So I finally got hold of a Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC phone edition the other day... Man it rocks...
I honestly didn't think that 2003 SE could be improved as well as they have done with this version...
One of the first things I did do with it was to go and play with the GPS Control Panel / API...
For those of you who are regulars here or just know me, you’ll know that I love all things location aware…
How happy was when I heard about Windows Mobile 5.0 taking control of the GPS intake? (It takes it on an operating system level and essentially it pumps it out to whoever asks for it on the application level) I was jumping up and down with excitement!!!
Imagine me surprise though when I went to the settings and couldn’t find it on me ROM!!!
NO FAIR (insert random Telco name here), that’s not on… Though why do I have a feeling its not really there fault?
Anyway, I sat in my flat sulking for a while... But then I thought, “’ang on… Them guys over at XDA dev’s will have an answer…” And true to there word, they did!
A quick change to the registry…
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MASCHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings
1. Remove the REDIRECT
2. Add DWORD Hide and set Value to 0
3. Add DWORD Group and set Value to 2
4. Soft-Reset*
Ta guys, now I can see the GPS control panel, ergo I can now use it to use more than one GPS related application…
So here we go… Testing, testing 1,2,3…
First thing first... Get (insert xyz company here) Bluetooth GPS talking to device...
Which was easy enough, turn it on, turn ya PPC BT, done...
Then set the Outgoing COM port to a port of your choosing, COM8 is the one I'll choose in this case.
Next up was to select the COM port I just selected in the Bluetooth connection settings. It's the input COM port in the GPS control panel we just talked about...
Ensure the Baud rate is the same as your GPS unit, mine is 57600...
Take your pick in the list of COM ports in the "Programs" tab as you can see I used COM4...
I'll just goto the Access tab and tick the check box "Manage GPS" just on the safe side...
Now to prove it works...
Using a personally modified version of Jim Wilson's GPSReader to read GPS data I read data via two applications from one Bluetooth GPS device...
Now I can safely say this is such a breakthrough for us dev guys its makes me smile from ear to ear!!! I know of one developer who wishes this was available from the offset of Pocket PC!!!
Acknowledgements:
Microsoft Windows Mobile team - Great job guys...
Jim Wilson - GPSReader goes from strength to strength...
Marija Barwick - For allowing daddy to do this whist she wanted to go watch the rugby!
MHPb - For the soundtrack (Newish album)