Import Route Recorder command

How to import route recorder data...

1. Select Import/Acquire > Import Route Recorder from the File Menu.
2. A dialog box appears. Press the Help button if you need instructions on how to fill in the dialog box fields. Fill in the fields that are not grayed or accept defaults and press Ok to continue. Or press Cancel to abort.
3. Wintrack will import the data and display it on screen as a case document.
4. Depending on the selections you made in the first dialog box, you will be presented a second dialog box which allows for viewing and editing of the raw data during import. Press the Help button if you need instructions on how to use this dialog box. When done viewing and editing the data, press Ok to continue. Or press Cancel to abort.
5. A third dialog box allows to specify case properties for the document being imported. Press the Help button if you need instructions on how to fill in the dialog box fields. Fill in the fields that are not grayed or accept defaults and press Ok to continue. Or press Cancel to abort.

   Route recorders are small tracking devices attached to the back of pigeons in order to record their flight route. Route recorder data does not directly provide position information. Instead, a one byte value is recorded every 4s which codes the direction of movement. Thus, recorder data needs to be complemented by additional user input. The Import Route Recorder command allows you to specify the required additional information and gives precise control over the translation of the imported data into a case document. Once the data has been imported into a case document, it can be manipulated like any other Wintrack case document.

   Importing route recorder data requires two files. The data file merely contains the stream of byte values directly downloaded from the recorder. In addition, a table file has been generated for each individual recorder using a calibration device. During the calibration process, the recorder is rotated in steps of 10°. At each step, the direction and the corresponding recorder byte are noted. The resulting table file provides a lookup table with 36 entries (actually 38 because the first and 18th step are recorded twice) that allows translation of recorder byte values into direction values. Table files occur in two forms both of which can be read by Wintrack: binary (.BIN). or as CR/LF delimited ASCII (.TAB).

Structure of the BIN file:

byte 000-003  zero
byte 004-041  recorder bytes
byte 042-117  direction values in same order as unsigned char values

Structure of the TAB file:

line  1-19  recorder bytes (ascending)
line 20-38  recorder byte -128 (descending)
line 39-76  direction values in same order

Related commands...

Use the Save Case Document As command to save the imported document so you can later open it again with the Open Case Document command. Use the Arena properties command to control scaling of the imported path data. The Print Case Document command lets you print case documents on the current printer or copy them to the clipboard as graphics.

Additional information...

• See Import Route Recorder dialog and Edit Route Recorder dialog for details on the associated dialog boxes.
• The related macro statement is explained in Import Route Recorder statement.
• Inside case documents provides advanced information on case documents.
• See Creating and using macros to learn how to use and create macros.
• Keyboard Shortcuts gives an overview on keyboard shortcuts.
• Using the Wintrack toolbar gives an overview of toolbar shortcuts.