Created by Paul Stratton 5/26/99. Donated to the Public Domain.

The items within the zip file are created by me for my use. Everyone may use them, as long as it is understood the items were created for my use and any other useage taken upon by any other user is at their own risk.

The Lotus 123 spreadsheet will calculate various items from track point information gathered from my Garmin GPS III. The formulas within the spreadsheet were borrowed from:
http://www.best.com/~williams/avform.htm. 

Good Luck!

Paul Stratton
paul_stratton@email.msn.com



Explanations of the content of the ZIP file:

README.TXT -- This File (Duh).  ;^)

TRACKS.WK1 -- A Lotus 123 spreadsheet that does post processing of track log data. The spreadsheet computes distances, directions, bearings, sampled time differences, the velocities, PLOTTING, and more, for each acquired point within a downloaded GPS tracklog.gps file. It is a medium-size, complex, spreadsheet that works well on the HP200LX palmtop. It is easily ported and expanded upon; using Excel or Quattro-Pro.  It works great for my needs but may be a little too crude for some users. On the HP200LX palmtop it may take a minute or two to calculate all the data points. (It's worth the wait.) NOTE: You will have to add or delete formulas to the spreadsheet if the track log data samples are fewer, or more, than those in the example tracklog.gps file. If you don't add or remove the formulas, you will miss some track points or you may have "ERR" show up for those items that have too few points. (Personally, I wish I could get rid of the "ERR" and have more meaningful information...)

There are two Lotus 123 graphing plots already created and named within the spreadsheet. They look the best when displayed on the HP200LX palmtop. In 123 use Menu, Graph, Name, then Use, to select them... One graph creates a crude plot of the track log. It is not created using a consistent graphing scale. That is, the graph automatically adjusts the scales to the tracks Lat/Lon being plotted. The second plot creates a graph of the velocity versus time. The spreadsheet computes the MPH and plots it against the tracked sampled times. This graph is an example of what you could show the officer when he pulls you over for speeding. You could show him you were not speeding at the time he stopped you, but you could show him you were really speeding earlier. (GRIN!) It'll show your average speed and maximum as well. NOTE: Both graphs will require you to adjust the X/Y ranges when you use different tracklog.gps data sample files.

TRACKLOG.GPS -- A sample track log captured using my Garmin GPS III while out driving around one afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas. It contains about 270 samples over about a 30 minute period of time.

TRACKS.BAT -- A sample DOS Batch file to download track logs captured with the Garmin GPS III and placed into the TRACKLOG.GPS file. This should work with any Garmin GPS system. THIS BATCH FILE REQUIRES A SEPARATE PROGRAM CALLED GARDOWN. See http://joe.mehaffey.com for access to the site where GARDOWN may be accessed. Use the tracklog.gps file as a sample track with the "tracks.wk1" spreadsheet. Insert only the "T" portion of the tracklog.gps file into the spreadsheet. If using Lotus 123 on the palmtop, use the Alt-T macro to automatically insert the contents of the tracklog.gps file into the right location. Be aware, the tracklog.gps file path within the Alt-T macro has to match the path location where the tracks.bat batch file places the tracklog.gps file. The user will have to customize both to match their storage arrrangements.