Skip to main content

GPX Format

Description​

GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is an XML standard for waypoints, routes, and tracks used by GPS devices and mapping apps. IterableData reads GPX 1.0/1.1 and yields one coordinate record per wpt, rtept, or trkpt. It is read-only in this release.

File Extensions​

  • .gpx — GPS Exchange Format files

Implementation Details​

Reading​

  • Parses the GPX document with lxml (namespace-agnostic tag matching)
  • Collects waypoints (wpt), route points (rtept), and track points (trkpt)
  • Each record includes lat, lon, point_type (waypoint | route | track), plus optional fields (ele, time, name, description, …)
  • Loads all points into memory; totals() returns the point count

Writing​

Writing is not supported. Export tracks as GeoJSON or KML when you need writeable geospatial output.

Key Features​

  • Point types: distinguishes waypoint, route, and track points
  • Optional metadata: elevation, time, name, description, and common GPX child tags when present
  • Namespace tolerant: works with typical GPX 1.0/1.1 namespaces

Usage​

from iterable import open_iterable

with open_iterable("hike.gpx") as source:
    for pt in source:
        print(pt["point_type"], pt["lat"], pt["lon"], pt.get("ele"))

Parameters​

No format-specific iterableargs. Mode must be "r".

Installation​

pip install 'iterabledata[xml]'

Requires lxml.

Limitations​

  1. Read-only
  2. Memory: all points are loaded before iteration
  3. Requires lxml
  4. Points without valid lat/lon are skipped

Error Handling​

  • ImportError: missing lxml — install iterabledata[xml]
  • ValueError: write mode (mode != "r")
  • Parse / I/O issues: malformed XML or unreadable files may yield an empty iterator or raise standard I/O exceptions
  • KML — Keyhole Markup Language
  • KMZ — zipped KML
  • GeoJSON — JSON geographic features