![]() ![]() The left hand of Microsoft clearly has no clue what the right hand is doing. Janet, please tell that to your fellow developers in Microsoft, not us, the poor users of this stuff. You can use the Location API and a Location Provider Driver to get NMEA strings, instead of using a virtual COM port. ![]() Open mouth, change feet.Ī further irony is given by the fact that when this issue was raised in a Microsoft forum, Janet Schneider, a Microsoft employee, blithely writes that However, the AutoRoute team has completely forgotten to use the new interfaces for GPS sensors that may be present in Windows 8 devices. What I find truly ironic about this is that Microsoft trumpets the fact that AutoRoute 2013 now has support for the Touch features of Windows 8: As you can see, AutoRoute 2013 expects to find GPS data arriving via a COM port, and complains that it can’t find the GPS receiver: I downloaded a trial version and installed it on my Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which has a Broadcom GNSS Gelocation Sensor in it. Here for example is the very latest version of Microsoft’s AutoRoute 2013. So, as you might expect, traditional Windows navigation software, which has been written expecting to find GPS data coming in via traditional COM port interfaces, won’t see the new generation of GPS receivers being built directly into PC hardware running Windows 8.Īnd so it is. The point being that this means that there is a new set of interfaces for developers to use, and they are different from the traditional COM port interfaces. In the development of Windows 8, support for a variety of sensors, including GPS, was built into the operating system, and exposed by a new set of APIs. ![]() These days, they are “virtual” ports set up over a Bluetooth or USB connection. In the old days, these were physical RS232 ports. Instead, external devices such as GPS Data Loggers were used to provide GPS data, and interfaced to Windows software applications via Windows COM (communications) ports. Now the thing is that until very recently, PCs did not have GPS hardware built into them. I had noticed some reports that people weren’t able to get their navigation software to interface with the GPS sensor built in to some Windows 8 tablets. ![]() After installing another and rolling back it seems to be resolved.I see that I’ve used the phrase “open mouth, change feet” a number of times in the life of this blog to describe the continuing ability of Microsoft to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It didn't help that there seemed to be an issue with my Broadcom GNSS driver. This has been acknowledged by Mark at the company on pages 10 and 11 of their Localizer 4 thread on their forum Update 28Apr2014 Localizer 4.1.14.424 version seems to be working well. Update 16Apr2014 Localizer 4.1.13.405 version of Localizer isn't reporting Altitude correctly although it otherwise seems ok and reliable. Once correctly installed and RUN as administrator, assigning a COM port (eg COM6) is easy. Must be installed and RUN as administrator or it crashes. Start up reading of the datastream can be slow. Generic Sat Nav software Memory Map and SkyDemon now able to use inbuilt Broadcom GNSS in Win8.1 Asus Vivotab Altitude and position reporting seems accurate enough with acceptable update interval. New Localizer version 4 and new licence file installed April 2014. It's a mess that leaves us consumers very frustrated I had some success using the Lenovo GNSS driver under win 8.1 but it wasn't perfect - often taking 5 to 10 mins to find satellites, so for the time being I've rolled back to the default GNSS driver and use this for M Map and a Bluetooth GPS receiver for SD Richard Since upgrading to Win 8.1 I have had little luck getting the SD Navigation mode to run using Localizer (M Map still works ok) Solutions seen to revolve around SD writing the navigation element to address the Win Location platform instead of (or as well as) com ports and so removing the need for a product like Localizer or Broadcomm/Asus producing an updated GNSS driver or Centrafuze doing some reprogramming People using generic marine software are having exactly the same issues. Under win 8.0 the localizer software and SD (and another Sat nav Mapping application) worked well enough. Asus Vivotab, WIN8.1, Broadcomm GNSS, Centrafuse Localizer To say that the failure of Microsoft to make provision for Existing Generic GPS software to access inbuilt GNSS under WIN8 is short sighted is an understatement. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |