MapGPS Software Library

MapGPS software allows a user to read data in NMEA format from GPS receivers. The data can be read from a serial port or from a file stored on disk. It is a multi-threaded application which allows a user to capture, monitor and store data from a number of receivers through the serial port of a computer or from a stored file. Each source of GPS data is handled using a separate thread. Threads can be started, destroyed, paused or resumed. Threads run independently of one another and can be referred to by their unique identification number which is returned to a user on initialisation. A user can specify the required NMEA strings to decode when starting a thread and can decode single- or multiple-NMEA strings. When there are several GPS satellites in view and data is being received every second from each, multiple threads can process all of the data.

MapGPS software has been designed and used to capture, monitor and store the location of multiple assets such as vehicles or equipment.  A user can choose to capture all of the available data from GPS receivers or sample the data at intervals such as every 10, 30 or 60 seconds. This gives a user the opportunity to create custom applications which capture, process and store the time and location of each asset such as a vehicle or valuable piece of equipment.

MapGPS software has been used in diverse applications. For example, it has been used to manage and monitor a fleet of vehicles and to map and monitoring in near real-time the location, speed, direction of travel and other variables of an asset such as a stolen vehicle.

The illustration above shows the results from processing multiple threads using the MapGPS software which runs in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 environments.