Welcome to the gpsAnimator.com home page.

StarTraX is a real-time GPS track animator which works through the amazing Google Earth.

It allows you to relive your GPS journey in real time.

High definition images from Google Earth combine with StarTraX to show you exactly where you’ve been. Whether you are a pilot, a skier or cyclist, as long as you have a GPS recording of your journey, you can relive it from your sofa.

How it works:

StarTraX controls a session of Google Earth and presents a control screen to put you in the driving seat of a 3D model of your trip.
A dynamic on-screen display shows data about the animation.

From the StarTraX control screen you can upload a GPS track (from a previously prepared GPX, OziExplorer PLT or Time-stamped KML file) and follow your trip through Google Earth in real-time.

You can use the controls to select a start and end point, to change the camera’s position and viewing angles. Even the speed you (and your GPS) were moving will be displayed.

StarTraX comes with some sample GPS tracks for you to play with until you have some tracks of your own.

You can now download StarTraX to your own PC  from the Download page.

See it work: Visit StarTraX at You Tube to see a short video.

• Runs on the free version of Google Earth. 
• Reads GPX files, so it works for all makes and models of GPS with a download ability.  
  (You can download your GPS tracks to a GPX file by using a range of free tools such as GPSBabel or EasyGPS. ) 
• A full set of controls allow you to select a start point, and to change the camera’s position and viewing angles.
• All these controls operate as the track is replaying, providing a rich viewing experience.
• Color codes the track segments by speed.

It operates by generating a KML file that defines the track’s path, with each segment being the path between each pair of track points. The segments are color-coded to the speed attained in that segment.

The position and orientation of the camera is recalculated at high speed  to follow a target  point that is moved along the track in real time, time slicing the segments between the recorded points to provide a smooth transition between points that may be many seconds apart. 

StarTraX uses mathematical transformations from spherical geometry to calculate the coordinates, altitude, heading and tilt angle for the camera position. 

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