Live GPS tracking¶

Position and additional attributes¶

If the GPS is receiving signals from satellites, you will see your position in latitude, longitude and altitude together with additional attributes.

Figure GPS Position:

GPS tracking position and additional attributes

GPS signal strength¶

Here, you can see the signal strength of the satellites you are receiving signals from.

Figure GPS Strength:

GPS tracking signal strength

GPS polar window¶

If you want to know where in the sky all the connected satellites are, you have to switch to the polar screen. You can also see the ID numbers of the satellites you are receiving signals from.

Figure GPS polar window:

GPS tracking polar window

GPS options¶

In case of connection problems, you can switch between:

• Autodetect
• Internal
• Serial device
• gpsd (selecting the Host, Port and Device your GPS is connected to)

A click on [Connect] again initiates the connection to the GPS receiver.

Figure GPS Tracking 2:

GPS tracking options window

You can activate Automatically save added features when you are in editing mode. Or you can activate Automatically add points to the map canvas with a certain width and color.

Activating Cursor, you can use a slider to shrink and grow the position cursor on the canvas.

Activating Map centering allows you to decide in which way the canvas will be updated. This includes ‘always’, ‘when leaving’, if your recorded coordinates start to move out of the canvas, or ‘never’, to keep map extent.

Finally, you can activate Log file and define a path and a file where log messages about the GPS tracking are logged.

If you want to set a feature manually, you have to go back to ^Position and click on [Add Point] or [Add track point].

Connect to a Bluetooth GPS for live tracking¶

With QGIS you can connect a Bluetooth GPS for field data collection. To perform this task you need a GPS Bluetooth device and a Bluetooth receiver on your computer.

At first you must let your GPS device be recognized and paired to the computer. Turn on the GPS, go to the Bluetooth icon on your notification area and search for a New Device.

On the right side of the Device selection mask make sure that all devices are selected so your GPS unit will probably appear among those available. In the next step a serial connection service should be available, select it and click on [Configure] button.

Remember the number of the COM port assigned to the GPS connection as resulting by the Bluetooth properties.

After the GPS has been recognized, make the pairing for the connection. Usually the autorization code is 0000.

Now open GPS information panel and switch to GPS options screen. Select the COM port assigned to the GPS connection and click the [Connect]. After a while a cursor indicating your position should appear.

If QGIS can’t receive GPS data, then you should restart your GPS device, wait 5-10 seconds then try to connect again. Usually this solution work. If you receive again a connection error make sure you don’t have another Bluetooth receiver near you, paired with the same GPS unit.

Using GPSMAP 60cs¶

sudo apt-get install gpsd

sudo modprobe garmin_gps

gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0

Using BTGP-38KM datalogger (only Bluetooth)¶

Using GPSD (under Linux) or GPSGate (under Windows) is effortless.

Using BlueMax GPS-4044 datalogger (both BT and USB)¶

gpsd /dev/ttyACM3

gpsd /dev/rfcomm0