TrackDaten

TrackDaten is a term used in data management and geospatial analysis to describe data records that document the trajectory of a moving object along a defined track or route. The concept covers time-stamped position information as well as related measurements collected along the path, such as speed, elevation, and heading. TrackDaten can be stored and exchanged in several formats, but share common semantics: a sequence of points that represent a path with associated attributes.

In practice, TrackDaten typically comprises a series of track points, each containing fields such as latitude, longitude, timestamp, and optionally altitude, velocity, and accuracy. A track may be grouped into segments and identified by a track_id or session_id, enabling analysis of separate trips or legs within a single dataset. Data quality depends on sampling rate, sensor quality, and processing steps like map-matching and noise reduction.

Common formats and standards used for TrackDaten include GPX, TCX, KML, and CSV. GPX is widely used for geographic tracks and supports extensions for additional attributes; TCX is common in athletic training data; KML is suited for visualization in mapping tools; CSV offers simple tabular representation.

Applications range from route planning and navigation to athletic performance analysis, fleet management, urban mobility research, and environmental monitoring. Privacy considerations are important, as TrackDaten can reveal sensitive location histories; practices such as anonymization, aggregation, and controlled retention are often employed.

See also: GPS track, telemetry, time-series data.