ccWay settings guide : GPX
GPX options
This section of the settings page allows you to modify certain parameters of the GPX files produced by ccWay.
Basic options
You can produce basic GPX files or files with the Garmin GPXX extension. Here are the basic options.
Waypoint name format
Details of this option, common to both KML and Carto Exploreur output files, can be found on the user guide from the settings page.
GPX output file character set
Normally leave this at UTF-8 (Unicode) because it is a universal character set that can represent most of the world's languages. Some archaic software cannot handle Unicode, and if you have problems, change to ISO-8859-1 (Western European character set). MapSource, Google Earth and most of the software you'll be using are based on Unicode. The main indication that your software cannot read your GPX file correctly is the presence of "Chinese" characters on accented place names, for example :
and tags (comment and description)
These two tags (internal elements of the GPX file) are more or less equivalent and are used to associate more detailed information with the waypoint than its name. On ccWay, waypoint names are pass codes or synthetic 6-character names. The name of the pass and access to the pass (in Member only) are stored by default in and , respectively. You can change the content of these two tags, or omit them altogether.
Note : The GPX standard defines as a comment that is transferred to the GPS, and as a comment for the human user, not transferred to the GPS. This difference is quite subtle, and it's up to you how you want to use these fields. On MapSource, both fields are used, with taking precedence, and if absent, is used.
GPS symbols
These symbols will be used in the GPX files to designate each of the 8 pass categories (Road, Cycle, etc...) for passes already climbed and for passes yet to be climbed.
They are not subject to any standard, so it is up to you to use symbols that exist in your software and whose meaning is clear to you as a user. No syntactic or semantic validation is performed by ccWay on the content of these 16 fields. By default, the numbers 0 to 7 are shown in red for passes already climbed and in green for passes yet to be climbed. The names of the symbols are often in English (see opposite).
Note that if you use the Garmin-specific GPXX extension, these symbols will not be displayed. not used; symbols specific to ccWay will take their place on GPX files produced under these conditions.
Garmin Extensions (GPXX)
This extension, if included, provides a richer file when used with Garmin software such as MapSource. By default, this extension is excluded.
Options with Garmin extensions (GPXX)
When the GPXX extension is included, other options are available.
Downloading customised "ccWay" symbols
Use of this option is described on the output formats help page (details).
Display format and proximity alarms (MapSource + GPS)
If the GPXX extension is used, the waypoint symbols in the basic GPS file (see previous section) are not used. A fixed set of 24 symbols specific to ccWay is used to replace them. These symbols and their use are described on the output formats help page (details).
Here you can control how waypoints are displayed on MapSource and on the GPS. Three options are available:
Symbol only.- Symbol + pass code
- Symbol + name of pass.
Symbol only.
Symbol + pass code
Symbol + name of pass.
By default, only the symbol is displayed for passes already climbed, and the symbol and pass code for passes yet to be climbed. This makes the map less cluttered by not using space for the labels of passes already climbed.
MapSource and some Garmin GPS units can also alert you when you are within a certain distance of a waypoint. By default, no proximity alert is set for passes that have already been climbed, while for passes that are yet to be climbed, the proximity radius is more or less wide depending on the type of pass: the more difficult the pass, the smaller the proximity radius.
The reason for this is that you'll be happy to do a lot of hooking and looping to get to the relatively easy passes. For the harder passes, you'll generally need to be closer together to make the diversions worthwhile. These distances (radius of the proximity circle) are in metres. An empty box omits the proximity alarm for this type of pass. See opposite the representation of proximity radii for different types of pass, from road passes (white symbols) with a radius of 2,500 metres, to non-road passes (orange symbols) with a radius of 250 metres.