Navigation apps on Windows 8 tablet - a solution

[VegasGuy]

By way of full disclosure, I run Centrafuse Inc, a software company that makes carPC frontend software. Our product integrates with a variety of standard navigation applications (CoPilot, IGuidance, Garmin etc).

I recently purchased an Asus VivoTab ME400 Windows 8 tablet and wanted to try it out with Centrafuse Auto. The program itself ran great, but I couldn't use the navigation...because there wasn't a GPS available on any com port.

A Google search led me here, to the Cruising and Sailing forums. A number of question were raised about using desktop navigation and charting programs on tablets that had built-in GPS/GNSS chips, but did not have those devices exposed as a standard com port. When it was clear that there didn't appear to be a solution, I wrote one.

It's a small tray app that converts the Windows Location platform data to standard NMEA 0183 strings and outputs it via a virtual com port. It works with any program that expects to see a GPS device on a standard serial port.

I won't link to the site or the product (I run a forum too) but I wanted to make the product known to a community that might benefit from it.

If the mods think this is too much like spam, I understand.

Thanks!

VegasGuy

[sinbad7]

VegasGuy..

If you have a working Android smartphone with GPS you can pair it with your PC etc.
I use it as a backup to my USB GPS dongle on my laptop. Just download the FREE app on your smartphone called ExtGPS and pair it over bluetooth. I get COM4 connection and configure OpenCPN accordingly.

Tore

[VegasGuy]

Nice! I'll have to give a try. The only advantage to Centrafuse Localizer is that its not dependent upon any outside connections or devices. My real motivation was that I had a perfectly good GNSS chip, capable of using any navigation satellite system in the world, and I couldn't use it with most desktop navigation or mapping programs. Seemed absurd that I had to hook up some external device just to get that capability.

Of course, if your tablet or laptop doesn't have an internal GPS/GNSS device, your solution makes perfect sense.

Cheers!

VegasGuy

[sinbad7]

VegasGuy..

I find it strange that there are no GPS shown in the COM ports of a Windows 8 device. I know the trend now is to use USB instead of COM ports.

A Windows 8 tablet should be able to run windows software like the OpenCPN navigation prog,which of course utilizes COM ports. It has GPS built in yet no way to access it in the COM ports. Sounds VERY strange.

I just use ExtGPS as a backup should my USB GPS dongle cease to function,
after all,I always have my smartphone at hand..

I do´nt know anything about the Asus Win8 Tablet,does it work with all normal win software? And it also have COM ports?

Tore

[VegasGuy]

I was just as surprised as you. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I've seen this issue brought up on several different forums. Microsoft has put forward the Location Sensor Platform API as a standard for acquiring position information on Windows 8. Since it can use GPS/GNSS, WiFi triangulation, Cell phone towers or even your IP address to establish your location, it's not a bad solution for a wide variety of devices.

The problem is that most desktop apps expect to have a comport to connect to for that information, rather than directly accessing a .Net API. And most tablet/laptop manufacturers chose to implement the chipset via the API rather than through a virtual port. Thus, you have the Ext GPS app which creates a Bluetooth serial port to connect to, and you have Centrafuse Localizer, which creates a standard virtual serial port. Same solution, just different sources of the underlying positional data.

The question of running OpenCPN on Windows 8 was one of the things that led me to create the software.

VegasGuy

[sinbad7]

VegasGuy..

Thanks for the explanation,was not aware of that. I can understand Android devices perhaps going for a more up-to-date GPS interface,but NOT Windows 8 which continues the PC environment on a tablet without ensuring it is backward compatible with Windows programs,I find that very strange indeed.

I do´n think there are many OpenCPN users on Win8 Tablets as yet,so maybe they are not aware of the problem? In which case,your Centrafuse Localizer would be most welcome I´m sure.

Personally,I have the choice of using Android dedicated nav. progs like Marine Navigator and OruxMaps,both very good programs compatible with .kap (.bsb) type maps which we all have collected over the years. I can also run OpenCPN on my Galaxy 10.1 Tablet using TeamViewer or PocketCloud pairing it over bluetooth or LAN,keeping my laptop safely down below,operating the program from my tablet in the cockpit. However,I prefer using the dedicated Android progs until someone ports OpenCpn onto Android devices.

Tore

[Twisticles]

Hi VegasGuy,

The Win8 tablet community thanks you ��

I hope the mods let you post links here too. You could always inform the Open CPN people for inclusion on that site too?

[JayCall]

I find Microsoft truly baffling. I looked at buying the new Surface Pro. I have always used a PC (and now a laptop) for business and wanted Office, etc available on the boat. I have used the I-pad since the intro of so many nav apps. I went to my friendly MS store and asked "Can I review a list of apps ported to the Surface" so I can decide if it will work for me. I was interested in whether Navioncs and the like had yet ported to the Surface. Turns out, there is nowhere that you can review a list of apps available. You must first buy the Surface, then register in the App Store, then and only then can you see what is available in the App Store! You can't even browse on the display machines in the store as you must have full registration, including CC info, to access the APP Store. I told the guy to ask his bosses simple question "Why should I buy a Surface if I cannot see the software avaible for it"?

[Normanby]

I was just looking at a MS Surface Pro today myself.

I'm a bit of a numbskull when it comes to this stuff (except for MS Office stuff) but can someone tell me if I can run these on one?:
Navionics
Drag Queen
AIS receiver

That kind of thing.

One other question; is it possible to plug a USB GPS, a long range WiFi antenna, and an AIS receiver into some kind of hub, that will re-send the data from these devices over WiFi to a table/PC like the Surface?

I'd be grateful for any links to sites that will explain such stuff in words of one syllable...

[RonRock]

I'd like to see any followup on your question Normanby. I'm torn between an Ipad and something (anything) windows. Not an Apple fan.

[Land an]

Running OpenCPN on a Dell XPS with windows 8. The XPS is the laptop with the screen that swivels to make it a tablet. Pricey but works great and the XPS is actually a laptop that does real work (unlike the Ipad). THe downside is i hate W8. I mean really trully hate it.

[barnakiel]

Asus and Surface (only their non-RT versions) will run everything and anything that runs on a Win 8 device. Because they are Win 8 devices.

Asus-RT and Surface-RT will not run most of pre-Win8 software and not all Win8 software either.

PS Make sure you get the ports and DRIVERS you need for all your peripherals.

PS PS And look up the price tickets, if such trivialities count to you at all ;-)

b.

[SUNSHINESAILOR]

thanks VegasGuy for solving this Windows 8 shortcoming so quickly!
I have just purchased a copy of Localizer from Centrafuse ($14.99) and it works perfectly on my Asus VivoTab.
I'm running OpenCPN so it was easy to create a virtual COM port in Localizer and then create a Connection in OpenCPN... it streamed NMEA in the window as soon as I made the connection.
I have a laptop downstairs connected to the vessel's instruments and autopilot. There's a WiFi connection between laptop and VivoPad so they're also able to communicate fully.
cheers,
Ian

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by SUNSHINESAILOR

(...)

I'm running OpenCPN so it was easy to create a virtual COM port in Localizer and then create a Connection in OpenCPN... it streamed NMEA in the window as soon as I made the connection.

(...)

Why not use a TCP then? Why go via a COM when wifi available at both ends?

b.

[SUNSHINESAILOR]

I have my tablet with me at work (on another boat) 2000 miles away so it's handy to have a self contained system. I do use TCP for data (on my sailing boat) from the main GPS (ray 125) but it's also good to have a back-up GPS. It was a frustration having a built-in GPS in the Asus tablet but still having to use my phone for a GPS feed so the Localizer software is a good easy fix. Incidentally, i use FTDI USB to RS422 converters for the connections between PC and NMEA inputs from the instruments. cheers