Support Knowledgebase

Question: What is the difference between a Route and a Track

Answer:

A route has the following characteristics:
• It is used in the field to guide you from waypoint to waypoint.
• It uses straight-line, as the crow flies, navigation. For highway navigation, the term "route" has a slightly different meaning.
• It is about where you are going.

A track, on the other hand, has the following defining characteristics:
• Tracks are about where you have been.
• They are a record, created by your GPS, which is constantly recording your location. It is like an electric cookie crumb trail.
• They more accurately reflect the shape of the trail or road you have taken than the straight-line segments representing a route.
Products: TOPO! Explorer, TOPO! State, Weekend Explorer, National Parks Explorer, Trails Illustrated Explorer, Backroads Explorer 3D, Backroads Explorer, Regional/Wildflower TOPO!, Complete Trails Smart, GPS USA, XPort Pro, TOPO! Pro for ArcGIS, NG Maps: The Complete Collection, The Complete National Geographic: 112 Years of NG Magazine, Other Pro Product
Platforms: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP or earlier, Mac OS X

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