GPS tracking in QGIS [was: Re: [Qgis-developer] QGIS libs and python bindings]

[Martin Dobias]

On 4/13/06, Oleg Gusev <oleg at crista.uni-wuppertal.de> wrote:
>
>   CVS version of roadmap http://roadmap.digitalomaha.net
>   uses the dglib library from GRASS and works even on wince ;)
>   http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/9744/roadmapnav1tj.jpg
>   Then there is navit http://navit.sf.net , but it is a gtk+ program.

Thanks for pointing out dglib library, I'll take a closer look on it
if it could be useful for me.


On 4/13/06, Maciek Sieczka <werchowyna at epf.pl> wrote:
>
> Real time GPS tracking with QGIS? THAT would be great!
>

This app will be standalone - it will only use QGIS rendering. I don't
mean it to be a part of QGIS as it might be frustrating to users to
have all the GIS things in a simple GPS tracking and navigation
software. However it should be possible to add this functionality to
QGIS as a plugin.

Using map canvas from QGIS will bring a great advantage. Most of GPS
software only use a calibrated bitmap for map background. QGIS offers
much more, including WMS client! This means that even if you don't
have any map data, you can still use some publicly available servers.

Recently I've found OpenStreetMap project (
http://www.openstreetmap.org/ ), which looks very well and it might be
interesting to support it for routing. It seems that this database is
getting bigger every day.

Regarding GPS input, I'm currently in doubt whether to use gpsd
software (which doesn't support windows) or to parse NMEA data as they
come from GPS receiver or to use another way.

> Would it be possible to install QGIS (together with GRASS even better)
> on a Windows Mobile PDA to use it as a mobile GIS with a GPS receiver?

As Mateusz has mentioned, this will be a problem. But I think it could
be run on Sharp Zaurus or similar device.


Martin