Database Users

Is there Soft GPS on MDA

Hi,
Have a T-Mobile MDA/HTC Wizard.
Is there some GPS software which can connect via Wifi/T-Zones or Internet and do the same routing/function such as a GPS Device?
I dont want to spend $600 to buy a GPS device and then connect it to my MDA. Rather buy some GPS software which can work on the MDA by itself.
Thanks.
--

No GPS software is going to work properly without a GPS receiver from which to extrapolate your current position.

If you want GPS capability of any kind at all, you will need to get a receiver, period. There's nothing GPS related on the phone except for a settings applet that is disabled by default and only lets you set the port of a bonded receiver. There's also no way a network connection is going to be able to determine your position and software that attempts to do so using cell towers are only accurate to within a few miles, if it works at all. There's a bunch of receivers available on ebay (and elsewhere) for cheap...I got a Holux GPSlim236 for a little over $100 and it works great with the wizard via bluetooth. They are your options....getting a receiver or forgetting about it.

Or try Navizon. It was created to do exactly what you want. http://www.navizon.com
Used to be free, now you have to pay for it. But theres a 14 day trial i believe.
B

nextbond said:
I dont want to spend $600 to buy a GPS device and then connect it to my MDA.
--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw some bluetooth GPS receivers as low as $80. And you can use your GPS receiver anywhere.

If I have the tomtom software, do I have to get the tomtom gps receiver or can I use another brand?

I have TomTom 5.21 and use a non TomTom bluetooth GPs reciever.

Hi all,
Thanks for the responses. Seems I will need a GPS device. If thats the case, why bother with a PDA? Should just buying a Gavin or TomTom GPS device be enough?
--

Depends on what you want. If you have the phone already, $100 for a GPS unit and maybe $100 for decent mapping software is a whole lot cheaper than $500-$800 for a decent Garmin unit. Plus you get a phone and a PDA out of the deal. I went on vacation a few weeks ago and the mapping software plotted a route and told me how to get there. Once there, I used slingplayer to watch my home cable channels while sitting on the beach, I used the camera to take pictures of the beach and whatnot, the network connection to upload those pictures to a phlog, IM with friends and coworkers and check the weather and news with IE. Oh yeah...and it rang when I got a phone call or text message. Then it plotted a route back home (presumably the same way backwards but I didn't really check) and told me how to get there. Depends on what you want.
TomTom can work with other bluetooth receivers. Works with my Holux, at least.

I'm interested in buying a bluetooth gps receiver I found a few on amazon but this one caught my attention because of the price
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...6698/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-8138642-5399340?ie=UTF8
is that one any good?

I strongly advise you to check the type of GPS chip used in the receiver. The best one for the moment seems to be the Sirf star 3.
It's not as much of a detail as you may think : older chips can take a very long time to get fixed (which means that you might wait for dozens of minutes before even getting a GPS position), and are usually more power consuming.

How To get GPS working

can anybody tell me how & what is the step to get the GPS works ?
thanks..

Put some GPS software on your Ameo and point it to COM4.

what are some of the best gps software for ameo?
I would think google maps with the ability to real time track your location would be great. Anyone try that?

Tomtom Navigator 6.
Coz it's free.
Edit - I in no way condone the use of pirated software, and I'll no doubt burn in hell for my sins....

Dopod U1000
Hey!
I have an Dopod U1000, which is the Advantage/X7500/Athena but on the Asian market.
THe first and biggest problem I have is that the GPS is not working. I cannot get a GPS-fix, but I have contact with the actual GPS-unit.
It doesnt matter where I am or for how long I wait - I have never got a fix and once every now and then I get 1 or 2 satellites with very bad connection - but never a fix.
I talked to HTC about this and they didnt know anything about it.
I then, when I asked around, got a weird answer from a company here in Sweden. They guessed that since U1000 is for the Asian market they may somehow have "preprogrammed GPS" information, so that they use Asian satellites. Sounds very strange to me - as far as I know they are not geo-stationary so the satellites goes around and thus there are not specific Asian satellites.
Anyways, anyone know about this issue? Suggestions?
Thx!
Regards
Ted

wagger said:
Hey!
I have an Dopod U1000, which is the Advantage/X7500/Athena but on the Asian market.
THe first and biggest problem I have is that the GPS is not working. I cannot get a GPS-fix, but I have contact with the actual GPS-unit.
It doesnt matter where I am or for how long I wait - I have never got a fix and once every now and then I get 1 or 2 satellites with very bad connection - but never a fix.
I talked to HTC about this and they didnt know anything about it.
I then, when I asked around, got a weird answer from a company here in Sweden. They guessed that since U1000 is for the Asian market they may somehow have "preprogrammed GPS" information, so that they use Asian satellites. Sounds very strange to me - as far as I know they are not geo-stationary so the satellites goes around and thus there are not specific Asian satellites.
Anyways, anyone know about this issue? Suggestions?
Thx!
Regards
Ted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got my DOPOD U1000 from Taiwan, and GPS works great. you need to set the post to COM4, signal is much better then the BT device i got before. It doesn't matter where you buy your device

wagger said:
Hey!
I have an Dopod U1000, which is the Advantage/X7500/Athena but on the Asian market.
THe first and biggest problem I have is that the GPS is not working. I cannot get a GPS-fix, but I have contact with the actual GPS-unit.
It doesnt matter where I am or for how long I wait - I have never got a fix and once every now and then I get 1 or 2 satellites with very bad connection - but never a fix.
I talked to HTC about this and they didnt know anything about it.
I then, when I asked around, got a weird answer from a company here in Sweden. They guessed that since U1000 is for the Asian market they may somehow have "preprogrammed GPS" information, so that they use Asian satellites. Sounds very strange to me - as far as I know they are not geo-stationary so the satellites goes around and thus there are not specific Asian satellites.
Anyways, anyone know about this issue? Suggestions?
Thx!
Regards
Ted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the Global Positioning System is global, and should work anywhere on the globe !! apart from in war zones (and near US military bases) where the signal is sometimes deliberately degraded so enemies cant use satellite guided missiles.

wu5262 said:
i got my DOPOD U1000 from Taiwan, and GPS works great. you need to set the post to COM4, signal is much better then the BT device i got before. It doesn't matter where you buy your device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
should i install any third party software beforehand?

Help
My Device can find the GPS on com 4 but it will not work with Google maps or pocket streets can any one help?
Thanks
Ian

I've got Tom Tom Navigator 5 working (using COM 5), but I've also not managed to get Google Maps working.

GPS is not working with GM
edintao said:
My Device can find the GPS on com 4 but it will not work with Google maps or pocket streets can any one help?
Thanks
Ian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also a big problem in Germany - it's not possible to get it working with Google Maps. We tried everything (also to disable the GPS-Splitter and use Com5 which helps with some programs, but not with Google Maps).
So we gave up for the moment waiting for an update (maybe Athena, maybe Google).
Teja

alanplum said:
Put some GPS software on your Ameo and point it to COM4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got mine working in TT6 by doing:
Other NMEA GPS Receiver
GPS Baud Rate: 4800
Com4
Is this what everyone else is doing ?
is the Baud rate correct?
Its quite chuggy/slow compared to tt6 on universal. i.e. 2-3fps as opposed to almost smooth on universal
Also, is it possible to change that tomtom icon thats on the today screen ? its so ugly and blocky - really detracts from the otherwise lovely Ameo screen

Mine is working great. By the way, i'm using MapKing10. When setting the port just select auto and the software should be able to detect the port in use. My unit can lock on into the satellite signal in less then 5s, thats impressive.

Hi
Does anyone know where to get a copy of the aforementioned TT6 for free? I had just bought TT navigator 6 with GB + Western Europe for my Mio A701 about 3 months ago but was gutted to find I couldnt transfer the licence to my new Ameo so i sold the boxed product with the Mio.
Anyone know where I can get one (strictly for "backup" purposes of course).
Cheers

Very easily found on torrent sites.
I won't give a link here as I assume that would be frowned on by the management....

ok, will have a look. not that familiar with all this torrent stuff!
ta

GPS Port
I looked in the registry and I found that com 5 is the official port. Strange enough com 4 and 5 work.

Getting GPS working
I purchased an A701 last week and had one hell of a time tring to get TT6 to work, even though MM worked fine. It appears that some software originally designed for ealier MS does not like Com4. I loaded a program called VisualGPSse, a freedownload, and set that to com 4 and bingo TT6 spang into life. Before using TT now I lauch that small app and it works fine. I,ll try and find the link if Google doen't find it for you.
ps. Does anyone know of an app that will allow me to use hands free, my Mio Rom R65 seems duff in this area.

getting GPS to work
I've installed my vehicle navigation software (copilot live v5) without any problem twice.
But when I tried to instal another GPS-based application called MobileGolfScorer, the system was simply unable to sense any satellite signal. Not only that, the system became extremely slow to the point of freezing up and not responding.
Then, I read about the post that says com5 is the default, so I said to myself may be I should use com5 instead of 4 in my start>setting>GPS.
After changing to com5, my MobileGolfScorer was able to recognise signal although the signal was extremely weak. Also, it was no longer freezing up. I thought that may be I've at least solved the problem and the weak signal may be due to the fact that I was not directly under the open sky.
The new problem is that after changing to com5, my copilot stopped working! When trying to reset GPS within copilot, it just said that I either did not have the GPS connected, or I was having the wrong com selection and/or baud rate. I tried all possible combinations of com and baud rate (including letting it find automatically) but unfortunately the results were the same.
Then I thought to myself may be copilot can only use com4. Since vehicle navigation is a more important application to me, I may have to sacrifice MobileGolfScorer until the problem is resolved. So I went to start>setting>GPS and reverted to com 4.
I then tried to get copilot to work but now it would not. MGS also would not work. So now I have two GPS applications that are not able to sense any signal. I can see the gsm led orange light(GPS) and green light(phone) alternating, which means that the GPS is supposed to be working, althoug the orange light disappears by itself after a while. The thing is, with or without the orange light, the software were not able to sense any GPS signal.
What do all these suggest? Any idea???
Chapter 2 to my story:
Since I'm also experiencing MD lost cluster problems, I had wonder if it could be that some system files used by the copilot program is corruptted. So I decided to hard-reset the unit and reinstall everything from scratch again. The first thing that I did after hard resett was to instal MobileGolfScorer. It did not work when I used com4 and baud rate 4800. Could not detect any GPS signal although the orange light was blinking. Then I installed Copilot live Pocket PC v5. This software has no problem detecting the signal right away. In my mind, it seems to suggest that the reason for copilot to have stopped working could be due to file corruption, while MobileGolfScorer still for some reason could not detect it. What I also failed to understnad is why for a very brief period it did detect very week signal (see chapter 1 above).
My fear: Once I was so confident that com4 and baud rate 4800 solves all problems. Now I'm less sure what is going on. If you're lucky, it works; if you not lucky it does'nt seems to work. You could be doing exactly the same thing entering the same setting but you could get different results. Is it due to file corruption? Why does it get corrupted so easily?
Let's hope some smarter mind could figure this out for us.

Its all about the sucky comport management in windows.
If one app is accessing a com port, no others can.
If windows GPS management is accessing the GPS on com5, then you shouldnt connect to com5 yourself. The whole point of the windows management is that the software port (often port4) it creates is meant to be able to be read by multiple programs.
However, most programs dont seem to like the software port. Eg, googlemaps.
I just turned off the MS GPS management and only use apps that directly attatch to com5, and only one app at a time.

I can't figure GPS out.

Hi,
I own a GlobalSat BT328 (http://www.buygpsnow.com/GlobalSat-...-Performance-Bluetooth-GPS-(BT-328)__916.aspx)
I turned bluetooth on, made my 8525 able to discover other devices, I made a partnership with the BT-GPS-335A64 (no idea why it has a different name here), I then opened a new COM port called BT-GPS-335A64 (COM0).
I have my bluetooth device on, and I loaded up google maps. I tried to track my location..I don't need a fancy GPS device. I just need to be able to see where I am on a map.
Google Maps is not able to find my GPS reciever. How is this? My 8525 found it. I have no other way to even test if the GPS works or not. I don't want to spend money on a tomtom or anything. I just want to track my location and google maps sounded like a good idea.
Any suggestions? This bluetooth device is supposed to work with the 8525. It found it, but not sure why google maps can not.
Thanks =)

Change the com port to com4

I did that but Google Maps is still unable to find the GPS reciever even though I have them right next to each other. It is strange because my 8525 was able to locate the GPS when I partnered them in the settings and all.
Any other reasons why this might not work?

If you've never gotten a fix with that GPS unit before, it could take 10 minutes or more for it to determine its current location. Make sure you are in a clear area, and give it a good 10 minutes to make sure it has a fix before giving up on it. Also, you might try downloading a program called VisualGPSce, which shows the current satallite status and signal information, and you'll be able to watch it as it works on getting the fix.
HTH
Brian.

I downloaded that program. It says "Fix not available". I'm going to let it run and see what happens. I am trying this inside my dorm room, but I'll try it on the road tomorrow. I just hope I can get it to work.
If nothing shows up after 10 minutes then what should I do? Is it possible the GPS device is no good? I'm not asking for a lot out of it. I just want to see my location in case I get lost somewhere.
..I waited about 10 minutes and my GPS auto shut off. The 8525 never found a fix with that program.
Edit: I searched and people have got that device to work with the 8125 before, but I haven't seen anything about the 8525. I want it to work so bad.

I picked up a Bluetooth GPS unit for £18. It's a 44 channel unit and does a cold boot in 20 seconds, warm boot in 4 seconds, and a hot boot in 1 second. Lasts for like 3 months on standby and 20 hours when in use. I've even had it working when it's been sat in the passenger footwell and inside a house (by the window)
All in all a great little unit.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FASTEST-44-Ch...yZ156955QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have the garmin mobile XT unit. it works great with the garmin software that came with it. what i have noticed, but haven't tested, is that it cannot pair with both google maps and the garmin software. this doesnt seem to effect you however.
i must say that i was able to ONCE and only ONCE out of many attempts get the GPS unit to come up on google maps. so it can be done, dont give up. it was neat to put it in satellite mode and see where i was. i agree it should be a lot simpler to do this, i think it was truly dumb luck the one time i was able to do it because each time i go back to try again it is not working. most GPS will pick up signal from a window, so its probably not that.
not sure if this is WM6 only, but in my setting>connection>external GPS there are a few options to tinker with.
GPS program port
GPS hardware port
and then the manage GPS automatically option
i feel like the first time i did get it to work, i never went into this menu. however the second time i tried, it gave me a message saying that the program and hardware ports could not be the same. then the third time i tried, it let them be the same, but still didn't work.
so unfortunately all i have to offer are a few tips to try and look at. i dont know enough about it to tell you what will make it work.
if you do get it to work please post back and let us know! i would love to be able to let my nav software run in the background and dictate for me which turns to make while i watch the world around me whiz by via satellite view =]

lsatblu said:
I downloaded that program. It says "Fix not available". I'm going to let it run and see what happens. I am trying this inside my dorm room, but I'll try it on the road tomorrow. I just hope I can get it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inside your dorm room? At least tell me it is sitting on a window sill or somewhere that it can actually see the sky? If not, I'm not surprised it isn't working. For the first fix, take it outside where it can see as much of the sky as possible.
Brian.

EkS said:
Change the com port to com4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I set it to com port 4 and then had to go into the bluetooth settings and create a new com port and called it com port 4 and bingo everything started working.
Google Maps locates the GPS and position
TomTom found everything instantly when I set my GPS up in TomTom under com port 4.
Even WiFiFoFum is tracking everything perfectly.
I bought a JRT-29 for $61 it was one heck of a good deal. 42ch, Bluetooth reciever, included a car charger and usb cable. http://www.gpswindow.com/en/picture.asp?idtype=JRT28 (sorry the website sucks and I can't find the ebay auction that I bought it from)

My experience is that most of the GPS software is not designed to work with Com0... So, glad to hear change to Port 4 solve the problem.

Strange..I went near the window and the program GPSInfo (http://www.usglobalsat.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=25) went crazy showing me numbers and stuff. This was with COM4: 4800. All of the weird numbers stop when I turn my GPS unit off..but it still says no fix on that program.
Google Maps is still unable to track my location when I put it to find my settings or when I put it to COM4 4800..
VisualGPSec was unable to find a fix too.
So still no luck yet..

I got my Garmin gps10 working on my 8525 running WM6 today and thought I would share what I found.
Step 1: Pair the 2 devices (noticed with my Garmin I have to go in and refresh the services every time I turn the GPS unit on and off)
Step 2: Set your GPS outbound com port (I used 4 thanks to the help of this post)
Step 3: WM6 options Start>Settings>Connections>External GPS
Program Tab setting "com 5" or any other free one. VisualGPSce showed my other com ports used (1: Serial IR, 3: IrComm, 6: Serial, 7: Serial_BTUR)
Program Tab settings "com 4 4800" Or whatever you set your BT com port to and baud rate your device uses
Access Tab "check Manage GPS automatically"
Step 4: Set Google maps tracking to use WM6 settings
Step 5: Checked the "Track Location"
One other thing I noticed while using VisualGPSce I could not choose com 4 I had to use SER04: and instantly got connection to my Garmin.

GPS device

Hi
I just bought an GPS-Mouse, in order to make TOMTOM usefull.
It worked a couple of days ago, but TOMTOM can't find the GPS-device now.
Does somebody have some usefull tips for me?
(GPS mouse is a Adapt AD-500 GPS Bluetooth receiver)
Cheers

I only use holux, but try restarting phone that usually helps

xboxhaxorz said:
I only use holux, but try restarting phone that usually helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup same here, Holux M-1200 with iGo MyWay software. But are you sure you set up a secure connection with the bluetooth and set it as a com port 6 or 7 with the correct baud rate? Did you follow everything step by step in your manual for the tomtom?

Well, I tried to follow the manual, but it didn't really help me. There was very little information in the manual, and the information in it was not very clear. The fact is, that it worked a couple of days ago, and now I cannot connect anymore...

I have a motorola BT GPS, supposedly motorola is rock-solid, but I've had troubles with it at times. Rebooting the phone would work occasionally, turning off the GPS would work occasionally, turning off both would work occasionally, if you get the picture, no ONE thing did it each time.
Recently, I found Franson GPSGate (the full version) This keeps a good connection with the bluetooth GPS better than it ever has been before, even when walking away from and then back to the gps device. It also generates a comport that multiple GPS programs can use at once. Very handy little program.
Hope it helps someone.

itrek bluetooth for me....
Do you know about the settings, External GPS icon on the Wing? Go in there and make sure you've got com port set i have mine at program port 6 which is where most gps like to sit for some reason but if it's not working for you play with that setting unfortunately it's trial and error but play with it. I don't know what you'd need "hardware port" for but since you're using a mouse and not a bluetooth unit can't hurt to play with that too, and in the last screen be sure you've got "manage automatically" checked, or maybe you need to uncheck it. All stuff to play with. Did you put any software on lately that could have hosed something? Did you try reloading tom tom? See if you can find one of those freeware utilities that talk to the gps unit and see if it can find it.

This device doesnt have a internal gps correct ? I always thought it didnt but I see some people talking as if it does. Then again, you all wouldnt be buying externals if that was the case.

Gps trouble

hi guys
just bought the p3470, and already in trouble =)
i tried the tom tom and first it said that there wasn't any gps device available, now it just says that is waiting for a valid gps signal... forever and nothing...
i have a tom tom one in the car and sometimes this happens but not this long and eventually it works, this one doesn't...
Any thoughts?
I appreciate the help.
Thanks
Nuno

internal GPS of our Pharos is really slow : you must wait more than 10 minutes before having a valid GPS signal.

not on mine .. i dont get a gps fix in my house (only if look for a good spot) but its a question of finding the right settngs. or have it automanaged (ive read on orange roms gps is on com9 ...on my rom its on com4 at 4800 baud)

Here's what worked for me.
Download a free GPS program like visualGPSce. Then turn off the External GPS management in settings, and go outside for a nice walk or whatever.
Then, start up visualGPS and walk through the ports until you find something that works (doesn't complain about no communication). In my case it was COM3. I've seen other reports of COM 4, 2, and 9.
Visual GPS will complain right away if there's nothing on the port so you won't waste too much time. Once you find something, turn the microsoft External GPS management back on (I used COM 5 as the software port) and wait. You might also want to install QuickGPS so that it will find satellites faster.
I had to wait ten minutes outside under full sky for it to work, but that was the longest I ever had to wait. Visual GPS has lots of nice bar indicators and the like so you have something to look at while you wonder if your GPS is screwed.
If that doesn't work, you may be in trouble. Go through all the ports again and be patient if it says it can't lock on to satellites.
It now takes me about 1 minute to get lock on (assuming QuickGPS is up to date). It's a little laggy when driving but reasonably useful.