Re: [Gpsbabel-misc] Question: Support for Merax Photo Finder GPS?

[Robert L. <rob...@gp...>]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Scott S. Lynde <ly...@ya...> wrote:

> I recently purchased a Merax Photo Finder GPS (
> http://www.merax.com/products/Photo/PhotoFinderGPST.html; for review, see
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2302310,00.asp), and I'm having
> trouble retrieving the track log with GPSBabel.  Can anyone tell me if this
> device is supported yet, and -- if so -- what settings I should use to
> retrieve the log file?
>

This is the first time I've ever heard of the unit.   So there's no explicit
support for it and it doesn't look like a rebadged model that we already
support.   No mention of it at my two favorite resources for loggers
(Semsons and GPSPassion) and quick searches turn up no other software that
supports this device, either, so you've got a real obscure one there I'm
sorry to say.




> I've tried cycling through all of the available device options (Brauniger
> IQ series, Garmin, etc.), but none seems to work -- although I do some error
> messages that suggest the device can at least be
>

In general, the various protocol modules aren't bulletproof about being fed
garbage - which is what any other GPS will look like to them.


> Any suggestions on how I might be able to use GPSBabel to retrieve the
> track log?
>

Find a document describing the communication protocol used.  You might get
this from the vendor or you may have to reverse engineer the conversation
between their software and your GPS.   Then write (or have someone else do
it for you) a new module that adds that support. :-)

RJL