GooPs Google Earth/GPS Tracking and Navigation - Version 2.4 Released - Page 15

davidhite · 04-06-2006, 01:27 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by davidhite

I don't think the speed readout shows when you're using a bitmap image for the cursor. Try turning autoview off.

I take that back. I just tried it on mine with your .png's and I do get the speed readout.

RPM_VR4 · 04-06-2006, 02:17 AM

Yeah, it's there... I just had a brain-fart. I thought he meant in a secondary window, not as the title of the "placemark icon".

LowLux · 04-24-2006, 08:19 AM

I cannot get this program to work:

1. How do i set my GPS to output NMEA?

2. When i Click Start it does not add anything to my Temporary Places folder?

Do I need the newest version of google earth, do i need google earth pro?

thanks

davidhite · 04-24-2006, 12:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by LowLux

I cannot get this program to work:

1. How do i set my GPS to output NMEA?

2. When i Click Start it does not add anything to my Temporary Places folder?

Do I need the newest version of google earth, do i need google earth pro?

thanks

Hi LowLux,

That depends on your GPS, there should be an option somewhere to tell it to output NMEA. On my Garmin Etrex Legend I believe its System->Interface and then there is a "read/write NMEA" option.

The GooPs demo mode should work with no GPS attached.

You do need the latest version of Google Earth, either free or pro will work.

RPM_VR4 · 05-03-2006, 06:50 AM

Hey David. A long time since any requests I know, but I found something for you to work on. I was playing with my config tonight and trying to get a really cool looking camera-track for accelerating/decelerating, and I noticed that the image scale does not fade like the other settings (it's as if 1 then .5 functions as -1 then -.5).

Also, it would totally help if I could get a "demo" of a car going 0-82 over 60 seconds and then slowing down to 0 over 30 seconds. Then end and repeat the demo. Some place with a lot of streets around too (like just get on the freeway, make it above 80, then get off at the next exit and stop to save the demo). Maybe I will try recording one myself

davidhite · 05-07-2006, 02:03 PM

Hi RPM,
I'll look into that scaling issue - hopefully I didn't break it.

mercury7 · 05-09-2006, 04:50 PM

David,
I just finished another long road trip with Goops as my sidekick. Here's some things I noticed:

There's still a helicoptering effect when I stop at a light with auto rotate turned on
With auto tilt turned on, the marker for my car stays at the top of the map view pane. If auto tilt is not turned on, then the marker drifts to the middle of the screen. It should be in the middle like that, or even just a bit - 100 px or so - from the bottom. I really only care about what's in front of me, not behind me.
It takes way too long zooming in from the whole earth view (on start up) to the zoomed in view of the area with auto zoom turned on
Updating is choppy - as an example, if I make a 180 degree turn , then auto rotate clicks through rotations, instead of a smooth transition. The solution for that would probably be to use an easing algorithm to feed GE false rotation data over short intervals of time.

That's all I can think of for now.

[EDIT]Okay I lied, I've got two more questions.

Is it possible to increase the font size of the turn directions for a route? Since it's 3D, the turn directions only get big enough for me to read on my small screen after I've already passed them (when my car marker is in the center of the screen). However, I suppose if the marker was at the bottom, this problem would fix itself, and because of the perspective, the text would automatically be larger.

Also, would it be possible for the letter of the current heading to be displayed - N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW? The compass is hard to read on my 7" screen. So, maybe, just replace the compass with the letter representation.

RPM_VR4 · 05-09-2006, 06:57 PM

1) You can increase the min speed to allow rotation in the .cfg file.
2) ? Works the same for me with tilt or not, always in the center. I don't know if david can make the car icon move down (center X-feet above the car), but that is definatly a good idea if he can.
3) You should increase the fly-to time in GE's options. I like it just where the pause slider begins. Aditionally, you should snap-shot your "default view" so it doesn't start from space.
4) I believe David can only update anything once a second. This is a GE network-link limitation.
5) Change the font size in GE's options. (increase the cache to 2000MB while you are there too)
6) Good Idea. I'll take it a step further and request that all of the text next to the icon be fully configurable with variables such as {speed}, {heading}, {sats}, etc.

Just FYI: GooPs accepts updates to the cfg file in real-time. Therefore, I'm going to make a bunch of cfg files and have SKINbedder buttons copy them over GooPs cfg. That way I can have a button for top-view far, top-view close, angle-view far, angle-view close, rear-view far, rear-view close ("chase mode"), etc. I will also try to make a button that will open the left pane, go to directions, and auto right-click the icon and do "directions from here".

davidhite · 05-11-2006, 01:06 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mercury7

David,
I just finished another long road trip with Goops as my sidekick. Here's some things I noticed:

There's still a helicoptering effect when I stop at a light with auto rotate turned on
With auto tilt turned on, the marker for my car stays at the top of the map view pane. If auto tilt is not turned on, then the marker drifts to the middle of the screen. It should be in the middle like that, or even just a bit - 100 px or so - from the bottom. I really only care about what's in front of me, not behind me.
It takes way too long zooming in from the whole earth view (on start up) to the zoomed in view of the area with auto zoom turned on
Updating is choppy - as an example, if I make a 180 degree turn , then auto rotate clicks through rotations, instead of a smooth transition. The solution for that would probably be to use an easing algorithm to feed GE false rotation data over short intervals of time.

That's all I can think of for now.

[EDIT]Okay I lied, I've got two more questions.

Is it possible to increase the font size of the turn directions for a route? Since it's 3D, the turn directions only get big enough for me to read on my small screen after I've already passed them (when my car marker is in the center of the screen). However, I suppose if the marker was at the bottom, this problem would fix itself, and because of the perspective, the text would automatically be larger.

Also, would it be possible for the letter of the current heading to be displayed - N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW? The compass is hard to read on my 7" screen. So, maybe, just replace the compass with the letter representation.

Thanks for the great report Merc,

I really appreciate your feedback. And thanks for your response RPM. I think RPM is correct in that your Fly-To Speed is probably set very low. That would explain why it takes so long to zoom in from space. I found that on my system I can set it as low as about .25 without the cursor creeping up toward the top of the display. If I set it to less than about .08 the view barely moves and the cursor moves to the top.

The Fly-To speed affects the total system latency (where you really are vs. where the cursor appears in GE). The GooPs network link is set to update at a rate of either once per second, or when the view stops moving. The faster the Fly-to speed, the faster the view stops moving, and the faster GE will query for the next update (typically one-half to one second from when received from the GPS).

The Fly-To speed also affects the smoothness of the view movement. The slower the Fly-to speed the smoother the view movement. Setting the Fly-To speed to it's fastest (5.0) results in a somewhat "jerky" view movement, but it will result in the absolute fastest update rate from the GPS to GE. A lower setting (say 2.5) makes for a smoother view movement, but the update rate will be slightly lower (but never less than once per second).

GE gives you lots of control over the text fonts. Check out Options->View->Fonts.

Placing the cursor at or near the bottom of the view is on my list of future enhancements.

An "on-view" status display (e.g. heading, speed, etc.) is also on my list of future enhancements.

davidhite · 05-11-2006, 02:28 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by davidhite

Hi RPM,
I'll look into that scaling issue - hopefully I didn't break it.

Oops, I broke it. I also broke the interpolated range and tilt <g>. That's why the scaling does not change correctly. Will fix soon.

The scaling factor doesn't interpolate from one row's value to the next but is applied to the current range (range/1000 * scaling factor).

RPM_VR4 · 05-11-2006, 03:43 AM

Cool, cool. I can't wait for the next update. I think the multi-config files switchable via SKINbedder buttons will be totally awesome, but I want really good config files to implement it with.

What do you mean about "a lot of control" over the fonts... I've only seen Small, Medium, or Large. I would love a way to make them (along with the street overlays) appear at closer zoom levels, as well as remain semi-transparent at further zoom levels. Do you know how to do that?

I would also like to be able to update the network link quicker than 1-second if possible. I don't know why you say 1/2 a second... it is always exactly 1 second for me (as set in the network-link advanced settings). I wish you could set it to 0.1 seconds.

Moving the screen center above the car will be totally cool. Since there is a 1/2 second delay between the GPS and the network link, it would be cool to intelligently move the car a bit ahead of the actual GPS co-ords based on speed too.

The only thing else I can think of to improve it right now would be to host a server so that everyone using it could see eachother on the map (as long as they have internet in the car). That and me making a kick-*** SKINbedder skin that allows you to enter addresses and local searches with an OSK.

davidhite · 05-13-2006, 02:19 AM

Version 1.7.6

Added support for aircraft
Added a demo/playback speed control
Raised labels a bit above vehicles
Fixed range/speed/scale interpolation bug

davidhite · 05-13-2006, 02:45 AM

Hey RPM,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm gonna have to git me a carputer so I can use your stuff!

If you go to Google Earth Tools->Options->View->Primary 3D Font you can select pretty much any available font and size. I don't know of any other font control options.

The network link is updated when the view stops moving or once per second, whichever occurs first. You can see what I mean by setting the GooPs Playback/Demo speed slider (in the new version) all the way to the right. In the debugger I can watch GooPs get pinged roughly twice a second.

I haven't had much time to work on the remote server stuff, I have a first or second cut at it but it still needs some work (and it's not as much fun as the Google Earth tracking part).

Quote: Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

Cool, cool. I can't wait for the next update. I think the multi-config files switchable via SKINbedder buttons will be totally awesome, but I want really good config files to implement it with.

What do you mean about "a lot of control" over the fonts... I've only seen Small, Medium, or Large. I would love a way to make them (along with the street overlays) appear at closer zoom levels, as well as remain semi-transparent at further zoom levels. Do you know how to do that?

I would also like to be able to update the network link quicker than 1-second if possible. I don't know why you say 1/2 a second... it is always exactly 1 second for me (as set in the network-link advanced settings). I wish you could set it to 0.1 seconds.

Moving the screen center above the car will be totally cool. Since there is a 1/2 second delay between the GPS and the network link, it would be cool to intelligently move the car a bit ahead of the actual GPS co-ords based on speed too.

The only thing else I can think of to improve it right now would be to host a server so that everyone using it could see eachother on the map (as long as they have internet in the car). That and me making a kick-*** SKINbedder skin that allows you to enter addresses and local searches with an OSK.

Triphazard · 05-21-2006, 01:41 PM

David:
I've just stumbled onto your wonderful app. I've read through all the posts here. I get the impression that it is possible for GooPs to play back a GPS track log but I'm not sure it'll work with the track logs I have.

I fly a hang glider and record my flights with my GPS. I then download those track logs using G7toWin.exe, which can save them off in a number of formats, including .GPX, which can be read directly by GE. G7toWin doesn't have an option to save the track as NMEA though.

You talk about saving off a GE placemark file that was created by GooPs, having read the NMEA strings directly from the GPS in real time during the trip. Is it possible for GooPs to read a GE path placemark file that was not created originally by GooPs? I'd like to be able to use GooPs to read an existing GE file, playing it back so that I can follow the orig. flight. Is that possible? If so, please provide instructions.

Thanks,

Ernie

davidhite · 05-23-2006, 12:42 PM

Ernie,

You can use gpsbabel to convert from .gpx to nmea. Then copy the file to "Play.me.nme" in the directory from which GooPs is running.
It should play when you press "Options->Play" button in GooPs.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password