Originally Posted By: Fishmonger
I tried GPSBabel to convert my GPX to KML - my file in GPX was 1299kb, while in KML it exported to 18,200kb. Clearly, there's the problem why KML didn't work for me, because whatever preferences I used in GPS Babel (default), it was adding a ton of fluff. My GPX is stripped down from the originals, no time, no elevation data, so they are quite compact.


I have GPSBabel running on my server. Here is the command Gmap4 uses to convert GPX to KML:

gpsbabel -i gpx -f path_to_gpx_file
-o kml,points=0,line_width=5,line_color=990000ff -F path_to_kml_file
See Help file at p.12-13.

The above command converted your GPX file to a KML file that is 1.08 MB.
Note the parameter "points=0". If you do not include this parameter then each track point is also converted to a waypoint in the output file. Letting that happen greatly increases the output file size.

When you tell Gmap4 to display your GPX file, what you are really seeing is a KML file. Gmap4 uses GPSBabel to convert your GPX file to a KML file on the fly, temporarily hosts that KML file on my server, and displays that KML file on the map.

If you do the conversion to KML yourself, then you can edit the kml file and set your own line color, width, etc, etc, etc.

All is explained in plain English in the Help file. Be sure to download the KML files described in the appendix and read the comments in those files.