Getting a GPS receiver to provide location data to your Android apps requires a bit of fiddling and glue. Connecting an Android Phone or Tablet to a Bluetooth GPS Receiver Connecting a GPS receiver to an Android is another matter. I gather that with iOS devices (Apple iPhones and iPads), you simply pair the iOS device with the GPS device and you’re good to go. I’ve tried several models of GPS receivers with a variety of Android phones and tablets and seen great results (see “Tested GPS Receivers” at the end of this article). Because they connect wirelessly, you can even put a GPS receiver in a sealed ziplock and store it at the top of your daypack, in your hat, tape it to the top of your backpack frame, and so on, and get great GPS data even in the pouring rain. You can use these devices to get great GPS location data for apps that run on your phone or tablet, such as Calflora Observer, Google Maps, Backcountry Pro, My Tracks, and so on. GPS receivers are small, because they have no screen or keypad, and are surprisingly inexpensive ($100 or less is typical). The receivers connect to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth (a short-range wireless standard for this kind of purpose). Several manufacturers now make GPS receivers, which you can connect to your phone or tablet and get great GPS location data out in the wilderness. Then the weakness of the AGPS chips becomes apparent: dedicated GPS devices are much better at getting a precise location from GPS satellites. Unfortunately, this advantage is lost when you’re in rural areas, particularly if you lose your cell network connection. AGPS is great in populated areas, because is uses cellular networks, Wi-Fi, and other signals and hints to quickly get a rough idea of your location, which in turn helps the chip quickly find and connect with GPS satellites for more precise location data. Mobile smartphones get their GPS signals from Assisted GPS (AGPS) chips. Roy West, (Query about SXBlue GPS receivers in devices section) Using an External Bluetooth GPS Receiver with a Smartphone or Tablet The Calflora article linked above has been pasted in its entirety below, in case the link is removed in the future.Īll copyrights for the content below are attributed to The Calflora Database. Should you hit problems, contact our support team and we may be able to help, or optionally look at a project to make the device work with our app. If you wish to proceed with an external GPS device, then we suggest that you purchase just one to start and test it out with the app first. We do not officially support external GPS devices due to the many potential differences in Bluetooth version, operating system versions and device hardware, so your mileage may vary in terms of compatibility with our app. The article outlines the steps for using an external GPS with Android, and it mentions that apparently on IOS, simply pairing the external GPS to your iDevice will do the trick. We've done a bit of research to see how these kinds of GPS receivers can be used with Android and IOS, and it looks like you *may* be able to use these without needing any changes to the app side.įor a great summary and how to guide for Android, see this article by. For these cases, you should consider purchasing an external GPS receiver to use with your smartphone or tablet. In some situations, you may need better GPS accuracy and reliability than what you receive via the onboard Android/Apple device GPS. Connecting an Android Phone or Tablet to a Bluetooth GPS Receiver.Using an External Bluetooth GPS Receiver with a Smartphone or Tablet.
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