Hi all!

Thought I would let you know what I?ve been working on till dawn (and a little more) this night:

I created the "CourseCompacter" application to compact (compress) the size of Courses for my Edge 205.
However, I made it compatible with .crs & .tcx and .gpx files so that most GPS devices should benefit from this "track compacter".

I have done some tests, and they are pretty amazing.
The results vary depending on what kind of Course or GPX file you load.
If you have a file with many curves the compression is a little less, but with files with some long more or less straight streches
the reduction can be to less than 15% of the original file size.
With my usual tracks that i recorded while mountainbiking on the winding paths in the mountains I could achieve a reduction to a good 25%,
but with roadbiking the reduction is far better because of the straight parts.

The tool lets you specify the accuracy of the track that you wish to maintain. I used settings of 10 to 15 meters with very good results.
Because the GPS accuracy is normally no much better than 5 meters going below that limit is pretty useless anyway.

During the conversion of both courses (.crs & .tcx) and tracks (.gpx) the original timestamps and elevation of points is retained.
This ensures that the "Virtual Partner" and "Elevation Profile" of your GPS device maintains fully functional!
When compacting courses you can even choose to maintain CoursePoints so you don't loose important indications.

I would say, test it for yourself! Please tell me your findings and recommendations.

I?m pretty happy with the result and hope you are as well.
I have attached a screenshot of the application to give you an idea of the results

You can find the online tool at www.CourseMapper.com click the [Compact Courses or Tracks] tab to load the application.

Good luck, I will try to get some sleep now