GPSMonitor Updated

I got a phone call from a guy who uses GPSMonitor to document pole locations for installing fiber optic cables. It turns out that he wanted to copy the latitude/longitude information and paste it into his documents rather than having to read and type the numbers.

It was an easy fix to update it so the button on the Average Location screen automatically copies all of the positional information so it can be easily pasted. While I was in there, I tossed in a 1 meter grid so you can see how far the GPS points wander over time when you're actually stationary due to the built-in variance in the signal.

This is a free app, supported just by donations and some web page ads. I was experimenting to identify the differences between my purchased license app PingGraph, and this ad-supported freebie. Both trickle in with a few bucks a month, so I try to keep them up-to-date, especially when people ask for features.

GPSMonitor update

My free GPS tool has been updated, and is about ready for release. I discovered that there were some more lurking issues for localization settings which use "," in numbers instead of the "." which standard US English localization uses.

The good news is that I am on Windows 7, so I can set my own localization to match anything I please, and then run my software to see what it does. That's much easier to debug. Two who reported bugs for me to look at were Carlos and Andrew, both due to localization problems.

Anyone interested in testing it over the next couple of days prior to release, drop me an email.

Panasonic Toughbook GPS

One of my GPSMonitor users just sent me a note about how he's using the software on a couple of Panasonic Toughbook notebooks with an integrated GPS. Unfortunately the notebooks didn't have GPS software, so he tracked down several packages, one of which was GPSMonitor. Now he's happily monitoring sites across 3000 acres where he works.

So if you're looking for GPS softwar for your Toughbook, give GPSMonitor a try! There's nothing to lose but a minute's worth of bandwidth since the software is free.

This struck me as the ideal combination for the software, since you have the large notebook screen (compared with a typical GPS screen at least). If you just add in a modem card, you can even pull up Google maps as you wander around with the notebook.

It's always fun to see how people are using my software in ways I couldn't imagine on projects that are just mind boggling. I've heard about everything from fishing boats to environmental monitoring. What will you folks think of next?

GPSMonitor mapping update

GPSMonitor has an update to its mapping code which isn't actually a change to the executable. The current version 2.0.0.5 will automatically start mapping properly for a GPS which uses commas in the latitude/longitude rather than periods.

The application itself pulls the local number formatting information correctly from the computer, but it calls out to a web site to draw the map page. That means I need my web page to be smart enough to swap both number formats into the one my Google Map connection is expecting. It's much happier now. Here's a sample map. If you click on the marker or look in the data passed to the page, you can see it's using the European comma number format.

Also I noticed a typo which I've fixed but not yet distributed. The GGL tab should be labeled GLL. The code all uses GLL as it should, but I missed the incorrect text on the tab.