GPS Exchange Format
Open XML format for GPS data interchange.
The GPS Exchange Format (GPX) is an XML schema designed as a common GPS data format for software applications. It is an open format and can be used without the need to pay license fees. Location data (and optionally elevation, time, and other information) is stored in tags and can be interchanged between GPS devices and software. Common software applications for the data include viewing tracks projected onto various map sources, annotating maps, and geotagging photographs based on the time they were taken.
Quick Facts
- Extension
- .gpx
- Mime
- application/gpx+xml and application/octet-stream
- Released
- 2002
- Latest release version
- 1.1
- Latest release date
- 9 August 2004
- Extended from
- XML
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- Latitude and longitude in GPX are expressed in decimal degrees, and elevation in meters, both using the WGS 84 datum.
- Dates and times in GPX are expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) using ISO 8601 format.
- A sample GPX file in the source contains three waypoints corresponding to the locations of the German, Swiss, and Austrian parliaments.
- Some vendors like Humminbird and Garmin use GPX extensions to record street address, phone number, business category, air temperature, and depth of water.
Data types
A GPX file contains three main components: waypoints, routes, and tracks. A waypoint (wpt) holds WGS 84 coordinates of a point and may include descriptive information. A route (rte) is an ordered list of waypoints (rtept) that represent significant turn points toward a destination, typically used for future journeys. A track (trk) consists of one or more segments (trkseg), each containing a series of waypoints (trkpt), and is used for recorded or completed journeys. Although the tags differ (wpt, rtept, trkpt), all share the same data type called wptType. Additional data can be included; some vendors use extensions to record parameters such as street address, phone number, business category, air temperature, or water depth.
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