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[archn]

Hi, I was wondering if it is possible to use the GPS Receiver in addition to tracking the data for the data logger at the same time?  I would like for my employees to drive around with the logger turned on and also so that the vehicle will be displayed in our mapping software.  I am currently having troubles getting the vehicle to be displayed on my mapping software.  I am told by the support team of the mapping software that the BT-353 is supported, so I am under the impression that I should not have much trouble getting the 335 to work.  The difference is that the 353 is USB and the 335 is Blue Tooth.  There was a page in the manual that says when the 335 is connected to the PC that it no longer records data, but I read another post where that may or may not be true.  I am using Windows XP, and my mapping software is the MX900 from www.neptunetg.com.  I was able to get (with some help) the data logger to export the information to Google Earth, and that worked very well.  Also, I really appreciate your comment about going to Map->Track Points to combine the files with more than 95 points.  It worked for me.  I am unsure if there is a mapping software which will draw a line to connect the points on Google Earth (or something similar), so that I know how they drove each street without having to monitor the time stamps to see which order is which.  I'm rambling, so please excuse me  .

[GS_TECH01]

Hi, I was wondering if it is possible to use the GPS Receiver in addition to tracking the data for the data logger at the same time?  I would like for my employees to drive around with the logger turned on and also so that the vehicle will be displayed in our mapping software. I am currently having troubles getting the vehicle to be displayed on my mapping software.

You should be able to use the BT-335 as a GPS Receiver and a DataLogger at the same time. To set it up, please refer to page 10 of the User Manual (http://www.usglobalsat.com/store/download/44/bt-335_user_manual.pdf).
Regarding the display in your mapping software, do you mean the unit is in the vehicle and it's travelling around the city? And, while the unit is inside the vehicle, you can remotely track the unit with the mapping software at your base location?
If not, can you please provide more explanation of your user case scenario?
Also, what kind of problems are you having with the unit using the mapping software? Please provide more details.

I am told by the support team of the mapping software that the BT-353 is supported, so I am under the impression that I should not have much trouble getting the 335 to work.  The difference is that the 353 is USB and the 335 is Blue Tooth. 

Do you mean that the BU-353 is currently supported by that mapping software? Apparently, most of our GPS Receivers, including the BU-353 and the BT-335, would work with a NMEA-compliant software. If the support team confirmed that their software is NMEA-compliant, those units should be able to work with their software.

There was a page in the manual that says when the 335 is connected to the PC that it no longer records data, but I read another post where that may or may not be true.

Are you possibly referring to page 11 of its User Manual as stated below:
Note:  When you connect BT-335 to your PC, BT-335 will enter the “data transfer mode”, it cannot record the data in this mode. After you disconnect it from PC, please remember to power off and restart BT-335 to make it return to Data Logger mode.
As further discussed in the forum posting (http://www.usglobalsat.com/forum/index.php?topic=3991.msg11332#msg11332), the manual states that when you open up the Data Logger PC Utility software and starts to load data from the unit that is when it goes to 'Data Transfer' mode. In other words, the trackpoints are being loaded from the device and transferred to your computer. After you have obtained the data, you will need to restart the unit to be able to go back to the 'DataLogging' Mode.

I am using Windows XP, and my mapping software is the MX900 from www.neptunetg.com. 

Unfortunately, we are not familiar with the mapping software that you're using.

I was able to get (with some help) the data logger to export the information to Google Earth, and that worked very well.  Also, I really appreciate your comment about going to Map->Track Points to combine the files with more than 95 points.  It worked for me. 

You're welcome. You should be able to find this info in the user manual as well.

I am unsure if there is a mapping software which will draw a line to connect the points on Google Earth (or something similar), so that I know how they drove each street without having to monitor the time stamps to see which order is which.

With the DataLogger PC Utility software (http://www.usglobalsat.com/store/download/44/datalogger_setup.zip), it should give you an option to export the file in the kml format. Or, you can press the Google Earth button on the toolbar to directly view the trackpoints in the Google Earth button. You should be able to find this button besides the Question Mark (Help) button.

[archn]

Hi.  Thanks for the quick response.

Our user case scenario is that we are a water utilities company, and we have meters that are read via radio waves as we drive by with our antenna.  Our meter reading program displays a map of the area we are in, along with dots indicating where each meter is in.  We are told if we have the BU-353 that we can display an icon of a car on our location on that mapping screen.



The three grayed out options for GPS mode are Center Travel and Track.

• Center View — This view positions the vehicle with the mobile data
  collector in the center of the window, and the map moves around the
  vehicle.
• Travel View — (Default view.) This view moves the vehicle with the
  mobile data collector around the map on the window, and the map
  remains stationary. The vehicle is represented by an orange icon on the
  window. When the vehicle goes off the edge of the map, the Map View
  shifts and repositions the vehicle in the center of the window.
• Track Feature — When activated, this feature allows you to track the
  path and view the trail for the meters that have been read for a route.

I know that the vehicle will be displayed if working properly.



This is the popup when you click on Settings in the GPS mini toolbar.  Our COM11 is bluetooth outbound and COM9 is our bluetooth inbound port.

We would like for the vehicle to be displayed on this map screen, in addition to being able to take the data at the end of the day, and saving it to the computer.  The person will then email me that data, and I will view how long it is taking them to complete the workload, etc.



This is how my settings are in the Globalsat config.  I'm not too sure if I need to check the Enable WAAS (for more precise precision) as some of this stuff is over my head, including GMouse Mode.  I'm sure there is some sort of explanation in a help file about this.  I think that selecting "GPS and Data Logger" is ideal for what I'm asking.

I am not asking if I can tap into the GPS location from my base, although that would be cool.  I think I would need something a little more expensive for that.  Do you offer any product that is similar to the BT-335 that does this?

The problem I am having with my mapping software is that it is not being recognized.

Per our mapping software manual (Page 86 of http://neptunetg.com/userfiles/file/products/MRX920%20Mobile%20Data%20Collector/PUBLICATION_UM%20MRX920%2006.11.pdf):

The Map View feature is an optional add-on feature that allows you to
visually see the location of the meters on the route or routes you are
reading. This is useful if you want to review the reading status of a route
at a glance or just the read meters (green dots) and unread meters (red
dots). Map View can also help you identify reads where problems have
been indicated (yellow dots), such as, Hi/Low failures, and E-Coder
PLUS features.
In addition to these features, the Map View option offers Global
Positioning System (GPS) should you have a compatible GPS receiver.

Page 89 shows what the settings screen should look like.  Per page 6 of the BT-335 manual, I believe the Baud rate should be 38400.  Can you verify if this is correct for a laptop too?  Whenever I try to turn GPS on it says the device cannot be found.  I have tried changing the COM port from 11 to 9 as a test, but no luck.  The device is on, and connected to the PC via blue tooth, but still no luck.  It's difficult for me to determine if it's the hardware (BT-335) or the software (Neptune's program).

The Neptune support team had this to say:

In our support area, we have the ‘GlobalSat BU-353 USB GPS Navigation Receiver’; this product works well with our particular laptop/MX900 combination and is very economical in pricing.  In fact, I know of another account that purchased this model and it worked for their particular laptop/MX900 combination. 

The MX900 software is designed to look at connecting with the device via a COM Port.  For that reason, we advise against Bluetooth connectivity and only recommend USB.

Our IT person said that if we connect via bluetooth that it still has a COM port, and we may be able to get it to work just by setting the COM port to the bluetooth COM port.

Our plan is to load up our MX900 software, turn on the BT-353, pair it with the Windows Laptop, and then enable GPS mode within the MX900.  The BT-353 will be connected to the PC, but we will not be using the Data Logger PC Utility at that time.  That will come after the workload is finished for the day, when we no longer need a GPS receiver, or to track any more data.  Therefore, it should not enter Data Transfer, and still be able to do both, if I'm understanding correctly.

Do you know if there is software that can use the logging data to draw a line between the points of data?  When I exported to Google Earth, I saw little yellow houses, with time stamps and the speed, but I didn't see a way to have an automatic line form between two chronological points of data.

I know that I am asking questions outside of the scope of the BT-335, but I appreciate any help I can get.  If we are able to get things working well, we will probably be ordering a lot of these units, as we have many employees, and this information can be very helpful to us.

One final question, do you know if I need to be connected to the internet to use the GPS Receiver function?  I am currently not connected to the internet on that computer.  I only connect to it when I need to use the Data Logger PC Utility, since I think I am required to at that point to upload the data to a PC.

Thanks!