CUCC Expedition Handbook

GPS-specific devices

These used to be the best way to get GPS locations, but the market has been so saturated by "clever" devices that make things easy for runners and skiers etc. that you have to know exactly what they are doing with your data and know how to tell them to stop it.

"Modern" Garmin handheld GPS devices

Connect the GPS device to your laptop (or the expo laptop) using the USB cable. A folder will open on the laptop showing the contents of the device. You will see a subfolder called "GARMIN". Open the folder "GARMIN" and copy the file essentials.gpx which you downloaded into that folder.

Even modern (2019) Garmin GPS devices use this old style mini-USB socket. So you will need the special cable that comes with the device. An ordinary phone USB cable won't work.

Very Old Garmin handheld GPS devices

These need the Garmin communication protocol to import cave entrance locations (waypoints) and paths (tracks). You can't do it by simply copying files. This means that you need special software on your laptop in addition to a USB cable that connects your laptop to the Garmin device.

Once you have the right cable and connected your handheld to your laptop:

• On a Windows machine, use "GPSbabel for Windows" which has an easy to use graphical user interface: download GPS Babel
• On a Linux machine the core gpsbabel command line utility is probably already installed; but there is no simple, easy to use graphical interface. Instead you must use other software such as QGIS or Viking (download using your usual Linux software installer) which uses gpsbabel to talk to your device. If this doesn't work then there are no useful error messages from Viking.