[OSM-talk] Build your own GPS receiver

[Elena ``of Valhalla'']

On 2013-03-18 at 12:04:54 +0100, Hans Schmidt wrote:
> Am 18.03.2013 04:09, schrieb Andrew Gregory:
> > It's all down to your application. What do you want to do that you can't do
> > on a $50 smartphone?
> One problem of smartphones is that they are battery hungry and the
> software tends to shut down unexpectedly. With a dedicated gps logger, I
> can log one entire day without having to fear that the battery is low or
> that some software crash erased all my data.

I've heard that modern (decent) smartphones have managed to reach 
full-day battery autonomy; I don't know if that assumes 
not using it most of the time (and logging breaks the assumption).

On the other hand, a simple device won't crash, and it will 
probably have a better gps module + antenna.

> I would really like to have a gps logger which a rudimentary display
> (e-ink would be nice) 

I have considered using a nokia 3310-like display: it's not e-ink, 
but it is low power and easily available for cheap.

(e.g. 6.95 EUR https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MOD-LCD3310/ )

>  and a mini sd slot, where all the tracks are just
> saved as a gpx file, so that I can copy them to my pc without having to
> rely on any software. 

If your GPS module speaks NMEA (which it should, if you want to 
be able to use it in a sane way) I'd recommend just copying it 
to the SD card: it takes less space than gpx, requires no 
interpretation on the device (something less than can crash / 
lose data) and it can be read by many programs on the PC, 
including gpsbabel, gpsprune and gpsd.

> Well, building your own gps receiver will most likely have problems with
> the not-crashing part, but it would be fun nonetheless.

as long as the hardware (homemade solders etc.) works the software 
part can be made so simple that it can't fail :)

-- 
Elena ``of Valhalla''