How to map your Forerunner’s workout on Google Maps
The Garmin Forerunner is a popular personal trainer. Its integrated GPS allows you to store the coordinates of your workout so that you can later visualize it. Its mapping abilities are somewhat limited, so you’ll need another tool to see your routes. In this post I’ll teach you how you can map your route on Google Maps with the aid of a mashup called GPS Visualizer.
In a nutshell, GPS Visualizer lets you import your workout file and produces a Google Map with the route you’ve been running (or cycling, or walking). What follows are the actual instructions on how to do it:
- Connect the Forerunner to the USB port. If everything is correctly installed, the Garmin Training Center software will automatically launch and upload all the workouts on your Forerunner. The workouts will show up as activities.
- Choose the activity you want to map (activities are organized by sport and date), click the right button of the mouse and select "Create course from activity". A course will be created and you will see it by pressing the "Courses" button on the toolbar.
- Export the courses. File | Export courses, enter a filename and you’re done. All the courses will be exported (don’t worry, GPS Visualizer will draw them in different colors).
The outcome of these first three steps is a file with the extension .crs or .tcx, depending on the Training Center version, that contains all the courses of your Training Center. Let’s upload this file into GPS Visualizer:
- Go to http://www.gpsvisualizer.com and click on the link that says "Google Map" at the center of the screen. You’ll be taken to a page where you can upload your .crs/.tcx file and set other various parameters.
- Enter the file in "File #1" and leave the other parameters with the default values. You can play with them later, but for now stick to the defaults.
- Click the button "Draw the Map".
A new window will open and after a little while you’ll see a Google Map with you route on it. Congratulations, you’ve done it! Now you can play with the map by zooming and moving it. Have fun!
You can do many more things with your Forerunner and Google Maps. Next time I’ll show you how you can send your routes to your friends or have them stored on another mashups. Meanwhile take a deep look at GPS Visualizer. It has lots of features related to online mapping and to the Forerunner, and it’s all free!
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