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GPS devices (Read 4077 times)
watz
GPS devices
Jun 16th, 2005, 4:02am  
I'm interested in experimenting with using a GPS device as input to some projects. I know Glen Murphy posted some code a while back on the Alpha boards, anyone have any advice on what device to get? I noticed the Garmin eTrex receivers all use RS232 interfaces, any good USB alternatives?
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marius watz // unlekker // code & form // Generator.x
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Rob Lycett
Re: GPS devices
Reply #1 - Jul 18th, 2005, 5:08pm  
A good alternative to looking for a USB GPS is to get one of the Keyspan serial adapters. I used a Keyspan USA-19Qi with no problems at all on OSX (10.3) with Processing 68. Not tried the Processing beta yet with this.

I also understand that newer Garmin devices are begining to drop the 'NMEA' communication protocol, which uses sentences to pass on data, in favour of Garmin's own protocol. NMEA is not perfect, but Glenn's code gets data from the GPS using this method, all we need to do is update the code for the new serial methods. I posted a version of Glenn's code which saved the data as XML (GPX to be exact) so I'll probably get round to doing this some time.
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watz
Re: GPS devices
Reply #2 - Jul 20th, 2005, 11:52am  
Hi Rob, thanks for the reply. I ended up getting a Garmin eTrex and a generic serial-to-USB converter in the end, set me back $180 but enabled me to get a nice trace of an afternoon canoe trek down Black Creek, Mississippi. GPS can really bring out the geek in you.

Found this via Tom Carden's blog, it's a waypoint list of all the Tube stations in London: http://www.aotea.org/john/gps/waypoints/tube.gpd
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marius watz // unlekker // code & form // Generator.x
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Rob Lycett
Re: GPS devices
Reply #3 - Jul 25th, 2005, 12:47pm  
Bloody hell. I forgot to mention how super 'SimplePostscript' is for drawing GPS generated maps. You get the finest lines, and when printed on a large format printer, oooooohhhhh!

Is there a version planned for the Beta? Or do I soldier on with 0068 for doing this?

Sadly, having GPS waypoints of all London Tube stations may get you arrested (or shot in the head) at the moment.
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TomC
Re: GPS devices
Reply #4 - Jul 25th, 2005, 4:03pm  
Another thumbs up for SimplePostscript for drawing GPS maps.

I'm rewriting the applet over at http://www.openstreetmap.org at the moment and I've been experimenting with SimplePostscript using some of that data.  We have an A0 print of about 300000 GPS points from central London and it's ++pretty.  It certainly gets people talking: http://www.flickr.com/photos/piotch/27427883/
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watz
Re: GPS devices
Reply #5 - Jul 25th, 2005, 11:54pm  
Hey guys, glad to hear you found a use for it. I love the simplicity of PostScript, you can have vector output up and running in a manner of minutes. Perfect for GPS, as you point out.

I haven't done anything to SimplePostscript since I launched it (it was a 1 hour hack), but I know that Andreas Schlegel has hacked it into a 0091 library. I'll ask him for the code and release it when I have a chance.

Tom: Nice work on the OpenStreetMap. What is the underlying database format? Will there be an open API to access it, or will you publish chunks of it under an open license? Would be great to have some realworld GPS data for use in workshops etc.
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marius watz // unlekker // code & form // Generator.x
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mark hill
Re: GPS devices
Reply #6 - Jul 29th, 2005, 3:04pm  
Is it possible to read the waypoint information directly into processing, on the fly?
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TomC
Re: GPS devices
Reply #7 - Jul 29th, 2005, 3:42pm  
watz wrote on Jul 25th, 2005, 11:54pm:
Tom: Nice work on the OpenStreetMap. What is the underlying database format Will there be an open API to access it, or will you publish chunks of it under an open license Would be great to have some realworld GPS data for use in workshops etc.


It's a kind of wiki for maps, so all the changes are version-controlled and can be rolled-back in the case of errors or vandalism.  The idea is that anyone can edit the map.

The database has gps points (lat/lon/time) and nodes (lat/lon) and lines (two nodes).  There is a generic key/value system for adding metadata.  All of this is exposed via XML-RPC, but a new RESTful API is being written right now (details on the wiki).

All the data is creative commons licensed (attribute/share-alike).  There is talk of making the openstreetmap database into a free service for sharing gpx tracks, but at the moment the tracks are imported into the database and all but the basic metadata is thrown away (horror!).
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watz
Re: GPS devices
Reply #8 - Jul 30th, 2005, 4:07pm  
Thanks for the info, Tom, I had a poke around the Wiki to get an idea of it.

An API would be cool. An open service for sharing maps even cooler. The GPX format seems easy enough to use. Might be perfect for an idea I had of using Processing for locative media experiments.  One could get the GPX using another tool and then process it in Processing, or get the data directly into Processing and output it as GPX.

Either way, locative work in Processing should be fun.
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