Capture Your Path With GPS Coordinates

After a successful hike, you really want to capture the moment. Taken any photos? Well, we’ve all been there. You can also print the mountain yourself or have it printed for you.

There are already websites that offer the terrain models you want as STL files for 3D printing. These include both commercial and non-commercial sites. I've already tried it, printed and colored a model—it's a great gift for people who love the mountains.

Printing the mountain, sure. But as far as I know, no one has ever immortalized just the trail. And that’s exactly what we’re doing right here and now.

The mountain will crumble. Your path remains.

kml file of your journey/ hiking tour

Python (either on a Linux computer or on Windows)

tinkercad.com (or any other CAD software)

slicer (e.g. Ultimaker Cura)

3D printer

wooden or stone base

First, you need your hiking route as a kml file. You can get this from a tracking app or your tracking watch. Essentially, it stores a series of points in the form of coordinates and elevation data, which are then displayed as a route.

In this example, I’m using the hike to my favourite hut, Schmitt-Zabierov (1966m), near Lofer in the Austrian Alps.

The file contains a lot of other characters that we don't need. So first we have to filter out (parse) the data we need. I'll explain that in Step 3; first, we need to do a few preparations.

If you have a Linux computer and/or are familiar with Python, you can download the .py files right away and probably proceed to step 3.

If you don't have any experience with Python yet, that's no problem. Here are the instructions:

1. Go to python.org, download the version of Python that's right for you, and install it. In this example, I'm using Python for Windows. The IDLE shell is certainly more user-friendly for Windows users.
2. Install all necessary libraries by typing: pip install numpy pandas numpy-stl

Rename your original track file to "input.kml"

In IDLE shell: File --> open --> "track_to_CSV.py" --> run --> run module (or [F5]) >> file coords.csv is generated.

Here the data are stored in this format:

lon,lat,alt

12.65010322,47.54950605,2010.66

12.65017712,47.5494823,2006.11

12.65017955,47.54943543,1999.86

....

Now let's convert the coordinates into a wider and thicker path - as an STL file. You can play around with the parameters of the file "csv_to_STL.py"

File --> open --> "csv_to_STL.py" --> run --> run module (or [F5]) >> file path_band.stl is generated.

Please note troubleshooting in step 6.

Load this file path_band.stl to your favourite CAD program, mine is Tinkercad.com. Here you can view the path in 3D and make a few more adjustments. I had to shrink the path quite a bit.

What most users are not aware of is the following: if a tracked object is moving along a GPS track, everything is fine. But if the object stops for a while, the coordinates go crazy, jumping back and forth. With a homemade GPS receiver, I found myself, for a second, no longer near Munich but just outside Paris!

Using the "findAnomalies.py" script, you can check for strange data and, if necessary, correct the suspicious alt values using an editor to ensure a smooth path.

You may need to repeat step 4 and 5 now.

Now all you have to do is send the file to your slicer (I use Ultimaker Cura) and 3D print it.

Fill: 100%

Speed: Medium

Don't forget the support structure

Just be creative to fix the path on the base. Glue, staples, screws.

Now you have a sculpture that looks abstract, but is very concrete to you.