Gps Capabilities

[javaJake]

I could swear this question was already answered, but searching "gps pandora" in Google did nothing, and searching "gps" within the Pandora boards returned 0 results. Very odd. :unsure:

So, my question is: with the current hardware, software, and kernel drivers available, can the Pandora be considered a geek's GPS handheld, and be useful enough to compete with commercial-grade handhelds already available?

 

[sindbad]

Yes. Most GPS dongles just work and there is open source software to make good use of them.

 

[javaJake]

Sorry, but that wasn't my question. I'm wondering, basically, if it can in a way that could compare with commercially available, dedicated GPS handhelds.

 

[sindbad]

It's up to the software really. There was a good one for maemo, check them out. Oter than that, there's no reason for it not to be competitive. Oh and a way to make it stick to a surface.

 

[verm71]

Oh and a way to make it stick to a surface.

I 've got a half-width 1U rack synth (a tiny little box) whose previous owner had velcroed it to the synth above it. Perhaps a bit of velcro on the dash, and a bit on the underside of the Pandora would do the trick, if you don't mind defiling the external aesthetics of your Pandora. Velcro works fine, unless your car's an Apollo 1 (am I crossing my root cause analyses?) :lol:

 

[WizardStan]

I've checked some of the open source GPS software already. Some of it is quite advanced. The only real problem is getting the maps.
The other possible problem I thought of is brightness of the screen against the sun. Commercial GPS units were designed to be plugged into the lighter jack, so have no problems wasting energy on a really bright screen. Pandora designed around a battery can't afford as bright a screen, so at midday, it may be difficult to read the screen on your dash.

 

[ledow]

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=42929&hl=

 

[lambertus]

I've checked some of the open source GPS software already. Some of it is quite advanced. The only real problem is getting the maps.
OpenStreetMap has excellent maps depending on your location and Gosmore (one of the opensource navigation applications that use OpenStreetMap data) is designed to use the OpenStreetMap data, has turn-by-turn routing and runs on Linux/WinCE ARM. One way to check if Gosmore's routing capabilities using OpenStreetMap data is good enough for you is through this site.

QUOTE
The other possible problem I thought of is brightness of the screen against the sun. Commercial GPS units were designed to be plugged into the lighter jack, so have no problems wasting energy on a really bright screen.
Often those GPSrs designed for outdoor usage have a transflective screen that use reflected sunlight to make the screen readable, but afaik the designers of Pandora chose not to use such a screen because it is slightly less sharp and bright in indoor situations.

QUOTE
Pandora designed around a battery can't afford as bright a screen, so at midday, it may be difficult to read the screen on your dash.
When Pandora is running on battery I can understand that, but if it's on mains/vehicle power will the screen then be bright enough to read in full sunlight? I would love to use Pandora outdoor for mapping.

 

[javaJake]

Thanks guys, you've pretty much done it. So far, as I understand it, the gist of what you're all saying is:

Hardware: got in the bag! No problems here, except maybe sunlight on the screen.
Software: easily ported, and nicely written, but maps could be a problem if OpenStreetMap doesn't already satisfy.

 

[TaG]

I just tried OpenStreetMap. There's a few new (very minor) roads by us and one, a service area, only opened last month and that is on there. Thats quite impressive. There's even footpaths and such. I've read many criticisms of OpenStreetMap but for my area I'm quite impressed.

 

[Vince2501]

Quick question: Is there a way I can just download a thorough map of my area and import it into the GPS software?

 

[conso]

I just tried OpenStreetMap. There's a few new (very minor) roads by us and one, a service area, only opened last month and that is on there. Thats quite impressive. There's even footpaths and such. I've read many criticisms of OpenStreetMap but for my area I'm quite impressed.



Some weeks ago, I looked at the area round my parents home, and there were only 2 roads maped in a 5 km radius around it. It's a very agricultural area, so I wasn't surprised and got a gps on ebay, to get active myself.
Now I have paid it, I looked again and in the same radius, EVERYTHING is mapped and tagged properly. Well, I won't blame nobody
Since every german city up from mid-size is very proper represented in osm, I have a pretty good navigation-system for the cost of 20 bucks (that's what I paid for my used bluetooth gps), once tango-gps or something similar is ported to pandora.

 

[redstar1949]

Will just any bluetooth GPS module work with these apps? Also, do any of these apps have voice navigation? How do the compare to things like TomTom?

 

[javaJake]

Any GPS device that works with Linux (and gpsd) will work. I think the Linux community has managed to get just about every popular GPS dongle of some kind to work. This is my unexperienced impression, though, and more research would be required to find a solid answer.

Obviously, you'd want to double-check that your hardware would work with the Pandora before buying anyway, so it's better to research each individual part manually.

 

[conso]

Will just any bluetooth GPS module work with these apps? Also, do any of these apps have voice navigation? How do the compare to things like TomTom?

Most GPS-modules will work, but I would always check

I don't know of any open-source navigation that has voice recognition, but on the other side: there is some commercial navigation software for nokias 8xx series, so with some luck, we can use these.

Free navigation software isn't as advanced as tomtom and compareable. Still, it advances very fast, so chances are good, it will equal at some point in the near future.
Same to the osm-material. In some areas, it is already superior to the material you get in consumer devices, but in other areas, there is nearly no information available. Still, osm is in very fast progress PLUS it will always be free available, so you can always use the newest dataset without buying a new map-licence and caring about what regions you wanna buy.

 

[atiflz]

Also it is very easy to upload your gps traces to OSM using TangoGPS if you follow some missing roads. That is what I am going to do since my area is not well maped yet.

 

[Arialia]

I discover openstreetmap yesterday by this thread and ... i 'm very impressive by his potential, of course lot of area are not tracing but for example a guy who live in city near my home had tracing all the city with pedestrian paths in the parks :blink: : it is the first map with pedestrian paths for park i think

Of course my gps with route66 have better tracing now, but for update i must pay and officially i can't because my gps is not a device made by Route66 :rolleyes:

@ati : thanks for TangoGPS seems great but i have a GPS under Wince, i need another program for track

searching ....

great we can put a little cart on any blog on internet :
http://arialia.dev-fr.org/p4054/2008-09-10...olie-carte.html

 

[atiflz]

Any SW that can record a gps track can be used for this purpose. Converting it to a recognized format is just about a few lines of script.

You can of course commit manually, drawing paths by hand, using satellite images as reference but that is boring. Just get an account and click EDIT.

Taking a GPS device and roaming around is much more fun.

 

[lambertus]

@ati : thanks for TangoGPS seems great but i have a GPS under Wince, i need another program for track

searching ....

There are a lot of applications for different operating systems that use the OpenStreetMap data for navigation (routing) purposes. Most of those applications can also track your movements. The OSM wiki also has two special pages about 'how to make tracks'.