Okay, so today I wanted to make a map of the COTA (Circuit of the Americas) racetrack, and I wanted it to show the elevation changes. I mean, that’s like, the coolest part of that track, right? That huge hill at turn one! So, I started poking around to see how I could do this.
Finding the Data
First things first, I needed the track layout. I figured there must be some GPS data or something out there. I did some searching and, sure enough, I found a few websites with GPX files. These files basically hold GPS coordinates, so I was like, “Perfect!” I grabbed one that looked pretty detailed.
Getting the Elevation
Now for the tricky part – the elevation. The GPX file I had didn’t include that. I did a little brainstorming and figured there must be a way to get elevation data based on GPS coordinates. I found something called a “geographic information systems” that looked promising, I’ve learned that the API is provided by the “geographic information systems” to access data. Then, through the search, I found that some good guys have already accessed these APIs and shared the code directly on Github. I found the code that looked good by searching on Github, and then I started to get my hands dirty.
Putting It All Together
I copied the code and made sure to install the necessary environment. Then, I ran the code to process the GPX data. It took a bit of time, but it looked like it found an open-source tool. I used that tool to find it out.
Here are steps I did:
- Installed required packages:Make sure the environment running normally.
- Prepared GPX file:Got the track data ready.
- Run the code:Let the code do its magic!
The Result
And… boom! It worked! The final result is great! It clearly shows the track layout, and more importantly, that crazy elevation change at turn one. Mission accomplished! It was a bit of a learning curve with using those API, but totally worth it to get this cool map.
