Database Users

BT GPS & Tom Tom 6

Can you help? I have just acquired a very small GPS receiver, the Holux GPSSlim 240, which is excellent and seems to work with my Varios II so far. It is fine with it's own GPS receiver checker and works very well with Google Map; the problem is Tom Tom 6 which has only twice seen the actual GPS receiver. When it has worked it appeared fine but I cannot get it to work again.
I have made 'GPS settings' available within settings (using Hermes fit4cat) and have succesfully BT paired the device (obviously) - the problem seems unique to Tom Tom 6. I have seen other posts and suggestions but they do not solve the problem.
Within WM5 settings/system - I have GPS program port: COM2, GPS hardware port: COM4 Baud: 57600, and the "Manage GPS automattically..." is ticked. Within Bluetooth Settings I have ticked 'serial port', and within 'COM Ports' I have the "Holux240" tied to COM2. I have also tried the program on Com Port 9 - Google map and the GPS Receiver Test app worki fine but TT6 seems not to see the GPS Receiver.
Any ideas would be most welcome - I am keen to try out TT6.
EDIT: Problem solved , after much searching of other sites I came back to this here and found that the issue with TT6 appears to be it's incompatibility with the WM5 setting "Manage GPS automatically (rec...)". I followed the instructions (from the link) which included turing this off and TT6 connected immediately! However, I have now found that Google Map, which previously worked consistently) will now not work at all.
My Conclusion: TT6 has problems with WM5 management of GPS via BT but Google Map seems to require it! Interestingly, the Holux GPSSlim 240 PPC software "GPS Receiver" seems happy with or without WM5 management of the GPS. I assume that Tom Tom will, in due course, issue a fix.
Thanks

tony.wheeler said:
EDIT: Problem solved , after much searching of other sites I came back to this here and found that the issue with TT6 appears to be it's incompatibility with the WM5 setting "Manage GPS automatically (rec...)". I followed the instructions (from the link) which included turing this off and TT6 connected immediately!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beat me to it! I actually have the exact same GPS with Tomtom6. That thing is tiny isn't it?

Problems Solved?
I have just updated TT6 to version 6.010 (simple overwrite of TomTom Navigator.exe) and it now appears to work OK with WM5 management of the GPS. That means I can now run 4 applications that all require GPS access and all seem to work simultaneously! - albeit memory allocation means they get a little slow....
I have just been running TT6 (ver 6.010), Google Map (PPC ver 1.0.0), MS Live Search (ver 1.0.2592.31374), and MoDaCo CameraAware (- all with GPS access working and managed by WM5. Each of the 4 apps now starts and automatically connects to the BT GPS receiver (TT6 even starts BT ok and connects within about 15 secs).
Settings to achieve this are:
WM5 BT - GPS Receiver partnership with Serial Port ticked, Receiver added to Outgoing port as Com 2 (secure connection not ticked).
GPS Settings - Program port set to Com 9, Hardware port set to Com 2 at 19200 (4800 is enough I believe), Access tab - tick in the box "Manage GPS ..."
TT6 - (Installed on micro SD Card) Holux GPSSlim 240 configured as "Other Bluetooth ..." on Com 2 (interestingly Com 9 will not work and I thought this was the one that should be used given WM5 management in my case).
Google Map - (Installed on PDA) Google map just connects so I do not know what port it is accessing on. Presumably it just searches [prts till it gets one that works. Interestingly Google Map will not work unless WM5 is allowed to manage the GPS connection.
Live Search - (Installed on micro SD Card) Works on either Com 2 or Com 9. Note: it appears that even though you can set the map cache (up to 8Mb) to the storage card that this setting is not saved so not sure where it is saving the cache (time will tell with memory available on the device).
MoDaCo CameraAware - (Installed on micro SD Card) works on both Com 2 and Com 9. Seems to work alongside TT6 - will report back.
Holux provide a "GPS Viewer" PPC application and that connects to the GPS receiver on either Com 2 or Com 9. Not sure all this is the way it should work but it seems OK for me.
Tony Wheeler
Vario II

M700 GPS

Hi All, sorry for subjecting you yet again to a question about this but...
Orange have finally dmitted that the M700 has GPS, and has told me I can only use some rubbish called "Webraska" as my GPs program. I wish to use Memory Map, which I have installed. It wants me to set up the GPS, but I have no idea how to do it, and the useful people at Orange don't either.
Any chance any of you guys knows the settings?
Thanks

Orange are being deliberately obstructive, because Webraska will earn them a small fortune in data charges because each screen/page is downloaded via GPRS rather than being stored on the device.
But, have no fear! You can run any GPS aware navigation program as long as it has a configuration setting (another poster was having problesm with Route66 as apparently you can't configure the GPS port )
Memory Map ought to be able to pick up the GPS automatically, but if not, point it to COM9 with a baud rate of 57600 and all should be OK. Same for TomTom, Co-pilot etc.

Spot on - I had to point the system to Com9 as you mentioned and it found itself staight away. I tried Webraska, and by the time it knew where I was I had become bored and wandered off to make myself a cup of tea. Memory Map, while being extremely hungry for memory to store its maps, found me in seconds.
I don't know why Orange are being so obtuse - half of them don't even know the phone has GPS. The woman I spoke to thought I was asking about the GPRS until I told her the difference.
Thanks buddy!

NeilM said:
.
But, have no fear! You can run any GPS aware navigation program as long as it has a configuration setting (another poster was having problesm with Route66 as apparently you can't configure the GPS port )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
route66 is working fine with GpsGate

i had the same trouble getting this going with TOM TOM.
use com port 9 and it works first time. takes a little while to pick up satalites though.

Not sure what the Com Port 9 issue is about.... when I look at the ports etc, there is a Com 9 BUT there is also a GPS port, I assume internally it "may" be com 9. However TT6.03 recognises the internal GPS "out of the box" and the baud rate seems to be a bit of a red herring, I've adjusted it up and down and tbh cannt see the differnce.

It all comes down to the way Windows Mobile handles GPS signals, and the version of WM on a device.
Windows Mobile V5 onwards uses a software distribution system called GPSID (GPS Intermediary Driver) which grabs the hardware port (in the Trinity this is COM9, and the Artemis COM4) and sends the signal back out via a selectable soft COM port (by default GPD1). Some apps could identify the software port automatically and connect, but TTN/Co-Pilot/Route66 were unable to initiate a connection, though were able to use an already opened port, as long as this was set for COM8
So, the GPS Settings applet could be set for COM9 Hardware, and COM8 Software ports. You could then set TomTom to COM9 and it would take an exclusive grab of the hardware, or allow another app to start on COM8, and TTN could be set to share COM8 successfully (complex or what )
Anyway, with the advent of WM5 AKU3 onwards and WM6, the way the GPSID works seems to have become a bit more logical. The GPS software driver still has to pick up COM9 (of course) but any GPS Application can now still be set to connect to COM9, and the GPSID will intercept the call and send the signal back out over COM9
So, TTN can now remain at 'GPS on COM9' and it will still allow other apps to share the signal.
The baud rate is not important in TTN, but some apps need the rates to match. The hardware side is set at 57600 but the GPSID is 115200; the actual data stream transferred is WAY below this (about 500Bd) so there is nothing to be gained by upping the settings.

If you are having problems getting GPS working (TomTom)

Hope this helps someone else
Firstly here are the settings for GPS that get TomTom working on my HTC 3600i
Device - Settings / System / External GPS
Programs tab / GPS program port: COM4
Hardware tab / GPS hardware port COM9 / Baud rate 115200
Access tab / Manage GPS automatically (enabled/selected)
TomTom - Change preferences / Show GPS Status / Configure
Other NMEA GPS receiver / GPS baud rate 115200 / GPS in COM9
Make sure you have the a recent ROM installed (Windows Mobile 6 appears to connect faster than 5), some of the older ROM's for the 3600 don't have GPS enabled. I'm using the standard HTC 3.00.707.18. ROM.
Don't bother looking for a way to turn on GPS on the unit, this happens automatically, the only key here is to make sure that you have the correct settings & your device settings match up with TomTom.
Ensure that you are standing outside for GPS to connect, it may take up to 6-8 minutes for a cold sync (however should only take ~2 minutes).
To check if your GPS is actually working, go to show GPS status, if you see the message "GPS Device Not Found" it's not working properly, check the above steps again. If you see "No valid GPS signal!" this means your GPS is working, however not yet locked on-to satelites (you might also notice the blue and yellow circle spinning).
Hope this helps.
Cheers - Steve

Nice summary! It should be made sticky.
Just my 2 pennies: TomTom should be 6.03.
My config is: WM5, GPD1, COM9, baud rate 57600, and ticked "Manage GPS automatically".

ozsmac said:
Hope this helps someone else
Firstly here are the settings for GPS that get TomTom working on my HTC 3600i
Device - Settings / System / External GPS
Programs tab / GPS program port: COM4
Hardware tab / GPS hardware port COM9 / Baud rate 115200
Access tab / Manage GPS automatically (enabled/selected)
TomTom - Change preferences / Show GPS Status / Configure
Other NMEA GPS receiver / GPS baud rate 115200 / GPS in COM9
Cheers - Steve
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Click to collapse
hi steve,
my GPS works fine and i have baud rate set to 4800. will it be more efficient to set the baud rate to the highest setting 115200, like yours? what is the real different in baud rate, really? please comment.

sfaguy said:
hi steve,
my GPS works fine and i have baud rate set to 4800. will it be more efficient to set the baud rate to the highest setting 115200, like yours? what is the real different in baud rate, really? please comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Setting the baud rate to anything other than 4800 has no real effect as the amount of data being transferred is minimal.
For any version of tomtom prior to 6.03 you would set your TT preferences to "other NEMA". Version 6.03 and 6.032 automatically select "internal GPS receiver" so there is no need to change anything.

Thanks ozsmac...worked beautifully...
I can also vouch that this works for TomTom 5.21.
Cheers!!

Quick GPS FIX
Using Trinity, I use this proggy "BEELINE GPS" with this programme u get a real quick GPS fix .
get a look here :
http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/
if u wanna the proggy, look on the net or if needed i can download it here.

Im having only gray dots on the GPS Status! and it still say, No Valid GPS, I did the settings as mentioned in first post. any help is appreciated ahhh one more thing, Im trying it on Athena, so am I on the wrong thread? sorry if I am

gps

I installed tom tom on my 8525. when I ran the program it will only allow me to use com 3,7 and 6 for the blue tooth gps. My phone will not allow me to use those com's to set up the gps receiver. any ideas?

you have to go into settings - connections -external gps. gps program port choose com2. hardware choose com4. access-uncheck manage gps.
also go settings-bluetooth com port. select new outgoing port. choose com2 and finish. start tomtom and go to setup you should now see a com 2 available to pick.try this it is what i had to do to get my tomtom to work .

External gps does not show up under connections. I installed navigator 6 on my phone hoping that would help but now it does not find my maps. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I did set my phone to com 2 but it was not one of the coms that show up in navigator 5. All that was there was 3,7 and 8.
thanks

GPS Hardware/firmware problem ???

After 2 days trying to make tomtom get a fix with me new (bougth used) Trinity without success, I installed GpsInfo to try to understand what was gps sending torough its comunicactions chanel (NMEA/COM9/4800), and found following:
It seems that NMEA sentences are sent 'without data', something like :
$GPGGA,,,,,,,,0,,,,,,*66
$GPRMC,,V,,,,,,,,,,N*53
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*32
$GPGSV,1,1,00*79
On other pda, between every comma, there is a data/number, that I assume is the info thata the gps is sending....
For me it seems that gps has lost it´s configuration and is not able to send NMEA data, but it is working because I receive NMEA Start/End heads.
Is this assumption correct ???
If so anyone knows If gps chip(s) can be diagnosticated/reconfigured/reprogramated ??
P.S. It was bought with WM5 and Radio 1.38.
I've insttaled Radio 1.50 and WM 6.140 (Niax) and sympthoms are the same.
Any hint ???
Thanks

sorry i dont know the technical aspects of your question as far as reprogramming the gps but i do know that unless i have the following selected i dont get gps in any programs:
settings -> systems -> external gps ->
programs
gps program port : com2
hardware
hardware : com9
baud : 115200
access
manage gps automatically (yes, checked)
you might already have done this but i wanted to cover the first step before you go then, tell tomtom to look in com port 2. i also bought a used trinity with wm5 and no gps but those settings was all it took and now it works. good luck!

cecrops said:
sorry i dont know the technical aspects of your question as far as reprogramming the gps but i do know that unless i have the following selected i dont get gps in any programs:
settings -> systems -> external gps ->
programs
gps program port : com2
hardware
hardware : com9
baud : 115200
access
manage gps automatically (yes, checked)
you might already have done this but i wanted to cover the first step before you go then, tell tomtom to look in com port 2. i also bought a used trinity with wm5 and no gps but those settings was all it took and now it works. good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to reproduce your config, tomtom says 'No Gps available'.
I assume you are configyring 'another NMEA GPS' and com2.
What velocity have you selected in tomtom?

thats funny ...
i think a have the problem ... its possible to navigate with tt but in the tt gps settings everytime he says no gps device but there is a connection. shown to me by the coordinates and like i said its possible to navigate. if i set up the gps new in tt there he detects the nmea gps successful but only 4 maybe 2 seconds. then its again no gps device ... sry 4 bad englisch ... any solution?
edit: well tt show me flight mode all time ... !