[plug] GPS and maps
Tim Bowden
tim.bowden at westnet.com.au
Mon Apr 23 12:35:33 WST 2007
On Thu, 2007-04-19 at 20:18 +0800, William Kenworthy wrote:
> Just got myself a cheap GPS to use with my treo. Are there any useful
> maps of Perth and surrounds available?
>
Yes. WA Govt provides bucket loads of geospatial data through the SLIP
(Shared Land Information Project) using OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium)
standards, namely wms (Web Map Service; Raster Data) and wfs (Web
Feature Service; Vector data). You will need to register to get the
data (http://www2.landgate.wa.gov.au). The service is still in pilot,
but I believe they have recently relaxed the limit on number of
subscribers to the service. If you register, let me know of list and I
can give you a few pointers as to how to use it.
You will need a wms/wfs capable client to access the data
(http://udig.refractions.net which is also capable of viewing gps data).
What format do you need for your maps?
> GPSdrive under linux looks ok, but the supplied maps dont scale
> accurately (at one point, a location in Vic Park was rather wet - west
> of Rottnest) - the GPS seems accurate, its the software! I will scan a
> map I have and see if its any better that way.
>
> Speaking of which, google maps seem hundreds of meters out at times, the
> web based mapquest was two streets away (seems to be a
> precision/rounding error) - much of the software (linux and palmOS)
> seems quite old, not a good state of play :(
>
> BillK
>
>
Google images are sometimes of questionable accuracy, and their utility
depends on what the accuracy you need.
For a run down on GIS (Geographic Information System) software for linux
(of which GPS is a very small part), try http://freegis.org. In
particular:
http://www.gpsbabel.org/ for converting gps data between many common
formats
http://gpsd.berlios.de/ gps unit daemon for providing data to multiple
apps (site down atm, and expecting to move soon I believe).
http://postgis.refraction.net Spatial extension to postgresql rdbms
providing ogc compliant spatial objects and operations.
http://www.qgis.org/ GIS desktop application. Good for viewing and
manipulating data, but can't (yet) do wfs.
http://www.openstreetmap.org Community built maps (think wikipedia), but
no data yet for WA.
http://www.osgeo.org World wide open source geospatial foundation. The
main discuss mailing list is a great place for asking general questions
about open source GIS in general. Will often result in being pointed to
the appropriate projects mailing list.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Australia Australian Chapter of OSGeo
(in formation). Questions about open source gis in Aust welcomed on the
mailing list.
http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking Geowanking mailing
list: Open source friendly, a good place for asking any type of general
gis/gps questions.
HTH,
Tim Bowden
--
Mapforge Geospatial
Level 3, 267 St Georges Tce
Perth, 6000
Western Australia
Ph: 08 9261 7780
Fax: 08 9261 7700
Mob: 04 2316 7272
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