GPX Inspector

GPX Inspector is an application that allows you to view and manage GPX files. It also has the feature of letting you see your tracks, routes, and waypoints in Google Earth.

GPX Inspector is is based on Eclipse and requires Java to be installed. You should be able to get Java here. You install it by unzipping the files into some directory and uninstall it by removing them. It does not use the Windows registry. You run it from its executable, GpxInspector.exe on Windows or GpxInspector on UNIX systems. It is currently only available for Windows, primarily owing to a lack of available test machines for other platforms.

It should read GPX 1.0 or GPX 1.1 file format versions, but uses GPX 1.1 for internal use and saving.

The main part of the interface is a tree view, which consists of all the files you have loaded and the tracks, routes, and waypoints in them. You can expand or contract the tree, and other options are available by right clicking a tree item. You can drag and drop GPX files to the tree view. You can select all visible items in the tree with Ctrl-A.

Note that most of the user interface elements, such as buttons, text entries, checkboxes, etc., have tool tips which should appear when you hold the cursor over them. This is the easiest way to get help on what these controls do.

Menus

File Menu

New GPX File

Creates a new GPX file.

Open GPX File

Brings up a file dialog to open GPX files. You can select multiple files. They will then appear in the tree. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Save Selected GPX Files...

Brings up a dialog to save files. The ones that have been changed are checked when the dialog comes up. You can change the check marks and decide whether to use Save (saves the file under the same name without prompting) or Save As (brings up a File Selection Dialog so you can choose a different name). You can also Do Nothing or Reset the dialog to how it came up as well as Check All or Check None of the files to be saved.

Save KML

Creates a KML file using the loaded files that are checked. There is a dialog to specify options. Optionally you can send the KML file to Google Earth. See KML for more information. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Find Near

Brings up a dialog that lets you choose find options. On clicking OK, it sets the check mark on only the files already loaded that match the criteria. Optionally you can choose whether to remove items that do not match. See Find Near for more information.

Find Files Near

Similar to find files, excepts that it searches a specified directory and loads any files that have a element (waypoint or trackpoint) that matches the criterion. You can choose whether only the matching items in the files are left or whether all items are left. If only the matching items are left, the file will be marked as modified. Be careful of saving it as any existing non-matching items will be lost. See Find Near for more information.

Exit

Exits GPX Inspector.

Window Menu

Open Perspective

This menu item allows you to open a new perspective. A perspective is an arrangement of the views and other interface elements in your workspace window. You can move these elements around and add or delete them. The perspective is remembered between sessions.

Show View

Allows you to add another view to your current perspective. You delete a view by clicking on the X in its tab. There are other options available for views by right clicking on their tab.

Customize Perspective

You can customize your perspective with this option. Possible customizations include setting the menu and toolbar visibility.

Save Perspective As

Save your current perspective layout so you can return to it later via Open Perspective.

Reset Perspective

Resets the perspective to the default. This can be used to clean up when your workspace gets messy.

Close Perspective

Closes the current perspective.

Close All Perspectives

Closes all perspectives.

Preferences

Brings up the preferences dialog. Preferences are values you can set for for parameters, such as the GPX files you want to be loaded at startup. These persist between sessions and and allow you to customize your workspace. See Preferences for more information.

Help Menu

Help Contents

Brings up help for GPX Inspector in a browser, starting at this page. The browser is relatively simple. Forward and Back buttons are in the right-click context menu..

About GPX Inspector

Brings up a dialog with information about GPX Inspector including the installed Eclipse plug-ins and information about your Java and Eclipse environment.

Tree View Pull-down Menu and Context Menu

There is a pull-down menu at the top of the tree view. There is also a context menu that you get by right-clicking on items in the tree. The items that appear in these menus at any time may depend on the current selection, and not all of these items appear in both menus. There are also icons at the top of the tree view that perform the same actions as a few of the menu items. These icons have tool tips.

Add

Depending on what is selected, add items to the tree.

Remove

Remove the selected items. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Remove All

Remove everything leaving an empty window. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Check Selected

Check the boxes for all the selected items. You can select all visible items with Ctrl-A.

Uncheck Selected

Check the boxes for all the selected items. You can select all visible items with Ctrl-A.

Expand Level

Expands the tree by one level. This may not always work as desired. See Expand Level, Collapse Level in Troubleshooting for details. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Collapse Level

Collapses the tree by one level. This may not always work as desired. See Expand Level, Collapse Level in Troubleshooting for details. There is also an icon at the top of the tree view to do this.

Collapse All

Collapses the tree entirely.

Select Visible

Selects the visible items in the tree. Should be equivalent to Ctrl-A.

Select None

Deselects all items in the tree.

Refresh Tree

Redraw the main window tree in case it has become corrupted. Should not be necessary.

Info

Display an Info dialog with the properties of the selected item. These properties can be edited and saved. No changes are made to the file on disk until it is saved as a file.

Sort

Appears when one item is selected. Alphabetically sorts the items at the same level as the selected item. The sorting is only done for items with the same parent (next level up). For example, to sort waypoints in a file, select one of the waypoints and choose Sort. To sort tracks, pick one of the tracks.. When a file is selected, Sort sorts the files in the window.

Reverse

Works the same as Sort except reverses the items.

Save Checked as Startup Preference

Saves the checked files so they will be loaded the next time GPX Inspector starts. The files that are loaded on startup can also be changed in Window | Preferences | GPX Inspector | Startup.

Add Startup Files from Preferences

Add the files that are to be loaded at startup to the existing files. This can be used to reload them in case they were deleted.

Open GPX File

Same as on the File Menu. Brings up a file dialog to open GPX files. You can select multiple files. They will then appear in the tree.

Save Selected GPX Files...

Same as on the File Menu. Brings up a dialog to save files. The ones that have been changed are checked when the dialog comes up. You can change the check marks and decide whether to use Save (saves the file under the same name without prompting) or Save As (brings up a File Selection Dialog so you can choose a different name). You can also Do Nothing or Reset the dialog to how it came up as well as Check All or Check None of the files.

Save KML

Same as on the File Menu. Creates a KML file using the loaded files that are checked. There is a dialog to specify options. Optionally you can send the KML file to Google Earth. See KML for more information.

Cut

Removes the selected items from the table and copies them to the internal clipboard. (not the system clipboard).

Copy

Copies the selected item to the internal clipboard. (not the system clipboard), leaving the items in the table.

Paste

Pastes the items from the clipboard at the end of any existing items of the same type.

Paste Special

Pastes the items in the clipboard, giving you a choice of where to paste them.

Merge All Segments

Appears only when more than one track segment is selected. Merges all of the segments in that track into one segment.

Merge Segments

Appears only when more than one track segment is selected. Merges only the selected segments into one segment.

KML

Find Near

Preferences