Search 74,075 Camino Questions

GPS Tracks for the Olvidado

laineylainey

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
started in 2012, hooked ever since.
Using a Camino App with a map feature is the easiest for those who are not already tech savy. Just make sure you make the map available offline for when you don't have wifi/cell reception.
I am totally non tech savy, so I am struggling with most of this! I have just downloaded maps.me and don't even know what to download! Do I download the whole map of Spain? How do I find out where the camino routes (in my case the Olvidado) are?
Sorry I am light years behind you guys in all this!

Note from the mod -- I have moved the discussion about GPS on the Olvidado out of the general "GPS for dummies" thread. Hoping that those who have walked the Olvidado recently will chime in about their experiences using GPS tracks, which I personally think are a very good idea, especially for the mountain alternatives.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
I have just downloaded maps.me and don't even know what to download! Do I download the whole map of Spain? How do I find out where the camino routes (in my case the Olvidado) are?

Maps.me (forthwith also Maps-me) will help you download the base maps you need to follow a track. For example, on the app, zoom in very tight on southern Algeria, a place you most likely haven't asked for a map. Eventually it will give you a pop-up asking if you want to download a map of the region. Ignore and instead head up to Bilbao, the start of the Olvidado and do the same. If you have loaded the map before you'll eventually start seeing streets, if not you'll be asked if you want to download the map. This time do it.

Next we get the track and since maps-me only can handle KML and KMZ formats we will not bother with GPX formats (but remember downloads of these can be handy in case you want to swaps apps at some point). Getting the tracks relies pretty much at how good you are at internet searches. I used Google to search for:
where to get camino olvidado "kml" track
I used quotes around "kml" to have Google use some emphasis in searching for that term. The rayyrosa site came up and I decided to use that (I plan to give my reason later, think Wikiloc).

Here's the webpage where the track can be downloaded from:
or the same as text:

I want to discuss downloading from the internet and uploading to the app but that is for some other time. For now do the searching and downloading on a PC. Email the downloaded file to yourself with a good subject line like
Ray y Rosa complete Olvidado KML
or just "tracks" in place of "KML" if you attach a GPX track in addition. I like to copy the subject line as a header in the email body too; you do you. On the smartphone where the maps-me is installed open that email and click on the desired attached track. You should be asked with what app you want to view the track with. Maps-me should be one; use that (some other time choose Google Maps if the track is in a KM* format and see what it does).

Now, at home, from Bilbao trace the track on maps-me. You will leave the Basque country and enter Castile and León. Maps-me will ask if you want to download a map of the region. Sure you do. Keep following the track to do downloads of any other needed regions. (You may want to navigate to Galicia, Navarra and that region that SJPdP is in that I can never remember the name of).

The reason I chose Ray y Rosa was because they had the complete track on Wikiloc and I found it there first but I figured that you @laineylainey and others might not have an account there to actually do a download (accounts are free though). I used Wikiloc to filter for tracks labeled as hikes with a distance in excess of 300 kilometers and then entered Olvidado as the text to search for. Ray y Rosa's complete track came up.
 
Last edited:
Wise Pilgrim app as well has many specific camino tracks and is free and I have found accurate..for the Olvidado tracks are in the Camino Olvidado app and I think they are Enders - and they are needed for that one...
Do I understand correctly that you used Ender's tracks from the Camino Olvidado app? He also has tracks on Wikilocs, that's why I'm asking (and wondering if there is a difference).
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Where exactly did you see this?
Sorry the rank is 42 not 5! (on the route trail rank is has 42 * 5) I don't know where i saw something about ranking but here is the official message from Wikiloc

What is Wikiloc's TrailRank?​


TrailRank is a quality indicator of the trail​

It has a value from 0 to 50, and it can increase to 100 if the trail is well-rated by the community.
Wikiloc does not reveal the exact formula of the calculation but there are some aspects that can help you raise your TrailRank:
  • Write detailed descriptions of your trails.
  • Add good landscape photos from your trails.
  • Add good landscape pictures to your trails' Waypoints.
  • Have good GPS tracks with a good coordinate density.
  • Have trails marked as a favorite by other users.
  • Have trails with positive ratings from other users.
If your trails have high quality and are interesting, share them through social networks and you will see the reaction and how it raises your TrailRank!
 
Because @laineylainey’s questions are specifically regarding the Olvidado, I thought it would be a good idea to make a separate thread — especially when I saw that she had loaded some of MY Olvidado tracks! Those tracks are from my first Olvidado in 2014. I did not record my tracks from my 2019 Olvidado. The routes have changed a fair amount since then. I’m sure they’ll get you where you want to go, but they don’t include the mountain alternatives, and there are lots of other spots where the trails have been changed/improved.

I’m pretty sure I linked Ender’s tracks somewhere, but here they are again, on googlemaps—

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1g0O5w0PuygiBB9K0emz0CyGTjbDYzoI&usp=sharing

It would be helpful to people who are going to walk the Olvidado this year to hear from others who have walked recently.

I will just throw out my own opinion, which is that I use wikiloc for every remote camino I walk. That gives me access to recent tracks, lets me have several sets of tracks on my phone when the inevitable confusion arises, and lets me take pictures along the way that will be location tagged on the tracks that I am recording myself.

Others undoubtedly have different preferences, and I know there is a general "GPS for dummies" thread going on, but there are members who are specifically interested in tracks for the Olvidado.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Thanks @peregrina2000 . It makes sense what you and others are saying that it us best to choose one map application and learn how to use it. I have never used off or online maps but reading about the Olvidado, I recognise that I need to consider having gps for some of the moutainous stages and also to understand more the alternative routes shown for instance in Ender's guide. I would welcome any input from those who have walked the Olvidado
 
I will just throw out my own opinion, which is that I use wikiloc for every remote camino I walk. That gives me access to recent tracks, lets me have several sets of tracks on my phone when the inevitable confusion arises, and lets me take pictures along the way that will be location tagged on the tracks that I am recording myself.
I also always take a wikiloc track with me for the less travelled caminos. Not least because wikiloc will warn me with a beep if I am more than about 50 m off of its track. That way I can enjoy the walk without constantly checking the phone or map - even better nowI have an apple watch!
 
Some of us couldn’t figure out how to use Ender’s GPS tracks on googlemaps, so I wrote and asked him if it would be possible to make the tracks easier to find for people on wikiloc.

If you’ve used wikiloc, you know that you can search by user name or by places on the trail. Ender’s wikiloc name is enderjace, but if you search for him, more than 300 trails come up, kind of a pain to scroll through.

Last night I asked him if he could pull out the Olvidado tracks and make a “list” of them on his wikiloc profile. Within one hour, he had done that.

The beauty of this is that now you can be sure you have the most up to date tracks, because he can easily add and remove tracks from his list.

Go to his user profile, click on “lists” and you will see that he has made a list for all the Olvidado tracks (they are not in order,but they are the most current).

He also did this for the Salvador and Allerano (still under development).
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Thanks for that suggestion to Ender Laurie and passing it down to us.

I've thought of another way to do something similar. Ender could create another Wikiloc user named Olvidado Guide or Camino Olvidado or, with actual thought, something better and language independent. Then the tracks could be kept under that name. He might be able to work with Wikiloc to get the tracks and tracks' rating points transferred at once. Wikiloc members and other users seeking out Olvidado tracks would see an authoritative name associated with the tracks. Having a separate account would allow friends of his with a password to make updates on his behalf without affecting any of his personal files or information.
 
Last edited:

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Featured threads

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Featured threads

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top