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Welcome to GPSMan-autoMapic.
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GPSMan-autoMapic is beta software designed to give moving-map real-time
plotting. It is not receiver-specific, and should work with any GPS receiver
that has the ability to output a standard NMEA 0183 v2.0 "GGA" sentence. 
It has been developed on a ThinkPad 380 (150Mhz Pentium) using a Lowrance 
GlobalNav 212 receiver, and tested with both the Auslig RASTER250K map series
(150 dpi, original margins cropped by the author) and with a4 scans (120
dpi) of city street-maps.
   
*** Warning ***
The performance of this software is dependent on computer speed!
GPS Receivers that output a string of NMEA sentences, without the
ability to turn off those not required, may cause buffer-overflow when using
slower computers. This is a Tcl feature and beyond my control at the
moment. This bug may limit the size of map images that can be loaded.
For example, an a4 image appears to be the limit with all sentences turned 
on in the Lowrance receiver & using a ThinkPad 380. A more powerful machine
will handle larger images, test with "exerciser", details are given below.
Feedback to baulchb@onthenet.com.au will help us in deciding on future
development.

Use of the software is straightforward. The Map images required should have 
been prepared and georeferenced in the normal GPSMan fashion. Then an ".aut"
file has to be prepared to show the bounding box for each georeferenced
sheet needed. This file has to be manually prepared and has five 
tab-separated fields in each record, one record per line. The fields required 
are -

Image-file path. (The path of the .img file created during georeferencing)
Latitude of the bottom of the image quadrangle, signed DDD format.
Latitide of the top of the image quad, likewise.
Longitude of the left side.
Longitude of the right side.

There is no header required or permitted.

An simple example file (example.aut) -  

~/Images/se5401.img	-17	-16	138	139.5
~/Images/se5402.img	-17	-16	139.5	141

The images must be specified in degrees. If working with UTM or national
grids, convert the co-ordinates to DDD positions with GPSMan.
 
Adjacent images can overlap, in fact this is preferable. If a point falls
into a space between adjacent images a warning will be posted by GPSMan, 
the same warning will be posted if no .aut file is loaded or the position
"falls off the edge of the world". As soon as the position falls within an
image's bounds again then that image will be loaded.

The plotting function is started from the "Receiver" window of GPSMan. A
window will appear from which the logging interval can be set and the *.aut
file loaded. The plotting interval cannot be changed, all points received
will be plotted. To stop plotting/logging click the "Stop" button at the top
of the screen.

If NMEA logging is all that is required, use the "Preload image" button to
start the software. A map image can be preloaded but need not be. This is
the best way of using slow machines.  

The "exerciser.tcl" test sentence generator.
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This program can be used for stationary testing of the autoMapic function.
It requires the use of another computer and a null-modem cable or adaptor
(e.g. a breakout box). Exerciser.tcl will send a series of NMEA sentences at
preset intervals. Initial settings are controlled by the "set" statements at
the top of the program, change with a text editor.  An explanation is given
below, but make the changes in the program, not here.

set SRLPORT /dev/ttyS0  # set serial port correctly.

set BaudRate 4800	# NMEA Standard.

set Hours "0"		# Do not change
set Minutes "0"		# ditto
set Seconds "0"		# ditto

# Set Interval to 1000 (1 sec.) for Lowrance (2000 for Garmin?)
set Interval 1000

# Latitude of the desired starting point.
set LatDeg 27
set LatMin 54.30
set LatSign S		# N or S as applicable.

# Longitude of the desired starting point.
set LongDeg 153
set LongMin 19.334
set LongSign E		# E or W as applicable.

# Size and direction of steps. The units are minutes.
set LatIncr 0.03
set LongIncr -0.05

# Change to 1 (true) to send the entire (Lowrance) series of sentences.
# 0 (false) sends only the required GGA sentence.
set SendDummies 0

To use the exerciser, first copy exerciser.tcl to the "dummy" computer which
must have Tcl/tk loaded. Start exerciser.tcl then start GPSMan on the 
"Primary" computer. The two computers should have had serial ports already
connected with the null-modem cable.

Brian Baulch (baulchb@onthenet.com.au) 12 Dec 2000.
copyright (c) Brian Baulch 2000.
    