For the Viewsonic G-Tablet, not a phone. I have a nifty little Garmin
GPS unit that plugs into the USB port on my windows machine and can use
some application (sorry, it's been over a year since I used it last)that
processes the output of the GPS, which is relatively useless since my
house doesn't really move around a lot. It would be super-neat if there
were equivalent software for the tablet, which DOES move around quite a
bit...

Not ready to root the thing quite yet, so it has to be 'legal'.

--
Thanks, Bev
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"What fresh hell is this?" -- Dorothy Parker

Sorry, it's a Delorme, not a Garmin. Probably makes the problem
insoluble :-(

On 01/02/11 21:12, The Real Bev wrote:

> For the Viewsonic G-Tablet, not a phone. I have a nifty little Garmin
> GPS unit that plugs into the USB port on my windows machine and can use
> some application (sorry, it's been over a year since I used it last)that
> processes the output of the GPS, which is relatively useless since my
> house doesn't really move around a lot. It would be super-neat if there
> were equivalent software for the tablet, which DOES move around quite a
> bit...
>
> Not ready to root the thing quite yet, so it has to be 'legal'.

--
Cheers, Bev
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"What fresh hell is this?" -- Dorothy Parker

Am 03.01.2011 06:12, schrieb The Real Bev:
> For the Viewsonic G-Tablet, not a phone. I have a nifty little Garmin
> GPS unit that plugs into the USB port on my windows machine and can use
> some application (sorry, it's been over a year since I used it last)that
> processes the output of the GPS, which is relatively useless since my
> house doesn't really move around a lot. It would be super-neat if there
> were equivalent software for the tablet, which DOES move around quite a
> bit...
>
> Not ready to root the thing quite yet, so it has to be 'legal'.
>

If your device can send NMEA data, then most of the free GPS programs,
you can load in the Android Market should do. But in most cases it will
be simpler to use Bluetooth instead of USB to get the data from the GPS.

If you just need a "moving map" I prefer MapDroyd which can work with
very compressed local map data which you preload at home. These are data
from OSM the Open Street Map which is in very good shape now.

Otherwise there is Google Maps of Maverick for online maps. All free.

Just to get GPS data shown I like "GPS test".

Wolfgang

On 01/04/11 08:14, Hans-Georg Michna wrote:

> On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:14:39 -0800, The Real Bev wrote:
>
>>Sorry, it's a Delorme, not a Garmin. Probably makes the problem
>>insoluble :-(
>
> I cannot imagine anybody writing a GPS program for Android that
> doesn't use the standard GPS API for the standard GPS chips that
> are in practically all Android smartphones.
>
> You need a smartphone anyway, because they use Internet data to
> kick-start the GPS. That's why they are so quick.

Not quite. I have a prepaid ordinary phone which costs me $10/year and
I have something like 12 hours of unused minutes which will last as long
as I keep renewing at $10/year. Some people need (or want) smartphones.
Not me :-)

> Apart from Google Maps I like Google's My Tracks and the
> independently made GPS Status. I also like Latitude, carefully
> and sparingly used.

I'll look. Maybe I'll get lucky.

--
Cheers, Bev
================================================== =================
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can
only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote
themselves largess out of the public treasury."
-- Alexander Tytler (Unverified)

On 01/03/11 02:26, Wolfgang Barth wrote:

> Am 03.01.2011 06:12, schrieb The Real Bev:
>> For the Viewsonic G-Tablet, not a phone. I have a nifty little Garmin
>> GPS unit that plugs into the USB port on my windows machine and can use
>> some application (sorry, it's been over a year since I used it last)that
>> processes the output of the GPS, which is relatively useless since my
>> house doesn't really move around a lot. It would be super-neat if there
>> were equivalent software for the tablet, which DOES move around quite a
>> bit...
>>
>> Not ready to root the thing quite yet, so it has to be 'legal'.
>
> If your device can send NMEA data, then most of the free GPS programs,
> you can load in the Android Market should do. But in most cases it will
> be simpler to use Bluetooth instead of USB to get the data from the GPS.

I don't think that's possible. The little delorme unit does nothing
except dump data to the windows computer using delorme software via USB.

> If you just need a "moving map" I prefer MapDroyd which can work with
> very compressed local map data which you preload at home. These are data
> from OSM the Open Street Map which is in very good shape now.

What I want to do is just record my path -- speed, elevation, whatever.
I have a garmin wrist unit which does that and which enabled me to
find out that I skied 48.5 mph down a certain hill, which I found
interesting and impressive. Transferring it to google earth is also
slick. I'd like to do that with non-windows software.

> Otherwise there is Google Maps of Maverick for online maps. All free.
>
> Just to get GPS data shown I like "GPS test".


--
Cheers, Bev
================================================== =================
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can
only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote
themselves largess out of the public treasury."
-- Alexander Tytler (Unverified)

On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:14:39 -0800, The Real Bev wrote:

>Sorry, it's a Delorme, not a Garmin. Probably makes the problem
>insoluble :-(

I cannot imagine anybody writing a GPS program for Android that
doesn't use the standard GPS API for the standard GPS chips that
are in practically all Android smartphones.

You need a smartphone anyway, because they use Internet data to
kick-start the GPS. That's why they are so quick.

Apart from Google Maps I like Google's My Tracks and the
independently made GPS Status. I also like Latitude, carefully
and sparingly used.

Hans-Georg

Am 04.01.2011 17:14, schrieb Hans-Georg Michna:
> You need a smartphone anyway, because they use Internet data to
> kick-start the GPS. That's why they are so quick.

It suffices to load these correction data about once a week, what you
can do via WLAN at home. No need to be online all the time.

But I'm not shure if any program on Android can make use of these data,
when an external USB (Delorme) is source of the GPS data.
>
> Apart from Google Maps I like Google's My Tracks and the
> independently made GPS Status. I also like Latitude, carefully
> and sparingly used.
All these use online maps.

If you don't use a smartphone with flatrate data, as the original poster
did, its necessary to use an offline map. These can be bought from
Navigon ... with routing ... and all at prices of 90€ or so.

Just to use a "moving map" OSM data will do and the most compressed data
with a very fine user interface for Android comes from "MapDroyd".

Wolfgang

In message <(E-Mail Removed)> Wolfgang Barth
<(E-Mail Removed)> was claimed to have wrote:

>Am 04.01.2011 17:14, schrieb Hans-Georg Michna:
>> You need a smartphone anyway, because they use Internet data to
>> kick-start the GPS. That's why they are so quick.
>
>It suffices to load these correction data about once a week, what you
>can do via WLAN at home. No need to be online all the time.

Most modern mobile OSes (iOS and Android included) do more than just
retrieve GPS satellite correction data. They also use nearby wifi
accesspoints and/or cellular towers to find an approximate location and
use this to assist with interpreting the signal from the GPS satellites.

Already knowing your location makes it much faster/easier to determine
your location via GPS (or more specifically, knowing your approximate
location makes it easier to determine a more exact location via GPS)

Am 04.01.2011 15:35, schrieb The Real Bev:
>
> What I want to do is just record my path -- speed, elevation, whatever.
> I have a garmin wrist unit which does that and which enabled me to find
> out that I skied 48.5 mph down a certain hill, which I found interesting
> and impressive. Transferring it to google earth is also slick. I'd like
> to do that with non-windows software.

There are two possibilities.

1) The GPS device is recording the path. Hopefully in GPX format.
Hopefully you can connect the device via USB and downlad the path.
That is possible with every good PC System.

2) The GPS is just sending a kind of GPS data in realtime.

Hopefully it is doing this in the standard NMEA format. This is a
standard format for serial connections but by emulating a serial
connection over USB this should be possible.

In this case Google MyTracks or Maverick should work and store your path
on the Android device even if there is no internet connection. The
program will just show an "empty map" until you connect the device to
the internet at home.

If the Delorme needs a special driver and/or does not use NMEA, then I
see no chance.

Wolfgang