GpsPrune was originally released in September 2006 (originally under the name "Prune"), but it has taken some time to become known and used. With each version release, the number of downloads has increased, and the positive feedback has grown.
Key to spreading popularity are independent reviews of the program - we didn't ask them to review it, we didn't send them copies (unless asked to), and their reviews and comments are completely unbiased. So thanks to these sites for the publicity and the encouragement!
From August 2007, a short but accurate summary of Prune's features (as of version 3) with good screenshots from a Geography-based blog site.
freegeographytools.com/2007/prune-java-based-gps-track-visualization-and-photo-geotagging
As a further result, this article was picked up by slashgeo.org with a short summary "The Free Geography Tools talks about Prune, an open source Java-based GPS track visualization and photo geotagging tool."
From October 2007, a short summary of version 3 of Prune on a personal blog page in French. It criticises the quality of the French texts (rightly) and praises the KMZ export including photo thumbnails. It also mentions the lack of Raw photo support, which isn't something even considered until now.
lionel.maraval.club.fr/blogphoto/index.php?2007/10/01/215-logiciels-gps
Pour : vos photos dans Google Earth
Contre : un peu foutraque, ne reconnaît pas les formats Raw
(I'm still not quite sure what "foutraque" means, maybe quirky?)
From January 2008, a brief review and an overview of features from a general software and technology site. The same article appears under a host of aliases including informaticsonline, computeractive, activehome, pcw, whatpc, webactivemagazine, and computingbusiness.
vnunet.com/2207386
Overall rating: four stars out of five
Verdict: An extremely useful utility for anyone with a GPS unit
From February 2008, an updated review for version 4.1 including screenshots, with attention focusing on the photo correlation function.
freegeographytools.com/2008/prune-updated-now-with-automated-photo-geotagging-for-windows-mac-and-linux
Again this was picked up by slashgeo.org with the lead-in "The Free Geography Tools website discuss the release of Prune 4.1, an open source GPS tool", and also by technorati.com.
Another one from February 2008, and this time in Italian: freegis-italia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=423&Itemid=86
Applicazione per la gestione di dati GPS. Consente, a partire da dati in file di testo o XML, di visualizzarli in modo molto elementare (inclusa la possibilità di visualizzarli come profilo di quota), editarli ed esportarli in formati di testo oppure in XML, GPX, KML/KMZ (Google Earth).
From March 2008, a brief summary of version 4.1 in German: heise.de/software/download/prune/52244
Somewhat confusingly they include a screengrab from a development version of Prune, which shows a feature not included in version 4.1 (the openstreetmap function).
From March 2008, a short summary in German: gps-touren.at/pc-software.php?show=1&softwareid=21
Neben ein paar Standardfunktionen wie Tracks verbinden, Waypoints hinzufügen, Daten in verschiedene Formate konvertieren usw. besitzt dieses Programm als kleines Highlight einen 3D Plot der Höhe entlang des Weges. Ausserdem lassen sich Photos anhand der Zeit einem Punkt in der Route zuordnen.
The categorisation of the software is a little confusing, all software is listed as "PC" whether it's just windows or windows/linux/mac, and the licence is given as "freeware" whether it's closed-source or free. The language is also listed as English even though Prune speaks German too.
A blog entry from March 2008: akoumjian.blogspot.com/2008/03/easy-photo-geotagging-in-linux-with.html
I tried a LOT of different software, but the one that finally "just worked" was Prune by Activity Workshop. With this JAVA software, I can open a directory of photos, open a GPX file and handpick which waypoints should correlate with which photographs. It also does all of that fancy auto-syncing stuff, if you start to get into that.
A listing in a directory of Linux software: linuxlinks.com/Java/Scientific/Other_Sciences/
From May 2008, an announcement of the new features in version 5: freegeographytools.com/2008/two-photo-geotagging-briefs.
Finally, after many many years of requesting inclusion, GpsPrune is finally listed in the free software foundation's software directory The information about GpsPrune seems to come from Debian, I've got no idea why they seem to think it's also a Ruby-based pdf-building tool.
From September 2008, possibly the shortest mention made yet but a mention nonetheless: navigation-professionell.de/aktuelle-gps-freeware/
Ein weiteres Tool trägt den Namen "Prune". Die Java-Anwendung erlaubt ein Verwalten, Konvertieren und Editieren von GPS-Daten.
Another mention from September 2008. I can't read any of the words except "Prune" and "Disney World", but the screenshots of Prune and Google Earth are interesting! - mio-gps.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_24.html.
From October 2008, the first review of version 6, with a list of new features and a screengrab: freegeographytools.com/2008/prune-updated-to-60-photo-geotagging-and-gps-track-visualization-for-windows-mac-and-linux. This clip was also picked up by slashgeo.org with a short description.
From October 2008, a copy/paste job on the Prune page outlining the main features of version 6. There's a screenshot from a Mac but they haven't really figured out how to load a data file yet: mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Prune.shtml.
Again from October 2008, a brief mention in German of version 6 with a copy of an activityworkshop screenshot: winload.de/download/95678/Internet/Sonstiges/Prune.6.html.
Prune stellt Ihre Route grafisch dar und erlaubt das Konvertieren und Editieren Ihrer GPS-Daten. Zusätzlich bietet die kleine Java-Applikation Korrelation von Fotos, 3D-Darstellung und das Löschen einzelner Punkte. Das Programm speichert die Daten in GPX, KMZ oder Text.
Unfortunately this website also hasn't figured out that Prune speaks German as well as English.
A delightfully named post from November 2008, "I don't like prunes, but I do like prune": scruss.com/blog/2008/11/16/i-dont-like-prunes-but-i-do-like-prune contains a brief and complimentary overview of Prune's functions, including a screengrab. I hope the author has tried the 'globe' icon on the main map panel to activate the open street maps.
Also with regard to the "KDE" port, don't worry. Firstly KDE != Qt, so gnome users (and I guess Windows users too) would still be able to run a C++/Qt version. And secondly nothing has been done on this for months so a working application is currently a long time away.
A specific mention of the geotagging capabilities of Prune from December 2008, including how to get exiftool working on Windows: eddie-brown.net/wordpress/2008/12/28/geotagging-photos-via-my-garmin-vista-hcx
A brief mention from January 2009, just listing the main features: freegis.org/database/viewobj?obj=1210
A single user review from February 2009 to supplement the Prune 6 link given above, and the first ever mention of version 7. Includes such choice quotes as "well-developed and stable", "excellent" and "almost unbelievably good"! : mac.softpedia.com/progViewOpinions/Prune-44111,.html
A brief mention of Prune from a Japanese blog, including a nice screenshot from western Tokyo showing the compression functions : blogs.sun.com/LetTheSunShineIn/entry/java_gps_data_editor_viewer
From March 2009, a brief mention and a list of the main new features for version 7: freegeographytools.com/2009/updates-to-photo-geotagging-software
Another one from March 2009, a German introduction to converting geotagged photos into GPX or KML files using Prune, including screenshots: gps-camera.eu/.../tracks-aus-gps-bildern-extrahieren-mit-prune-exif-zu-gpx-oder-kml
Another German one from March 2009, an in-depth discussion of geotagged photos using a GPS receiver plugged directly into the (huge) camera. He also discusses recording tracks with this receiver and looking at the tracks with Prune, and shows screengrabs of both the Prune map display and the Povray rendering: elmar-baumann.de/fotografie/tipps/produkte/di-gps.html
Another German blog, this one from April 2009, discussing the use of Prune with opencyclemap data to analyse mountain bike tours. Includes three nice screenshots showing what Prune looks like on a big linux screen : steffenvogel.de/2009/04/11/mit-prune-mtb-tour-visualisieren/
Mit Prune bin ich dann auf eine Java-Programm gestoßen, dass ziemlich genau meine Anforderungen erfüllte.
Prune seems to have found its way to Slovenia, and made friends there with iPhoto on a Mac. From April 2009, it's all in Slovenian but it's clearly talking about photo correlation using Prune, and includes a screenshot from the capital city: imedi.si/blog/jeanmark/2009/04/05/iphoto-in-gps-lokacija-fotografij/
Continuing its European tour, Prune goes to Latvia (I think?) and enjoys a bit of geotagging: blog.sapnis.com/2009/04/01/fotografiju-geomarkesana-geotagging/
Prune ir maza JAVA programmiņa, kas strādā uz visām platformām kurās ir Java, t.sk. Windows, Linux un Mac. Programma maza un vienkārša, bet diemžēl saprot tikai JPG failus. Tos bez problēmām sakodēja un viss notika kā vajag.
Stopping off in Germany in June 2009, Prune shows some tracks recorded from a mobile phone using openstreetmap, and converts them to KML: blog.debertshaeuser.com
Per Zufall bin ich dann auf "Prune" gestoßen, was ich echt super finde... Mal wieder ein cooles, hilfreichen Programm, das ich weiter beobachten werde...
Sadly, this direct link doesn't work any more, presumably because of overload from the 6000 spam comments. You can still see the post if you scroll back to June 2009 though. If only the blog owner would delete his spam...
Travelling onward to Austria in July 2009, Prune gets a very favourable review and a nice screenshot from Graz: blogausgraz.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/geotagging-gps-linux-macosx-windows
Die OpenSource Software Prune kann fast alles, was man sich nur wünschen kann... Ein kostenpflichtiges Programm mit diesen Möglichkeiten ist mir nicht bekannt und ich kenne einige Programme. Aber warum teuer und schlecht kaufen, wenn es so etwas auch besser und kostenlos gibt.
Nice to see Prune getting recommended on forums, especially in languages I don't understand! Here's one from Slovakia, with a link to a Google Maps KMZ made by Prune: forum.ubuntu.cz/index.php/topic,39386.0
Veľmi dobrý SW na editovanie gps záznamov, vie pridať fotky + zistiť ich polohu podľa času vytvorenia + prípadne uložiť do exifu, a vie urobiť aj google mapu, ako túto.
No tak to je bomba! Díky.
Another language I don't understand, this time Russian! A brief but accurate overview of version 8, and a note that a Russian version is unfortunately not available: gis-lab.info/blog/2009-09/prune/
Свободная (GPL) программа Prune для работы с GPS повзрослела до новой (8-й) версии. Имеются все привычные функции: просмотр, редактирование, преобразование координат, экспорт в GPX/KML, OSM в качестве подложки, привязка фотографий, построение профилей высот и т.д. Работает в Linux, Windwos, MacOS X, и всех остальных ОС, поддерживающих Java. Русского перевода нет.
Prune is now available as an rpm download from the OpenSuse build service, thanks to Denny: software.opensuse.org/search
Prune now has a brief entry in this directory of java applications: java-apps.org/content/show.php/Prune+GPS+tool
A Romanian translation of the project overview has been provided: earth.unibuc.ro/blog/prune
Prune este o aplicație Java gratuită ajunsă la versiunea 8. Aceasta rulează pe platforme Linux, Mac și Windows cu ajutorul căreia se pot vizualiza, edita și converti date GPS. Cu alte cuvinte este un instrument ce ne permite să ne “jucăm” cu datele GPS după ce acestea au fost colectate din teren.
Scoop! Prune finally gets its first mention in real print! The December 2009 issue of Linux Magazine devotes four pages to a review of Prune, including many screenshots and detailed instructions. Result! linux-magazine.com/Issues/2009/109/SNIP-AND-CLIP
I'd just make a couple of comments about their excellent article - firstly, you don't need to hand-edit your .pruneconfig file any more - since version 8 you can just use the Settings -> Save Settings menu command to save the current settings for you. It should be loaded up again automatically next time you run Prune. Secondly, you don't need to hold the Ctrl key when linking photos with points. Just click the photo in the list, click the point, and click the "link" button in the toolbar. Oh, and as a sideline don't think that Prune can only load GPX files - of course it can load KML, KMZ, NMEA, TXT, and CSV files too!
Prune is the perfect companion to any GPS device because it's simple to use and offers all the essential features needed to view and edit GPX files. Additionally, its correlation capabilities make it a great tool for photographers. Add to this the ability to export GPX tracks as KML files, and you have a very useful application for all your GPS needs.
From March 2010, more of a catalogue entry than anything else, but it does link to the new Debian package called "gpsprune" in unstable: penguin.tantin.jp/mori/soft/Prune.html (Japanese)
Yes, really! At gcmd.nasa.gov they have a directory of data and applications to do with Earth sciences, and in March 2010, Prune was added to the list. Very nice! gcmd.nasa.gov/records/PRUNE.html
From March 2010, an interesting step-by-step guide to recording and processing tracks from a Palm Pre, including screenshots. It uses a series of conversions from an SQLite database to a csv export, then Prune is used to load the track and convert to kml for display in Google Maps: karl-heinz.posterous.com/kurzanleitung-gps-tracking-mit-dem-palm-pre (German)
Just to prove that not everybody can find something positive to say about Prune, a guy calling himself "blacklion" (Lev == "Lion") writes comments in his blog with a decidedly negative slant. According to Google translate, his opinion is "Prune - dumb as wood. Such scores. Stupid as firewood. Help from him - 0.0. One might as well be on a text file with his hands to crawl. He even two files open at once that can not be glued." Wow. blacklion.livejournal.com/510275.html (Russian)
Prune — тупой как дрова. Таких десятки. Тупых как дрова.
Of course I don't read Russian so I can't really understand what his complaints are. I don't know if blacklion can understand English or not, so there could well be another language barrier there. But not just "dumb as wood", also "stupid as firewood"? Ouch. About the gluing, Prune can of course "glue" tracks from different files together, so if that is the complaint then it's wrong. If the complaint is that Prune keeps the two files as separate track segments within a single track (not really "glued" in terms of a line connecting the two track segments, but not held separately as separate tracks), then maybe it's valid. The question of Prune keeping a list of loaded tracks (along with merging and splitting operations) has been discussed before.
Oops, I've only just noticed, these comments were from May 2009, not May 2010, so maybe his opinions have changed since then.
A short example of using Prune to compress tracks from an "AMOD" GPS logger, from April 2010. Apparently in Slovenian? But it includes a nice screenshot (also from Slovenia) showing photo correlation and opencyclemap contours. bubasvabe.blog.siol.net/2010/04/14/nova-igracka-gps-logger/
Na koncu dobiš pot, ki vsebuje ogromno točk, ki so si enake oziroma vsaj zelo blizu ena druge. Za čiščenje takih nesmislov sem našej program, ki se imenuje Prune. Na dveinpolurnem sprehodu je AMOD naredil log datoteko velikosti 750kB. Prune je to skrčil na manj kot 50kB, pri tem, da zmanjšana pot ni praktično nič manj detajlna.
An update from June 2010, including a summary of the features now in Prune version 10: freegeographytools.com/2010/prune-gpsgeotagging-tool-at-version-10
An unknown contributor has submitted a nice screenshot of Prune for the Debian project, to show what the program looks like: screenshots.debian.net/package/gpsprune
There's also a mention in the list of packages for the Debian GIS project.
A well-written blog entry in German from June 2010, covering the charts function of Prune using Gnuplot. This includes some nice screenshots and examples of the charts you can create: andwil.de/blog/57/hoehenprofile-grafisch-darstellen
Eine hübsche Funktion des Programmes ist mir aber bis vor kurzem noch gar nicht aufgefallen: Unter "Ansicht" - "Diagramme" kann man u.a. hübsche grafische Höhenprofile erstellen.
A German catalogue of software now has a page describing Prune 11.1, including a nice screenshot from Köln. It's Windows-centric but does a good job of describing many of Prune's features clearly. Strangely they provide their own download of Prune 11.1, which (at the time of writing) is exactly the same as the "official" version, but obviously activityworkshop has no control over if and when soft-ware.net change their offered download. prune.soft-ware.net
Prune bietet ihnen vielfältige Möglichkeiten zur Bearbeitung von Tracks... Prune arbeitet mit diversen anderen Open Source Programmen zusammen, mit denen sich die Funktionen noch erweitern lassen.
A German blog entry from "Holger" from October 2010 about aerial photographs and how to process them for openstreetmap. Includes a brief description of what Prune does with photos including the correlation function, and a nice screenshot of a flight over Eastern Germany near the Polish border: blog.openstreetmap.de/2010/10/luftbilder-fur-openstreetmap
A German magazine finally found out about Prune in November 2010, and added version 11.2 to their database. They give a short description, a few screenshots, and oddly offer their own version of Prune 11.2 for download. Again, this is currently the same as the "official" Prune 11.2 but version 12 has already been released now anyway. computerbild.de/download/Prune-5786588.html
Mit "Prune" bearbeiten Sie Tourenaufzeichnungen, die Sie entweder selbst mit einem GPS-Gerät gemacht oder aus dem Internet heruntergeladen haben.
From December 2010, an Italian review of Prune 12 including some nice screenshots. euganeo.org/2010/12/prune
Nel dedalo delle applicazioni che posso essere usate in questo ambito, Prune si distingue per pochi ma importanti motivi.
As part of the forthcoming 4.5 version of OSGeo's live DVD, on which Prune will finally be included, their Greek translation team has provided translations of the Prune documentation. So, for the first time in Greek:
Το Prune είναι ένα εργαλείο για οπτικοποίηση, επεξεργασία και μετατροπή δεδομένων συντεταγμένων από συστήματα GPS. Χρησιμοποιεί εικόνες από το OpenStreetMap για να οπτικοποιήσει καταγεγραμμένες πορείες και σημεία προορισμού, και παρέχει πληθώρα από εργαλεία για επεξεργασία, αποκοπή και περικοπή σημείων στα δεδομένα. Επιπλέον έχει λειτουργίες συσχέτισης των συντεταγμένων φωτογραφιών με τον χρόνο λήψης τους.
From March 2011, a blog entry in Indonesian explaining how easy Prune is to install and use on Ubuntu. There's also a nice screenshot of a track recorded on an Android handheld and then loaded into Prune on Ubuntu. milisdad.blogspot.com/2011/03/gps-prune-editor-koordinat-gps.html
Mudah bukan?
From March 2011, a blog entry in German called "GPS-Daten lesen, anzeigen und bearbeiten mit Prune", including a screenshot of using GpsPrune under Ubuntu. blog.waldstepper.de/gps-daten-lesen-anzeigen-und-bearbeiten-mit-prune
From May 2011, this time in Portuguese, a detailed step-by-step guide to correlating photos and exporting the results to a kmz file including photo thumbnails. Plus of course using exiftool to write the coordinates into the jpegs themselves. opussig.blogspot.com/2011/05/georefernciar-fotografias-e-visualiza.html
From November 2011, and for the first time in Russian, here's a collection of interesting screenshots using Prune 13.1 and the newly-translated Russian texts. Примеры результатов обработки треков и фото в программе GpsPrune
In the January 2012 edition of the German com-magazin (in the shops December 2011), they have a "top 100 best software of 2012". It's all open-source software (Firefox is number 1, followed by VLC, OpenOffice and Thunderbird), and GpsPrune is listed in number 81. There's no review, but it's included on the DVD which comes with the magazine. com-magazin.de/aktuell/updates-zum-heft/hefte-aus-2012.html
In issue 67 of the Portuguese/Spanish magazine MundoGEO, there's a two-page article about GpsPrune, covering the basics of installation (on Ubuntu), geotagging photos, charts and 3D views. The Spanish version (which requires Flash to read it) can be found at en.calameo.com.
Another Portuguese entry, this time from a blog called "geoparalinux". Showing detailed, annotated screenshots, charts and even a povray rendering, this is a well-written, thorough overview. geoparalinux.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/manipule-dados-de-gps-usando-gpsprune-no-linux.
O mais completo software de manipulação de dados GPS para Linux
From September 2012, a nice round-up of various GPS-related applications in German called "Was man mit GPS-Logs anstellen kann". Includes an introduction to GpsPrune (with screenshot) headed "Die Pflaume, die auch Schweizerdeutsch kann" - the Prune that can speak Swiss German. Doesn't mention GpsPrune's photo functions though, even though it stresses them for Geosetter and GpsTrackAnalyse. clickomania.ch/fp/index.php/2012/09/11/was-man-mit-gps-logs-anstellen-kann/.
GPS Prune hat, passend zum Namen, eine dicke violette Pflaume als Programm-Icon - und als ob das nicht seltsam genug wäre, kann man dieses Produkt auch mit schweizerdeutschen Programmtexten verwenden.
In October 2012, apparently there was an article in issue 158 of "Linux Format" magazine all about making your own maps of where you've been with a GPS. GpsPrune is mentioned in there, along with GPSBabel, exiftool, imagemagick, openlayers and gnuplot. It's a lengthy workflow, with some good tips and screenshots. The web version of the article is at techradar.com/news/software/applications/using-linux-to-map-routes-and-walks-1099317.
In March 2013, as part of a general Linux convention in Chemnitz, Germany, Andreas Tille made a presentation about "Debian GIS" blend, promoting the use of Debian to GIS people and also highlighting the work that goes on in such blends. GpsPrune had a slide in this presentation, roughly as shown on the right. It was even the third project from the blend to be shown. Debian GIS - GIS und OpenStreetMap mit Debian-Bordmitteln.
When Ubuntu lists the applications available in the repositories, it gives a chance for people to award stars and write comments about whether they like it or not. These are separated out by version number, making it a bit more difficult to summarise, but the basic complaint seems to be that it's "ugly", with a "very bad UI" and even looks "hässlich". Unfortunately it seems to be a general problem with java programs looking ugly in Ubuntu, probably because of OpenJDK. apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/gpsprune/.
GpsPrune was featured in an eight-page review of various programs (GPSBabel, GpsPrune, My Tourbook and Route Converter) in the August 2014 issue of the German-language "Linux Magazin". And guess which one of those four was the "Testsieger" ! linux-magazin.de/Ausgaben/2014/08/Bitparade
A nicely-written tutorial from Chris McNally, describing how to turn a video (taken from a bicycle) into geocoded photos for upload to the sharing service Mapillary. Lots of screenshots from Ubuntu showing how to use VLC, GpsPrune and other tools to prepare and upload the data. "Tutorial: Upload Photos From Video".
Another German magazine article, this time from May 2015 with the title "Unterwegs auf neuen Pfaden - Garmin-Tracker mit GPS-Daten unter Linux nutzen". Sounds like a perfect chance to show off some screenshots of GpsPrune, but sadly they chose to focus their attention on QLandkarteGT, GPSBabel and GpsCorrelate instead. GpsPrune got a very brief mention but that's it. http://www.linux-community.de/.../2015/05/Unterwegs-auf-neuen-Pfaden.