Thread: [Gpsbabel-code] Reading U-Blox EVK-M91 serial data
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-30 09:58:10
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Good morning from Italy :) I need to read gps output from the serial COM port, with GpsBabel, but it seems not so simple to do :( I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to successfully read it? Sorry if the question is banal, but ... it is essential to me Thank in advance for any info about this A presto Roberto Angeletti (geodrinx) PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago |
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From: Greg T. <gd...@le...> - 2022-07-30 10:38:20
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Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> writes:
> Good morning from Italy :)
Good morning; your signal is 59 in the US with all bits intact.
> I need to read gps output from the serial COM port, with GpsBabel, but it
> seems not so simple to do :(
gpsbabel is aimed at file format conversion. It sounds like you would
like to get position data as a stream over time.
You didn't explain what you are trying to do, and jumped to the
conclusion that you need to use gpsbabel. Maybe you are right, but I'd
say the odds are low.
> I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to
> successfully read it?
You are sure because
1) you read the documentation and it says it is NMEA, and if so which
version?
2) you looked at the data stream and it looks like NMEA?
3) something else?
> PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago
Is this the device you are trying to read? If so, that's very important
information... For anyone else following along:
https://content.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/EVK-M91_Userguide_%28UBX-19056858%29.pdf?hash=undefined
See "5 Device Description" on page 10.
This seems to be a u-blox M9 in a box. Note that this will speak u-blox
binary, often written UBX. I don't think GPSBabel supports this.
I would recommend that you examine the following
gpsd (works well on u-blox F9, should be fine on M9)
https://gpsd.io/
[Note that if you start down the gpsd path, and want to ask for help,
make sure that 1) you are not using systemd and 2) you are using the
latest release or git master. Requests for help with the version
that shipped in some ancient long-term stable will not go well.]
https://github.com/semuconsulting/PyGPSClient
[I haven't tried this, but it looks interesting.]
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From: Robert L. <rob...@gp...> - 2022-07-30 13:04:04
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Use the '-T'racking flag and read from the serial port. See https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/tracking.html We support only a few output types for this, notably KML. In general, this isn't a conversion problem and it's not a trick we particularly try to solve well. If you have the data captured to a file, you can read it with our NMEA modules. On Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 4:59 AM Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> wrote: > Good morning from Italy :) > > I need to read gps output from the serial COM port, with GpsBabel, but it > seems not so simple to do :( > > I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to > successfully read it? > > Sorry if the question is banal, but ... it is essential to me > > Thank in advance for any info about this > > A presto > > Roberto Angeletti (geodrinx) > > PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago > _______________________________________________ > Gpsbabel-code mailing list http://www.gpsbabel.org > Gps...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gpsbabel-code > |
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 04:17:48
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Il giorno sab 30 lug 2022 alle ore 12:22 Greg Troxel <gd...@le...> ha scritto: > > You didn't explain what you are trying to do, and jumped to the > conclusion that you need to use gpsbabel. Maybe you are right, but I'd > say the odds are low. > Yes, sorry, it remains in my brain only :) Before all, let me introduce myself: my name is Roberto (geodrinx) Angeletti and among other things I am the developer of a plugin for QGIS called GEarthView, which was among the most downloaded and used plugins in QGIS version 2.x.x. Apart from that, now I'm working on using a high resolution gps, such as the U-Blox EVK-M91, to perform surveys via QGIS and QField (which is the android version of QGIS). Basically, I have to use the U-Blox as a mouse :) I tried to use the standard QGIS functions to read the coordinates from gps, but it doesn't work. Investigating, I saw that QGIS simply uses gpsBabel to take a single point at a time. So, I installed a gpsBabel and I went to analyze why gpsBabel returns error, and what were the right parameters to read the data from U-Blox. This is the story so far. > > I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to > > successfully read it? > > You are sure because > 1) you read the documentation and it says it is NMEA, and if so which > version? > 2) you looked at the data stream and it looks like NMEA? > 3) something else? > none of this. Perhaps I have simply misunderstood the data in my possession. > > > PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago > > Is this the device you are trying to read? If so, that's very important > information... For anyone else following along: > > https://content.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/EVK-M91_Userguide_%28UBX-19056858%29.pdf?hash=undefined > See "5 Device Description" on page 10. > > This seems to be a u-blox M9 in a box. hit and sunk. You have hit the target. :) > Note that this will speak u-blox binary, often written UBX. Surely you are right. The flow is likely to be binary, but I haven't checked yet. > I don't think GPSBabel supports this. > :( I would recommend that you examine the following > > gpsd (works well on u-blox F9, should be fine on M9) > https://gpsd.io/ > [Note that if you start down the gpsd path, and want to ask for help, > make sure that 1) you are not using systemd and 2) you are using the > latest release or git master. Requests for help with the version > that shipped in some ancient long-term stable will not go well.] > > https://github.com/semuconsulting/PyGPSClient > [I haven't tried this, but it looks interesting.] > Thanks for these links. Obviously, I also requested support from QGIS, but for now they are not very interested in letting people know that there is something wrong with the gps reading. Maybe it's complicated to fix, or it's just me, and therefore has a very low priority in their bug fix list. Who knows? A presto Roberto |
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 04:27:00
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...and moving through your links I arrived at this library: https://github.com/topics/ubx-gps-library that is: "Arduino library for the fastest and simplest communication with u-blox GPS modules" Good! Great. Thank you A presto Roberto Il giorno sab 30 lug 2022 alle ore 15:03 Robert Lipe < rob...@gp...> ha scritto: > Use the '-T'racking flag and read from the serial port. See > https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/tracking.html > > We support only a few output types for this, notably KML. > > In general, this isn't a conversion problem and it's not a trick we > particularly try to solve well. If you have the data captured to a file, > you can read it with our NMEA modules. > > > > On Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 4:59 AM Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> wrote: > >> Good morning from Italy :) >> >> I need to read gps output from the serial COM port, with GpsBabel, but >> it seems not so simple to do :( >> >> I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to >> successfully read it? >> >> Sorry if the question is banal, but ... it is essential to me >> >> Thank in advance for any info about this >> >> A presto >> >> Roberto Angeletti (geodrinx) >> >> PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago >> _______________________________________________ >> Gpsbabel-code mailing list http://www.gpsbabel.org >> Gps...@li... >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gpsbabel-code >> > |
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 04:32:37
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this is QGIS documentation about gps reading: https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/live_GPS_tracking.html?highlight=gps# Il giorno dom 31 lug 2022 alle ore 06:26 Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> ha scritto: > ...and moving through your links I arrived at this library: > > https://github.com/topics/ubx-gps-library > > that is: "Arduino library for the fastest and simplest communication with > u-blox GPS modules" > > Good! Great. > > Thank you > > A presto > > Roberto > > Il giorno sab 30 lug 2022 alle ore 15:03 Robert Lipe < > rob...@gp...> ha scritto: > >> Use the '-T'racking flag and read from the serial port. See >> https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/tracking.html >> >> We support only a few output types for this, notably KML. >> >> In general, this isn't a conversion problem and it's not a trick we >> particularly try to solve well. If you have the data captured to a file, >> you can read it with our NMEA modules. >> >> >> >> On Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 4:59 AM Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> wrote: >> >>> Good morning from Italy :) >>> >>> I need to read gps output from the serial COM port, with GpsBabel, but >>> it seems not so simple to do :( >>> >>> I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to >>> successfully read it? >>> >>> Sorry if the question is banal, but ... it is essential to me >>> >>> Thank in advance for any info about this >>> >>> A presto >>> >>> Roberto Angeletti (geodrinx) >>> >>> PS: I bought the U-Blox EVK-M91 evaluation kit two weeks ago >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Gpsbabel-code mailing list http://www.gpsbabel.org >>> Gps...@li... >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gpsbabel-code >>> >> |
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 04:35:52
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Il giorno dom 31 lug 2022 alle ore 06:32 Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> ha scritto: > this is QGIS documentation about gps reading: > > > https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/live_GPS_tracking.html?highlight=gps# > ... where it reports: "Therefore, you first have to configure gpsd properly to connect QGIS to it" well, I'll study for it. A presto Roberto |
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From: Robert L. <rob...@gp...> - 2022-07-31 04:44:49
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That's two of us that have failed to get an actionable question from you. Apart from that, now I'm working on using a high resolution gps, such as > the U-Blox EVK-M91, to perform surveys via QGIS and QField (which is the > android version of QGIS). Basically, I have to use the U-Blox as a mouse :) > We're not an Android app. Becoming an Android app is non-trivial. You probably want a GPS logger and not an eval board. Carrying a laptop and trying to catch the bits live is an unnecessary distraction. I'd suggest finding one of these that writes the NMEA sentences to a memory card so you can read plain old NMEA files - either with GPSBabel or whatever parser arouses you. We don't do uBlox binary protocol, either streamed or logged. > I tried to use the standard QGIS functions to read the coordinates from > gps, but it doesn't work. Investigating, I saw that QGIS simply uses > gpsBabel to take a single point at a time. > > So, I installed a gpsBabel and I went to analyze why gpsBabel returns > error, and what were the right parameters > If you're a programmer yourself, you know that data like the contents of that error are pretty important. Taking your car to the shop and saying "it makes a funny sound" is less productive than "it makes a funny sound while accelerating up a hilll in a sharp left turn". Those details matter a LOT. ] > >> You are sure because >> 1) you read the documentation and it says it is NMEA, and if so which >> version? >> 2) you looked at the data stream and it looks like NMEA? >> 3) something else? >> > > none of this. Perhaps I have simply misunderstood the data in my > possession. > Our guesses can be no better than yours. > > >> I don't think GPSBabel supports this. >> > It's not really in scope for our project. The only reason we do it at all is because Google contracted me to add it years ago for Earth. :-) > gpsd (works well on u-blox F9, should be fine on M9) >> https://gpsd.io/ > > This is certainly closer to GPSD's bag of tricks than ours. > >> [Note that if you start down the gpsd path, and want to ask for help, >> make sure that 1) you are not using systemd and 2) you are using the >> latest release or git master. Requests for help with the version >> that shipped in some ancient long-term stable will not go well.] >> > We have the same problem with Linux. They ship an ancient version, strip off all the support information, then ship their support problems to us. But that's not a rant I'm prepared to have right now. > >> https://github.com/semuconsulting/PyGPSClient >> [I haven't tried this, but it looks interesting.] >> > That's closer to what we do with our realtime tracking module, but our per-format support is spotty. Since we lean on consumer-facing hardware, things like RTCM3 protol just doesn't register for us. Re: QGis, they actually use GPSBabel for most of their realtime tracking. YOu can see the commands they build up in the doc at https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/plugins_gps.html https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/plugins_gps.html Their examples use everything but NMEA, but that works in the "obvious" (once paired with the links I sent yesterday) command lines. This is also, not coincidentally, how realtime GPS tracking works in Google Earth. RJL |
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 06:08:47
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Il giorno dom 31 lug 2022 alle ore 06:44 Robert Lipe < rob...@gp...> ha scritto: > That's two of us that have failed to get an actionable question from you. > > Apart from that, now I'm working on using a high resolution gps, such as >> the U-Blox EVK-M91, to perform surveys via QGIS and QField (which is the >> android version of QGIS). Basically, I have to use the U-Blox as a mouse :) >> > > We're not an Android app. Becoming an Android app is non-trivial. > actually, I don't know how QField reads gps. Evidently not via gpsbabel... > So, I installed a gpsBabel and I went to analyze why gpsBabel returns >> error, and what were the right parameters >> > > If you're a programmer yourself, you know that data like the contents of > that error are pretty important. Taking your car to the shop and saying "it > makes a funny sound" is less productive than "it makes a funny sound while > accelerating up a hilll in a sharp left turn". Those details matter a LOT. > I know, but I didn't want to be too verbose at first BTW, these are the log of messages that I have: gpsbabel -t -i m241 -f COM4 -o kml -F c:\Users\Asus\Documents\AreaLavoro\Lavoro20220730_gps\UBlox_LOG_20220730.kml mtk_logger: This is not a MTK based GPS ! (or is device turned off ?) gpsbabel -t -i globalsat -f COM4 -o kml -F c:\Users\Asus\Documents\AreaLavoro\Lavoro20220730_gps\UBlox_LOG_20220730.kml Traduzione terminata con successo Of course I tried any "Dispositivo" listed in the "Formato" optionBox (sorry, I am using italian version) and so the first message sure is for a wrong device, I know. The second message, instead, returns success, but KML contains no coordinates :( The only reason we do it at all is because Google contracted me to add it > years ago for Earth. :-) > Google Earth has been my myth since it was born. :) Did you know my GEarthView plugin for QGIS 2.x.x ? Thousands of QGIS users used it (405213 downloads https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/most_downloaded/ ) https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/gearthview/ and this is the current port to QGIS version 3: https://github.com/geodrinx/gearthview3 https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/plugins_gps.html > > Their examples use everything but NMEA, but that works in the "obvious" > (once paired with the links I sent yesterday) command lines. > > This is also, not coincidentally, how realtime GPS tracking works in > Google Earth. > Wow, I'll try your gps input in Google Earth right away (you never know it reads my U-Blox too :) Grazie e a presto Roberto |
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From: Robert L. <rob...@gp...> - 2022-07-31 06:26:10
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> > gpsbabel -t -i m241 -f COM4 -o kml -F > c:\Users\Asus\Documents\AreaLavoro\Lavoro20220730_gps\UBlox_LOG_20220730.kml > mtk_logger: This is not a MTK based GPS ! (or is device turned off ?) > If it's NMEA, use nmea instead of m241, like I said in the first message. But you've waffled between ublox binary protocol and NMEA, so we don't know. The only reason we do it at all is because Google contracted me to add it >> years ago for Earth. :-) >> > > Google Earth has been my myth since it was born. :) > It was my day job for ~13 years even after i added the realtime and Garmin USB modes for Google in '05 and '06 during the Earth 3 and Earth 4 beta periods. I later worked there until my body failed. While I still have friends left on the project, I'm not exactly coupled with it these days. > >> This is also, not coincidentally, how realtime GPS tracking works in >> Google Earth. >> > > Wow, I'll try your gps input in Google Earth right away (you never know it > reads my U-Blox too :) > If it's the UBlox binary format, I'll about guarantee it doesn't. Earth's GPS and (non KMZ/KML) file handling all goes through GPSBabel. But things can change. RJL |
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From: <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 07:35:03
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>> Google Earth has been my myth since it was born. :) Incidentally, I write a narration book, inspired to Jim Gray story of 2008 (he disappears in the ocean, near Farallon Island). Search with “Roberto Angeletti GeoDrinX the Simple Story” (is an italian book, but I am publishing in english soon) Also, look at my blog of the book: geodrinx.blogspot.com and you can see the presentation video in english language, also. It is an humor triller. :) A presto Roberto |
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From: Greg T. <gd...@le...> - 2022-07-31 11:56:12
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Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> writes:
>> > I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how to
>> > successfully read it?
>>
>> You are sure because
>> 1) you read the documentation and it says it is NMEA, and if so which
>> version?
>> 2) you looked at the data stream and it looks like NMEA?
>> 3) something else?
>>
>
> none of this. Perhaps I have simply misunderstood the data in my possession.
Obviously I wasn't blunt enough. You made a claim that you were "sure",
which I thought was unwarranted -- and it seems I was correct. I gave
two actual reasonable and plausible possibilities and "something else"
was meant as "so if it isn't 1 or 2, why do you believ this" and then
you didn't answer the question. When asking for help politeness demands
straightforward answers to reasonable, on-point questions, even if it's
"actually I was confused and I have no basis to believe anything; I'll
go figure it out".
> Obviously, I also requested support from QGIS,
It's not obvious. The only thing that's clear by now is that you have
provided much less information than is appropriate and that you have
declined to answer reasonable questions. If you had filed a bug with
qgis, you should have provided a URL to the issue, and you should have
described exactly what you did in the issue.
> but for now they are not very interested in letting people know that
> there is something wrong with the gps reading.
I am not surprised that your interaction there did not go well, given
this discussion.
> Maybe it's complicated to fix, or it's just me, and therefore has a very
> low priority in their bug fix list. Wnho knows?
I think it's mostly you and partly that the docs are not clear enough in
one small section.
First, the qgis docs say:
1) For loading vector data *from files or from storage in devices*
- native is GPX
- it can use GPSBabel to read other formats
- it can use GPSBabel to download waypoints/tracks
https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/plugins_gps.html
2) For live tracking, the options are:
- serial device
- gpsd
What is unsaid is what is normal these days and really has been for
a very long time: devices connected by serial are expected to
output NMEA. And, they say that it works with gpsd, and gpsd's
mission is to read real-time data from any device and transform it
into standard form.
https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/live_GPS_tracking.html#gps-options
I used an M8 (vs M9) with qgis via gpsd at some point and it worked
straightforwardly (on NetBSD; you seem to be using Windows and I have
zero experience with GNSS devices or qgis on Windows). In fact, I
have zero idea if gpsd runs on Windows. I do know that the people who
maintain it don't use Windows.
Second, u-blox provides hundreds of pages of docs about the formats
spoken by their devices and how to configure them. They provide a
zero-cost proprietary program u-center that does that configuration.
You seem not to have read the docs.
Third, one can connect to the device with kermit etc. and look at it.
Surely if you've written a plugin you know that you should do this and
you know how.
The qfield docs also fail to state that external GNSS receivers are
expected to speak NMEA:
https://docs.qfield.org/how-to/gnss/
but of course that is how it is. That also works, with an F9P, which is
pretty similar to an M9.
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From: Geo D. <geo...@gm...> - 2022-07-31 15:50:04
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thanks for the info and I apologize for some inappropriate phrases of mine. Roberto Il giorno dom 31 lug 2022 alle ore 13:56 Greg Troxel <gd...@le...> ha scritto: > > Geo DrinX <geo...@gm...> writes: > > >> > I am sure it is a standard gps NMEA sentence file format, but... how > to > >> > successfully read it? > >> > >> You are sure because > >> 1) you read the documentation and it says it is NMEA, and if so which > >> version? > >> 2) you looked at the data stream and it looks like NMEA? > >> 3) something else? > >> > > > > none of this. Perhaps I have simply misunderstood the data in my > possession. > > Obviously I wasn't blunt enough. You made a claim that you were "sure", > which I thought was unwarranted -- and it seems I was correct. I gave > two actual reasonable and plausible possibilities and "something else" > was meant as "so if it isn't 1 or 2, why do you believ this" and then > you didn't answer the question. When asking for help politeness demands > straightforward answers to reasonable, on-point questions, even if it's > "actually I was confused and I have no basis to believe anything; I'll > go figure it out". > > > Obviously, I also requested support from QGIS, > > It's not obvious. The only thing that's clear by now is that you have > provided much less information than is appropriate and that you have > declined to answer reasonable questions. If you had filed a bug with > qgis, you should have provided a URL to the issue, and you should have > described exactly what you did in the issue. > > > but for now they are not very interested in letting people know that > > there is something wrong with the gps reading. > > I am not surprised that your interaction there did not go well, given > this discussion. > > > Maybe it's complicated to fix, or it's just me, and therefore has a very > > low priority in their bug fix list. Wnho knows? > > I think it's mostly you and partly that the docs are not clear enough in > one small section. > > First, the qgis docs say: > > 1) For loading vector data *from files or from storage in devices* > - native is GPX > - it can use GPSBabel to read other formats > - it can use GPSBabel to download waypoints/tracks > > > https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/plugins_gps.html > > 2) For live tracking, the options are: > - serial device > - gpsd > What is unsaid is what is normal these days and really has been for > a very long time: devices connected by serial are expected to > output NMEA. And, they say that it works with gpsd, and gpsd's > mission is to read real-time data from any device and transform it > into standard form. > > > https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_gps/live_GPS_tracking.html#gps-options > > I used an M8 (vs M9) with qgis via gpsd at some point and it worked > straightforwardly (on NetBSD; you seem to be using Windows and I have > zero experience with GNSS devices or qgis on Windows). In fact, I > have zero idea if gpsd runs on Windows. I do know that the people who > maintain it don't use Windows. > > Second, u-blox provides hundreds of pages of docs about the formats > spoken by their devices and how to configure them. They provide a > zero-cost proprietary program u-center that does that configuration. > You seem not to have read the docs. > > Third, one can connect to the device with kermit etc. and look at it. > Surely if you've written a plugin you know that you should do this and > you know how. > > The qfield docs also fail to state that external GNSS receivers are > expected to speak NMEA: > > https://docs.qfield.org/how-to/gnss/ > > but of course that is how it is. That also works, with an F9P, which is > pretty similar to an M9. > > |
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From: Greg T. <gd...@le...> - 2022-07-31 17:32:57
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Thanks. Two more things that might be helpful at the risk of off topic even though I suspect most subscribers would be at least dimly interested: In addition to QField [lCheck out Mergin (formerly Input in part) and SMASH, formerly geopaparazzi You said M9, but I suggest that you alsl look at the F9P, which does RTK. Ardusimple and sparkfun sell kits. Interfacing and getting RTCM into it, from someplace is fairly tricky. But RTK accuracy is amazing -- I've had 4 cm return-to-point-days-later results. You won't get anything like that with a navigation solution. |
Thanks for helping keep SourceForge clean.
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