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GPSS on Pocket PC User Guide

Updated 0800 Tuesday 19th August 2008 UK time

Introduction

from Alex on Corfu Robin This page provides a simple explanation of how to use GPSSppc, GPSS on the Pocket PC.

GPSSppc runs on a Pocket PC based GPS, such as the Mio seen here on the left, or many other platforms such as smartphones running Microsoft Windows Mobile. You obviously need a GPS, either as part of the platform, or connected to it.

I try to keep this page up-to-date with the latest beta version of GPSSppc.

Please see the Pocket PC page for details of putting GPSSppc onto your Pocket PC.
Please see the beta testing page for the latest version of GPSSppc.
Please see the PPC Users page for the good people helping us test GPSSppc.

Robin Lovelock, Sunninghill UK.
GPSSppc button menu tree August 2008.

Contents

1. What you see on the screen ...
2. Portrait and Landscape mode ...
3. startup of GPSSppc ...
4. getting help ...
5. the first page of buttons ...
5.1. the "near menu" ...
6. the "home menu" ...
7. getting "more information" ...
8. second page of buttons ...
9. map control buttons ...
10. buttons used to save "home" or "my places" positions ...
11. "explore" mode ...
12. maintenance buttons ...
13. speaking altitude and use "in the air" ...
14. Record and Playback buttons ...
15. remote tracking buttons and "chase" ...
16. use of the keyboard... e.g. for search ...
17. special keys and buttons ...
18. recent changes in GPSSppc user interface ...
19. new "learner mode" user interface.

1. what you see on the screen ...

The GPS will automatically update the "car" position shown as a white circle.
The map will change to follow where you go.
It will also show a pointer in direction moved, and drop a trail of dots, to show where you have been. GPSSppc layout

Tapping on the [help] button will display and speak help.

Tapping the [menu] button will show the next page of buttons.

If you have a "destination", it is shown as a white square.

The "instruments" show you the direction to the destination and other information such as speed, altitude, rate of climb or descent, Expected Time of Arrival and time until arrival at the destination.

The "explore" cursor appears as a white cross when you tap on the map. It will vanish if you don't tap the map again within 30 seconds. You are in "explore mode" when you see this white cross, and the map will change to follow where you tap. After 30 seconds the map will follow the GPS position again.

2. Portrait and Landscape mode ...

landscape mode The majority of people using GPSSppc do so in Portrait mode. Sometimes this is because their GPS cradle or car mount is designed only for Portrait mode. The user interface, including things like button layouts, was developed with Portrait mode in mind.

GPSSppc also works in Landscape mode, and you can switch between Portrait and Landscape while GPSSppc is running (using the Windows Mobile drop down menu and "settings").

When in Landscape mode there is more room for buttons: two extra buttons and a full width "help" button. When in Landscape mode, most of the pages have the "speak" and "instrument panel" buttons added. For the second page, where these buttons already appear, the "home" and "destination" buttons are added.

3. startup of GPSSppc ...

GPSSp starting On startup you will see a blue page with the Sunninghill Systems logo similar to that on the left. If the GPS is not connected, or not working, you will then see a green map with red houses on it and hear Robin speaking, saying things like, "Armitage Court, home of the GPS software".

GPSSppc will settle down with a GPS position on the drive at 22 Armitage Court, and the destination a few yards away. GPS Software on Pocket PC

If your GPS is working, it will automatically change map to your real GPS position.

Every minute it will describe the position, and where the destination is relative to you.
e.g. "we are 25 miles west of London in Sunninghill.... destination 25 yards ahead at your 1 o'clock".

4. getting help ...

Every page has a "help" button on the left, seen as [?]

the HELP button gives help The colour indicates if the GPS is working. It will normally be green, but if inside the house, with poor GPS signals, it may be yellow. This is the same colour as the "GPS light" on the instrument panel.

Tapping the help button will make GPSSppc give help for the page of buttons that you are on. It will play sounds to explain each button and a small white pointer shows which button is being spoken about.

It may also show pictures, to explain particular details, such as use of the search facility.

You can stop this spoken help just by tapping any button or anywhere on the screen. This is needed because some help may take a long time to be spoken.

All the help can be configured by Solution providers, since it consists of simple text files, sound files and picture files. It would normally be available in several languages.

5. the first page of buttons ...

learner mode buttons GPSSppc v11 (available from the beta testing page) starts with the "learner mode" page of buttons, seen here on the right. More detail is at the bottom of this page, which will be restructured after more testing.

Tapping the "menu" button, on the right, takes you to "expert mode" buttons below.

first GPSSppc buttons These buttons, from left to right are:

If you only tap the [MENU] button you will sequence around all the pages of buttons.
If you hit a different button, tapping [MENU] will bring you back to this first page.

If the destination is ON there is spoken guidance to the destination. and it will be shown on the Instrument Panel.
e.g. ".... hotel is 550 yards ahead at your 1 o'clock".
If the destination is "OFF", no guidance is displayed or spoken, other than where you are.
e.g. "we are 25 miles west of London and 3 miles south of Windsor" the

The [Find] button will normally find the nearest or next nearest place. However, if you have used the keyboard to find a place by entering part of it's name (e.g. "sunn" for Sunninghill) then tapping [Find] will look for the next place which starts with this search text. (e.g. Sunningdale). Use of the [what] button clears this search text. i.e. [Find] will then simply look for any near place.

5.1. the "near menu" ...

After tapping what you want to find on the "what menu", the nearest 10 places are found and a "near menu" calculated. This provides a faster way of finding places nearby. Note that this menu is only recalculated when you tap on the "what menu".

If you select a place from the "near menu" it is made the destination. If there is already a destination, you are asked if you want to change it. The instrument panel is also switched on, showing the distance and direction to the destination.

6. the "home menu" ...

Instrument Panel on v3 of GPSSppc beta Hitting the [home] button results in display of the "home menu", such as that on the right. v9 of GPSSppc expanded the single "home" position into six, such as "home", "car", "work", "hotel", "water" and "base". These would normally be useed to save a temporary position by simply tapping buttons, rather than saving and recalling from "My Places". The same menu appears when saving the GPS or destination to the "home" location.

7. getting "more information" ...

GPSSppc can display and speak "more information" about a place, if the required pictures and recorded sounds have been added by the solution provider. These might be well known interesting places to visit, hotels, restaurants, etc.

If these pictures and sounds are available, finding a place with the [find] button will result in the picture being shown and GPSSppc will say "more information is available". The user can play the recorded sound, describing the place, by tapping on the picture. The picture is removed when he taps the [menu] button.

8. second page of buttons ...

new button page

These buttons, from left to right are:

"talk menu" to control regular spoken information ...

Tapping the [speak] button displays the "talk menu" which enables the user to control what combination of phrases are spoken.

talk menu e.g.
"we are 25 miles west of London ..."
( where are we ? )
"moving west at 35 mph"
( direction and speed of movement )
"500 yards ahead at our 11 oclock"
( distance and direction to destination )
"ETA is 1130 in 5 minutes"
( Expected Time of Arrival )
"altitude is 650 feet, climbing at 20fpm"
( altitude and rate of climb or descent)
"we are near school, on our left"
( calling out landmarks as we pass )

Note for Solution Providers: the above 10 lines of text are held in TALKTEXT.TXT.

tapping the lower, white area of the screen switches them all on or all off.

Tapping a button or the example phrase, toggles that item on or off.

If the user exits with the [menu] button and there are none selected, then he gets the feedback, "OK I'll be quiet".

Otherwise, that selected combination of phrases are spoken, then repeated regularly or as required.

9. map control buttons ...

map control buttons These buttons, from left to right are:

The yellow spot in the low right corner of some buttons shows the mode selected.
e.g. the map follows the GPS position, or keeps both GPS and destination on the screen.
* the first four buttons can be used as a quick way to exit "explore" mode.
Other buttons simply reset the explore timer for another 30 seconds.

10. buttons used to save "home" or "my places" positions ...

buttons to update home and My Places These buttons, from left to right are:

You can save the GPS position, such as where your car is parked, for later recall as the destination.
You use [GPS->Home] or [GPS->MyPlaces] for this.

If you are in "explore" mode, the explore position is used, instead of the GPS. See "explore mode" below.

You can also save a destination location found with [FIND] (e.g. "Interesting Place", "Population Centre", etc).
You use [DES->Home] or [DES->MyPlaces] for this.

[GPS->My Places] or [DES->MyPlaces] will add the GPS location or destination to "My Places" for later retrieval with [FIND] after selecting "my places". An automatic name based on the time (e.g. 13:35) will be seen in the text control at the top of the page. You can change this (e.g. "Car Park"). If you do not change it from the default name, you are asked to confirm.

The [DELETE MyPlace] button enables you to delete places that you have saved. You do this by using [find] explained earlier, to find the place in "my places". You then tap on [DELETE MyPlace].

If you have not selected a place in "my places", or you try to delete one of the first 6 places (protected for use by solution providers), it will refuse politely. Otherwise it will ask you if you are sure, before deleting that place.

11. "explore" mode ...

The "explore" cursor appears as a white cross when you tap on the map. It will vanish if you don't tap the map or a button* again within 30 seconds. You are in "explore mode" when you see this white cross, and the map will change to follow where you tap. After 30 seconds the map will follow the GPS position again.

* Most buttons simply resets the explore timer for another 30 seconds, but the first four "map control" buttons can be used as a quick way to exit "explore" mode.

Searches with the "Find" button are from this "explore" position.

If the "explore" cursor has timed out, then searches are from the GPS position.

You can make the explore position the destination, by tapping on the [destination ON] button - this will exit explore mode immediately. You can also exit explore mode by tapping one of the "map control" buttons.

The explore cursor has a direction pointer, based on the direction in which the user taps across the map. This direction is reflected in how information is displayed and spoken, such as distance and direction to the destination, or where a place is that has just been found after a search.

12. maintenance buttons ...

GPS latitude and Longitude is displayed when on the maintenance page.

The [RESET] button resets GPSSppc to the "Factory Settings" such as speaking English.

GPSSp experimental buttons The maintenance (or "experimental") buttons are important to get your GPS working if it is not on COM1.

First try the [< GPS] button which searches automatically for the GPS.

The other controls including [COM] are used to change the GPS settings such as COM port and speed. The default GPS settings are 1 and 4800. i.e. COM1 at 4800 baud.

Those further up including [MOD] do similar things for the modem on smart 'phones for remote tracking (experimental use only). The AT and [SEND] at the top are also for experiments with a modem.

"K/B= 65" means that the last character typed on the keyboard was an "A" (ASCII code 65). This is used for testing of keyboards on different Pocket PC platforms.

Above the MENU button you see [240x268] which is the screen size GPSSppc detected on startup. Check this if the screen layout looks wrong and tell Robin.

"inbox" is shown here where the user can enter a position. e.g. 512381N0003959W is one of the many position formats GPSS and GPSSppc will recognize. [POS] puts the car at this position and is used for testing.

[LL] switches format of the displayed position:

[A] changes the platform. e.g. from "car" to "aircraft". See "speaking altitude ..." below.

[>X] or [>OK] swiches the button in the top right of screen to [OK] or [X]. When [OK] GPSSppc is aborted. When [X] GPSSppc is minimized.

The [AP] button was added in GPSSppc v11 to support the sailing AutoPilot function.

13. speaking altitude and use "in the air" ...

reach for the sky hot air balloon Every minute the position is spoken: "we are 25 miles west of London in Sunninghill"
This is for use on foot, in a car or in a boat. When used "in the air", such as in an aircraft, or hot air balloon you can make it say "over" instead of "in":
"we are 25 miles west of London over Sunninghill ..."

It can also speak altitude and rate of climb or descent.
"altitude is 2444 feet above sea level ..."
"climbing at 250 feet per minute ..."

You will also see this information on the instrument panel.

The [A] button on the "maintenance" page switches the platform between "car", "boat", "aircraft", "balloon" and "man".

After exit of the program with [OK], this is saved as "platform" in GPSS.CFG, so next time the program is run, it will be in the same mode. Some may wish to try this in their car, going up and down hills :-)

14. Record and Playback buttons ...

GPSSppc recording and analysis The record/playback buttons are used to record and play back GPS data. The baseline includes newtrip.nme so you may like to try playing this back with the [>] button first. The buttons are:


The filename is displayed at the top of the screen and defaults to NEWTRIP.NME.
There is also a [FILE] button to support choice of an existing NME file ( v10 beta ).

After tapping [>>], the "fast forward" button, you will see the speed. e.g. " x4 >> ".
With each tap of [<<], the playback speed will slow down, then pause, then reverse.
If you tap [>>] after [||], the "pause" button, playback will continue at the same fast speed.
If you tap [>] after [||], playback will contonue from the pause position at normal speed.
At the end of the recorded data, GPSSppc will stop automatically, as if you had hit [[]] "stop".

Recorded data is added to the end of the file.
If the GPS is not working GPSSppc will say sorry, and not start recording.

Normally only the RMC and GGA messages, used by GPSSppc are recorded. However, when on the maintence/experimental page, all incoming GPS data is recorded, including any GSV, GLL and VTG messages. This is to assist setup of GPS hardware by Solution Providers.

To play back newtrip.nme just tap on [ > ] and watch Robin walk around the front of his house.
You can make similar recordings yourself, but you may wish to change the filename to something different, using the keyboard. If the keyboard is used while on this "record and playback" button page, any key typed on the keyboard will start with NEWTRIP.NME or whatever was in the file name control, before the key was pressed. You can clear all the text by hitting a single quote character, or keep hitting the backspace key. Please see use of keyboard below.

15. remote tracking buttons and "chase" ...

GPSSp remote GPS/GSM AVL hardware Remote tracking has been in full Windows GPSS since 1996. This capability is intended for use from a smartphone. i.e. to see where your car is if stolen, or you want to see where it is. e.g. the wife visiting those expensive shops :-) Typical GPS/GSM hardware is on the right. From left to right there is a status stripe and three buttons:
[status] - yellow stripe, [C4GPS 230TE] and [K555GPS SL500] to dial the connection, and [hangup] to terminate the call. The text on the buttons and the 'phone numbers dialed, to the GPS/GSM tracker units, are configurable with files GPSSDIAL.CFG and CONTACT.CFG documented on the AVL page. Note: these buttons will only appear if file GPSSDIAL.CFG is present. For those interested, the two cars used for test are on the speed page :-) The status stripe goes red when one of the dial buttons is tapped, then yellow when the connection is made, typically 10 seconds later, then green if GPS data is being received. The car will then be automatically tracked, second by second, and the map changed to follow it. This is costing you a 'phone call, so the [hangup] button is there to terminate the call.

Chase on Pocket PC "Chase" mode is where the remote car is being tracked, typically over the mobile 'phone network, as well as the local GPS. For more information see Pocket PC Chase

When in "chase" mode, the map is moved to follow the target destination. i.e. the remote object being tracked. The destination icon also appears as a red circle with white cross-hair. Tapping the maintenance mode [MOD] button switches on chase mode. Tapping [COM] switches off chase mode, returning to the white square destination icon and map control based on the local GPS. Tapping the dialup buttons also switches on chase mode.

Note that remote tracking requires the right hardware, in terms of a Pocket PC based GPS and GSM modem.

16. use of the keyboard... e.g. for search ...

Keyboard on v5b of GPSSppc beta Most platforms running GPSSppc have a "soft keyboard" that is switched on or off by tapping a keyboard icon near the bottem of the screen. The picture on the right is an old one, from when we were first testing keyboard use with GPSSppc. The "(last key = 13)" is no longer displayed at the top, as the user enters their text (it would appear as "k/b=13" on the "maintenance" page).

The keyboard may be used in several places within GPSSppc:

The first two of these involve scooping the text on the required control and typing new text via the keyboard. The backspace can be used to delete individual characters.

The last place above involves typing in a "command" ended by the Enter key. This could be done from any button page in GPSSppc. This is explained in more detail below.

first GPSSppc buttons After use of the "what" button, to select what you want to search (e.g. eating places, interesting places, etc) you can use the "find" button (the binoculars) to find the nearest place. If you tap "find" again, it will find the next nearest place, and so on.

You can use the keyboard to find a place by name. e.g. Stonehenge.

But you do not need to enter all the name. GPSSppc will search for the nearest place that starts with the letters you type. It starts this search when you type the Enter key.

So imagine you had selected "Interesting Places" and wanted to find Stonehenge:
You hit the little keyboard icon and the soft keyboard appears.
When you hit the first key (e.g. S ) you will see the text entered appear at the top of the screen. As you tap each character you will see what you typed until you hit Enter, when the search will be done.

If you only hit S before Enter, GPSSppc will find the nearest Interesting place starting with S. e.g. Shalford Mill. If you hit Enter again, it will find the next nearest place starting with S.

Typing only the first one or two letters may be enough if the place is near, but generally you may find it faster to enter more of the name to be sure to find it first time. e.g. "stoneh".

When GPSSppc finds the place it will show it on the map briefly, and describe where it is.
e.g. "53 miles behind us at your 5 o'clock".

If it holds pictures and/or sounds describing the place, these will be shown and spoken.

You can then make this the destination, so you are guided there, or search for a different place.

Note that the [Find] button, explained on the first page of buttons, will search for the next place which starts with this entered text.

The keyboard can be used for other things, such as changing the filename for record or playback (see above).

You can clear all the text by hitting a single quote character, or keep hitting the backspace key.

Currently GPSSppc does not detect when the keyboard has been switched off, and assumes this has happened 10 seconds after the last key is tapped. i.e. the text entry line that appears at the top of the screen is removed.

the last page of just two buttons ...

GPSSp mode1 This is used to display lat/lon or grid (see [LL] button on "maintenance" page above).

17. special keys and buttons ...

Here are keyboard keys used in a particular way by GPSSppc:

Hardware buttons are not yet exploited by GPSSppc.

18. recent changes in GPSSppc user interface ...

The "talk menu" and "home menu" were introduced in v9, released on 4th February 2008 after beta testing in earlier weeks.

The "near menu" and the [FILE] button on recording/playback page were introduced in v10 beta. There is now less need for the [Find] button. The [zoomin] button now steps in one map scale, towards the most detailed map.

The pre-release beta v11 simplifies the user interface. e.g. selection from the "near menu" also makes the place the destination - less need for the "destination" button. The "instrument" display is also switched on or off with the destination.

19. new "learner mode" user interface ...

learner mode buttons A simpler user interface is being introduced (GPSSppc v11k and later) in which new users are presented with just one page of buttons and the "near menu".

These buttons, from left to right are: