Recording and Playing Back Where You've Been

Previous  Top  Next

Function Record a given drive's map positions, speeds, times, and altitudes Resulting File [name].NME (ex. AAAAA001.NME)* To Begin Recording type % (Shift 5) To End Recording type % again; or CTRL + F To Play Back 1. Disconnect GPS unit 2. Run GPSS 3. When default demo begins playing, type CTRL + E to stop it 4. Type CTRL + A to pop up the Analysis and Playback Facilities 5. On the menu, select your .NME file 6. Click on REPLAY, PLOT or DRAW

*The first 5 positions of the file name can be changed from the default AAAAA to anything you want by editing NEWTRIP.CFG with Notepad or other text editor - erase 'AAAAA,' enter your alphanumeric choice and save the file.

You can greatly reduce the size of the NME file by creating a GPSSLOG.CFG file to filter out all GPS signals except those that contain information useful to GPSS.

These smaller files play back much faster than verbose ones when using the PLOT function (for the PLOT action, see below, More Details on Playback)

Recording and playing back verifies your GPS unit functionality, tells you (with a bit of study) where signals typically are blocked or distorted, and gives you added familiarity with GPSS itself.

For the GPS enthusiast, recording an outing is also just fun.

Finally, for those of us who get regularly lost and have navigators who cannot relate to or read maps, it will show you where you made the wrong turn.

(Of course, for the commercial user, such recordings help managers optimize routes, or tell them where delivery drivers have actually driven to and how long each stop took.)

More details on playback
Typing CTRL + A will cause the following to pop up:



This dialog's list of NME files is that in your default GPSS directory. You can navigate to other directories by using the Windows Explorer-like panes in the center.

file to be analysed and displayed most easily filled by clicking on the file list below and to the left REPLAY Replays the recorded trip. There may be a delay before beginning PLOT high-speed replay label color to use for the lines on maps to be created by the DRAW action; uses QuickBasic colors* DRAW draws the trip with time labels NOTE: does not auto-select maps under the location - select a map wide enough to include the entire route Generation of text reports...into Name of report file created by Make Report action Make Report Have GPSS go through the NME file to report according to parameters you set in other fields report if stopped or every __ mins Put a line in the report whenever the vehicle slows below the speed indicated below, or every time interval you specify. There does not seem to be a limit - 0.01 results in a report with every GPS line STOPPED if <= ___kmph...__ mins Allows you to define "stopped" as below a certain speed in kph or mph for more than a specified time period. detailed Where are We Includes lines that in normal operation would be displayed if you pressed W Print Report Prints report to your Windows printer Cancel Close this dialog Show Report Runs a Notepad window with your report, behind the dialog Hide Report Closes the Notepad window advanced Opens up more fields (for those in contact with Robin). NOTE: you can't close the extra advanced real estate - just click CANCEL and re-open to return to the minimal format

*QuickBasic colors

QuickBasic was a form of the BASIC language distributed with Microsoft DOS. The colors:

0 Black

1 Blue

2 Green

3 Cyan

4 Red

5 Violet

6 Brown

7 White

8 Gray

9 Bright Blue

10 Bright Green

11 Bright Cyan

12 Bright Red

13 Bright Violet

14 Yellow

15 Bright White

By Dave Gehman
© Copyright 2004, Robin Lovelock
Send changes, suggestions to Dave Gehman