Navigation For Pandora

[WizardStan]

cant you edit that yourself since its open source? or does it take to much time or is the code one big puzzle?

Yes, I suppose I could do that, but I haven't had the time to look at the source.

would be cool to have a nice working 3d navigation on the panda

I know it's possible, I just haven't figured out how. The graphics engine the instructions told me to use doesn't seem to be available. I'll have to have a look at the source to figure out why; they may have renamed it, or I'm missing a library, or something.

and have you told the navit dev's the bugs already?

I'm not sure they are bugs. It only affects the Windows version, not Linux version I built from source. It's possible the downloadable Windows version is based on an old branch of the source, and they've fixed things since then. Once I get some free time, I'll try to build a Windows binary from source.

 

[borgqueenx]

cant you edit that yourself since its open source? or does it take to much time or is the code one big puzzle?

Yes, I suppose I could do that, but I haven't had the time to look at the source.

would be cool to have a nice working 3d navigation on the panda

I know it's possible, I just haven't figured out how. The graphics engine the instructions told me to use doesn't seem to be available. I'll have to have a look at the source to figure out why; they may have renamed it, or I'm missing a library, or something.

and have you told the navit dev's the bugs already?

I'm not sure they are bugs. It only affects the Windows version, not Linux version I built from source. It's possible the downloadable Windows version is based on an old branch of the source, and they've fixed things since then. Once I get some free time, I'll try to build a Windows binary from source.

sounds promising looking forward

 

[WizardStan]

You know, YOU could try downloading and building the source for Windows. It'd be a worthwhile project, and not really all that difficult. Just set aside a few hours this weekend.

 

[borgqueenx]

You know, YOU could try downloading and building the source for Windows. It'd be a worthwhile project, and not really all that difficult. Just set aside a few hours this weekend.

im gone this weekend, and the weekend after. but maby il have time the third weekend

is it more stable and better then the version for windows we tried?

 

[WizardStan]

The Linux version built from source is immensely superior to the Windows version. There's a lot of reasons this could be. It could even just be a config issue: the config for Navit is a really complex XML file of buttons and icons and things.

 

[lambertus]

Gosmore is not navigation software, it's just a renderer of OSM data. It'll take GPS data and tell you where you are, but no routing or anything. It was, however rendering very fast. This could be because I only had a small bit of map, rather than an entire city like I had with Navit. As a bonus, it could also search for POIs on the map. It couldn't tell you how to get there, but if you wanted to know where the nearest Shoppers Drug Mart was, you could select it from the list. If there's more than one, you need to look at each one to see where it is. Not very useful if you've downloaded the entire planet, but if you've only got a small city, it might work. No special features beyond displaying where you are on a map.

Wrong. Gosmore does routing, and quite well too. As Gosmore is developed for resource cramped devices like PDA's it renders and does routing very fast. On a PDA it can do routing within countries, but when using normal harddisks it can do routing worldwide (database covering the whole world currently is about 10GB). I made a website that uses Gosmore as the routing engine and it has become the first webbased routing application that could do worldwide routing using OpenStreetMap data. All of it is opensource. Gosmore's UI might not be as slick as Navit, but it's certainly worth to take a look at.

 

[amf66]

Does anyone have a USB GPS receiver that they recommend? This sounds interesting and I might buy one.

 

[Tor]

Go Bluetooth instead. It's just so much more convenient. I'm using the Holux M-1200, which is very sensitive (works indoors), got lots of channels (fast initial lock), can lock while moving, and lasts at least 20 hours on a charge (you charge it with a usb cable. My unit came with a car-usb charger adapter too.) I paid 27 pounds for it.

 

[borgqueenx]

Go Bluetooth instead. It's just so much more convenient. I'm using the Holux M-1200, which is very sensitive (works indoors), got lots of channels (fast initial lock), can lock while moving, and lasts at least 20 hours on a charge (you charge it with a usb cable. My unit came with a car-usb charger adapter too.) I paid 27 pounds for it.

yep, holux rocks. I also want one.

 

[craigix]

What we will try to do in regards to GPS bluetooth/usb is test and recommend certain software and hardware which we know works on the Pandora.

It might take a few weeks/months but we should be able to get a sticky on here and a page on the website which links people to exactly what they need to do XYZ. I really like the idea of opening up the Pandora past what people expect (emus, games, web) to new areas.

Now we are just waiting for the first MP cases this is getting very exciting.

 

[borgqueenx]

What we will try to do in regards to GPS bluetooth/usb is test and recommend certain software and hardware which we know works on the Pandora.

It might take a few weeks/months but we should be able to get a sticky on here and a page on the website which links people to exactly what they need to do XYZ. I really like the idea of opening up the Pandora past what people expect (emus, games, web) to new areas.

Now we are just waiting for the first MP cases this is getting very exciting.

thanks craig, because the pandora got a high-resolution screen, navigation would be awesome in the car
But we still need a holder of some kind. To attach the pandora to the car window.

 

[Dunny]

Not too worried about maps (though they would be handy, as would aerial photography) but I would like an app that takes my current position and displays a direction pointer to my destination. I'm an avid Geocacher, and this would be a perfect solution for me - I'd like to upgrade my crappy Garmin handheld, but new GPS devices are a couple of hundred quid. If the Panda can do this...

Wow, that would be heavenly. Shame the GPS isn't built into the Panda, really

D.

 

[gruso]

But we still need a holder of some kind. To attach the pandora to the car window.

I am working on something like that.

 

[WizardStan]

My last GPS had a very clever mount on it.
I bought a new car, and made sure to keep everything in the glove box, out of sight.
Two days later, someone broke into my car, took the time to rummage the glove box, remove the GPS, and unhook the mount (which isn't attached to anything but the GPS).
Point being, I have a very good mount already. I just hope it works.

 

[WizardStan]

Wrong. Gosmore does routing, and quite well too. As Gosmore is developed for resource cramped devices like PDA's it renders and does routing very fast. On a PDA it can do routing within countries, but when using normal harddisks it can do routing worldwide (database covering the whole world currently is about 10GB). I made a website that uses Gosmore as the routing engine and it has become the first webbased routing application that could do worldwide routing using OpenStreetMap data. All of it is opensource. Gosmore's UI might not be as slick as Navit, but it's certainly worth to take a look at.

Ah! I see. It actually does need a GPS signal, and simply searching for a location causes it to route there. That's why I couldn't figure out where the route button was. I thought it was just searching and jumping to that location.
It is, indeed, quite fast, faster than Navit. I still see one flaw, however: no way to narrow down the search. If I have the entire planet loaded, and I search for "fuel", I get quite the exhaustive list, and it expects me to select the right one. :blink: It also doesn't search by street number, but that's a problem with Navit as well.
Unless there's a problem with my build. At the least they should be able to estimate distances from current location, sort them, and strip out the ones "too far". It seems like it should be easy to do. I'll try experimenting more later tonight.
Navit still seems the more intuitive choice to me. At the least, Navit allows you to click-hold-select to choose your destination.
The two need to be combined in some way: Gosmore's superior POI search, and Navit's useful interface.

 

[borgqueenx]

But we still need a holder of some kind. To attach the pandora to the car window.

I am working on something like that.

But how many will you create? And the price is also important...

 

[DAP]

What we will try to do in regards to GPS bluetooth/usb is test and recommend certain software and hardware which we know works on the Pandora.

It might take a few weeks/months but we should be able to get a sticky on here and a page on the website which links people to exactly what they need to do XYZ. I really like the idea of opening up the Pandora past what people expect (emus, games, web) to new areas.

Now we are just waiting for the first MP cases this is getting very exciting.

thanks craig, because the pandora got a high-resolution screen, navigation would be awesome in the car
But we still need a holder of some kind. To attach the pandora to the car window.

Please do NOT make the holder attach to the windshield! There is a stupid law in California that limits the attachment points to impossible locations on the windshield. Make it attach to the dashboard instead as there are no location limits for a dashboard mount.
A beanbag mount with a couple of straps with hooks that attach to vents to keep it from sliding around would be good.

 

[openthebox]

I have no experiences with GPS nor Linux. Would something like this Globalsat BT-359 potentially work? It was on sale for $25, so I thought what the heck.

 

[WizardStan]

I have no experiences with GPS nor Linux. Would something like this Globalsat BT-359 potentially work? It was on sale for $25, so I thought what the heck.

According to a brief google search, this will definitely work, including someone who successfully got it running on their n800.
It is apparently standard NMEA data, you just connect the bluetooth as a serial comm device, and start streaming the position data off it (give or take a few tweaks). $25 is an awesome deal!

 

[gruso]

But how many will you create? And the price is also important...

Just the one.