5hz tracking instructions anyone?

[chris2x]

hello guys -i'm still figuring out the best way to get this to work, but i'd like to know if anyone is interested in trying to enable their MTK-based GPS units (iBlue 737, 747, etc.) to take 5Hz tracks - that's 5 tracks per second (instead of the more common 1 track per second).

please take a look at my tracks to see what i mean:

[Borgie]

hello guys -i'm still figuring out the best way to get this to work, but i'd like to know if anyone is interested in trying to enable their MTK-based GPS units (iBlue 737, 747, etc.) to take 5Hz tracks - that's 5 tracks per second (instead of the more common 1 track per second).

please take a look at my tracks to see what i mean:

This is nice . But if you're planning to record tracks for a longer period of time, there might be some issues with mapsource with bigger files (i.e. more track points=bigger file=longer time to open=sometimes hang). Please post your observations regarding file sizes using 5hz tracks (5pts/sec) as compared to 1hz (1pt/sec)... TIA

[chris2x]

all i've noticed so far is that it does take a bit longer to open, but not long enough to hang my machine completely. i've even consolidated my tracks for the past 3 days and the resulting gdb still opens reasonably fast. this is using the last version of Mapsource that supports 3rd-party maps.

thanks for the feedback! :-)

[B2Bomber]

This is nice . But if you're planning to record tracks for a longer period of time, there might be some issues with mapsource with bigger files (i.e. more track points=bigger file=longer time to open=sometimes hang). Please post your observations regarding file sizes using 5hz tracks (5pts/sec) as compared to 1hz (1pt/sec)... TIA

not to mention the max number of points per track that mapsource could handle. it might get truncated.

[Borgie]

not to mention the max number of points per track that mapsource could handle. it might get truncated.

Methinks there is no limit in mapsource (or is there?). But in GPSRs, there's a 10k pts limit and after that it's either you lose older tracks or the GPSR stops tracking (depending on your track settings). But if your GPSR has an MC and you set it to back-up tracks to MC, then no tracks ever get deleted even though you cannot view older tracks in the screen anymore. I posted a comment about this in the 60CSx tips & tricks thread...

[B2Bomber]

Methinks there is no limit in mapsource (or is there?). But in GPSRs, there's a 10k pts limit and after that it's either you lose older tracks or the GPSR stops tracking (depending on your track settings). But if your GPSR has an MC and you set it to back-up tracks to MC, then no tracks ever get deleted even though you cannot view older tracks in the screen anymore. I posted a comment about this in the 60CSx tips & tricks thread...

OT: from a programming point of view, I would assume there is... otherwise, you might end up getting overflow errors. plus you still have to define your variable types anyway... but then I didn't code mapsource.

BTT: I'm happy with 1Hz. But I guess if you often track at high speeds, >1Hz logging would come very handy.

[legtu]

@chris2x
the images attached on your 1st post, are those comparison tracks from a 1hz and 5hz track?

for now, i'm still using 1hz logging as i haven't really found a major advantage in using 5hz. aside from the bigger log size, battery runtime is also a lot less @5hz.

if really needed though, switching to 5hz is just a bt747 app away.

[chris2x]

not yet - they're taken from my nuvi (so that's 1 every 5 seconds). i'll try to show a comparison of the nuvi vs 1hz vs 5hz tracking sometime. ;-)

the main advantages i am seeing so far are when:
1- taking detailed tracks at straightaways at fast driving speeds
2- taking detailed tracks of u-turns, curves (esp. smaller ones, during cornering), etc.

yeah, except that it doesn't work for me so i have the more generic and "down and dirty" approach. plus in bt747 you have to configure at what point the 5hz tracking starts whereas in my case i just activated it for everything.