GPX Elevation Profile Analyzer
Upload a GPX file to generate an elevation profile of your cycling route. The profile shows how the route elevation changes as you travel along the recorded track.
What this calculator is doing
A GPX file contains a sequence of geographic track points recorded along a route. These points typically contain latitude, longitude, and elevation information. This calculator reads the GPX track and uses the recorded coordinates to create an elevation profile of the route.
The horizontal axis of the generated profile represents the cumulative distance travelled along the GPX track, while the vertical axis represents elevation above sea level.
The distance between consecutive GPS coordinates is calculated using their latitude and longitude. For two nearby points, the route distance can be accumulated as:
\[ D = \sum_{i=1}^{N-1} d_i \]
where \(d_i\) is the distance between two consecutive GPX track points and \(D\) is the cumulative distance travelled along the route.
The geographical distance between two GPS points can be calculated using the Haversine formula:
\[ a = \sin^2\left(\frac{\Delta \varphi}{2}\right) + \cos(\varphi_1) \cos(\varphi_2) \sin^2\left(\frac{\Delta \lambda}{2}\right) \]
\[ d = 2R \arctan2 \left( \sqrt{a}, \sqrt{1-a} \right) \]
where \(\varphi\) represents latitude, \(\lambda\) represents longitude, and \(R\) is the approximate radius of the Earth.
Each calculated cumulative distance is paired with the elevation value stored in the corresponding GPX track point. Plotting these values produces the route elevation profile:
\[ h = f(D) \]
where \(h\) is the recorded elevation and \(D\) is the travelled distance.
Elevation profiles are useful for understanding the character of a cycling route. They can help identify long climbs, descents, rolling terrain, and the location of major elevation changes before riding the route.
The quality of the elevation profile depends on the data contained in the uploaded GPX file. GPS elevation measurements can contain noise and may differ from actual terrain elevation, especially when the track was recorded by a device using only satellite-based altitude measurements.
The uploaded GPX file is used only to analyze the route and generate the elevation profile. The calculator does not require the file to be permanently stored.
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