Navit. Any opinions?


DAP

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Aug 29, 2008
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Navit looks like it would be a good GPS tool (I would much prefer vector based maps to bitpmaps). I tried to get it running on my Ubuntu machine without any success. 

Is the difficult configuration (poorly documented hand editing of an XML file) the primary reason there is no PND for it yet?
 
I compiled it many years ago but I didn't have a GPS to test it with so it didn't go beyond beta. I'll build it again today and just get a PND out for others to play with.
 
Maybe a little bit of topic, but I tried to get a GPS logger going (reading the tracks) with my Pandora using GpsPrune without much success. The kernel driver for the USB connection of my device is not part of the Pandora firmware, but it is available for Linux. The bluetooth connection did not work long enough to read the complete track.


With this experience I would say the main item is to get a reliable connection to the GPS.
 
Maybe a little bit of topic, but I tried to get a GPS logger going (reading the tracks) with my Pandora using GpsPrune without much success. The kernel driver for the USB connection of my device is not part of the Pandora firmware, but it is available for Linux. The bluetooth connection did not work long enough to read the complete track.

With this experience I would say the main item is to get a reliable connection to the GPS.
Yes, I'm noticing this too. With modRana, it disconnects the GPS from the blutooth a few minutes after connecting. I've set my GPS to output 5 positions/second, so that may be part of that. (the normal 1/sec does not work very well for updating OpenStreetMaps at highway speeds.)

But even foxtrotGPS missed the beginning of my commute this morning.
 
I got navit to work on my desktop computer..., well sort of.

Reading the comments in navit.xml was much more helpful than the wiki.

The fix that made it start working was commenting out a vehicle that was trying to use gpsd://localhost.

I have it showing my location on the map, but for some reason south is at the top of my display, and north is at the bottom. I can drag the map around, but I can't zoom in or out.

I tried enabling the GTK+ interface, but it then said no interface was enabled.
 
I've got Navit running but it's a mash of requirements and I don't know if it actualy works with a GPS. I'll finish packaging it up tonight hopefully and anyone can play with it.
 
I've got Navit running but it's a mash of requirements and I don't know if it actualy works with a GPS. I'll finish packaging it up tonight hopefully and anyone can play with it.
Thanks. I'll give it a try as soon as it shows up.
 
Did Navit get packaged? I can't find it if it has.
 
Not yet.

edit: almost had it, and then it crashed as soon as a map was loaded. If it doesn't load a map it runs perfectly. ;)

Probably library conflicts or something. I'm going to have to set it aside and figure it out tomorrow.

If anyone wants to try and debug it themselves, here's what I've got so far: http://rebirthofxeen.com/files/pandora/navit.tar.gz

Simply extract and execute "run". Not sure what is required to get gpsd working unfortunately, but theoretically this should just pick it up, once the map crash is fixed.
 
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