What can you do with WRPElevationChart (a lightweight GPS viewer app for Android)

WRPElevationChart was originally an app designed to visualize GPS and elevation data. However, over time, some special features have been added that can help other apps to import specific file formats that these apps cannot handle themselves.

In addition, WRPElevationChart supports other apps to visualize the data (elevation profile combined with a map view) in a more user friendly and accessible way, because the map view is linked with the elevation chart and vice versa. Due to the fact that the elevation chart and map views are kept as simple as possible, the map view can be easily combined with the elevation chart, even on small smartphone screens and with a generally good performance, even on mid-range smartphones.

I want to briefly present these special uses cases here. 

I will refer to YouTube videos and animated gifs because it's really just a matter of briefly outlining these functionalities (a kind of showcase).

More in-depth explanations should be taken from the official manual: https://wrpsoft.blogspot.com/2021/02/wrpelevationchart-anleitung.html

And there is an FAQ: https://wrpsoft.blogspot.com/2024/04/faq-zu-wrpelevationchart.html

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GPS Viewer functionality

As said, this app can visualize GPS data on your Android based smartphone. The following file formats are supported: (Garmin) *.fit, *.gpx, *.kml/kmz (only LineString based paths) and *.tcx files. 

The new 3D elevation chart view can help to better evaluate a route in terms of its course characteristics (even if it's really just a gimmick, but sometimes it's a nice alternative point of view).

Importing data and basic viewer functionality:

(Just open your GPS files and WRPElevationChart will do the rest :-).WRPElevationChart is able to access your cloud storage - GDrive, DropBox, etc. - hence, you can access almost all your files)

Track animation (so called virtual ride):

(This animation view is mainly for fun, but can be helpful to analyse a climb or a run for example).

Distance measurement tool:

This is certainly not a core feature in a GPS viewer app. But it helps me estimate distances in a fairly simple way. There are apps that can do this better, but WRPElevationChart scores points for its quick access to this function. The measurement is therefore not accurate to the meter, but is certainly suitable for a rough estimate. In unfamiliar areas, for example - even without importing GPS track data - you can easily estimate the distance of a running route, etc.

GPS data browser functionality:

(You can assign a special folder that contains GPS based files and WRPElevationChart helps you to browse through all your GPS based data within that folder. This can be very useful, as GPS files often do not have meaningful filenames)

External GPS-/Elevation chart viewer for the GPS Logger app:

(BasicAirData GPS Logger app is a lightweight GPS logger app foccused on recording GPS data. You can embed external viewers like WRPEelvationChart into this app, which greatly expands its functionality)

External GPS-/Elevation chart viewer for the Wahoo Element, Locus Map and many other apps:

(The Wahoo Elemnt app can display your recordings well, but due to the splitted view - the map is at the top of the screen and the charts are below -, when you select a point (= position) at one chart, you cannot see your position on the map. This splitted view is therefore not that good for a quick overview of your recorded tracks. Of course, a small smartphone display isn't the best way to get an overview of tracks, but you can get a better overview with a linked map and elevation chart view, even on a tiny display!) 

Of course, you have to limit the external curves somewhat by displaying them optionally.

And as you can see from the second animation, with this app you can also look at some data series on your smartphone that are normally only visible on a PC or a web application (GPS Accuracy, Battery Level, etc.)

 

Locus Map is certainly one of the best outdoor navigation apps for Android (if not the best!). However, the elevation chart display - at least in the Locus version I use - is not the best.

Here, the part of the elevation profile viewer can be taken over by WRPWelevationChart with the integrated share function in Locus Map. This way you can easily transfer the track to a (3D) GPS elevation chart.

And many other apps like the Beeline app also offer the possibility to include an external viewer via the share function.

Import helper functionality

In addition to the viewer functionality, WRPElevationChart can also be used as an import helper for other apps, that can not handle ('Garmin') *.fit or *.tcx files by themselves for example. 

Technically speaking: you can use WRPElevationChart as a kind of fit-/tcx-file to gpx-file converter. But it isn't a converter in true sense, cause it will generate a very basic gpx file that will only contain essential parameters like GPS-coordinates, elevation, timestamps and speed values, so that most apps are able to deal with that easy to handle gpx file.

Importing *.FIT or *.TCX route files into the Beeline App:

(At the moment the Beeline app can only handle/import *.gpx files, so WRPElevationChart can help to import some more file formats. By the way, I reviewed the Beeline 1 device some years ago: Smarte Navigation mit Beeline (der Weg ist - wieder mal - das Ziel :-) ))

Dispatcher for gimporter/gexporter (an awesome tool for importing GPS routes on-the-fly to your Garmin device):

(At the moment gimporter/gexporter can only handle *.gpx and *.fit files, so WRPElevationChart can help to import *.tcx files. Besides WRPElevationChart can transfer files from your cloud storage like GDrive, Dropbox, etc. to geimporter/gexporter)

Importing *.FIT or *.TCX route files into the Garmin Connect App:

(At the moment the Garmin Connect app can only handle/import *.gpx files, so WRPElevationChart can help to import some more file formats to the Connect App)

Conclusion

This short introduction should only serve as a small suggestion. 

As you can see, WRPElevationChart is not just a simple GPS viewer, but an app that can be very helpful when dealing with GPS based data on your phone. Of course there are some more use cases, because many apps can be linked to WRPElevationChart by the share functionality.

And always keep in mind: WRPElevationChart is really a lightweight app that do not contain any adds, no services are running in the background of your Android system for this app and the app does not do any harm to your Android device. It's that simple!

Thanks for reading...

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