Warning for importing GPX files?

This is a very common question from former Hema users, so it’s worth explaining how Traveller handles data a bit differently.

Imported waypoints are normally saved as Personal Places, and standard accounts are limited to 1,000 Personal Places. If you exceed this you have to delete Personal Places from your account. Because Hema relies heavily on waypoint-based navigation, many imported files contain large numbers of junction markers or routing points that simply are not needed in Traveller.

In many cases, campsites, POIs, lookouts, dump points, trailheads etc. already exist in the ExplorOz Places database - in fact there are 107,000+ Places with an exceptional campsite coverage plus everything you could imagine. Far bigger than Wikicamps and other travel apps, including many historic sites, huts and more so importing duplicates as Personal Places often just creates clutter for you to deal with on your map screen and uses up your Personal Place allocation unnecessarily. It will cost you time and create frustration if you need to delete them just so you can use the system as it is intended.

Traveller is designed around using the supplied ExplorOz Places database for routing and trip planning. If you find a public Place that needs improvement, you can add reviews, photos, or updates so everyone benefits from the shared information.

If you want to attach something personal to a public Place, use the Notes feature or save the Place into your own folders for trip planning. This does not create a duplicate copy - it simply gives you quick access to that Place within your own account.

Personal Places are best reserved for:

private/sensitive locations (home, work, medical, etc.)
temporary routing markers
locations that genuinely do not already exist in the ExplorOz database - after creating them as Personal you can check the details then edit and change the save to option to ExplorOz (instead of Personal) - this is best practise for adding to the ExplorOz database for everyone to enjoy and benefit.

One important thing to remember is that deleting imported Personal Places later can be time-consuming, as there is no selective batch delete tool apart from deleting entire folders.

So before importing thousands of old Hema waypoints, it’s worth checking how many of them are already available in Traveller first.

Michelle, perhaps the import function should check if a Place exists and if it does, do not import. Create a log showing the duplications so the user knows what happened.

I agree about what constitutes a duplicate. How about, before import takes place, if there are duplicates that are locations within a given distance, a list is created so the user can delete them from their import file and try again.

I guess we need to ask how often this occurs compared to your time to fix it.