# GPX import fails due to special characters

**URL:** <https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625>\
**Category:** App\
**Created:** [September 9, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625 "2018-09-09T06:15:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rumbrummer](https://forum.kurviger.com/user_avatar/forum.kurviger.com/rumbrummer/32/113_2.png) [@rumbrummer](https://forum.kurviger.com/u/rumbrummer)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625/1 "2018-09-09T06:15:13Z")

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Hi,

I tried to import the Assietta track GPX downloaded from

> **[Assietta-Kammstraße (AKS) (GPS-Track) - Alpen-Motorrad-Guide](https://alpenrouten.de/Assietta-Kammstrasse-AKS_track54.html)**
>
> GPS-Track: Assietta-Kammstraße (AKS) (Kamm, max. 2545 m) Die aussichtsreiche Assieta-Kammstraße  zählt zu den beliebtesten Höhenstraßen der Westalpen. Sie zieht sich am Kamm zwischen Valle Susa und Valle del Chisone entlang und bewegt sich

Import failed due to special character in track name - perhaps import could handle such problems.

After removing that character with text editor import was successful.

Furthermore the error message should be shown for a longer time (confirmation button?) - it is faded out after 1-2 sec, that’s quite fast!

Regards  
Markus

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**Author:** ![devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/user_avatar/forum.kurviger.com/devemux86/32/6239_2.png) [@devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/u/devemux86)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625/2 "2018-09-09T06:39:57Z")

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The problem actually is in the encoding of the GPX file, i.e. how it was created.

Since it contains special characters, should be in the universal UTF-8 encoding, instead it’s declared as the restricted ISO-8859-1…

That’s why also its “creator” DE text (line 4) appears wrong if open it with a regular editor.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/user_avatar/forum.kurviger.com/devemux86/32/6239_2.png) [@devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/u/devemux86)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 8:10am UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625/3 "2018-09-09T08:10:28Z")

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Interesting, if open the GPX on desktop, e.g. with [Cruiser](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Cruiser), it’s imported fine.

So also the Android plays a role as being more strict in GPX (XML) parsing.

Will need to see for a workaround for wrong file encodings, like in that case.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/user_avatar/forum.kurviger.com/devemux86/32/6239_2.png) [@devemux86](https://forum.kurviger.com/u/devemux86)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625/4 "2018-09-09T17:22:31Z")

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I found a workaround, it will be included in next Kurviger. 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rumbrummer](https://forum.kurviger.com/user_avatar/forum.kurviger.com/rumbrummer/32/113_2.png) [@rumbrummer](https://forum.kurviger.com/u/rumbrummer)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://forum.kurviger.com/t/gpx-import-fails-due-to-special-characters/625/5 "2018-09-28T10:37:50Z")

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Hi,

thanks a lot, I just did a test with kurviger 1.3, it works fine!

Thanks!

Markus