I just discovered these on Ubergizmo . I am familiar with the SiRF Star III Chipset technology as I have a USB GPS by Holux for my laptop and have been pleased so far. If anyone out there has tried this, I would like to hear about it. I would have uploaded the picture, but for some mysterious reason, I cannot seem to make it work anymore

Thanks,
Stargazer

Hi Stargazer,

The Freedom Keychain GPS SiRF III Receiver looks quite a nice compact Bluetooth GPS receiver.

It could be a nice upgrade to Bluetooth enabled Cell phones than can run Java Games (J2ME applications).

I have a Motorola E398 and up till now, I've not been able to find a GPS J2ME application.

There is now one available at http://www.i10n.com/ called GPSwatch. I've run the online emulation and the GPSwatch outputs OSGB36 aswell as WGS84 Lat and Lon and has lots of additional functionality. It also allows the phone to function as a high performance electronic mapping system using google maps!!

So I'm just about to try install a trail version for now (installing J2ME apps on the Motorola isn't simple though but hopefully this page at http://www.grapnel.co.uk/v620/transfergames.aspx should help).

There are other Bluetooth GPS's around which are cheaper starting around £25 or $50. The GPSwatch Platinum software version is currently £20 or $40.

Hi everyone,

I’m new to the forum here- expect dumb questions.

I am a GPS freak, using at least one of my five Garmins almost everyday. Very seldom does a weekend go by that we aren’t deep in the Everglades or other Florida swamps/forests/backcountry on fishing and photography expeditions. Off the pavement we travel by Jeep, boat, mountain bike and foot. [url=www.BlackFly.Palmtree.net]www.BlackFly.Palmtree.net[/url] For navigation, besides the usual charts/compass/timepiece, I carry a GPS and a backup.

My mobile phone is a Palm Treo 700p while Angie carries the new, incredible iPhone. Between my Sprint coverage and her ATT coverage we have yet to be in a place where one of us does not have at least a couple bars of signal; very comforting. I have a web page dedicated to detailed animated radar images, wind, tide and other vital wx information; all sized for mobile phone display which we use constantly. These phones lack GPS.

So, when I stumbled across this post my GPS meter went off!

Here’s why:
- another backup
- the phone is always with me
- the Freedom Keychain GPS SiRF III Receiver is smaller than an auto key remote
- SiRF technology has proven to be excellent on the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx [tracks satellites while in my pocket!]
- the GPSWatch software works great on my Treo- don’t know about Angie’s iPhone yet
- GPSWatch will display several mapping systems including Google Earth! YES!!
- Maps may be downloaded and stored on a SD card so phone signal is not required. This will be a huge benefit when traveling the Bahamas.
- The whole system is less than $150.

I’m having trouble finding the receiver in stock from a retailer I trust. As soon as I do I’m in!

Expect a report soon after.

Citabria,

Welcome to the fire. It sounds like you have a lot of fun.

Keep us updated on what you find with this system.

-Blast

Hi Citabria,



This is pretty frustrating. You would expect the iPhone to run the JAVA VM being a brand new phone. I'm afraid not. There currently is no JAVA VM for the iPhone. GPSwatch cannot be installed on the iPhone, its not compatible. The more I look at the iPhone specifications the more I'm disapointed by what the iPhone does not have. No GPS, no 3G, no VOIP SIP client, no JAVA VM and a camera which is outdated although the media playback aspects of the iPhone are outstanding. Or would that be a media player with a GSM phone tagged on.

No such luck with my old Motorola E398 either, even though it can run J2ME applications. Motorola forgot to add some JAVA APIs such as the JSR28 (required to allow J2ME applications to use Bluetooth communications) and JSR75 (File System Support), which is required for compatibility. Should have waited 6 months later until the Motorola SLVR L7 was available.

I'm currently looking at a really cheap Smartphone called the HP iPAQ 514 (Wi-Fi access would allow downloading of those Google maps at hotspots and the VOIP SIP client would allow free calls back home, it is also unlocked so no signing up to another provider, just swap across the SIM) as a replacement with a seperate Bluetooth GPS. It does'nt have high speed 3G data access though and browsing the internet would be slightly restricted with the small screen.

No doubt the iPhone is more flash than substance for doing any serious work, but the interface will revolutionize the way we use these devices in the future. Browsing the Web with the iPhone is a joy with the scroll and zoom features.

I’ve known all along that GPSWatch will not work on the phone. Trying to view Java based applications like NOAA satellite loops won’t work. Even viewing my animated GIF Doppler radar images won’t work. Only the first image of the series will show which is useless, even dangerous, since it will be several hours old.
[url=www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom/mobile]www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom/mobile[/url]

Angie just doesn’t know it yet . . . I’ll tell her after I get the GPS~

I’ve ordered the receiver from Mobile Planet. Should be here early next week.

Can you share the URL with us?

Sure
Mobile Version: [url=www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom/mobile]www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom/mobile[/url]
PC version: [url=www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom]www.PalmtreeSoftware.com/chartroom[/url]


The radar is for south Florida, South of Okeechobee to Key West. I’ll be putting central Florida in soon because we’re starting to explore Myakka and Ocala forests.

If it works on your phone and you need other coverage, let me know and I’ll try to work it in.

For those who don't know: You need OSGB34 for the U.K. Stands for Ordinance Survey Great Britain 1934. It's a a better fit than WGS84 (World Geographic Survey 1984). That is due to the Earth being an oblate spheroid. With local variations in the Earth's curvature.

It's not a major issue if you are using OSGB BSG (British Standard Grid). It is an issue if you are using latitude and longitude or UTM (Universal Transverse Mercantor). Although I have to point out that modern GPS units have a level of accuracy that far exceeds that of the OSGB Maps (5.0 meters for 1/25000 or 10.0 meters for 1/50000).

I think you will have to report that bug back to Apple about the lack of proper .GIF support on the iPhones Safari browser. Can you play quicktime .MOV or .SWF movies on the iPhone? Hopefully you won't have to automatically convert the animated GIFs to Quicktime Movies on your website to get around this.