Using external tools
While QGIS itself is a great and functional program, sometimes it is better to use more suitable tools to perform some simple or complex actions. This recipe shows you how to use some of these third-party tools.
Getting ready
To follow this recipe, you will need a btnmeatrack_2014-05-22_13-35-40.nmea file from the book dataset. We will also use the cookbook.db SpatiaLite database that we created in the Loading vector layers into SpatiaLite recipe in Chapter 1, Data Input and Output, and the PostgreSQL database, which we developed in Chapter 6, Network Analysis.
Besides this, don't forget to install GPSBabel (usually this comes with QGIS), spatialite-gui, and pgAdmin (these should be installed manually).
How to do it…
First we will convert NMEA data to GPX format with GPSBabel, then learn how to use SpatiaLite GUI tools and pgAdmin to work with databases.
GPSBabel
GPSBabel is a command-line tool to manipulate, convert, and process GPS data (waypoints, tracks, and...
