How to build a GPS reciever

[crazymonkey]

Hi guys, i am looking at purchasing a GPS reciever, however i am not interested in all the extra functability that is being built into them. I was just wondering if someone knew how to build a GPS reciever that only gives you coordinates of where you are. Thanks.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi guys, i am looking at purchasing a GPS reciever, however i am not interested in all the extra functability that is being built into them. I was just wondering if someone knew how to build a GPS reciever that only gives you coordinates of where you are. Thanks.

You can buy GPS modules, which simply provide a serial output of the data, you could then build a system around it that only displays what you want.

However, it's probably going to be cheaper to simply buy an existing GPS, from those I've seen the modules usually cost more than cheap GPS units.

 

[Sebi]

Visit this website:
https://www.u-blox.com/

 

[spuffock]

On the subject of your poll, what other options do you have?

 

[spuffock]

Now come on! The question assumes that I am lost in the bush and have a functioning GPS. I dont know if I have a compass or a Bushman for company, so I have to assume I have not. The choice then becomes, do I trust this box or lie down and die.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I never reply to polls (I've got them disabled on my own PHPBBS's), I've not seen one yet which makes any sense - setting a poll is a very difficult subject, this one makes selecting only one option impossible for many people.

My response would be:

Yes, I would trust it.
No, I've never used one.

 

[grrr_arrghh]

Oh Nigel, appreciate a bit of humor...

Interesting point though, my responses would be:
yes
don't own a GPS
never used a GPS
never been in the bush

 

[Klaus]

Hi guys, i am looking at purchasing a GPS reciever, however i am not interested in all the extra functability that is being built into them. I was just wondering if someone knew how to build a GPS reciever that only gives you coordinates of where you are. Thanks.

There is a bit more to GPS navigation than just showing the Lat/ Longitude of the present location. If you were lost somewhere, that info alone does not get you out unless your brain has a calibrated map stored inside somewhere.

So, you also need a map of the area, with the lat/long grid lines shown on it (a simple road map will not do). You need a ruler or a set of dividers to measure distances of the map. You need a compass to get a direction to follow (unless you want to keep checking your simple GPS how neatly you can walk in a circle :wink: )

A simple GPS module probably has no correction for the various datums that maps come in, giving you a position error.

On the other hand, even a cheap hand held commercial GPS unit has features to store waypoints. So, if you program your entry point into the 'bush', the GPS will at any time show you the shortest route to get back to there. It will also tell you how far it is and how long it takes to get there at your present speed. If you use the trackback function you can follow the exact track you came in back out.

Frankly, I would not bother with a GPS module, the full unit is really much more practical. And, if it has too many functions, there's no compulsion that you have to use them all :wink: . Is a bit like those remote controls with a zillion buttons, one just learns to use the appropriate ones and ignores the rest

 

[crazymonkey]

I see your point about the poll. It did assume too much and was a bit far fetched. But how do you know you could trust a GPS if you were lost if you've never used one?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

But how do you know you could trust a GPS if you were lost if you've never used one?

Don't you trust technology?, GPS was built to military spec, so it should be pretty good - and there are millions of units out there, and I've never heard any suspicions they don't work.

 

[crazymonkey]

I know GPS is millitary spec, thats why i don't trust it. During the conflict in Iraq the US Government was able to alter the GPS system so anyone without a US Millitary GPS got a wrong position reading.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I know GPS is millitary spec, thats why i don't trust it. During the conflict in Iraq the US Government was able to alter the GPS system so anyone without a US Millitary GPS got a wrong position reading.

First suggestion I've heard of that, are you sure it's not just the usual anti-american propaganda?.

 

[crazymonkey]

I'm still at school and i was doing work experience with a company that automate shipping ports just after the Iraq conflict. They use GPS for navigation and while i was their they were working on a new means of navigation due to the problems during the conflict. Or so they told me.

 

[grrr_arrghh]

I know GPS is millitary spec, thats why i don't trust it. During the conflict in Iraq the US Government was able to alter the GPS system so anyone without a US Millitary GPS got a wrong position reading.

First suggestion I've heard of that, are you sure it's not just the usual anti-american propaganda?.

Did look like it to me, however, it wasn't so much as wrong reading, as a desensitized reading - the best accuracy you could get was to 100m instead of 10, or 1000 metres instead of 100 (I don't know what the usual accuracy is) - however, I also believe that so much protest was made about this that it was changed back to normal after not very long.

Tim

 

[fat-tony]

There is a feature available to the US Military called Selective Availability. This would introduce random errors into the GPS signal, but, over a 24 hour period, those errors would cancel out. There was always an encrypted signal that was always correct that the military could use. Also, by using differential GPS and a known ground location, you could receive signals to correct the introduced errors.

It seems, however, that on May 1, 2000, President Clinton removed this "feature" or turned it off.

https://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa050400a.htm

 

[Electric Rain]

I'm with spuffock, I mean... what other options do I have?

 

[satti]

wat a stupid question

dont ask questions 4 the sake of questions.stupid