[aprssig] Some obscure APRS client questions

[Bob Burns W9RXR]

At 11:40 AM 11/13/2011, Andrew P. wrote:

>As far as I'm personally concerned, .pos files are a perfectly 
>reasonable format for external storage of objects. Since I haven't 
>picked a file format for this in the app I'm authoring, I might as 
>well pick .pos file format (unless it is a proprietary licensed 
>format I'd have to pay a fortune to use; is it?).

Unfortunately, I haven't found a tool that will automatically convert 
from _any_ common GPS or mapping program data file format to .POS 
format. This makes exporting object locations from a mapping program 
or a GPS to an APRS client at bit of a pain in the behind. I do have 
an Excel spreadsheet that automates some of the tedium (such as 
converting lat/lon to UI-View's format), but getting to the point of 
having a .POS file that I can open in UI-View or APRSIS/32 is still a 
multi-step process.

My suggestion would be to dump the .POS format and use something a 
little more common in the GPS and map program world such as .GPX 
(http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp).

Bob...