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Have you have heard of companies like
Garmin, Trimble, or Magellan, and/or wondered what all the
hype in GPS was about...
In short, Global Positioning Systems
(GPS) provides a solution to reliably locate a point(s)
on the Earth (on land or sea), navigate to and from locations,
map areas, define boundaries and more. GPS is not new, but
has only recently
become reliable enough to utilize in commercial applications.
The fact is... GPS has already made serious in-roads in
the consumer electronics market; providing concrete solutions
for spatial awareness.
As developers, it is important to realize
that the market for great GPS applications (software) will
grow - in direct proportion to world wide awareness of
the benefits of GPS.
A Real World GPS Application
Two-thirds of the State of Texas is
infested with fire ants. In 1998 the cost from damage and
pest control reached five hundred eighty million dollars
($580,000,000). A price high enough to mandate monitoring
of these critters. (extracted from an article in GeoSpatial
- October, 2000)
GeoSpatial outlined the existing
data collection process:
- visit the infested site
- log a point on a GPS device or map
- go back to the office
- transfer the data into a spreadsheet
- upload the spreadsheet data to a
central server...
- data can be visualized via a web
based interface at http://fasims.tamu.edu
The application is not an elegant
one, but it does get the job done. Imagine if you had written
an application for the Pocket PC Phone that would send the
spatial data to the server (without additional steps)... You
could then visualize the data and/or receive instructions
on colonies to monitor or locations to inspect on the fly.
The possibilities are to numerous to list. Permit me to open
a bigger can of worms on GPS applications.
- Precision Farming - GPS enabled farm
equipment can help minimize the cost in applying pesticide,
fertilizer, and water to crops. There have already been
a few experimentations with automated crop harvesting.
- Asset Management - Many of the trucking
companies accross the USA can tell you where their fleet
vehicles have been, and what routes they have taken. These
companies can use the data to calculate the best route
through delivery... and can help reduce operation costs.
- Navigation - Many school districts
nation wide use GIS/GPS solutions to optimize bus routes
and track school boundaries. Imagine if school districts
could shave off $35 a month in gas per bus... estimating
an average of 30 busses per district. ($35 x 30 x 9 months
= $9,450). If this isn't a big enough number for you,
multiply it by 120,000
school districts!
- Utility Companies - Several
large power companies have already been experimenting
with wireless/GPS power grid interfaces that would enable
them to turn your power on/off with the flip of a switch.
Not to mention... Search and Rescue,
Cartography, Surveying, Border Management, Personal Navigation
(i.e. Hertz Never Lost), and Recreation (take a close look
at www.GeoCaching.com).
So, without further delay... lets dig
in...
For this article, you will need: Pocket
PC / Embedded Visual Tools 3.0, a GPS Receiver (I use a
Garmin eTrex Summit) and a GPS to Pocket PC cable. I have
provided some links and information to help you round up
the parts for the cable. If these sources don't have what
you need, I suggest contacting the manufacturer of your
Pocket PC. If you need something quickly, I may (time permitting)
be able to help you with an iPaq/Garmin cable.
Our solution is based around serial
access, and does not address using PCMCIA GPS. That is not
to say that this method will not work with GPS cards that
send receiver data through a dll that shows up as a valid
serial port (i.e. Navman GPS Sleeve). In this case you are
on your own (the provided application may not work properly).
For the rest of us, we will need a base connector that can
be connected to the data port on a GPS receiver. This serial
connection is by far the most common interface method, and
will introduce you to NMEA
- which is a standard in GPS navigation.
Serial Base Connectors for iPaq Devices
http://www.gomadic.com/connectors.html
GOMADIC stocks iPaq 3100,
3600, 3700, 3800 series, 3900 series connectors for about
$2.95 each. If do not have an iPaq series Pocket PC - you
may be able to locate a connector through http://www.foxconn.com/.
Assembly instructions for a 3800 series iPaq/Garmin combo
can be had at www.zyche.com/articles/gps_cables.asp.
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