Freerunner compatible GPS software

I have an Openmoko Freerunner phone and I like it a lot. OK, it has some glitches (like I don’t feel comfortable using it as my daily phone because of the bad battery duration and audio quality, both fixable with software) but it has GPS, accelerometers, GPRS, WLAN and Linux so I’m pretty happy and waiting for the software to become more usable. Since this is my first GPS device I’m kind of interested in the GPS tools and applications and here’s a short review of some tools I’ve tried.

Gpssight

projects.openmoko.org
wiki.openmoko.org

Gpssight

GOOD

• Basic statistics
• Draws track where the dots have different color according to the speed or height – cool feature!
• Is able to sync Freerunner clock (though I don’t think I’ve ever managed to make it work..)

BAD

• small buttons in the UI
• no satellite signal strength information

Agpsui

projects.openmoko.org
wiki.openmoko.org

agpsui

agpsui

GOOD

• Shows a lot of information about the connection: map, individual satellite signal strengths, position plot, signal log etc
• helps to test different restarts (cold/warm/hot)

BAD

• after first fix pretty useless to a normal user
• small UI buttons

TangoGPS

tangogps.org
wiki.openmoko.org

Tangogps

Tangogps

GOOD

• most comprehensive
• saves tracks (that need to be converted to .gpx before they can be used) to upload to Openstreetmap or other tools
• uses Openstreetmap as well as other map sources
• is able to show geotagged photos (haven’t tried)
• can save and load POC:s and show friends (though I have no idea how it works and where the data is stored and so on)

BAD

• Nothing really bad but there are some features missing to make it really smooth & usable. See my wishes below.

WISHLIST

• zoom to show 1 pix as 4pix or so (the high dpi of Freerunner isn’t always good, if the device is not so close to your eyes)
• Show better information about the satellites – signal strength for each satellite would be nice.
• GPX data format for better compability
• Ability to show GPX tracks (ie. create a track on the desktop, upload to phone and follow the track to get to places)
• multiple waypoints for more complex navigation
• default location where to go if no GPS signal available
• possibility to give a custom text to catenate in the saved gps track filename

As you see TangoGPS get’s most of my attention as the best and most usable tool there is available at the moment.. Feel free to implement my wishes :)

Orrery

projects.openmoko.org
wiki.openmoko.org

Orrery

GOOD

• Shows the stars and the constellations on the sky
• Fast development – a new release just out again!
• Helps you learn new stars

BAD

• Nothing really. I haven’t used enough and don’t know enough about stars to estimate it’s usefulness but it’s a nice tool anyway :)

Other software

I haven’t tried the locations tool of 2008.8 or 2008.9. I also know that gpsd is running somewhere down there but I have no opinion about it. If it works, its good :)

At Openmoko Projects page you can find more GPS software as well as in the GPS apps wiki page. I’ll propably have to try some of those as they get more mature or so. I should also learn to use navigation software like Navit.

If you’re interested in further open source GPS discussion (not only for Freerunner) you’re welcome to join the foss-gps mailing list.

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