Hi,
I recently got hold of the latest prototype of the above data logger
that is being manufactured by a Mumbai firm. In looks it is an
unimpressive rectangular box without a display. It is meant purely
for logging trackpoints and waypoints. It claims to be 32 channel and
has 4 MB RAM.
It has
1. power/lo battery LED
2. Satellite LED - glows red on satellite acquisition
3. Computer/Memory full LED
4. Waypoint LED
1. Power button
2. Computer button
3. Waypoint button
It runs on a Nokia cell phone battery and can be charged with a
standard nokia charger. There is a serial port and a screw to attach
an antenna.
The antenna comes with a 3 metre cable and has a powerful magnet. A
serial cable is provided with two outlets - one for downloading the
GPS data and the other for direct instrument to computer reading. The
cable also has a bell-push for recording waypoints.
Usage:
in a car, stick the antenna on the roof, the instrument inside and
tape the way point bellpush to the steering wheel - similar
arrangement for a bike. Walking, keep the unit in a pocket, the
antenna in a shirt pocket and the waypoint bell push in your hand.
Getting data:
Connect to a PC using a serial-usb cable. Type cat /dev/ttyUSB0 >
filename.txt, and the data is transferred. It can be converted to gpx
format using:
http://nrcfosshelpline.in/confman/browser/branches/sparc2gpx/
sparc2gpx.py
Accuracy:
Much better than my old garmin 72. I had walked around on the
footways of a park with the device this morning in heavily overcast
conditions with heavy tree cover - the paths marked here are without
tweaking - just join-the-dots:
http://openstreetmap.org/edit?lat=16.6938&lon=74.4613&zoom=18
Incidentaly the device also has the logo of FSF India on the top, so
I suppose this signifies that everything in the device is free software.
The device is not in production yet, but I am reviewing it because I
feel that efforts like this need to be encouraged - very good job of
adapting a device for the use of the enthusisastic mapper.
caveat: I am not an employee of sparc systems nor do I get commission
from them.
--
regards
Kenneth Gonsalves
Associate, NRC-FOSS
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://nrcfosshelpline.in/code/
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