Google Earth real time?

Question

can the Garmin Oregon 400t be used in Google earth for real time tracking on a pc?

my school will be sending up a near-space balloon and one of the tracking methods we are considering is using Google earth. we trying to test if it will work and i am using a the above mentioned unit for testing but when I plug it and select it in Google Earth it confirms the unit is connected but GE. wont show my position. i would like to know if im doing something wrong or the gps just isn't compatible with GE.

Answer 1

I'm not clear on why you're connecting the GPS unit to Google Earth for testing. It seems to me that the GPS unit will be on board the balloon, while your PC will remain here on ground, isn't that right? In that case, you'd better have a very long USB cable. :-)



But seriously--It seems to me there are two ways you can employ Google Earth:



Way 1: If you really want real-time tracking, you'll have to have a GPS unit on board the balloon, attached to some transmitter that can send data to a computer server somewhere. Some people have done this by sending up a cell phone that transmits its GPS location to some web site. See this link for example: (http://ianpearce.info/GPS-Weather-Balloon ). I'm not sure if you'll get good cell phone coverage if you're going to near-space, however; here's another technique that sends coordinates to the Internet via something called "APRS" which does not depend on cell phone coverage: (http://wiki.oz9aec.net/index.php/Tactical_Tracking_System ).



Once the information is being written to the Internet, it's theoretically accessible to Google Earth in real time. Hopefully some of your crew are good at programming. What you'll have to do is write a program that will periodically read the coordinates (from wherever they're being stored), and generate a "KML" file from them ("KML" is a special file format that Google Earth can read. It's not too hard to understand or to create; there are tutorials on Google.) This KML file will change its contents every few seconds (or however often you want to update the coordinates). Then you'll need a second, static KML file that contains a link to the first one, via something called a element (see doc's here: http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kmlreference.html#link ). The element gives a URL or file path to the first (dynamic) KML file, as well as a refresh rate. Once that's all set up, all you have to do is load the (second) KML file into Google Earth, and it will automatically pull in the balloon's coordinates at the refresh rate you specified. The KML file also controls how the data is displayed on the map.



Way 2: If you're willing to wait, you can just have your balloon's GPS unit record the track data onto its flash memory, and then import it all into Google Earth later. The Oregon 400T has this capability; it records its track in something called a "GPX file," which Google Earth can import and display. Of course, there is a catch: You have to actually retrieve the GPS unit after the balloon has finished its mission!

Answer 2

Your question is not whether Google Earth is real time, but whether your computer can track, in real time, the position given by the GPS, then plot it, in real time, on your Google Earth screen.



If the GPS happens to be over a road that is brand new, the road will not show on Google Earth, but the position (lat and long) would still be correct (and you would still see it as three miles east of the church, even though the screen does not show the new road).



However, for your specific problem, I do not know. I have never used GPS with Google Earth, only with the electronic maps that are compatible with my GPS receiver (the kind of map you have to pay for).



IF "real-time" is not essential, but you can use "almost real time", you could have someone enter the values as they come in, and follow the progress in "almost real time". But, of course, that sorts of cuts down on the amount of fun.

Answer 3

I haven't kept up with GPS and GE but at one time you have to upgrade to a 'Pro' version of GE in order to show stuff. If GE says it found the GPS then it ought to be able to process the data. But the critical point is how you will get the near-space data into the PC and whether than link is working in both directions - is the PC telling the GPS and comm link to send stuff?

Answer 4

Google Earth IS NOT REAL TIME. Only people with very high security clearances have access to real time satellite feeds, because it would violate the security of all the nations on Earth if the general public had access to real-time satellite image feeds. Can you imagine what terrorists could DO with real-time satellite feeds?

Answer 5

Not yet, but wait 5 minutes.