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February 02, 2008
Real-Time Google Earth GPS Tracking - via Bus
Stefan Geens of OgleEarth writes about his experience using software to make his Nokia N95 into a blue-tooth enabled GPS and connect it to his Macbook Pro running Google Earth. He had a wireless 3G modem for Internet access so he was able to track in Google Earth in real-time as he was driving on a bus in Sweden. He's got a picture in his post showing his computer running GE from inside the bus.
Google Earth can be a great 3D navigation tool when connected to a GPS. One concern a lot of people have when thinking of doing this is Internet connectivity for Google Earth. But, you can actually use Google Earth when it doesn't have connectivity - it will show what's currently stored in your cache. Read more about using Google Earth offline. So, you just make sure to load up imagery for an area you plan to travel, and you can still use Google Earth whether or not you have a connection.
Last summer I used Google Earth on a sailing trip with a GPS and charting software (GE charts from EarthNC) as an experiment in sailing navigation. It worked quite well. Read about how it was done here. Also, here is a story about my first experiment using a GPS with Google Earth in a car.
Posted by FrankTaylor at February 2, 2008 09:53 AM
Comments
Posted by: cynthia at February 2, 2008 06:20 PM
For those of us with less than perfect eyesight, we need contrast. "Black on White will do". The newsletter appears to be light blue on white. If you have any pul with the sightseer news letter let them know. The news letter is light gray on white. Very bad on poor eyes.
Thanks,I enjoy the blog and the newsletter.
Posted by: john at February 3, 2008 03:38 PM
I was evaluation some time for software showing my exact position. If you know a solution working for ppc as well as symbian, that just would autoconnect on next free wifi connection and give me a string I cold parse through google map. please contact me at
www.huelskamp.info
Posted by: dieter huelskamp at February 27, 2008 08:58 AM
For those interested in doing a similar GPS application in C++ from scratch or more generally an application capable of interacting with Google Earth using KML data and the "network link" feature for periodically update something in Google Earth, you can find free C++ source code and a binary for windows at http://www.robprom.com
Posted by: Olivier at April 19, 2008 08:33 AM
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I'll have to try that gizmo.I'll follow up by reading your story.
Thanks for such an informative post.