GooPs Google Earth/GPS Tracking and Navigation - Version 2.4 Released - Page 9

davidhite · 02-23-2006, 01:35 AM

You bet.

Quote: Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

David: Please make that optional. Personally, I like the zoom. It's already fully configurable with the .cfg file. That's good enough for me.

b8: Use AutoIt Window Tool to find the name/class of the "nag" window. Copy the GooPsWindow sub-dir and rename it to GENag. Rename the INI file too and edit it to reflect the proper window name/class. In the startup script, add Embed(GENag:20000) an then add Type(I) so it will auto press the ignore button. Let me know if you have any trouble.

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 02:19 AM

I was thinking of adding a simple time variable for smoothing of autozoom, maybe in multiples of refreshes. Set the 'smoothing parameter' to 3, and no zoom changes would be made unless the speed is out of range for three refreshes.

RPM: set it to zero and it would function as it does now.

david: same could apply to autotilt, i just find the zoom jumps more annoying than tilt changes. in the other thread you mentioned using techniques for jumping the cursor position, im interested in the details

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 02:39 AM

as an iguidance user, i havent had much interface experience with autozoom. but with GooPs and the nature of the map rendering in GE (road names/markers are dynamically displayed and highly variable) it appears as if autozoom could be extremely powerful. FOr now, as the GooPs and Skinbedder skin progress i think the current method is quality, a simple user-defined config file. (adding my proposed smoothing parameter of course...)

But in the future more robust control of autozoom would really help create a killer app. im guessing a crude routing feature will eventually be implemented into GE, followed by Google Local POI's and more. As the amount of data displayed on the screen increases, the importance of autozoom does as well.

Eventually i would be interested in creating a system that takes into account alot of variable to control the zoom, ie: current speed, average speed, # of stops in the past X minutes, Routing/NotRouting, # of displayed placemarks, status of overlays (some traffic and large region weather maps have been overlayed very well), QUALITY of the available images (i havent tried the zoom levels i use in city in an area of lowres images, but im guessin it looks poor). Just an idea for features way down the line.

davidhite · 02-23-2006, 02:49 AM

I've got the "damping/smoothing" working now using a time variable. Six seconds seems to work OK with the demo, I'll expose it so you can adjust it as you like. I'm not sure how it will work with the variable range settings, you'll have to try it out and see.

Quote: Originally Posted by d2.n

I was thinking of adding a simple time variable for smoothing of autozoom, maybe in multiples of refreshes. Set the 'smoothing parameter' to 3, and no zoom changes would be made unless the speed is out of range for three refreshes.

RPM: set it to zero and it would function as it does now.

david: same could apply to autotilt, i just find the zoom jumps more annoying than tilt changes. in the other thread you mentioned using techniques for jumping the cursor position, im interested in the details

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 02:51 AM

Check out this overlay for real time weather, wind, solar info, sea temps, etc:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthrea.../203982/page/0

The SUNLIGHT overlay displays the globe in light and dark halves, refreshed every 30mins i believe. The dark overlay gives the map a good 'night' effect, or a view just showing roads. (note: toggling any dark overlay over the entire globe would be a nice feature for night mode, the above overlay would be automated). Could probably create a static dark image whos overlay position varied based on a formula for sun coverage as apposed to using the net based image.

The Solar Location Tab also included in the overlay pack is kinda cool as well, has no in car application though.

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 02:57 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by davidhite

I've got the "damping/smoothing" working now using a time variable. Six seconds seems to work OK with the demo, I'll expose it so you can adjust it as you like. I'm not sure how it will work with the variable range settings, you'll have to try it out and see.

thanks alot david, looking forward to trying it out.

davidhite · 02-23-2006, 02:58 AM

Do you mean making the cursor appear to be closer to your actual position? I just projected the cursor forward by about half it's length (the current position is really in the middle of the cursor). I also experimented w/ the nmea protocol and found I was able to get the lat/lon early in one of the sentences - so it does that if it can. Setting the GE refresh interval to one second and the refresh after stop to zero seconds also provided some improvement in the total latency.

Quote: Originally Posted by d2.n

in the other thread you mentioned using techniques for jumping the cursor position, im interested in the details

RPM_VR4 · 02-23-2006, 01:45 PM

Those overlays are cool, but you can't see anything when zoomed in.

d2: Great ideas, but SKINbedder will never be able to do most of that stuff. OSK based address/local entry and changing between route-view/car-view is the best you can expect. I doubt any sort of GEMod program could do much better either. To do what you are talking about would require a Nav program written from the ground up that just connects to the GE server (and doesn't use the GE program). VW & Google have already teamed up to make such a demo, so I'm sure it will be a reality in the next 5 years or so. Also, as you seemed to imply yourself, viewing different zoom-levels a lot is a good thing. This is why I still don't understand your "smoothing" request. Not that it really matters (as long as I can disable it, the more features the merrier).

David: Can you expose the KML refresh-time variable (in milliseconds if possible)? I would like to play around with that.

davidhite · 02-23-2006, 01:59 PM

The KML refresh time is an attribute of the GooPsServers Network Link, so it can only be changed when you add the link to GE (not at run-time). Do you still want it?

Quote: Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

Those overlays are cool, but you can't see anything when zoomed in.

d2: Great ideas, but SKINbedder will never be able to do most of that stuff. OSK based address/local entry and changing between route-view/car-view is the best you can expect. I doubt any sort of GEMod program could do much better either. To do what you are talking about would require a Nav program written from the ground up that just connects to the GE server (and doesn't use the GE program). VW & Google have already teamed up to make such a demo, so I'm sure it will be a reality in the next 5 years or so. Also, as you seemed to imply yourself, viewing different zoom-levels a lot is a good thing. This is why I still don't understand your "smoothing" request. Not that it really matters (as long as I can disable it, the more features the merrier).

David: Can you expose the KML refresh-time variable (in milliseconds if possible)? I would like to play around with that.

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 03:16 PM

i dont think any Ground Image overlay will look good when zoomed in, but at the proper zoom level i think it looks alot better than just displaying a weather or traffic map. i envision saving ground overlays (setting the GE zoom level suitable for the image), and toggling between goops tracking and weather or traffic. hit a button, Goops is diabled, the traffic image for your region is overlayed and zoomed correctly. hit the button to toggle back to tracking.

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 03:19 PM

Would creating a NAV solution really require a new client? Assuming a live connection, and running simulatious GE instances. it could be accomplished with api control over placemarks (quickly browsing the GE api info, im not seeing anything). Create a temporary placemark representing current positition, Query the server for driving directions to the target placemark, Then quickly fly through the directions and create a path file. Every few seconds a new path file would be created. assuming even further that the path file can be broken down into a list of lat/long coordinates, the current position could be continiously tested to see if it falls outside some set range of any of the points making up the generated path. Once outside the path (deviating from directions), the second instance of GE could requery the server for directions and generate a new path.
this could all be nonsense

RPM_VR4 · 02-23-2006, 04:43 PM

David: No, if I can change it from within Google Earth that is good enough for me.

d2: Ok, well, then it might be possible with a GEMod type program. I have never looked at the GE API so I have no idea how extensive it is. Can you really query things like "# of displayed placemarks"? In anycase, all SKINbedder does is send keystrokes. I have no plans to ever make it recieve data from other programs. It would be impossible to make that "universal" for use with any program.

0l33l · 02-23-2006, 06:47 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

I have no plans to ever make it recieve data from other programs. It would be impossible to make that "universal" for use with any program.

Well, it is possible. Its called plugins. But this would increase the complexity of SB exponentially. Maybe if we get more people on the Sb team (hint hint)

d2.n · 02-23-2006, 07:52 PM

RPM: the feature set in SKINbedder is great the way it is, sending keypresses and embedding applications. the things i was mentioning would work for an additional app, or as addons to GooPs. The GE api has strong view based refresh parameters that would handle poi's nicely.

instead of just postulating features, im going to start implementing some. going to read up on the ge api to see what is possible. david- if you need help devloping i offer my time, RPM- im not sure how much i could help with skinbedder, no real imaging skills

Google earth supports static image overlays (image stays in place, map moves) with variable transparancy. im thinking there is a screen capture or zoom application out there that will be able to capture an image of a running window (GPS status windows in Iguidance or zorro's GPS speedo or any other app showing sat info). Set the app to (or code the app to) capture the window at some refresh rate, then have GE overlay the static image in the corner or whatever. Could have real-time sat info (delayed as much as GE is) displayed in the lower right over the google logo.
0 l 3 3 l - your zoom app seems lke it could be adapted to capture a window and dump to image file. (hint)

0l33l · 02-23-2006, 08:00 PM

My zoom app can only capture a window hidden behind itself unless I want to mess around with other window's properties. And I bet I'd run into some trouble there.

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