GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I'm looking for reccommendations for a GPS application. I already use google maps for GPS mapping stuff, but what I am looking for is something simple that just displays:

Current position in LON/LAT
Compass Rose or direction of travel
Current Speed
etc

This is often reffered to as the "trip computer" screen on most handheld GPS units.

This would be used for Hiking / geocaching / etc


Thanks

David

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Check out GPSToday:

http://www.geoterrestrial.com/

It has all of what you want except the compass rose. It does have a direction of travel, but not sure if it as precise as you want.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I don't think a compass rose will work on our devices. It and only tell what direction we are traveling not which way the device is facing. That said try out GCz it was designed for geocaching and while it has a compass rose it relies on you to find true north and point your device in that direction.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

It will not perform a traditional compass function when standing still like a magnetic compass, but as long as you are moving, the GPS knows which way you are moving and plots that on a compas rose (direction of travel, as you mentioned). That is basic functionality for most GPS units, and exactly what I am looking for.

I'm testing the GPS today program now. Looks nice, but kind of overkill for what I am looking for.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I found a couple of promising apps:

BeeLine GPS - http://www.visualgps.net/BeelineGPS/default.html

and GPSTuner - http://www.gpstuner.com/

Anyone have experience with either of these?

They both have Free trials, so Post up my thoughts after testing.

also found a free app that looks like it would be perfect, but can't get it to fire up. - http://www.wimobi.at/gpsdash/overview.ppc2.php

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I've used both GPSDash and GPSTuner (in fact, I reviewed an older version of GSPTuner for Aximsite years ago). Both have pretty much the same functions and both work pretty well. One of the neat applications of GPSTuner (and I believe that GPSDash will do this as well) is that you can take a paper map -- say, the hiking trails for a park -- calibrate it and use it as a moving map. Geocaching is pretty cool when you do this with satellite photos!

That said, I haven't tried either of them on my Omnia yet.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

SoflaDavid, do you live in South Florida? If so, is google maps working for you? Im having trouble with it again, I live in Miami

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

yes, I'm in Miami

Worked for me using the "let windows manage your settings automatically" option

Are you getting an error or just "seeking" and not finding satellites?

GPSDash wouldn't run for me. It would give me an hourglass for about 2 min, then error out with a ".net" error. Probably because I don't have 3.5 installed.

I've been playing with GPSTuner a little bit and it definitely does what I am loking for. But not sure if I want to pay all that $$ for it. :cheapskate: LOL

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Also. a tip for those having trouble with GPS.

The way GPS works, it that the receiver has to get a "fix" on where you are by receiving signals from at least three satellites. The sattelites are scattered through the sky all around the earth. Obstructions such as Buildings, trees, Roofs, etc will block the signal from being received by the GPS receiver Think about how weak these signals are that are traveling all the way from a satellite in outer space.

When you first turn the GPS on, it hunts around trying to find at least ONE satellite. At that point, the unit has no idea where you are, or what time it is, so it has no idea what sattelite it should be looking for , or where. It's purely trial and error, until it comes across one sattelite that it can communicate with. Once it finds one, it has to download what is called an "almanac". The almanac tells the GPS receiver which other sattelites are in the area and should therefore be listening for. The process of downloading this almanac takes about a minute. If you turn a corner, go under a tree, or otherwise interrupt the downloading of the almanac, the process has to start all over again. luckly, while the almanac is downloading, the GPS is still looking for other satellites and if it finds another one, it starts downloading the almanac from that satellite also. Once it has succesfully downloaded the almanac, then it uses that info to find the other sattelites in the area and determine your location based on the signals it is receiving from the different satellites based on the almanac. The almanac is kept up to date while the GPS is on and connected to the satellites.

If you turn the unit off and then back on a short time later, and you are still in the same general location, then the unit remembers the almanac and knows which sattelites to listen to so it can calculate your position very quickly. But, if it has been a while sine the unit was turned off, or you have moved substantially since the last signals were received, then the almanac is outdated and the unit has to download the alamanac again from scratch (longer time to getting a GPS fix)

This is a very leymans explanation, and I'm sure there may be a few discrepancies (or oversimplifications), but it may help some to understand why sometimes it takes a while to get a GPS fix.

Also, Googlemaps does not give alot of feedback as to what is going on in the background. all you see on the screen is "seeking....."

Most of the handheld GPS units (the GPS apps I am testing too) have a "satellite screen" which shows you what satellites the unit can see, and if they are in "acquisition mode" (downloading the almanac)

Pardon the typos. This is too long to proofread :)

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Found my first geocache today using the Omnia. It's one not far from my house close to a wildlife reserve. The Omnia was amazing. I get a lock in less then 20 seconds and it litterally stoped me on the cache. I was disapointed with GCz though. It had trouble finding the cache online then it couldn't download the coordinates. It did however import the coordinates into google maps and that got me there. I also notived the compass was working....only it pointed in the opposide direction; south on the compass was actually north, until the phone went to sleep and I had to wake it up, then I worked fine?!?

Anyway, I need something better, so lets find out who made GCz and talk with them:mrgreen:

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Have you looked at BasicGPS? I use it on my Touch Pro.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I use VisualGPSce(not BeeLine) and sounds pretty close tp something like what your looking for. It's free from the website.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Thanks SoflaDavid. I have tried Google maps both with the manage windows setting and com 8 and 57600. Ive only gotten it to work once at my house. The last couple of days I get nothing even outside. It just keeps searching for the sateliites, until after mayb 10 minutes or so a screen pops up saying that there is a weak gps signal. I am going to give GPSTuner a try and see how that goes. Did you do the registry hack that makes your External GPS icon appear? If so, what do you have those settings set to?

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I didn't do the hack, so my settings are at whatever is the default.


In other news, so far, the winners are BasicGPS and VisualGPSce.

They do exactly what I need, and they are FREE (which is always a bonus).

VisualGPS has a nicer interface, but I like the functionality of BasicGPS better. since both apps are very small, I'm just going to keep both installed.

Thanks BenC and Scotty0844 !!!!



GpsTuner was great, and worked good on the Omnia, but I'm going to try to avoid spending the $$ for the extra features if I don't need them.

I could never get GPSDash to work. Tried both versions of .NET and the program still failed on startup with a .NET error.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

GCz II is in the works. It's actually better then GCz in many ways, for one it doesn't NEED GPRS anymore. And it uses a radar instead of a compass. The lat and lon values are corect. He just needs to fix whatever is causeing the cache lookup tool from connecting and it will be a permanent addition to my omnia

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Some programs don't specifically call .Net 3.5. You have to tell WinMo to use it, not 2.0.

With reg editor navigate to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/.NetCompactFramework and change values of:

2.0.7045.00 from 1 to 0
3.5.7283.00 from 0 to 1

Close reg editor. Wait 20 seconds, soft reset.

Ted

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I registered BasicGPS in order to obtain the unlimited geocach list - again it works well.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Thanks for the interesting read on GPS fixing. Maybe you can help me answer my questions based on your tutorial...

Why not have a program calculate the location of the satellites based on user input of a cross street (if you are on a road) or a time + city/town (if you are hiking)?

I figure since these satellites orbit the earth at calculated speed along with the earths rotation. Why not have a program which can make a temporary almanac/offline almanac until a true/real almanac can be downloaded from the primary and/or secondary satellites? Wouldn't something like this reduce the amount of trial and error? Which would result in a reduced acquisition time?

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

So I seem to be unique in that my GPS finds a lock in seconds even indoors? Can some one run GCz and see if their lontitude values are negative also? The most upto date version is .32

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

You're right. Actually, some routing software and GPSr allow you to input a "known" latitude and longitude (or sometimes a city name) from which it starts the process of searching for satellites based on what's called an ephemeris (a fancy name for a table that lists the projected locations of all of the GPS). My Garmin Nuvi 660 does this and some of the standalone PPC software does as well.

Back in the "early" days of consumer GPSr use this was fairly common as the "time to acquisition" of these devices was pretty slow -- 10-20 minutes wasn't uncommon. Current devices can usually obtain a fix in far less time and, probably as a result, don't offer the option to input a "known" location to serve as a starting point.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

I tried it originally with the 2.0 and it didn't work.
Then I installed 3.5 with the reg hack you mentioned and it still didn't work.

I left the 3.5 and hack in place since the consensus is that it makes the device run a little faster.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

And Yes, the realy old GPS units MADE you enter a starting location.

Then they made it where it would try to figure it out on it's own, and after a few minutes it couldn't, it would ask you to enter your aproximate location.

Now most of the units don't even have that option anymore.

Re: GPS Program Reccommendation (non-mapping)
 

Thanks for your response.

Would you happen to know which older and/or current PPC softwares utilize ephemeris? I would be interested in trying something like this out in my area where it can take up to 5-6 minutes to aquire a fix from a cold start. The aquisition time is significantly increased while moving. (Likely due to downloading partial almanacs)

I would be interested in seeing if there is a significant difference in aquisition time by using ephemeris in my neighborhood.