Mobile Phone GPS to OpenCPN

[Snowpetrel]

Anybody know if a smartphone's gps can be linked to a PC and then used by open cpn? I have a samsung G2 running andriod. It could be handy as a backup. Cheers

[HappySeagull]

ExtGPS might work for you. It says it works on Android 2.2...
Worksgreat for me from a nokia. via bluetooth as the serial port
ExtGPS by Symarctic Solutions Ltd.

added: stuff here to try too.but maybe not free.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...randroid&hl=en

[sinbad7]

Happy..

Do you mean Network GPSD as a bluetooth connection in OpenCPN?
If not,how do you set the bluetooth connection from your mobile to a COM port?

Tore

[Snowpetrel]

Thanks for that link. Its free from the play store. Seems to work but now I am having ice cream sandwich bluetooth conection issues! Will try it on an older phone. Cheers

[sinbad7]

Happy..

My laptop bluetooth is now set up to recognise my Galaxy S II smartphone but my phone does not see the laptop? My laptop bluetooth setup tells me I can set up the connection as com port 7 and also as Android SMS. I have ticket both.

My OpenCPN only shows COM port 3 and Network GPSD. How do you connect?

Tore

[HappySeagull]

snowpetrel- glad to hear you got it free...it seems to have gone a little upscale since I started using it as a beta. The beta is still out there as a free and direct download but you will have to hunt a bit... and yes, bluetooth can be a bummer....but once setup it goes fine.

Tore-no, it's not gpsd. EXTGPS is an app. a java one...otherwise, You have to unravel the bluetooth stuff at your computer but extgps's output is pretty easy to find as a serial port once you've "paired" with the phone first!.When your Bluetooth is all correct, O has no problem finding and listening to the port.

Possibly A Useful Tip: Not sure about Win7, but on XP, if you have a bluetooth dongle and haven't installed it or generally "done" bluetooth yet, Plug in all the OTHER devices that use "Ports" you commonly use first because windows has a nasty habit of changing all the port numbers when bluetooth is set up and will assign unused Port Numbers to the bluetooth . It might be confusing when you have to figure out which Port is now your AIS or usb gps etc. when you start OpenCPN up .

[sinbad7]

Happy..

I don't know if your #6 was written before you read my #5.

I have a printer also with active bluetooth and Win 7 found and displayed it when I asked it to look for other bluetooth devices. At this time my ExtGPS was connected and waiting for pairing. I had also set up my Galaxy for Wi-Fi direct (set up peer to peer connectivity)

After a while,having disconnected/connected ExtGPS,my phone icon appeared in the listing. Right clicking the phone icon brought up to menu showing that COM 7 was available and no way to change. Looking at the GPS port setup in OpenCPN,it showed that COM 3 was available. No idea how to change..

Tore

[Snowpetrel]

Thanks happy seagull, I've got it all working from a cheap HTC android phone, streaming data through com port 40. It took me a while to work out that com 40 was the correct port and then of course it wasn't on the open cpn dropdown list of availible ports.

Then it took me even longer to realise that I could just type in the port number directly... DUHH.

Anyway I am a happy snow petrel now!

Just now got to sort out the stupid Ice cream sandwich bluetooth drivers on my samsung G2, should have stuck with gingerbread, worked much better.

Ohh, BTW ExtGPS for andriod is free but it has some adds at the bottom.

[sinbad7]

Snowpetrel..

Thanks for the tip re the COM port. I had no idea you could edit the OpenCPN displayed COM port this way,but HURRAYYYYY!!! it worked on COM 7 which is the port I was given by ExtGPS. Working perfectly now in my OpenCPN maps.

A very handy extra standby facility.

Tore

[HappySeagull]

glad it works for you all too!
...and that's not a "DUH" moment,Snowpetrel- not many people know that about O. For me, it is just a selectable port.

There's a pdf manual available www.symarctic.com/files/ExtGPS_User_Guide.pdf .

...the old beta had no ads that my phone could see but maybe has fewer features. I found a beta here that matches my original version and works on my old "almost-symbian" nokia. Symarctic ExtGPS for s60v3 (Freeware) update but there's no "jad" file that commonly goes with a java app....

[sinbad7]

Happy..

How do you ensure the 'ownship.xpm' maintains the same graphic quality as the
original ownship.xpm you saved to the 'Usericons' directory,bearing in mind the
size of the ship in meters you have set in the 'programdata/opencpn/opencpn.ini file?

I spent a lot of time on a 'hit-and-miss' basis to get the attached result,and it isn't
even correct as I want to set the ship lenght as 20 m,but actually entered 30 m.

I used the ExtGPS to provide the gps data for opencpn and to give 'ownship.xpm color.

Tore

[HappySeagull]

Tore, know what you mean, alright. Right now , I have all fields blank in the ini except "lengthmeters" and that seems to work to keep it crisp because my icon actually agrees with the default setting (about 15mm but don't quote me- it's here somewhere! I just remember the complaints when default was 10mm)

[Settings]
ConfigVersionString=Version 3.1.814 Build 2012-08-14
OwnshipLengthMeters=10
OwnshipBeamMeters=
OwnshipGPSOffsetY=
OwnshipGPSOffsetX=
OwnshipMinMM=

so, "LengthMeters" only comes into play when you zoom in a lot and your boat size actually matters amongst the charted rocks and docks etc... My charts and gps are not this good (although my eyes and sounder are!) and so the feature is wasted on me. anyways, the MinMM expresses what you will mostly see as a size, in millimeters, so if you measure your actual icon as would appear in a picture viewer, you will be in the ballpark. Or, by converting pixels to millimeters is another way if you have an-app-for-that!

(added: and what the heck is that xtra tag on my screengrab about? Some kind of forum glitch that is associated with firefox?oh well)

[HappySeagull]

noticeably sharper with no gps, by the way....at least it is here