Working with Tracks and the Track Control

Lets load in a Track from file

(Note: A track is sometimes known as a Plot Trail but within OziExplorer they are always called tracks.)

• Press the Load Button on the Tool Bar.
• Select the Load Track from File option on the menu.
• Select the "demo1.plt" file from the file open dialog. (Tip: to load many tracks, hold down the "Ctrl" or "Shift" keys while you select the tracks to load.)

The track will be displayed on the map. This track was collected on one of my 4x4 trips using the GPS, it was downloaded from the GPS using OziExplorer and saved to the "demo1.plt" file.

Now press the Track Control Button on the Tool Bar, the Track Control will be displayed.

You will notice there is a row of buttons on the Tool Bar of the Track Control.

The button determines if the tracks (all of them) are displayed on the map. Press the button in and out and you will notice the track disappear and reappear. Make sure you leave the button pressed so the track is displayed.

The color and width of the track can be configured by using the Track Properties dialog.

• Press the button on the Tool Bar (alternatively, double click on Track 1). 
• The Track Properties window will be displayed.
• Press the triangle adjacent to the Line Color and select a different color.
• Press the up arrow adjacent to the Width to increase the line width.
• (DO NOT do this now) The Save Button is used to save the changes.
• Press the Close Button  to close the Track Properties window.

Lets try loading another track into Track 2.

• Select Track 2 with your mouse to highlight it.
• Press the button on the Track Control Tool Bar (alternatively, double click on Track 1). 
• The Track Properties window will be displayed and the track description will show "Track not loaded ..."
• Press the Load Button and select the file "Demo2.plt", the track file will be loaded.
• Press the Close Button  to close the Track Properties window.

Lets view the list of track points for Track 2.

• Press the button on the Track Control Tool Bar.
• The Track List window will be displayed showing the list of track points.
• The data for each track point (such as the coordinates) is listed, some parameters are calculated. For example, if the Date and Time have been collected with the track then the speed for each section between track points is calculated.
• Track 2 is not on the map that is loaded (Demo1.map) so you can see the Map column has "No" for each track point indicating the points are not on the map.
• The Tool Bar on the top of the Track List allows you to work with or on the data.

Creating or Editing a Track

While it is possible to add new track points to an existing track, for this tutorial we will start without a track loaded.

• On the Map Menu select the Clear All Tracks from Map option.
• Click the Yes button when asked to Clear the Track Points. This will make sure there are no track points in memory.
• Open the Track Control by clicking on the Track Control Button on the Main Tool Bar.
• Select the Create Track Points or Insert Track Point Button on the Tool Bar. The mouse pointer will change to cross hairs with the word Track. In this mode where ever you click on the map a track point will be created. The insert button will insert the track point between the 2 closest track points and the create button will add the point to the end of the track.
• Click anywhere on the map and create a track with about 10 points. You will see the number of Points and the Distance increasing in the Track Control window as you add new points. The track points are added to the track number selected in the Track Control List. Notice also that the track has a color and line width, these are the defaults and can be set in the main configuration.
• Click the Open Selection Control button to show the Selection Control. The Selection Control is used for selecting track points (and also for other objects such as waypoints, points etc as described in the Selection Control section of the help). On the Selection Control, click the button Draw Box to Select Track Points (4th from left) to activate the tracks. Using the mouse, hold the left mouse button down and drag across the map selecting several track points.  You will see the track points that fall within the box change size and color to indicate they have been selected. Now, on the Selection Control, click the Delete Selected Objects Button and confirm the deletion, the selected track points will be deleted.

The Enable Mouse on Track Points button makes the track points active - a hint will be shown when the mouse is on the track point, allows the track point to be dragged, right click on a track point will display a Menu of options. The menu options allow you to delete a track point and do other operations.

This newly created track can be saved to a file, uploaded to the GPS (where applicable) or permanently attached to a map.