GPS for Pyra?

[klapse]

I was wondering if there will be any options to use the Pyra as a GPS?

The strong battery life and laptop form factor would mean it could sit comfortably on my dash while I drive somewhere.

There are some open source OpenStreetMap apps (like maep, from maemo) which could be used.

Is there any chance Pyra would get a plug-n-play gps module, or is there a USB gps for linux that we could plug-in?

Cheers

 

[slaeshjag]

The 3G module has GPS in it, doesn't it?

 

[WizardStan]

It does.

Plus pretty much any standard USB GPS should work.

 

[levi]

Plus, presumably, any common or garden bluetooth one. Does mean carrying an extra charger though.

 

[DaMummy]

so this means we have to buy the 3g version if we want GPS by default on pyra? 

 

[mcobit]

I thought the 3G module was not optional but you can swap it for a 4G module if you want later.

 

[WizardStan]

It is optional and soldered to the board: you cannot just swap it later, but you can choose to not have it installed at all. Although ED has never mentioned whether he would take a whole board exchange in the future or not. Also the 4G may not happen at all.

 

[N3Cr0]

There is absolutely no problem with GPS.

For myself, I've got a USB GPS module, navit + openstreetmaps + espeak (a speech synthesizer) on my Pandora. espeak can even handle multiple languages and dialects. Just a few languages don't work properly, e.g. German: When I tried it, it sounded like a Swiss talking Polish backwards to me. I couldn't understand a word.

However, English is fine.

 

[DAP]

There are some open source OpenStreetMap apps (like maep, from maemo) which could be used.

Look at Navit. This is currently running on the Pandora.

It is OK, but it still needs work. It currently won't navagate to a street address, only a street, which can be problematic on very long streets.

It plays stupid computer tricks like saying "take ramp right" instead of "take ramp right to the southbound 101 freeway". If there is a turn to a cross street it will attempt (sometimes badly) to pronounce the street name, but if there is a connecting ramp, it will just say "ramp".

If you momentarily lose GPS lock, you must exit & restart navit to get the GPS connection back.

You must re-start bluetooth after the computer has been in sleep mode.

Usable, but not user friendly.

 

[FBnil]

I was reading this post and it seems there the GPS L1 is being deprecated somehow?

Boeing, Airbus Executives Urge Delay in US 5G Wireless Deployment - Slashdot

Won't the GPS receivers have to be replaced anyway when L1 is retired in the next few years? In fact, I'm pretty sure the L1 retirement was supposed to have already happened by now but was delayed as it took longer than expected to get the new GPS satellites launched. If I read the FCC's...

slashdot.org

I'm not knowledgeable in this topic, so I started searching:

L1, L2, and L5 GPS Signals: What Do They Mean? – Equator

Learn about the difference between L1, L2 and L5 GPS signals and all the details associated with each signal.

equatorstudios.com

Galileo (satellite navigation) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But could not see L1 being decommissioned yet. But hey, they shut off GSM G2 this year, and will shutdown G3 next year... so who knows if that will also be for the satellites.