Le Petit Poucet is a free software tool that provides a 3D interface for displaying and editing GPS routes and tracks.
Le Petit Poucet is a free software designed for displaying and editing GPS routes and tracks in a 3D scene. The software's main goal is to create a comprehensive scene around the GPS data and 2D maps or 3D terrain models. This software is especially useful for outdoor sports enthusiasts who want to prepare their outings and showcase their experiences to friends and family.
Currently, Le Petit Poucet is in a pre-alpha version, numbered 0.0.2, and is dedicated to David Thompson, a renowned explorer of western Canada who spent 28 years surveying the wild land and was the first person to complete a survey of the Columbia River.
Le Petit Poucet is capable of reading many GPS file formats and can connect to GPS receivers via GPSBabel. It also allows the mixing of coordinate systems in projected or earth-centric referentials. At present, the software can be accessed via the terminal, but the developers plan to provide a graphical user interface soon. The program has been tested and proven to work on Linux (Intel) and Mac Os X (v 10.3), with core libraries such as Open Scene Graph, GPSBabel and GDAL being portable and thus ensuring compatibility with other platforms.
Le Petit Poucet boasts several key features that include the loading of tracks or routes, independent waypoints and maps or terrain models, which can be displayed in a 3D scene, support of many GPS data file formats through GPSBabel or custom parsers, and downloading of GPS receiver data via Serial or USB port.
The 3D navigation feature is based on continuous zoom, swivel, and pan, and the software supports the mixing of several coordinate systems (e.g. geocentric and projected, UTM and Lambert), with coordinate system selection possible from the command line.
For tracks, they are shown as a set of track segments, with segments formed by sets of waypoints connected with lines. The track segments are not connected but share the same color and input coordinate system, while multiple tracks can be displayed at once, with track colors chosen automatically to visually distinguish tracks.
Waypoints are displayed as a 3D symbol, accompanied by text for named waypoints. The name text is automatically oriented towards the screen, with the font size adjusted dynamically too. Waypoint information (location, elevation, and time) is displayed in a head-up display (HUD) when the mouse flies over the point. Waypoint symbols are loaded from files, and feature points (i.e. points out of a track) are selected and displayed only when they are within the area of the displayed maps and tracks.
The software allows the display of 2D maps in 3D perspective with box subtrat.PC, although map loading is currently only supported for the Carte Sur Table file format. The map elevation in the 3D scene is computed based on the minimum elevation of the loaded tracks to reduce perspective effects. For tracks without maps, a box is displayed below the track to improve perspective. Loading of 3D terrain models is currently through Open Scene Graph (OSG), with models projected and optimized using OSG utilities such as osgdem (Loading Blue Marble).
Overall, Le Petit Poucet is an exciting piece of software for those in the outdoor sports community who use GPS data to track and showcase their experiences. With its multiple features and promise of a graphical user interface in the future, it's definitely worth a try for
Currently, Le Petit Poucet is in a pre-alpha version, numbered 0.0.2, and is dedicated to David Thompson, a renowned explorer of western Canada who spent 28 years surveying the wild land and was the first person to complete a survey of the Columbia River.
Le Petit Poucet is capable of reading many GPS file formats and can connect to GPS receivers via GPSBabel. It also allows the mixing of coordinate systems in projected or earth-centric referentials. At present, the software can be accessed via the terminal, but the developers plan to provide a graphical user interface soon. The program has been tested and proven to work on Linux (Intel) and Mac Os X (v 10.3), with core libraries such as Open Scene Graph, GPSBabel and GDAL being portable and thus ensuring compatibility with other platforms.
Le Petit Poucet boasts several key features that include the loading of tracks or routes, independent waypoints and maps or terrain models, which can be displayed in a 3D scene, support of many GPS data file formats through GPSBabel or custom parsers, and downloading of GPS receiver data via Serial or USB port.
The 3D navigation feature is based on continuous zoom, swivel, and pan, and the software supports the mixing of several coordinate systems (e.g. geocentric and projected, UTM and Lambert), with coordinate system selection possible from the command line.
For tracks, they are shown as a set of track segments, with segments formed by sets of waypoints connected with lines. The track segments are not connected but share the same color and input coordinate system, while multiple tracks can be displayed at once, with track colors chosen automatically to visually distinguish tracks.
Waypoints are displayed as a 3D symbol, accompanied by text for named waypoints. The name text is automatically oriented towards the screen, with the font size adjusted dynamically too. Waypoint information (location, elevation, and time) is displayed in a head-up display (HUD) when the mouse flies over the point. Waypoint symbols are loaded from files, and feature points (i.e. points out of a track) are selected and displayed only when they are within the area of the displayed maps and tracks.
The software allows the display of 2D maps in 3D perspective with box subtrat.PC, although map loading is currently only supported for the Carte Sur Table file format. The map elevation in the 3D scene is computed based on the minimum elevation of the loaded tracks to reduce perspective effects. For tracks without maps, a box is displayed below the track to improve perspective. Loading of 3D terrain models is currently through Open Scene Graph (OSG), with models projected and optimized using OSG utilities such as osgdem (Loading Blue Marble).
Overall, Le Petit Poucet is an exciting piece of software for those in the outdoor sports community who use GPS data to track and showcase their experiences. With its multiple features and promise of a graphical user interface in the future, it's definitely worth a try for
What's New
Version 0.2.0 / 0.3.0 Beta 1: N/A