One of the most useful features of QGIS (or any GIS platform) is the ability to integrate data acquired with a GPS machine onto a map for visualization or analysis. This is often useful for mapping specific types of terrain or other geographic or geological features. For example, you might take a GPS machine into a mapped plot of land known to contain a particular rare plant species, then use the GPS to locate the general location of instances of where you found that rare plant in that forest, and, upon returning to a computer, be able to input the locations of that plant onto a pre-scanned map. Alternatively, you might use it to create a map of a previously unmapped area by walking with the GPS machine along a trail, then importing that trail information onto a computer map with QGIS. This has important applications for mapping very specific types of geographic data, particularly data that might not be included on a standard map.

Of course, not everyone has a GPS machine, but this assignment will give you an opportunity to explore how the process of integrating GPS data works in QGIS. We will be using GPX data taken by mountain-biking enthusiasts of biking routes and interesting points along those routes for the Foxboro state forest reserve in Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA.

Note: All images below were taken from screenshots on computer running Microsoft Windows. Linux and Mac images will look different.

There are many companies that sell GPS machines. As is often the case, many of them code their data in proprietary formats that are not often readable across different platforms. Obviously, this lack of usable formating creates some problems if you want to be able to share GPS data with a variety of people.

To solve this problem, independent developers have created the gpx data format, which is open-standard, and can be read by anyone. In otherwords, your GPS machine may save data in its own particular propietary format, but that data can be converted to the open-standards GPX format which can be read by anyone.

Now you're going to create your map. I'll leave it up to you to know the exact mechanics to put this data into QGIS, but I will suggest that you do them in the following order:

Note: To do this, you'll need to enable the "GPS Tools" plugin. In QGIS,

click on the "Plugin" menu, and select "Plugin Manager". You should see

a list appear of various plugins that QGIS has available. Check the box

next to "GPS tools", and click "Okay". Now when you open the "plugin" menu,

you should see a slot for a new menu called "GPS". In that menu, select

"GPS "Tools", and you should see a dialog box that looks like this:

        

Now all you have to do is click the "..." button next to "file" and 

navigate to where you saved the GPX file (foxboro.gpx) that you 

downloaded previously. Once you've done that, click "okay", you

should see a cluster of points appear on your Massachusetts towns map!

        

Note: It's up to you how you want your map to look, but here are some

suggestions to make it easier to see the GPS data and the topo map

together. First, drag the topo map layer to just above the "TOWNS_POLY"

layer. This will put the map underneath the GPX points. 
  
        

Secondly, right-click the "Foxboro, tracks" layer, and select properties.

Change the "Outline width" from 1 to 3, and change the "outline color" to

bright red. This should make the track much more visible on the topo map.

        

Thirdly, right-click on the "TOWNS_POLY" layer and select properties.

Change the fill color from whatever it is to white.

        

Finally, right-click on the topo quad layer in the legend, and select

"Zoom to layer extent". At this point, if you've done everything correctly,

your screen should look like this:

        

Take a screenshot of this map, or you can save the map as a file by going to "File"=> "save as image". Call the file "yourname_map", and put your name, without spaces. Make sure to select PNG as the file format. Then click okay, and the first part of the assignment is done!

As you can see, there are dots that represent GPS po?nts, and a red line that represents a trail. These correspond to the path that the biker took, as well as specific points of interest that he noted with his GPS machine. If you highlight the "Foxboro, waypoints" layer in the legend, then use the "Identify features" tool:

by clicking on any of the points, you can read the information that was recorded by the biker at that particular point. For example, if you click the point located on the "G" in the words "High Rock" on the topo map, you should see the following:

Add a point to this layer that marks the location of the State police station. Do this by selecting the "Foxboro, waypoints" layer in the legend, then click "start editing", and "Capture Point". In the "enter attribute values" dialog that appears, name this point "POLICE" and enter a description that says "This is the state police station nearest the Foxboro state forest". If you know how to read topographic maps, you can also enter the elevation (hint: the contour interval is 3 meters), but this is not necessary for the assignment. This would be a good thing for a biker to know on a trail, since you never know when you'll need some help!

Another way to see the information about the particular points is in the attribute table. Open it and scroll to the bottom, where you'll see the point you just added marking the Police Station.

Note the "description" column of the points. They are a little bit easier to see if you click on them with the identify tool, but the author did provide useful information for nearly every point. If you stretch the rows and columns a little, you can see his descriptions more completely.

Send answers to these with your map image.

Good luck!