*** WARNING! ***

Use of a laptop computer by the driver of a moving vehicle incurs risk!

Use this program at your own peril!

Do not attempt keyboard or mouse input whilst moving! 

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Welcome to GPSMan-autoMapic.
***************************

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.

GPSMan-autoMapic has been tested with both the Auslig RASTER250K map series
(150 dpi, original margins cropped, map sliced into three sheets 1 degree
latitude by 0.5 degree longitude by the author) and with a4 scans (150 & 120
dpi) such as city street-maps.

It also has operated sessions in excess of 12 hours and 980 km travelled 
without any operator input required. 
   
* Track log files. *

The software writes a log file to disk (in the current directory)for each 
map image loaded. These files have the name "mapname.trk" derived from the 
"mapname.img" of the current image loaded, and are in GPSMan standard 
format. If a track crosses a specific mapsheet more than once, such tracks 
will be appended to the original file. Each such track will have a unique 
name "mapname-n" wher n is a number 0 to 999. With the "Manual plot" function 
the track name is user selectable, defaulting to "NMEA1".
   
*** Warning ***

The performance of this software is dependent on computer speed!
GPS Receivers that output a full 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 a3 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@hotkey.net.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. All NMEA
sentences are to the WGS 84 datum, so set GPSMan to WGS 84 in the options
menu for georeferencing. However the georeferencing waypoints should of 
course be to the same datum as the mapsheet being referenced.

When this has been done 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 or six tab-separated fields in each record, 
one record per line. The fields required are -

Image-file path. (The full 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.
Optional image name or number. Can include any ASCII character including
space.

There is no header required or permitted.

A simple example file (example.aut) -  

~/Images/SE5401.img	-17	-16	138	139.5	CHARTERS TOWERS
~/Images/SE5402.img	-17	-16	139.5	141	MOUNT ISA

For portability of recorded logs, the image filename may need to be 
upper-case only. Check your GPS receiver specifications. However I have not
yet ever needed to re-load a recorded track into the GPS. GPSMan capability
is fully adequate, and can handle lower-case.

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. Tracks recorded with 
no image currently loaded will be saved in "Blank.trk" as "Blank-n" (n 
0 to 999 as above).

The plotting function is started from the "GPS receiver/Real-time track 
log/ Get Log" menu of GPSMan. Use "Lowrance" protocol not NMEA. From the
"Start log" button 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 
select "GPS Receiver/Real-time track log/STOP".

"Interval" defaults to 10 seconds. At this setting the 12 hour log mentioned
earlier would take approx 220 kb of disk space. If disk space is at a premium
increase the value of "Interval" accordingly. 
   
If NMEA logging is all that is required, use the "GPSReceiver/Real-time
track log/Start/Manual plot" menu to start the software. A map image 
can be preloaded but need not be. If no image is loaded the map scale can be
changed whilst plotting.

Manual loading is a useful way of using slow machines, but introduces safety
and convenience issues for single-manned vehicles. The track is automatically 
saved to disk (default name NMEA1.trk) when logging is stopped. This 
trackname can be changed from the setup window before starting the log.

The "exerciser.tcl" test sentence generator.
*******************************************

(Note - some Lowrance/Eagle models include a "Simulator" which is preferable
to the "exerciser". Follow the instructions in the Lowrance manual.)

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@hotkey.net.au) 3 Apr 2002.
copyright (c) Brian Baulch 2000, 2002.
