Google My Tracks

My Tracks is a Google Labs project that has largely replaced my Garmin GPS unit. Its purpose is simple: keep a geographic record of your hike, bike, jog, walk, drive, or other trip. Quantitatively obsessed fitness buffs will appreciate this app, assuming their trips aren't too long to flatten the battery. Unlike my GPS, it shows a speed log, which is fun--you can see the uphills and downhills of a bike trip. On the same graph you can see your elevation, too.

But there's more. You can upload your tracks to Google Docs, giving you an automatic record of your trips organized by walking, biking, horseback riding, or whatever category you choose. And you can upload tracks to your Google Maps pages, letting you see just where you went as you roamed around Milan.

I use this app primarily for something most people probably don't care too much about: geotagging photos. You can e-mail yourself a track log in a GPX format that software such as Apple's Aperture or Jeffrey Friedl's Lightroom plug-in can understand, letting you embed location data in your photos. That's really nice for figuring out where you took them weeks, months, or years later.

Return to main post

Price: Free