[fixed] Saving and deleting tracks in 2.0

[DaveLively]

How do I save a track as a .GPX file with a filename of my choosing to a directory of my choosing?

In previous versions I could stop recording, save the track as a GPS file with a name that followed the fixed track_date prefix. With the new version I have to stop recording, go to previous tracks, long press the most recent track displayed, press the Export As button, wait for it to export the track, note the location of the stored track, exit AlpineQuest, open a file manager, navigate to the location of stored track, rename and move it as desired.

Either I am doing this the hard way or this is a big step backwards in usability. I like to record my hikes as GPX files so I can share them. And I want them in my normal landmarks file. File names of export(xxx).GPX make it impossible to know what is in the file, there is not even a date for a hint.

I know Google hates file pickers and wants Android apps to choose file locations automatically but in this case allowing us to choose where we want them stored would be useful. And the files really need a name that means something. In an ideal world I could enter name I want and Alpinequest would append the date as a suffix.

EDIT: I just noticed I can change the name under the Edit details screen. But it would still be nice to be able to pick where the tracks are stored and have more control over the name format. In particular being able to choose something like myname_date instead of export_myname would be nice. With export being used as the default file name if none is chosen.

And it still seems like this is more steps than it used to take to save a track.

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi,
This particular point of exporting GPX files from the tracker has already been discussed here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2479
Best regards

[theksmith]

one of the main reasons i used AQ over similar apps was that GPX was natively supported instead of having to do the import/export dance constantly.

[vieuxdelamontagne]

I really don't wish to belabor the issue, nor incite to acrimony, but I think I will offer one more rejoinder before letting it go. I would very much like to be able to save a track file (easily!) as previously, with a name such as "track_20170206_135249_vignemale.gpx". Unless I am missing something, Version 2 applies the date-time stamp only to landmark files saved in the binary ".trk" format. If I choose to "export [waypoints or a track] as" ".gpx", the file name seems to be "export_vignemale.gpx". That is, the date-time stamp seems to be lost, so that I must manually thumb it in when saving the file.

I can easily see that, for the internal working of AlpineQuest, binary data files are more efficient than markup language (text) files, but for loading and saving, I wonder if it makes much difference? When I'm setting forth on a tour for which I want to record a track and waypoints, it matters very little--to me--whether it takes two seconds or two microseconds to load or to save (export) the data. Perhaps I lack imagination, but I find it hard to understand why one would want to load and display more than a small number of such files at any one time. If I have dozens or more files of personal data, I think it is preferable to edit their information onto the raster map (the .aqm file) I'll be using in AlpineQuest, and this is a task I would certainly perform on a PC, where I can avail myself of keyboard and mouse, rather than struggle to do it on a tiny smartphone touchscreen. Likewise, I find it much easier to edit track and waypoint files on a computer than on a smartphone or tablet. Perhaps again I may be an exception among users in preferring to work this way (using a computer, rather than a smartphone, for the interactive cartographic work), and, if such is the case, I can accept that the app must please the majority of users, maybe at the expense of us exceptions.

Again, I apologize for prolonging this discussion, perhaps needlessly. Thanks for reading and considering.

-Bill, aka VieuxDeLaMontagne

[Psyberia-Support]

@vieuxdelamontagne: I completely agree.
I gave more details in this other thread talking about the exact same topics (location tracker and GPX format): viewtopic.php?p=7065#p7065.
- For the location tracker new naming convention this is not a wanted behavior and it will be corrected back to the previous one in the next update. The location tracker currently uses the naming convention used by the application when exporting a regular landmark file whereas it should use a particular one for recorded tracks.
- For the GPX format, more details are given there.

@ds47uk: I've removed your post.
Everyone is free to use any application but this support forum is not made to discuss about that.
Furthermore it seems you think that the GPX export has been removed... This is not true! No features have been removed.
Uploading an exported track on Dropbox is even easier than before (I don't this all the time), as a new "Share" button to do that is now available after a GPX/KML export...
Please have a look at the (updated) online help: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/v2/tracker

[vieuxdelamontagne]

To "Site Admin": Thank you for a prompt and helpful reply. I can appreciate very well that it is a challenge to keep a good app (appli?) synchronized with the ever-changing versions of Android, especially when that app is the best of a crowded field. One of the characteristics of AlpineQuest that helps maintain its lead over the competition has been your responsiveness to users' questions, demands, and even complaints. Please keep up the good work!

--Bill, aka "VieuxDeLaMontagne"

[Psyberia-Support]

Version 2.0.1 now ask you for a name as soon as you've finished to record a track (like before).
The saved and exported files now also have the previous naming scheme.