Will it ever be possible for Android to be able to interface to a Bluetooth GPS Receiver for use in programs like Google Maps?
What sounds like such a simple thing which would give me some respite on my Samsung Galaxy S.
Cheers
Simon
I am curious also.
i need that too
I know that most of the Bluetooth GPS receivers use a simulated Comm port. As long as Android can use the Comm port and receive position data through ASCII sentences, then it should be fine.
i'm gonna try BlueNMEA (it's on the market)
i'll report back
edit: the app seems to be broken :\
If there is an app for NMEA data, that is a good sign. NMEA uses ASCII text strings to send data. To be honest, I know that Garmin's Bluetooth receivers will send NMEA data to the phone.
Sent from my Garminfone using XDA App
Any news on this topic?
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Look for "Bluetooth GPS Provider" or "Bluetooth GPS mouse" in the market...
I didn't want to pay for something like that and I did not understand why I should give phone call or network access for such an application...
So I've have developed mine:
it' free,
it's open-source (you can verify what it's really doing and you can improve it!),
it just asks for needed permissions.
The application allows to use an external bluetooth GPS on Android devices:
The application starts a service, then connects to a Bluetooth device (NMEA GPS) and creates a mock GPS provider which can be used to replace the internal GPS.
It's also possible to log the external GPS NMEA data in a file on the device.
The app need the following permissions:
bluetooth and bluetooth admin (connection to the GPS device),
location and mock location (replace the GPS location provider by a new one using the bluetooth GPS device),
write external storage (if you want to log the NMEA data into a file on the sdcard).
It should run on all android devices (2.0 and above) and NMEA bluetooth devices.
I have tested it with a GlobalSat BT-338 bluetooth GPS (SiRF III), a Galaxy S (I9000) and a HTC Sapphire (Froyo CM-6).
It works with Google Maps, Wikitude, GoPenS and my own personal navigation app. It should work with all applications that use Android official location API.
Note: in order to install the app:
enable Settings/Applications/Unknown sources,
enable Settings/Applications/Development/Allow mock locations,
download and install the apk.
Project page:
Bluetooth GPS for Android on SourceForge
BlueGPS4Droid apk: BlueGps4Droid_1.0.apk
herbert1 said:
I didn't want to pay for something like that and I did not understand why I should give phone call or network access for such an application...
So I've have developed mine:
it' free,
it's open-source (you can verify what it's really doing and you can improve it!),
it just asks for needed permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, went from zero of these to three or more.. More is good I guess! Does yours reconnect to the GPS when the connection is lost (walk away from the GPS, GPS accidentally gets turned off in pocket, etc)? What happens if you turn off the phone (hit power button.. standby), does it disconnect? Reconnect? What happens to apps while running, do they pick back up, or reconnect to the internal GPS?
EDIT: It disconnects. You should have it reconnect, especially if the signal was just lost watch for the device to become available again, and it'd also be really nice if it could do it automatically even if not just used; ie I get in the car, fire up the Holux 236 and a few seconds later your program connects to it.
Very very nice start, worked as well as the Bluetooth GPS Mouse program I've been using for a few weeks.. No sat or fix info, but that's a limitation of the Mock interface of course. Not much to be done there.
And it will be great if supports usb gps too. I have an android device with usb host and a usb gps, so will be great if we can attach a serial port to the mock gps in your app.
Thanks.
Corvus.
I actually have stopped using this, as about 50% of the time my phone is freezing when entering Waze with it enabled, 0% of the time without it or using Bluetooth GPS Mouse.
But it is a new program, it has room to grow.
khaytsus said:
Wow, went from zero of these to three or more.. More is good I guess! Does yours reconnect to the GPS when the connection is lost (walk away from the GPS, GPS accidentally gets turned off in pocket, etc)? What happens if you turn off the phone (hit power button.. standby), does it disconnect? Reconnect? What happens to apps while running, do they pick back up, or reconnect to the internal GPS?
EDIT: It disconnects. You should have it reconnect, especially if the signal was just lost watch for the device to become available again,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have this kind of problems in my car, so I haven't planned anything for that. For now, I have preferred that, in case of problems, everything stops properly. However I will verify what I can do (if I can find a simple way to do this).
and it'd also be really nice if it could do it automatically even if not just used; ie I get in the car, fire up the Holux 236 and a few seconds later your program connects to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A priori, no good way for doing this with the sdk. If we have a background task, which runs looking for the GPS mouse to often it won't be good for the battery.
Generally you have to switch on the GPS, so It should not really be a problem to start the service at the same time, especially if, as I do, you plug the android device in a car dock...
Very very nice start, worked as well as the Bluetooth GPS Mouse program I've been using for a few weeks.. No sat or fix info, but that's a limitation of the Mock interface of course. Not much to be done there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use the extra info in the location to have the number of sat used.
However, if Google has made a better Mock API, we should be able to use GPS Test directly...
Thanks for your comments,
Herbert
Hello,
I downloaded the file but that is not apk but zip and does not include any apy files.
Where can i download the bluegps4droid.apk file from? or How can I use the zip file in the android unit?
Thanks for the help
Sandor
Any Hope for Android 1.6?
I just tried Bluetooth GPS for Android but sadly found out it won't work with Android 1.6 such as used by my Archos 5 Internet Tablet.
Any hope for 1.6 support? Is it even possible?
I imagine the other two solutions suggested here were not found in my Market because they are 2.x only as well. Boo. I was so looking forward to this solving all my problems of the craptastic GPS in that device.
herbert1 said:
I didn't want to pay for something like that and I did not understand why I should give phone call or network access for such an application...
So I've have developed mine:
it' free,
it's open-source (you can verify what it's really doing and you can improve it!),
it just asks for needed permissions.
The application allows to use an external bluetooth GPS on Android devices:
The application starts a service, then connects to a Bluetooth device (NMEA GPS) and creates a mock GPS provider which can be used to replace the internal GPS.
It's also possible to log the external GPS NMEA data in a file on the device.
The app need the following permissions:
bluetooth and bluetooth admin (connection to the GPS device),
location and mock location (replace the GPS location provider by a new one using the bluetooth GPS device),
write external storage (if you want to log the NMEA data into a file on the sdcard).
It should run on all android devices (2.0 and above) and NMEA bluetooth devices.
I have tested it with a GlobalSat BT-338 bluetooth GPS (SiRF III), a Galaxy S (I9000) and a HTC Sapphire (Froyo CM-6).
It works with Google Maps, Wikitude, GoPenS and my own personal navigation app. It should work with all applications that use Android official location API.
Note: in order to install the app:
enable Settings/Applications/Unknown sources,
enable Settings/Applications/Development/Allow mock locations,
download and install the apk.
Project page:
Bluetooth GPS for Android on SourceForge
BlueGPS4Droid apk: BlueGps4Droid_1.0.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any way you could port this to android 1.6 ? everyone with an archos needs this app cause the gps that is in it is terrible . Please please please port it to android 1.6 .
I've been in touch with a developer of one of these programs and unfortunately it is not possible to port these apps to 1.6 since 1.6 lacks some of the Bluetooth APIs/libraries needed for the functionality. Without a whole lot of messy programming it isn't possible for these apps to work on 1.6.
Can I use an USB GPS receivier instead of a Bluetooth one?
Stefem said:
Can I use an USB GPS receivier instead of a Bluetooth one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure that such app exists...
Some devices (some tablets for example) have usb host capabilities, but not all of them.
If you can read the NMEA sentences from the USB GPS, it should be feasible (At least to adapt one of the app used with bluetooth GPS).
Thanks for this great App!
Wow!
Thanks Herbert1, this was exactly what I was looking for. I am using you app with a Samsung Galaxy S and a Columbus v900 BT GPS reciever. The reciever does the logging and is WAY faster and more accurate then the internal GPS android gives me.
Hi!
I'm using my tf in my car as navigation system. I have the direct comparison to my Samsung Galaxy S (SGS) smart phone and I have to say that Google Navigation isn't running smooth for me. When driving through the streets, the displayed position jumps or jiggles from point to point in an interval with about 6 seconds. My SGS can handle this smooth, with the arrow moving in a constant speed over the maps.
First I expected that the TF has a worse GPS module but it seems that the GPS receiving is pretty good with other diagnostic apps. Could it be that Google Navigation runs better on a slower and older device?
How can I fix this problem? I have the newest OTA update from 25th Aug for DE.
thx
Could you try another navigation software? May be its some of the background app/temps.
How are you getting your Map update?
You will need a 3G data to push the maps (unless you have pre-downloaded them first of course).
Beards said:
How are you getting your Map update?
You will need a 3G data to push the maps (unless you have pre-downloaded them first of course).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I activate wlan tethering on my phone and connect the tablet over wlan. Works very good and the map updating is pretty fast. It also possible to listen to webstreams or watch youtube without any problem so I don't expect a problem on the internet connection.
thx for your answer anyway
Can somebody confirm, that it should be possible to have a smooth navigation in google maps navigation? Maybe it is a basically problem with the transformer?
fpdragon said:
I activate wlan tethering on my phone and connect the tablet over wlan. Works very good and the map updating is pretty fast. It also possible to listen to webstreams or watch youtube without any problem so I don't expect a problem on the internet connection.
thx for your answer anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood.....
Try this and see if there is any difference:-
Next time you have a WLAN connection on your TF load Google Maps and download a map you would use for a particular journey.
When you next go out try using just your TF (not tethered) and the downloaded map.
Basically at this stage all we are trying to ascertain if the issue is with tethering or map updates.
Beards said:
Understood.....
Try this and see if there is any difference:-
Next time you have a WLAN connection on your TF load Google Maps and download a map you would use for a particular journey.
When you next go out try using just your TF (not tethered) and the downloaded map.
Basically at this stage all we are trying to ascertain if the issue is with tethering or map updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 things:
first... I think the beta labs feature to download maps is just for google maps and not google maps navigation. anyway... I make an offline test.
second... Do you mean to make a test without wlan or bluetooth enabled? Right now there must be much wireless traffic in my car:
bluetooth: phone to parrot
bluetooth: tablet to parrot
wlan: phone to tablet
other wireless: parrot wireless steering wheel remote
Maybe something of these disturbs the GPS?
Your phone is cheating. It has an assisted GPS that uses both GPS and cell triangulation to speed up lock and help maintain location when GPS is weak, without cellular your tf has to rely only on a limited GPS chip.
ryan stewart said:
Your phone is cheating. It has an assisted GPS that uses both GPS and cell triangulation to speed up lock and help maintain location when GPS is weak, without cellular your tf has to rely only on a limited GPS chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I was building up to Ryan.
ryan stewart said:
Your phone is cheating. It has an assisted GPS that uses both GPS and cell triangulation to speed up lock and help maintain location when GPS is weak, without cellular your tf has to rely only on a limited GPS chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to say that I develop GPS Receiver for space use and I know a little bit about GPS
Anyway AGPS or assisted GPS just speeds up the first fix (as you said) and can fix the position error a very little bit. On weak GPS signal it wont make any difference if you have AGPS or GPS. Both wont work and none would work better or worse. With no GPS signal the AGPS Receiver would only know where the satellites are but thats it and he can't navigate with this info only.
So I don't expect a problem due to the not available AGPS, just to stop the speculation .
Maybe it's a SW thing or the GPS chip is just bad.
Anyway I still don't know if google navigation is running smoth on your tablet?
The Problem is solved...
A Speedometer Widget seems to be the cause:
https://market.android.com/details?id=it.opbyte.odometerwidget&feature=search_result
I uninstalled the widget and Google Maps Navigation runs fluently.
thank you all for helping
Hello XDA! I've been having problems with my GPS and wireless hotspot over the past few months and I've decided it's time to try to get them to work right. Any information helping me fix either of these 2 problems would be greatly apperciated!
Phone: HTC EVO 4G
Rom: CM7
Kernal: [email protected]#1
GPS: Okay, so here's what happened to my GPS. When I first rooted my phone and flashed over CM7 my gps started giving me problems. When I would turn the gps on, the icon would show up in the top right hand corner and the map would follow me as I drove around and gave me turn by turn directions, BUT it would always start me off a couple streets away from where I was when I turned it on. It got pretty annoying so I looked up cases by people who shared the same problem. A good majority said it was a bug with CM and that there's an app in the market that will fix the problem. This app is called GPS Status & Toolbox. After reading fourms and comments made on the app itself, I was convinced this app would solve my gps issues. After installing the app I reset my gps status with the app. Now my GPS does NOT show up at all, my map does NOT follow me around when I drive and it does NOT give me turn by turn directions and It CAN'T locate my correct location.
Hotspot: After rooting my phone I came across an app called Barnacle wifi tether. It's a wireless hotspot app. The app broadcasts your 3g/4g signal wirelessly. When I broadcast my 3g signal, I can connect my laptop to it just fine and I have internet. But when I connect to 4g(and yes I have signal) my laptop is connected to it but with no internet access. It's the same way on my mom's computer. The app itself says it broadcasts 4g signal, so I don't understand why there's no internet.
I can connect my laptop to 4g just fine using easytether and it has internet.
Anyway, those are my 2 biggest problems and I don't know where to even begin to fix these. Any help is greatly apperciated!
Can anyone please help >.<
Hi.
I travel a lot from home to work and back (over 2h in one direction each day) and I want to be online all the time. There is no problem with my Galaxy S II because when I'm not in range of known wifi network phone automaticaly switches to 3G or GSM.
With my TF300T there is a small problem: when TF300T detects known wifi network it is connecting automatically (correct) but when I'm out of range of wifi I would like to automatically switch to internet via bluetooth connection (from paired Galaxy S II). At this moment I must to remeber each time to go into Settings->Bluetooth and click on device (phone) to reconect.
Is there any setting or app with will do this automatically each time wifi connection is lost?
Thx.
You might be able to do this with an app like tasker or llama. I haven't tried it myself though.
Thx for your reply.
Tasker is too expensive for that simple issue (I really don't need more from Tasker) but llama looks promising. I will test it.
Anyway I will be still looking for something simpler to do this. Any ideas?
PDAnet tablet comes close, it takes like one click. Not 100% automated, but it works for me so far.
Citruspers said:
PDAnet tablet comes close, it takes like one click. Not 100% automated, but it works for me so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's almost exactly what I need Thx
I wrote an app that tells me time to a starting line where the official start is based on GPS time. My app needs the best location accuracy and the time from the GPS satellites. To get DGPS, I need an external module and for that I bought a Qstarz 100XT which has WAAS capability.
I cannot find an app to interface the module to my phone or tablet. Here is what I have tried and what the problem is:
1) Bluetooth GPS - loss of bluetooth lock without re-acquiring. Totally useless in a race situation.
2) Bluetooth GPS Provider - time reported is system time, not GPS time. I can set the system clock off 5 minutes and all my GPS apps thing the time is off 5 minutes. Totally useless.
3) GPS Mouse - same as #2.
In addition I would really like 5Hz update rate which Bluetooth GPS Provider has but more important is something that works, does not lose lock, and reports the GPS time not the system time.
I have read like 100 posts here on xda and Googled it for hours. I posted on stackoverflow without success.
Does anyone know of an app that really works for interfacing with an external GPS and reports distance and time from the satellites and reacquires when it loses lock?
Allen Edwards said:
.
Does anyone know of an app that really works for interfacing with an external GPS and reports distance and time from the satellites and reacquires when it loses lock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Bluetooth GPS 0.7.5a by Googoo Android in combination with an external GNS5870. This works like a charm for months now, using copilotlive premium, sygic (mock locations activated)
Matthias