Alternative client for Aldi Crane GPS watches

While I'm writing about GPS Master and some of its quirks, it's worth noting that there is now an alternative, open source client that can talk to the Crane GPS watches. The crane_gps_watch software is available on github. It currently supports many of the features of the GPS Master software and compiles under both Windows and Linux (so I assume MacOS works too?)

I'm currently in the process of getting proper lap data into the TCX files in creates (although RunKeeper sadly ignores this information) and after that I'd like to get the same level of statistics out. Also on the agenda is decoding the proprietary TKL data that GPS Master uses to store workouts as I'd prefer not to lose that information.

Empty error dialog in GPS Master v2.0.14.1218

Recently my Aldi Crane GPS Watch has been giving me some trouble, or more specifically, the GPS Master software that's bundled with it.

Of late, when attempting to view an activity, I get a blank error dialog and the map is not displayed. This also seems to prevent the graph drawing and the system tray icon from displaying.

Tracing the process with Process Monitor, I found it trying to access a non-existent Registry Key (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Folders\Common AppData) and immediately after, attempting to create a bunch of invalid paths with leading Chinese characters.

Populating HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Folders\Common AppData with C:\ProgramData and restarting the app (exiting from the menu, not closing the window) allows the program to generate valid paths and now GMap.html is correctly generated and displayed.

Why it is pulling registry keys when there's a path for data storage set in the ini file I'm not sure, and why this used to work and suddenly stopped I can only guess was due to the removal of the key by some Windows update or buggy uninstaller?