[Jeroen’s] student project is a module that uses GPS tracking to create travel data on Google maps. It’s not really a spy device as the data isn’t transmitted, but would be a lot of fun to use on cycling and hiking adventures. A PIC 18F2550 reads location and altitude data from a GPS receiver as well as data from an accelerometer. This information can be displayed on an attached touchscreen display and it is also saved to a pair of EEPROMs. When you get back from your trip, the data pulled from the device via a serial connection is processed by [Jeroen’s] C# application and used to overlay the route on a google map. He’s got a source code package available for download but we’ve saved you the trouble if the schematic is all you’re after. It’s attached after the break.
Yeah, its called a GPS data-logger.
I can not believe that these student projects make it past the screening phase. Great idea, lets give credit for a poorly done re-design of commercially available hardware. Not even impressive software implementation.
For a student, this is a really good board layout and he did a great job with it. Nice idea and execution!
@NotImpressed:
Why not close down hackaday alltogether? If posting about people, who built things, that are also comercially available ist lame, that the whole site is and should be taken off the internet…
@NotImpressed – I’m sure his grade would have suffered had he skipped the design / programming part of his assignment and purchased an off-the-shelf GPS data-logger.
Sometimes the Hack is about learning, and not about pushing at the bleeding edge of what’s possible. A great way to learn is to replicate something that’s already done, and try to surmount design challenges on your own (or in this case, as part of instruction).
I for one appreciate his tidy board layout.
NotImpressed:
If it can be built for less than $59.99, then call this a success. Also, this is probably easier to tweak to a person’s specific needs/projects than the commercially available products.
@8-[: there are plenty of original, interesting project ideas posted to Hackaday. That’s the point. This was unbelievably low-hanging fruit.
@*-[:
What you seem to have forgotten is that hackaday is supposed to be about doing cool things or doing things in a cool or cheaper way. This is neither.
Making an avr log serial data is not interesting or unusal. Logging GPS data and viewing it in google maps is nothing exciting either, practically any new phone can do it. No offense to the guy but the implementation is also nothing remarkable.
Yes it may be a nice little project but its not really newsworthy.
@Bob
it’s hackaday showing projects from users. i would love to see you post a project that is as good as his.
I hate the elitest attitude around here. Who are you to judge this guy’s project? All he says “In my education I had some option to do a subject of choice.” You guys are assuming this is some year-long senior-class project, but how do you know that? What if it’s just a “intro to embedded systems” class or something else? Also, this is 100x better than the average arduino cookie-cutter projects that make it to HAD. Stop acting like every engineering student needs to discover pertutal motion or design a holographic display or something for their school projects. You guys are a bunch of elitist pricks and you stifle creativity and learning.
Yes, it is available as a commercial product. So what? It is educational. It’s a project for school and its purpose is to teach the guy who builds it stuff. I think the project is well designed, maybe a more modern storage such as flash chip or sd card would do better.
I’m sure not all projects around here are innovative in some way, but they may be the starting point for something. Who knows how many people get great ideas by looking at something posted here even if it’s not a nuclear reactor.
@bogdan
Totally agree. In my embedded systems class I made a guitar tuner from a PIC18F chip and did some basic signal processing. Yes of course there are thousands of guitar tuners already on the market, but doing the project gave me a lot of insight and appreciation for the technology, and I learned some new techniques that have helped me in subsequent projects.
Also I apologize for my bad spelling/grammar, I have a broken wrist so I’m typing with one hand.
I agree, I’m glad this was posted here. I’m working on a similar project right now. Sure, I could go out and buy one, but why do that when I have an old GPS module with a broken screen to salvage and a dozen micro controllers lying around? Total cost to me will probably be $20-30, most of which will be the otterbox I plan to put it in.
Can we stop complaining about NotImpressed et al and actually discuss the device already?
Remember guys, it’s not stalking if you really love them.
I built something similar 7 years ago: http://tolaemon.com/gps8bits/
if it were my student project, i would have hidden my phone at the core with gpscompassmap installed. of course, if you turn off the gps between destinations, all you get for a path is a straight line, because there is no location data for the actual travel that way. I personally use it as a HoJack, i mean a LoJack for your ho, mane. You see, all we eat is lo mein, you need to put a LoJack on your ho, mane.
just toss the phone in the car, pick it up later, and go visit all the crackhouses and rap music artists that she visited ;D
If it log’s time it can be used to geotag Pictures :)
Meh, there are a thousand other GPS data logger projects posted on the ‘net from the last decade or so…
no! really?
http://aprs.fi/on4ndo-9
thats my car
beautiful layout though