Garmin logging your every move?

 

Hi all;

A friend at work has a Nuvi 760 and he said he found a file on the unit that logs your trips even without choosing a route to navigate. I do not recall the file name, but I will find out and edit my post with the name.

Anyone else know of this?

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-Mike Nuvi 360 Samsung M520 Sprint (Bluetooth'd)

trip log

That's the trip log. It's not used by Garmin in any way.

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nuvi 760, nuvi 765T, nuvi 855, nuvi 3790LMT, nuvi 3490LMT - SoCal area

Trip Log

Trip Log can be found at Tools>My Data> on my Nuvi to clear it.

It can be Imported into Mapsource and gives you detailed info on past "trips" such as coordinates, elevation, speed at points along the way.

quite a bit of info in various threads here at POI Factory.
Do a Search for "Trip Log"

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MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

I clear mine every few

I clear mine every few weeks. Got into the habit of deleting unnecessary stuff when computers had capacity of less than 30 gig hard drives.

trip log

My 660 does not have the trip log feature. I sure wish it did. My next upgrade will have it. An older handheld I have has the trip log. I am able to download the log to my pc. I have even read about people fighting speeding tickets with it.

It is all in Current.gpx

Current.gpx in the GPX folder of your Garmin is an output file of your current favorites, routes, tracks. You can open it with MapSource or Google Earth (Plus not needed).

Yes your 7xx tracks your every move. If you do not clear it, it eventually rolls over and overwrites past data. The miles before that happens can be somewhat variable depending upon speed and changes in direction.

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nuvi 750, eTrex Legend HCx, Mobile 10/Palm TX, GPS 45

Query

How do you clear it - thanks.

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RKF (Brookeville, MD) Garmin Nuvi 660, 360 & Street Pilot

.

Read MrKenFL's post above.

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nuvi 760, nuvi 765T, nuvi 855, nuvi 3790LMT, nuvi 3490LMT - SoCal area

Almost Undocumented Feature

msumy wrote:

Hi all;

A friend at work has a Nuvi 760 and he said he found a file on the unit that logs your trips even without choosing a route to navigate. Anyone else know of this?

Don't beat your friend up over this. There is one tiny mention of the "Trip Log" in the (online) instruction manual. Easy to miss and it isn't explained at all. If your buddy goes to "Tools-My Data" he/she can clear the log. There's also a toggle in "tools-maps-trip log on/off" which doesn't really turn the log off it just makes it invisible.

The cool thing is your friend can upload that trip log data to mapping programs (on a pc or online) to show the entire route of a trip.

I believe this has already been mentioned but, if not, the trip log stops/starts each time the GPS is turned on/off so you can link several logs to show travel as necessary. If you only want to show a track in one direction just turn the unit off when you get to your destination then turn it back on again to separate the tracks.

Cheers wink

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Garmin GPS III, GPS V, StreetPilot 2610, Mobile 10, Nuvi 660, Nuvi 760

Real Handy

I find the Trip Log real handy for developing a route on Mapsource

great feature

I will sometimes upload this log to MapSource after a trip and review where I went, edit any new waypoints I created, calculate exactly how long it took me from point a to point b, etc.

It can be very useful.

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___________________ Garmin 2455, 855, Oregon 550t

I agree, it's very useful,

I agree, it's very useful, if you want to go back and review every step of a trip you made.

Hmmm..

Wonder if I slip this post to my boss man if he'll buy Garmin's for all of us drivers to use on the road?

Could be a useful tool for bosses and parents that don't trust their "children"... that is as long as the kids don't read this post. But if you had to show the trip log everyday you really couldn't get away with deleting the file... another case of big brother?

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Brian Garmin nuvi 255W

garmin and routes

.. another case of big brother?[/quote]

I have some friends who worry that Garmin might be able to know where you've been. or Homeland Security might be tapping the phone. Can you imagine the poor guy whose job it is to listen to my wife reminding me to bring home a pound of butter and then having to check on where I bought it? If big brother can take it, so can I.

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nuvi 785 nuvi 350, nuvi 270, GTM 20, jag in dash, mercedes in dash.

Not scareified

No concern on my part, if the govt has nothing better to do then watch where I drive so be it. Though the Garmin can't send info they would need special-ops to break into my house to get it. razz

Seems odd the number of things now that are keeping track of you. GPS keep logs, Cell phones have GPS, Newer cars have black boxes, What stores don't have cards to give you "special" bargins (BTW: Just lower you freakiing prices for EVERYONE not just loyal card holding lemmings! (getting off my soapbox now))

Ah geeze... do you think the govt is mad at me now? Better put on my aluminum foil hat! mrgreen

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Brian Garmin nuvi 255W

Na, not Garmin, your tracking every move you make.

Unless your involved in criminal activity, Don't even give it a thought. Now if your up to no good, you better hope your GPSr doesn't get seized.

But then you would deserve what you get if your a criminal anyway.

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Using Android Based GPS.The above post and my sig reflects my own opinions, expressed for the purpose of informing or inspiring, not commanding. Naturally, you are free to reject or embrace whatever you read.

~

JAFOZ28 wrote:

Ah geeze... do you think the govt is mad at me now? Better put on my aluminum foil hat! mrgreen

Foil hat ain't gonna help. Need to turn your house into a Faraday cage. No RF in, no RF out unless you make specific allowances for it. smile

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

You don't have to be a criminal.

There was an article in last weeks paper concerning a untrusting wife, who on the advice of a divorce attorney, had their car's GPS downloaded. The results were used in determining "a fair settlement" for the adultery allegations.

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Garmin Nuvi 200w, 2555LM

your right

fluffo2 wrote:

There was an article in last weeks paper concerning a untrusting wife, who on the advice of a divorce attorney, had their car's GPS downloaded. The results were used in determining "a fair settlement" for the adultery allegations.

You don't need to be a criminal a Putz works as well, what a fool, getting some on the side and leaving a trail. DUH!

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Using Android Based GPS.The above post and my sig reflects my own opinions, expressed for the purpose of informing or inspiring, not commanding. Naturally, you are free to reject or embrace whatever you read.

Garmin Nuvi's are simply

Garmin Nuvi's are simply Black Box type information technology for accident documentation.

Main purpose isn't for GPS, directions, or routing.
You just don't know it yet.

/tinfoil hat

Anyone really bothered by this track log ability in their units

Can box them up, and contact me for a shipping address - I'd be more than happy to relieve you of that which causes you such anxiety.

smile

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

My Nuvi 660 has the trip

My Nuvi 660 has the trip log. I clear it from time to time when I want to log a particular trip I'm on.

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Your Portion Of Light Whether you are a brilliant flame or but a tiny spark matters not-for the world needs whatever portion of light is yours to give.

Huh?

clint45 wrote:

My Nuvi 660 has the trip log. I clear it from time to time when I want to log a particular trip I'm on.

OK, I'll bite. I have a 660... where's the trip log? confused

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

Hmm, my hand helds call them

Hmm, my hand helds call them "tracks" and I'm glad to have them (and use them) while hiking.

Jeff

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Jeff...... Nuvi 2460, Nuvi 2595

Amen Jeff Tracks on my

Amen Jeff

Tracks on my handheld GPS got me back on track down off some mighty high places.

Thing about things that can track you ... if you don't do anything wrong ... why worry about it?

I mean, my life is boring ... but I'm never going to get lost ... or stuck on a mountain.

I find "tracks" to be an interesting ... and occasionally life saving ... fact of owning a GPS.

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Garmin 205, 260W, 1450LMT, 2460LMT, HEREwego for iPhone ... all still mapping strong.

I like the log feature for

I like the log feature for hiking, etc, but it bothers me that they didn't give you the ability to turn the darn thing off without turning off the unit.

Franky, the "feature" that bothers me the most is the max speed in the trip data screen (the one that looks like a dashboard). I can just see getting pulled over and a cop deciding to have a peek. I know it doesn't (At least I assume not) record when you were at the max speed, but I'm sure having 100 mph in there won't do you an good at all if you try and contest a ticket, guilty or not. It's a feature I'd like the ability to turn off. I know it can be erased, but not turned off.

Given that many people don't like that feature (I've heard others express similar concerns, warranted or not) wouldn't it be in Garmin's interest to add an off switch in the software for that feature? deterring customers for no good reason is never a good idea.

Try This

CJ123 wrote:

The "feature" that bothers me the most is the max speed in the trip data screen I'm sure having 100 mph in there won't do you an good at all if you try and contest a ticket, guilty or not..

CJ,

Give this a shot. Clear your top speed then turn the GPS off. Take it to another location (several miles away) then turn the unit on. This doesn't always work but frequently a very high speed will be logged, like 200 mph. Obviously that isn't believable and as long as you don't clear it would be about the same as being able to turn it off. Another option is to take the GPS on a flight with you. It'll log the aircraft speed.

Cheers wink

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Garmin GPS III, GPS V, StreetPilot 2610, Mobile 10, Nuvi 660, Nuvi 760

And I Thought

And I thought the only use/reason for the track log was to show my wife were she was lost and drove aimlessly around until she selected GO Home.

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Nuvi 750 and 755T

Catching Killers

It can also be a great tool for law enforcement to subpoena and check where you were at a given time.

I wonder also

I have a 660 and I don't see any trip log. Where is it?

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NUVI 660, Late 2012 iMac, Macbook 2.1 Fall 2008, iPhone6 , Nuvi 3790, iPad2

Max Speed

CJ123 wrote:

Franky, the "feature" that bothers me the most is the max speed in the trip data screen (the one that looks like a dashboard). I can just see getting pulled over and a cop deciding to have a peek.

Take it on an airplane. I did once and now have a max speed of 450 mph. That's one trip setting I don't erase. Sometimes when we're on a trip, my wife would check out the dashboard screen to see what my max speed was and then give me the evil eye for driving faster than she thought I should.

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Nuvi 750

Trip Log

If I understand it correctly, the dashboard screen, which my 660 has, is not the same thing as the Trip Log file being talked about in the 760, for example.

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

Isn't that screen that looks

Isn't that screen that looks like a cars dashboard the same as the trip log? I mean, it's doing the same thing......no?!

--
Your Portion Of Light Whether you are a brilliant flame or but a tiny spark matters not-for the world needs whatever portion of light is yours to give.

Not The Same

According to MrKenFL:

MrKenFL wrote:

Trip Log can be found at Tools>My Data> on my Nuvi to clear it.

It can be Imported into Mapsource and gives you detailed info on past "trips" such as coordinates, elevation, speed at points along the way.

quite a bit of info in various threads here at POI Factory.
Do a Search for "Trip Log"

Sounds to me like its a file that gets written to the device as you drive. From what I've read, the trip log is essentially a breadcrumb trail that allows you to see where you have gone and track yourself on the screen. It leaves a light blue trail on the road where you have been.

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

no

clint45 wrote:

Isn't that screen that looks like a cars dashboard the same as the trip log? I mean, it's doing the same thing......no?!

No. the dashboard gives you info like how far you traveled, the average speed, the max speed, how long you were standing still and so on. The trip log (often called the track log) is the little blue trail on some Garmin units that shows you where you were. To see it you have to enable it (which isn't done on the dashboard screen). Also, to clear the log you have to find the screen to clear the trip log, which again isn't on the dashboard screen or on the screen where you make the trip log visible.

By the way, the Garmin trip log actually contains more information than you might realize by looking at any of the Garmin displays. If you extract the Garmin Trip Log from your unit and examine the raw file that makes it up, you will see that every point in the trip log has a time stamp. This could be pretty handy for determining exactly when you were at some point or , from two or more points, an exact speed. However, I don't know of any software that displays the trip log trail that actually gives you access to this extra information.

I'll Bet

Frovingslosh wrote:
clint45 wrote:

Isn't that screen that looks like a cars dashboard the same as the trip log? I mean, it's doing the same thing......no?!

No. the dashboard gives you info like how far you traveled, the average speed, the max speed, how long you were standing still and so on. The trip log (often called the track log) is the little blue trail on some Garmin units that shows you where you were. To see it you have to enable it (which isn't done on the dashboard screen). Also, to clear the log you have to find the screen to clear the trip log, which again isn't on the dashboard screen or on the screen where you make the trip log visible.

By the way, the Garmin trip log actually contains more information than you might realize by looking at any of the Garmin displays. If you extract the Garmin Trip Log from your unit and examine the raw file that makes it up, you will see that every point in the trip log has a time stamp. This could be pretty handy for determining exactly when you were at some point or , from two or more points, an exact speed. However, I don't know of any software that displays the trip log trail that actually gives you access to this extra information.

I'll bet your wife's divorce attorney could find someone with an application program to extract where you went and when you were there (LOL!) All that's missing is photos of who you were with.

Glad my 660 doesn't have this feature! laugh out loud

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

It can be imported

Trip log can be imported to Mapsource and displayed with all the details and as a track !

Very interesting and can be very useful - at least for me !

--
MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

thanks, but ....

MrKenFL wrote:

Trip log can be imported to Mapsource and displayed with all the details and as a track !

Thanks, but is there any free or at least inexpensive software that will do this? Mapsource strikes me as too expensive when I see free utilities on-line and even good mapping software like Delorme going for far less. At least for my needs I think I have to rule out Mapsource due to price.

.

If you have a Garmin unit that came preloaded with the City Navigator maps, you should be able to get Garmin to send you the MapSource disk for free (or possibly for a small shipping charge).

Just call them and tell them that you want it to "manage your Favorites".

City Navigator maps?

Motorcycle Mama wrote:

If you have a Garmin unit that came preloaded with the City Navigator maps.....

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not quite sure what City Navigator maps are. I have a new Nuvi 250, came with "all" maps for North Ameriac, US and Canada. But there was no CD, no warranty card, and not even a USB cable (even though Garmin wants you to connect your nuvi to the computer to register it on-line, and supposedly if you register it by phone you can't get the free 60 day map update guarantee). I find it hard to understand that Garmin would provide Mapsource for the asking, unless it''s something different that what I see called by this name. I'm seeing "Garmin MapSource City Navigator North America NT 2009 DVD for PC or Mac (010-10816-00)" selling for around $90 on the web, list price $99.99, and even an "upgrade" from a previous version is $60. If they have something that they will offer to customers to help them manage their trip logs and favorites it would sure be nice if they made it available on the website, or if I at least knew what to ask for. I don't fel comfortable calling and asking them to send me something that costs nearly what I paid for the hardware, and I sure don't want to invest another $90 just to pick apart the trip log.

Otherwise I'll stick with the much less expensive but very high quality Delorme Street Atlas if I want a commercial mapping program or other good free software maps or Google Earth or other good free software.

Mapsource

Frovingslosh wrote:

I don't fel comfortable calling and asking them to send me something that costs nearly what I paid for the hardware, and I sure don't want to invest another $90 just to pick apart the trip log.

Why? Lots of folks here have received Mapsource from Garmin. Read this topic:

arrow http://www.poi-factory.com/node/643

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

CSI Theme

DrewDT wrote:

It can also be a great tool for law enforcement to subpoena and check where you were at a given time.

When will we be seeing this on one of the CSI programs. A good way to solve a crime........

BTDTGTS

It's been done numerous times on all three CSI shows and most of the other "crime" shows also.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

Support staff easy to deal with

quote=Frovingslosh]I don't fel comfortable calling and asking them to send me something that costs nearly what I paid for the hardware, and I sure don't want to invest another $90 just to pick apart the trip log.[/quote]

I just received my 760 on 12/5/08. I contacted Garmin Support to check into MapSource since it was not included in my box either. There was no problem. They shipped it to me free of charge (with my 2009 maps) without a hassle. I received it by US Mail in 3 days. If your unit is new, give them a call or send them an email. I've contacted them by email also on a seperate issue after they closed and I received a response first thing the next morning.

Max speed

CJ123 wrote:

Franky, the "feature" that bothers me the most is the max speed in the trip data screen (the one that looks like a dashboard). I can just see getting pulled over and a cop deciding to have a peek.

Ha! I took my gps up flying with me last week just for the heck of it. The max speed now reads 160mph.

You already paid for most of it!

joe38 wrote:

I don't feel comfortable calling and asking them to send me something that costs nearly what I paid for the hardware, and I sure don't want to invest another $90 just to pick apart the trip log.

What you are seeing is the cost of the software AND the 2009 maps. This would be an upgrade package for someone with an older unit with the older maps.

If your unit already has the 2009 maps, you already paid for the major portion of the cost. So they give it to you for a modest fee to cover the shipping. I got mine for $10.00 shipping.

quote correction

johnc -

that quote was actually a concern from Frovingslosh. The "quote" feature malfunctioned when I tried to use a "quote" from his comment.

Gotta love the "quotes"

but, yes, you are right.

Hehe...

JFCTexas wrote:

And I thought the only use/reason for the track log was to show my wife were she was lost and drove aimlessly around until she selected GO Home.

grin

Another Use For Tracks

I don't think this has been mentioned yet in any detail. There are online sites that let you upload your tracks so you can share your travels. Here's one I use: http://maps.innersource.com/ Other users can download your track (into Mapsource) then create a route from it and load it into their own GPS. It's come in handy among motorcycle groups that don't generally ride together but would enjoy the same journey (maybe at higher or lower speed). Here's an example: http://maps.innersource.com/GProject.aspx?pid=2950 Notice the track shows not only the route but also elevation. Some sites will also show the speed (it's all data contained within the tracklog). Below the map is a link to download the track as a .gpx file (for use in your own GPS).

Just another fun thing you can do with your 760 or other model with tracklog ability.

Cheers wink

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Garmin GPS III, GPS V, StreetPilot 2610, Mobile 10, Nuvi 660, Nuvi 760