3
gpsdrive v2.x - displays GPS position on a map
7
.SH About this manual page
9
This manual page explain the basic functions of GpsDrive and some
12
In GpsDrive you find tooltips for nearly all buttons, there is also a
13
HELP button for usage of the keys and mouse buttons.
15
For special purposes read the README files, i.e. README.kismet,
21
is a car (bike, ship, plane) navigation system. Displaying your
22
position on a map and a lot of other functions are implemented.
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.B This manual page describes GpsDrive version 2.x
26
GpsDrive displays your position provided from your NMEA capable GPS
27
receiver on a zoomable map . The maps are autoselected depending on
28
your position. You can set prefered scale, which the program tries to
29
get from available maps.
31
GpsDrive was tested with a GARMIN GPS III, a Crux II GPS PCMCIA
32
card and a Navilock USB receiver. All Garmin GPS reveivers with a serial output should be
33
usable. Other GPS reveivers that sends NMEA protocol over the
34
serial output should also work with GpsDrive.
36
These GPS receivers are reported to work with gpsdrive:
38
Magellan 310, 315, 320
46
Crux II GPS PCMCIA card
48
Holux GM-200 serial version
50
Holux GM-200 USB (needs USB to serial support in kernel)
64
Rayming TripNav, TN-200
70
Magellan Meridian Gold (works only with NMEA V2.1 GSA setting)
72
NAVILock GPS Receiver (http://www.navilock.de)
80
Motorola i58sr Cellular Phone w/built-in NMEA-compatible GPS
85
.B Do not use for navigation!
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Shows some debugging information.
93
Shows a lot of debugging information. If you have problems or program
94
crashes, send this output to the author. You should also combine this
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with -d. See also the section
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Shows program version together with the CVS version of the mainfile
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gpsdrive.c. If you send a bug report, also include this output.
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Displays a short help message.
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.BI \-o "\| outputfile\^"
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With this option, you can
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the NMEA sentences to a PTY master, file or serial device. This is
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useful if you use GpsDrive in simulation mode to provide other GPS
110
applications with test data.
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.BI \-t "\| device\^"
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Serial port device (e.g.
115
). You can also set it in the
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.BI \-l "\| language\^"
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Sets the language for the speech output. You have to provide the voice
121
files in festival yourself (see below). At the moment
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Creates own window for the menu buttons, status and map. This is
131
helpful on small displays as the Compaq iPaq or on Head Mounted
132
Displays, where the menu should be hidden.
134
.BI \-s "\| height\^"
135
Set the height of the screen, if autodetection don't satisfy you,
137
is i.e. 768,600,480,200
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of the screen, if autodetection don't satisfy you. Works
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only in combination with
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.BI \-f "\| friendsserver\^"
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Define a friendsserver to exchange position information with other
148
people. You can also set it in the Settings/Friends menu. You can start your own friendsserver with the program
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, which is included. More details are in section
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Set special mode if you only have 1 mouse button, i.e. on touchpads.
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Disable display of battery status. Some implementations of the APM-BIOS
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are broken, so use this option if gpsdrive crashes.
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.BI \-b "\| servername\^"
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Use a remote NMEA server. You can start gpsd on another
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, which has the GPS receiver connected and display the position on
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.BI \-c "\| waypointname\^"
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Initial position for simulation mode. Specify a
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from your currently used waypoint list.
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Disables SQL support. Only usefull if you have SQL support compiled in.
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Don't show zoom and scaling on the map.
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Disables the direct serial connection. You have to use Garmin mode
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Use gpsdrive -h to see the actual command line help.
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.SH CONNECTING A GPS RECEIVER
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First you have to choose if you want use the GARMIN or NMEA mode.
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This is the most used mode. This mode is provided by most GPS
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GpsDrive is now able to handle the serial
200
connection itself, so you don't need to start (and use) gpsd anymore.
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To enable this feature go into the settings menu, switch to settings 2
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.I Use serial connection.
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Make sure that your GPS receiver is connected and running before you
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start GpsDrive, so the program is able to detect the GPS device.
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You can also use gpsd, i.e. if you want to share the GPS data over the
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network or if you need additional features.
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You can force the use of gpsd by adding the
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commandline parameter, even if you enabled the direct serial connection
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in the settings menu.
218
To use NMEA mode with gpsd, you have to start the provided program
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first or do this by pressing the
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button in the GpsDrive menu after setting the parameters in the settings
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This program runs as daemon in background and provides a server,
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which sends the GPS data on port number 2947.
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The settings /dev/gps and 4800 BPS are precompiled if you start
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gpsd by yourself. If you start it from GpsDrive, the settings defined
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You can also change the gpsd settings i.e. to ttyS1 call it with:
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.B gpsd -p /dev/ttyS1
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but as mentioned, it's easier to do this in GpsDrive.
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If you are using a GPS receiver with an USB connection, your port may
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for the first device.
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Be sure to select NMEA protocol and a baudrate of 4800 BPS in your
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To see the output of you GPS do
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.B telnet localhost 2947
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and after the connect hit the
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key to see the NMEA sentences.
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.B NMEA sentences used
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Following NMEA sentences are used for specified informations:
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Position, Speed, Heading
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Satellite signal level display
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Altitude (not available on all receivers) and position if no GPRMC is
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available. In this case, speed and heading are calculated by GpsDrive.
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Display EPE (estimated position error), perhaps only available on
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At least you need GPRMC or GPGGA for using GpsDrive. If you can turn
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on GPRMC, please do so.
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In this mode, the program only gets lat/long data, the speed and
276
direction it calculates itself. There is also no display of the
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satellite signal level (this data is not supported by GARMIN
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GARMIN mode is faster (more data packets per second, in NMEA mode there are
281
only 1-2 packets every 2 seconds), but the calculations the program
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makes may not be as accurate.
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If you want to use Garmin mode, simply connect the GPS receiver to your
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Garmin mode is only provided by some GARMIN receivers.
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GpsDrive autodetects GARMIN or NMEA mode if enabled in settings
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menu. I would recommend to use NMEA mode.
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.SH Compilation without GARMIN protocol
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If you don't need the GARMIN protocol (i.e if you use only NMEA), you
295
can compile GpsDrive yourself to not include the GARMIN protocol
296
support. Do this with:
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./configure --disable-garmin
309
This has the advantage to produce a smaller and faster executable.
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Start GpsDrive as normal user with:
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from your shell, if you want another language see section
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On some distribution you may find a "GpsDrive" entry in your Gnome or
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It is important that you have installed GpsDrive as root, so it can
322
find the necessary files.
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.B Don't start GpsDrive as root!
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You can use GpsDrive without a GPS device connected. If you do so,
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GpsDrive will automatically start in
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if no working GPS receiver is connected and no gpsd
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is running. This mode is shown by a rotating globe.
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In simulator mode the pointer can move on the map (if enabled in settings
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menu). You can also stop gpsd if it is already running with the "Stop GPSD" Button.
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If you have connected a GPS-Receiver, you see in the
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window how much satellites are in view. You can click on this image to switch to the
337
.I Satellite position view.
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You must have at least 3 satellites in view. If you want to see your
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altitude, you need at least 4 satellites. The antenna of your GPS
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receiver must have free sight to the sky, so you cannot use it
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indoor. More satellites gives you a better accuracy.
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If your receiver have not enough satellites with usable signal, the
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GPS Info window is red. If your signal is ok and gives a valid
346
position, the GPS Info window is green.
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There are 3 modes in which GpsDrive is operating:
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This mode is entered if you have a GPS receiver connected. The cursor is at the position your receiver sends.
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The black and a red arrow shows your position on the map. The
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is pointing to your selected target, the
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shows the direction in which you are moving.
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If you have no valid position the arrows are blinking.
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If GpsDrive finds no GPS-receiver at program start, it
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shows the last position and the cursor will move to the targets you
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set. You can set your target by right-mouse click on the map or by
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selecting a waypoint from the FIND menu.
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This mode is activated by clicking on the "Pos. mode" button or if you
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"Jump" to a target in the FIND menu.
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At this mode, you can temporary change the position for looking around and
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jump to another positions (i.e. for downloading maps). In this mode this
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.B not your real position
378
and is marked as an rectangle.
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You can set the position by simple left-mouse click on the map.
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You can leave the position mode by by clicking on the "Pos. mode"
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button or middle-mouse click or right-mouse click (which also sets
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You can easily download maps from internet with the
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button. GpsDrive stores an index of your maps in the file
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map_koord.txt in your ~/.gpsdrive directory. You can also use any
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directory for your maps, but you have set the directory in the
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There is a file called "map_koord.txt" in your ~/.gpsdrive
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directory. Here is a sample:
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top_WORLD.jpg 0,00000 0,00000 88226037
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map_file0000.gif 53,60751 10,01145 3160000
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map_file0001.gif 43,08210 12,24552 3160000
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map_file0002.gif 49,81574 9,71454 7900000
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map_file0003.gif 47,72837 14,46487 592500
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The first row is the filename, then comes the latitude, the longitude
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and the scale of the map. The scale of 10000000 is good for Europe,
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and 100000 is for a town. To see detailed streets in a city, choose a
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scale like 10000 or 5000.
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GpsDrive selects the map with the best scale for your position. So get
420
a map i.e for Europe, Austria and Vienna if you want to drive in
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There is also the programs
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provided to download multiple maps for a bigger area.
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.B Please consider the copyright information
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www.expedia.com if you want to use their maps!
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.B Don't missuse this service by downloading more maps as you need!
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You will risc that you will be blocked by this servers.
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The decimal points in way.txt must always be a dot ('.'), in
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map_koord.txt '.' or ',' are possible. If you download maps from
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within the program, GpsDrive writes the map_koord.txt respecting your
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.SH Can I use other maps?
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You can also use your own (self drawn, scanned...) maps. The maps must
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be gif, jpeg, png or other common file formats (the format must be
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recognized by the gdk-pixbuf library). The lat/long coordinates you
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write into the "map_koord.txt" file must be the center of the map. The
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map must have a size of 1280x1024 pixels!
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Important! The maps must now be named map_* for streetmaps
451
and top_* for topographical maps. If not, gpsdrive won't
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There is an "import assistant" build in. Use this to import your maps.
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.SH Importing waypoints:
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The easiest way is to use the script "wpget" which does all for you if
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you use a GARMIN receiver.
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You can use the program "garble" (included in the package) to read
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out your waypoints from the Garmin GPS (Transfer mode must be set to
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GARMIN here, while GpsDrive needs NMEA!).
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Scripts: "wpget" is a script which calls "garble" in the proper way.
467
Be sure to have "wpget", "wpcvt" and "garble" in your path. This is
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fullfilled, if you did install the program as root and /usr/local/bin
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You may create a file "way.txt" in your ~/.gpsdrive directory
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DFN-Cert 53.577694 9.991263 FRITZ
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Finkenwerder 53.541765 9.842541 AIRPORT
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Fritz_Wohnung 53.582700 9.971390 FRITZ
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The rows are: label latitude longitude waypoint-type. You may omit the
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There is no need to create the way.txt file yourself, you can add the
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waypoints with GpsDrive using the "x" key. See help menu.
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There is no route planing feature at the moment. Route planing would
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need the use of commercial maps and a database license which costs
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more than EUR 10.000.
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If you must access the internet via a proxy server, you have to set the
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.I http://proxy.provider.com:3128
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where 3128 in this example is the proxy port.
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You can switch on the
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by selecting this option in the menu.
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If you switched to "position mode" there a rectangle is the
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cursor and no position is shown. If you zoom or select another map
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scale with the slider, this is done for the position of the
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rectangle-cursor in the same manner as it would be your actual
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position. If you click with the left button near the border, GpsDrive will
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scroll the map or load the next map if you are on the margin of the map.
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The middle mouse button switches back to normal mode, or select the
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"Pos. mode" menu entry. The same if you select a target with the right
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mouse button. Shift-left-mouse-button and shift-right-mouse-button
520
changes the map scale.
522
Please have also a look into the
524
menu in GpsDrive to be informed about the actual mouse functions and key
527
.SH Add new waypoints
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You can simply add new waypoints in two ways:
530
o To add a waypoint at the
531
.B current (GPS) position,
532
simply press CTRL and RIGHT-mouse-click. You can also press the
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o To add a waypoint at the
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simply press CTRL and LEFT-mouse-click. You can also press the
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In the popup window add the waypoint name (spaces will be converted to
543
underscores) and a waypoint type (see below for predefined
544
waypoint types). You can create a new waypoint type by typing it into
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the text field or choose a existing waypoint type from the list.
547
The list (in SQL mode only) shows already used waypoint types, NOT the
549
.SH Icons for waypoints
550
You can define freely your waypoint type names. But there are special
551
names, which results in special icons display in GpsDrive:
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open WLAN accesspoint
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crypted WLAN accesspoint
566
another kind of restaurant
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Monument, touristic attraction
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Speedtrap (Radar), gives warning if this is in front of you
600
The names are case insensitive.
602
Please have also a look on
604
, for a actual list of waypoint types.
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.SH User defined waypoint icons
608
If you are using SQL (see below) for your waypoints, you can define your own
611
Do the following steps:
613
Create the directory: $HOME/.gpsdrive/icons and
614
place your icons (image type must be PNG) into this directory, with the name of
615
the waypoint type (the filename must be lowercase).
616
In example for waypoint type "HOTEL" the file must have the name "hotel.png".
618
The PNG image can have transparency, and should have a size around
619
16x16 until 32x32, bigger icons may result in a performance hit.
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Your user defined waypoints override the built-in waypoint icons.
625
For managing a larger number of waypoints you should use SQL
626
support. This needs to install a SQL server on your machine. At the
627
moment, only MySQL is supported.
629
Don't be afraid, MySQL don't need much resources, is very fast, but makes the
630
management (including selection of waypoint types) of the waypoints
631
much easier. In SQL mode you can select the shown waypoints in the
635
GpsDrive use MySQL automatically if it finds the shared library
636
.I libmysqlclient.so.10
637
and the MySQL Server is running and a connection to the database is possible. For first use you have to run
641
.B Please read README.SQL for information how to setup the SQL database.
646
A route is a list of waypoints. GpsDrive guides you from one waypoint
647
to the next on the route.
648
You can add waypoints to a route using
649
the waypoint (select target) window. You can also add comments to a
650
waypoint which will be spoken by the speech system and also be shown
651
in the map window as scrolling text.
653
.SH Comments for routes
654
To add comments create a file with the same name as the waypoint file,
655
but change the suffix to .dsc, i.e way-trip.txt and way-trip.dsc, then
656
enter the comments in the way*.dsc file in the kind of:
659
Text which is displayed and spoken
667
Hier wohnt Fritz, der Autor von diesem Programm. Er freut sich auf Besuch und eine Einladung zu einem saftigen Steak.
670
Hier wohnt Hubertus, ein Freund von Fritz.
672
There is no limit of the length of the comment. Important is to start
673
the line with '$name' and the comment in the next lines.
678
Kismet is a 802.11b wireless network (WLAN) sniffer. If you have
679
kismet running, gpsdrive will detect it and program start and shows
680
new WLAN accesspoints in realtime on the map. SQL mode is necessary to
681
run Gpsdrive in Kismet mode. WLAN accesspoints which are already
682
stored in the SQL database from prior wardrivings are ignored. If you
683
have voice output in gpsdrive, you hear information about the new
686
Please see also the file
691
If you installed the program it will display messages in english,
692
german, french, italian, dutch, dansk, hungarian, slovak, swedish, turkish or
693
spanish if your language is set either with LANG or LANGUAGE. LANGUAGE
694
overrides all other settings. Call "locale" to see the settings and
695
call "set" if LANG or LANGUAGE is set. For german do:
697
.B export LANGUAGE=de
699
and then call gpsdrive in this shell.
701
You can also start it with the line
702
.B LANGUAGE=de gpsdrive
703
without setting the language for the shell.
705
Sometimes you have to do use LANG instead of LANGUAGE.
707
If your own language isn't available, please contact me if you want to
708
make the translations.
712
If you want speech output you have to install the festival speech output
715
.I http://fife.speech.cs.cmu.edu/festival
718
For german output you have to get the german festival from
719
.I www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/phonetik/synthesis/index.html
721
If you have a functional festival software call it as server with:
725
When you start GpsDrive it will detect the server on port 1314 and
726
puts out some status information as speech. You also have an
727
additonal button (Mute) to switch off sound output.
729
GpsDrive tries to select the correct language for your locale.
730
The -l option can force the languages for speech
731
output. At the moment english, spanish, and german are supported. GpsDrive
732
sets festival into the proper language. If the initialisation is not
733
correct, have a look into
735
and edit following defines do your needs:
737
#define FESTIVAL_ENGLISH_INIT "(voice_ked_diphone)"
739
#define FESTIVAL_GERMAN_INIT "(voice_german_de3_os)"
741
#define FESTIVAL_SPANISH_INIT "(voice_el_diphone)"
743
For this, you need the voices ked_diphone for english, german_de3_os
744
for german (this is a MBROLA voice) and el_diphone for spanish.
746
There is now an unsupported build of festival including english, german
749
it from GpsDrive homepage
752
the tar file in the directory /usr/local as root:
757
tar -xvzf festivalbuild.tar.gz
759
Start the server with
760
.B /usr/local/festival/bin/festival --server
765
There is a server program, called
767
which acts as server for the position of your friends. If you enable
768
it in the settings menu,
769
then you can see the position of all gpsdrive connected with this
772
You see the position of your friends as a car symbol on the map, including the name, time, day of week
773
and the speed of his last connection. The blue arrow shows the last reported direction of your friend.
775
The time is transmitted as UTC, but shown on the display as your local time,
776
so it is also correct if your friend lives in another time zone.
778
The server uses port 50123 (UDP), so be sure that you open the port in
779
your firewall. The server needs no root privileges and should run as
780
normal user or a special user with no privileges. The server was NOT
783
There is a friends server running on www.gpsdrive.cc, you can try it
784
if you enable it in the settings menu.
786
You can also send messages to other mobile targets (Misc. Menu/Messages)
790
The address for the mailing list is
791
.B gpsdrive@warbase.selwerd.nl
793
Subscribing can be done by sending a mail containing
794
.B subscribe gpsdrive
796
to majordomo@warbase.selwerd.nl
799
Please send bug reports to the author. Report version (gpsdrive -v),
800
screen size and info how to reproduce the bug. It is also a big help
801
to run gpsdrive for a minute with the -d option and send me the output.
803
If gpsdrive crashes with a segfault, I need a backtrace of the program
804
in addition. To create a backtrace do following:
806
Extract the tar file, change to gpsdrive directory and do
808
./configure \-\-with\-debug
818
Inside the debugger do:
820
run (if you use arguments write it after run)
822
When you get the segfault type in:
826
and send me this output.
831
E-Mail: ganter@ganter.at
833
http://www.gpsdrive.cc
835
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
836
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
837
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
838
GNU General Public License for more details.
841
Copyright (c) 2001-2004 by Fritz Ganter
843
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
844
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
845
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
846
(at your option) any later version.