gpxExchange is a free Microsoft® MapPoint add-in that imports and exports data to GPX formatted files. It allows you to display in MapPoint the waypoints, routes, and tracks you've collected using your GPS, and use MapPoint to author new waypoints, routes, and tracks for your GPS.
New version posted on May 15, 2004.
gpxExchange was written as part of a learning exercise for Microsoft .NET and C#. This means that to use (and install) gpxExchange you will also need to have the .NET Framework runtime installed. If this offends you, sorry. The gpxExchange installer checks for the presence of the .NET Framework Runtime and prompts you to download it if it is not already installed. If you use the Windows Update application on your machine you've probably already been prompted to download and install the runtime portion of .NET.
Note that while gpxExchange uses the .NET Framework, it is not a web service nor is it related in any way to MapPoint.NET. I simply used .NET and C# as an alternative to VB or C++ for building a MapPoint COM Addin.
gpxExchange will run on any machine that supports MapPoint 2002 or 2004 and the .NET Framework. This should include the following operating systems:
gpxExchange does not work with versions of MapPoint prior to 2002 nor does it work with any version of Microsoft Streets & Trips. You are more than welcome to download it, but unless you have MapPoint 2002 or greater it ain't gonna do much for you.
Microsoft says that 64MB of RAM is the minimum for MapPoint. They are on drugs. If you are running any sort of mapping application you need at least 256MB of RAM.
gpxExchange requires < 1MB of disk space. If you have enough disk space for MapPoint then adding gpxExchange is not going to cause your system much grief.
When I started this project I was hoping to be able to output routes with turn-by-turn waypoints. Unfortunately, MapPoint doesn't make this data available through its object model. While it does provide location for each turn in the route, the locations are at the midpoint of the current and upcoming turn. Including this location data in the gpx output would have been less than useful. As a result, an exported route contains only the start, stops, and ending waypoints of a route. Sorry! Hopefully future versions of MapPoint will include improvements to its object model.
One other significant limitation is that gpxExchange does not attempt to construct waypoint, route, or track names that fit within the naming requirements of your GPS. Please name your pushpins accordingly or use ExpertGPS to edit the data exported using gpxExchange.
There are several items remaining on my to-do list:
Before downloading, please note that while I have never personally lost any data as a result of gpxExchange behaving badly, I can offer no guarantee that your experience will be similar.
Download gpxExchange (506KB) version 1.1
Changes made for version 1.1 (May 15, 2004):
Changes made for version 1.0 (Dec 7, 2003):
After downloading:
To install gpxExchange you must have the Windows installation services on your machine. If your machine is reasonably up-to-date this will not be a problem. If it is, I'd recommed using Windows Update to get your OS up-to-date before attempting to install gpxExchange. If you still don't have it, then you can download it from here.
If you've installed a previous version of MapPoint, the new version will automatically update your system without any manual uninstallation required.
To see gpxExchange in action, open Microsoft MapPoint then choose gpxExchange from MapPoint's Tools menu.
To remove gpxExchange from your computer, open the Add/Remove Programs control panel, select gpxExchange, then click Remove.
Last Updated: May 2, 2004
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