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Direct GPS Track Data Extraction from the CTX3030 Without Using XChange2.

Y

Yeasty

Member
I record GPS tracks of all my hunts in Google Earth. When I first used XChange2 I was very disappointed that GeoHunt tracks could only be shown in Google Maps. For about a year I poked around the data files of XChange 2 with no success in finding the data I was looking for. Finally I learned from another forum about SQLite which is a neat little data extraction program that might be able to be used. Sure enough it worked. Then I thought why not try to extract the track data directly from the CTX3030 without using XChange2? To my amazement I made that work too!
I came up with a procedure to extract GeoHunt track data directly from the CTX3030 and, by jumping thru a series of hoops, configure and convert the track data for use with Google Earth. The link below is to a procedure I came up with that works, even for multiple stored GeoHunts at a time. I recommend that you be fairly computer literate to use it. The procedure must be followed precisely to work. Print and read it over carefully before trying. I suspect the procedure could somehow be adapted for use by Mac users. If you have any questions PM me or ask in this thread. Of course I assume no responsibility for inadvertent data corruption or damage.

Here
 
This brings the question of why would someone want to do this when they could do it within the exchange2 program itself? Is it the reason of better accuracy or reliability in servers? Either way thanks for your time and effort. :thumbup: This is very helpful information.
 
Google Earth is a very much more versatile program than Google Maps. And my opinion is that XChange2 is a very clunky program.
 
Something I would most likely never use, since I barely ever use the GPS feature, but good work figuring out how to make it do what you wanted!
 
Dear yeasty
I have seen your posts of exporting from the ctx3030 and xchange2 several places but unfortunately I have not been able to see a detailed description. Also at this site i miss it. It says here but there is no link. I need the export of both findpoints and tracks because we deliver them to the museums when we deliver our objects and I even have to transform the lattitude and longitude to utm because that is the only format we use in museums in Denmark but that doesn´t bother Minelab..
I have tried from a very short description just saying: sqlite, excel, notepad and converter from xlsx to kmz but every time I end up in the sea southwest of Africa and I can asure you that I have never searched there. I can get the data into sqlite but I am not sure if I export the correct data. At least the geohunt trails look strange because I can not find a long row of points, nearly just a starting point and an endpoint.
So is it possible that you could a give link to a detailed description of how to get the data exported, I have been just as frustrated as most others because I have had to have a separate Garmin to collect the necessary data

Many greetings Erik Dam
 
I prefer to use a hand held unit which has way more going for it in terms of capability than the GPS function in the CTX 3030. The Delorme PN series allows you to download topo maps, aerial maps and detailed land use maps directly to the unit and see where you are on the color screen. You can create find points and when you get home, it interfaces with Topo USA which is way more detailed than the maps you get with XChange2. The other nice thing is I can hang it around my neck regardless of what detector I might be using and still record the data. Being able to create routes to follow at home to bypass ravines, swamps, or other areas is another plus . . .

Andy
 
Dear Andy, Although I used your book about etrac extensively when I first bought a etrac detector I feel that it is easier just to press a button on the 3030 than on the small handheld (I mainly use Garmin edge 705 because I use it for biking too). I agree with the maps, I also have topo Denmark on my Garmin and that is why I wanted to transfer the date easily to basecamp, but only if it can be done easy and preferably automatically with a little programming.
Very often we work in groups and have to cover a certain area and together we look at old fashioned paper maps before starting.
But as I consider your huge experience I will think twice if I can get the handheld to work better with another kind of organisation.
( one little annoying thin I also have experienced with my handheld is that when I make the trace of where I search it makes a lot of small deviations every time I dig so it does not look very neat with such a star pattern around a digging, I think it happens because when I dig I turn around and the gps sees different satellites and that makes different points because of low accuracy (of a few meters).)

Erik
 
AngelicStorm said:
This brings the question of why would someone want to do this when they could do it within the exchange2 program itself? Is it the reason of better accuracy or reliability in servers? Either way thanks for your time and effort. :thumbup: This is very helpful information.
Click to expand...

Not just for the path tracking, but also would be useful for people who log find points (like me). The xchange program is only useful in itself. If you have a file of the all the data, there are a LOT more programs you can use it in.

To give you an example, when I hunt my ghost town site, I record all the finds with the GPS marker. Xchange lets me see those points laid on a satellite pic. I have to hand write every lat/lon coordinate so I can manually put it google-earth. Once in google earth I can set all kinds of colors or symbols for every type of find. I can also overlay the map of the original townsite. I can look for correlations of targets and find where I should be concentrating during my next hunt. I can also pull GPS coords of specific spots where I want to hunt for bottle pits.

LOTS of useful thing to do with GPS info that you can't currently do within xchange.
 
Dear Jason and Yeasty
I am very sorry to tell that I still do not see the procedure.
In the first post by yeasty it says at the end HERE but it is no link when I see it. I do not think it is my mailsystems that take off the link but maybe someone could write the link without the HTTP so systems don't know it as a link.
I might have overseen something but I have some it experience though, as I started programming in Algol 48 years ago.
Many greetings Erik
 
Erik Dam said:
Dear Jason and Yeasty
I am very sorry to tell that I still do not see the procedure.
In the first post by yeasty it says at the end HERE but it is no link when I see it. I do not think it is my mailsystems that take off the link but maybe someone could write the link without the HTTP so systems don't know it as a link.
I might have overseen something but I have some it experience though, as I started programming in Algol 48 years ago.
Many greetings Erik
Click to expand...

Yes, I was talking about it general. I would guess that the link was removed by a mod for a rules violation (if it was there to begin with). I came into this late so I don't know if the original post is edited or not.
 
I don't know what happened to any link he might have posted here. But I did a google search using "yeasty ctx gps data extraction" and found several posts he had made on a variety of forums. Unfortunately, I haven't found any of them with a working link to his procedure. When I click on the link, it says I can't be redirected to the comcast site he references. Have you tried contacting him directly? You should be able to send him a message from any of the forums he is a member.
 
Thank you, I had the same experience as you, but i will try if I can contact him directly somehow, but it might not be possible if he is not on the fora anymore.
 
Guy's the tracks work for sure. I dont think there is a published instruction sheet... But if you ask nicely, and not bash Petes efforts and hard work, he would probably comment. However, I have found an easier way to get the data and tracks... I send my MLX file to Pete and he sends the import back within an hour. The data is surely useful , in that you can clearly see all hunt tracks in different colors. Lets you see a graphical representation of how well you covered a site or any holes you missed.
Thanks Pete!!! I appreciate you, anyway!
 
Am I missing something? I don't see any "link below".

I am curious and would like to see what you did.
 
Not sure of any link, but this is what it does for you. Each track can be its own color allowing to see holes in gridding areas.
 
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