Thread: GooPs Real-time GPS Tracking and Navigation for Google Earth -Version 2.5.13 Released

I'll experiment with that idea and see how it goes.

Originally Posted by FlyingsCool

One more request:
Would you be averse to creating a new viewpoint, "In the vehicle". It wouldn't be much use in a car, but I think it would be helpful for aircraft.

BTW, I like John Murray's suggestion about varying the width of the track based on a variable. EXCELLENT idea.

Thanks!

You may already be aware of this, but, just in case, you may want to check out a program called MyFSGoogleEarth http://www.elbiah.de/flusi/MyFsGoogl...oogleEarth.htm

As far as interfacing and com ports, you may find the following links useful

Freeware serial port bridge (and other) drivers:
http://www.mixw.net/related.htm#tncemu
Unfortunately, I was unable to get this to work with Goops (maybe you can)

So I purchased from Eltima.com a very capable and easy to use but rather expensive SP Bridge (but comes with free 14 day fully functional trial):
http://www.eltima.com/products/vspdxp/

A freeware ethernet to serial port driver:
http://www.hw-group.com/products/hw_vsp/index_en.html
I haven't used this, but it looks interesting

GooPs version 1.9.2 Release Notes

Important: You must remove any existing "GooPsServers" network links from your Google Earth "Places" folder.

Smoother navigation and control in Google Earth at all times.
GooPs no longer "fights" you when you use the Google Earth navigation controls.

Saved kml uses icon instead of 3d cursor.
The icon will be automatically scaled now, unlike the 3d cursor.

Various bug fixes around AutoView and error handling

TimeStamps are no longer displayed near the cursor.
This tended to obscure the cursor and was generally distracting.

Added FTP client capability for sharing your location remotely.
Requires an account on an FTP server (provided free by many ISPs). Periodically saves your location to an FTP server. The location can then be viewed via http by others with Google Earth or Google Maps.

Here's my GooPs location via google maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?&q=http:...ps/ftptest.txt

Interestingly, my ISP's http server won't serve files with the extension ".kml", that's why the file is named ftptest.txt (not ftptest.kml).

Here's the kml for a network link that will track my GooPs vehicle remotely.
This one updates every 8 seconds.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<NetworkLink>
<name>ftptest</name>
<Url>
<href>http://sites.onlinenw.com/goops/ftptest.txt</href>
<refreshMode>onInterval</refreshMode>
<refreshInterval>8</refreshInterval>
</Url>
</NetworkLink>
</kml>

There is currently a bug in Google Earth that does not allow you to ignore network link fetch errors.
If you exit GooPs and restart it without closing Google Earth you must manually refresh the link. Right click on the GooPsServers Network Link in your Places or Temporary Places folder and select "Refresh".

Originally Posted by FlyingsCool

You may already be aware of this, but, just in case, you may want to check out a program called MyFSGoogleEarth http://www.elbiah.de/flusi/MyFsGoogl...oogleEarth.htm

That's very cool. Do you think there is there a demand for this in the Flight Simulator community?

I don't think it would be too difficult to put hooks in to GooPs to get it's location data from FS.

I need to work on the "Air" mode in GooPs.

Have you gotten GooPs to work with GPSout?

Originally Posted by davidhite

That's very cool. Do you think there is there a demand for this in the Flight Simulator community?

Yes, there is also another payware program called FS Earth (http://fsearth.fsutil.com/) that I have not yet tried.

The problem currently is that running FS and GE on the same computer can really clog things up, and works best on a high end computer. I've been even running FSX and GE on one computer, an E6600/nVidia 8800 GTS with 2 GB of ram on a DFI Intinity 975/GX. The whole computer cost $2150 from scratch including the XP operating system from Newegg. But trying to run even FS9 and GE on my 1.86 Pentium M laptop with 2GB is pretty much useless (I used to do it no problem. It was slow but it worked. But GE seems to have gotten quite bloated in processor use with version 4). But if you have two computers, it works great.

Originally Posted by davidhite

I don't think it would be too difficult to put hooks in to GooPs to get it's location data from FS.

I need to work on the "Air" mode in GooPs.

Have you gotten GooPs to work with GPSout?

I have gotten it to work, but, in order to do it, I needed a serial port bridge since what you read from is com ports (see previous post outlining the solutions I have found). GPSout ships with a freeware serial port bridge from MixW. But I was unable to get that to work with Goops (perhaps because your minimum baud rate is 2400 and theirs seems to be fixed at 1200? I don't know). So I had to purchase a commercial serial port bridge, and, after much searching and testing, settled on the one from Eltima. All of the solutions out there seem to cost about the same. If you know of a better solution, please let me know.

If you need exact instructions on getting it to work, please let me know.

Or, and perhaps you might read directly from FSUIPC as MyFSGoogleEarth does? The MFSGE interface is pretty slick and I was able to connect to FS over my home network very easily (FS and MFSGE on one computer, GE on another computer over port http://IPAddress/Name:30080/...).

For FSX, you may want to skip FSUIPC altogether and check out the MS SimConnect API. But, given that there is still a huge FS9 userbase, your best bet is probably to stick with FSUIPC for now.

I've also got Goops and GE working with my BT-338 GPS receiver on a Motion Computing LS800 tablet for use in my car and in the air.

So, to answer your question, yes, there is a demand out there for a good solution for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator (and there are a couple successful ones, although I don't think the author is supporting MFSGE anymore), and, yes, I have gotten Goops to work with FS and it works very well, thank you.

Doing this allows me to experiment/practice how I might use GE/Goops while flying.

Thanks!

Thanks Thomas,

I can set the minimum baud rate to 1200 or whatever.

I worked on GooPs "Air" mode last night. There is a Google Earth bug that is preventing GooPs from setting the Focus Point altitude at anything other than ground level. Until this is resolved I can't really do any better than the current implementation.

I am also working on the ability to select Google Sketchup models for the cursor. You can get very realistic car and airplane models at the Google 3D warehouse. I don't know if you can convert Flight Sim airplane models to Collada.