file directly to the GPSed website, and creates the track there. This track can be made public, for others to see and follow, or private, so that only you know where you'd gone.

Keep track of those Calories