NMEA input in CalTopo Desktop
Good day! I would love to be able to use my serial (RS232) GPS as an input for CalTopo (at least in SAR Mode).
Ideally it would do the following:
1) Track my location in real time by parsing the NMEA strings and placing me on the map.
2) Allow me to "start recording" and have it begin a line showing where I was (embedded timestamps?) and where I am now (so marker plus line like other trackable items)
3) Allow me to give my location a name (ie: my callsign, Q33)
4) Allow for anything I add to the map to be synchronized with the live version, or at a minimum allow me to export it, when I am able to reach internet access again (ie, re-enter cellular, connect to command starlink, etc)
5) Provide an option to "follow me" so that I can see me moving on the map (zoomed in) like Google Earth does. This will only be as good as the tiles I have cached, but I am okay with that.
6) Allow for the map to be top-north (default) or top-bearing so that on a map a left turn is on the left side of my screen.
Comments
1 comment
It's not quite what you're asking for, but you can read device locations off a serial port using caltopo desktop along with a team account ( https://training.caltopo.com/all_users/desktop/desktopaprs). You get a dot on the map showing your location and you can record a track that gets synced back to our server just like any other changes. The browser doesn't know that dot is you, and so you won't get any kind of moving map functionality like you describe with "follow me".
We've discussed having desktop communicate that location to a map loaded in a browser, mimicking the app's functionality, but at the moment we don't feel like we can justify the work involved in supporting that.
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