[R-sig-Geo] processing GPS track data?

[Dylan Beaudette]

On Thursday 23 October 2008 04:28:59 pm Malin Pinsky wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a set of GPS track data (in .gpx format now) that I need to
> process, and I'm hoping to use R to do it. I've been using R for a
> number of years now, but this is my first time wading into spatial
> data.
>

You should be able to accomplish these things with minimal effort using other 
applications:

gpsbabel - Dump tracks, convert to common formats
GRASS - generalize tracks with v.generalize, check for overlap
R - use the 'sp' package to randomly sample the line networks, output sample 
points and import into GRASS to cut up the tracks
PostGIS - good for doing non-topological operations on your data

So-- with the above suite of applications you should be able to do just about 
anything with that GPS data!

Good luck,
Dylan

> Specifically, I need to:
>    1) Smooth the tracks
>    2) Select random locations along the tracks
>    3) Select segments of the tracks, corresponding to the random locations
>    4) Check for overlap between the segments
>    5) Output the random segments, preserving other track attribute
> data (e.g., timestamps)
>
> So far, my searches on r-sig-geo have come up negative. Has anyone
> dealt with data like this before? Can someone recommend the
> appropriate packages/functions? PostGIS sounds like it may be another
> option if R doesn't yet have the packages.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Regards,
> Malin





-- 
Dylan Beaudette
Soil Resource Laboratory
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/
University of California at Davis
530.754.7341