ATV Florida Forum

Has anyone used the realtime GPS tracking on the google earth?  I have been fooling around with it but with no success.  I can track myself afterwards but not during my travel.  Has anyone used a laptop, gps, and google earth together and watch yourself while your on trails? 

That would be a heck of a navigational aid if you could do it real time all while watching your self on line.
Dont know if its possible yet.

After a crap load of searching I have found a program that overlays your GPS tracking over google earth.  I took it for a test run it did work but I was in my car going about 55 and google earth doesn't pan as fast as I was driving.  The good thing is on a trail I am sure google earth pans fast enough to follow you.  Another problem you run into is the fact that google earth needs a internet connection but I have found there is plenty of memory in the cache files to load any place I ride.  (you can also turn up your cache memory on google earth to accommodate you) I am planning on exploring some trails and sights I have seen on Google Earth.  I still have some mounting and wiring to do for my RZR but all in all I think it will work fine  :)  This is what I am using to do this:

1) Netbook                     http://eeepc.asus.com/global/products.html?n=0
2) GPS                          https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=310
3) Google Earth (free)      http://earth.google.com/
4) GPS TrackMaker (free)  http://www.gpstm.com/index.php

"a program that overlays your GPS tracking over google earth"

Thats what I needed, let us know how it worked out.
Thanks

You open GPS TrackerMaker first (with you gps hooked up) then click on the GPS tab, then (in my case garmin) click on garmin, then real time tracking and you will then see this screen below.  After that click on the Google Earth botton I marked.  It will bring up Google earth.  Also use the zoom on this program to control how far you are zoomed in (not google earth)

(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f77/IXIswamperIXI/gpstrackingpic.jpg)

Below is how it looks on google earth that little red pin follows you.
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f77/IXIswamperIXI/GEpic.jpg)

When I used just google earth's real time tracking I would loose "My Position" in the map (a little blue dot) I found that if I kept moving #5 (below) to the right it would show my position for a brief moment until the gps refreshed its location then I would have to move #5 again to the right. 

(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f77/IXIswamperIXI/time_slider_callouts.jpg)

I guess the longer you track the larger the blue line gets, so every few secs I have to move #5.  Thats hard to do and drive (or ride)  I know this pic is of a "timeline" example but the same icon pops up when you are tracking yourself with google earth.

Anyway has anyone used JUST google earth and been able to see "My Position" in real time without having to move the scale every few secs?

Wow!  That is amazing!  And you are just perfect at showing how to do it.  That is EXACTLY how I need tech stuff explained.  Pictures and all.  Let me know if you get the other one to work for you.  I might just give this one a try.  It will give me something to play with while passengering to the places we ride.  Thanks again!  Dawn

Well Thank you!  I am going to try to do it this weekend but with it mothers day weekend (wife,mother, and mother-n-law) I am not sure if I can.  But I will let you guys know  :ThumbsUp.gif

While not exactly the same thing I downloaded Google Maps to my Phone (with GPS) and it works fairly well.  I use it a River Ranch.  It will track me while in Satellite view and I can see the terrain fairly well.  It is a bit slow (on my phone) but a laptop with Wireless card should do well.  The Satellite picks are decent to see the trails and plot out a course.

http://www.google.com/mobile/default/maps.html

Follow the instructions on the page.  I have a HTC FUZE

Acually a 3rd generation iPhone with the gps shows you on google earth on the trail very well as long as you have signal the problem is the one place I am riding I have no signal.  That is acualy what started me trying some new ideas.  The only other problem I saw with the iPhone one is that it killed the battery in about an hour and a half.  So you have to keep it charged.  Oh and the screens a little small but all in all I was impressed.

I agree regarding the size.  I use it in a pinch.  The FUZE battery lasts me all day. 

Anyway just another way of looking at it.  No signal is definitely a deal breaker.  Good luck

I took the RZR out for a little ride to see how the programs worked and I made a couple of videos of the screen so you could see how it looked but a 2 min video was too big for photobucket and for some AGRIVATRING reason I can't sign up for you tube.  Anyway It did work but i wasn't too happy with the accuracy and about a 20 sec lag.  The 3G iPhone with the GPS and Google Earth was a lot better with movement and accuracy.  I will look for another way to load the videos I have.  The setup I have will work BUT to me its bugy. 

OK I think I have a good setup.  The refresh is faster, accuracy is better, and it is a lot more user friendly.  I also have a 1 min video of it in action but I don't know where to upload it.  Anyway, I am going to test and tweak it again when I get home and I will post a new thread on how to do all of it if anyone is interested. 

Is step one going out and buying a new Iphone?  I have been hoping to get away from ATT at the end of my contract because Verizon works so much better in the areas we ride.   I would be very interested in seeing how this works though if it isn't too much work for you.  Thanks for all your efforts.  It really is cool.  Dawn

I am sorry it has taken so long to reply.  I think this setup worked the best.  This link describes it best  ;)

http://freegeographytools.com/2007/real-time-gps-tracking-with-google-earth-donationware

I know this is old but I also found this which looks a lot easier  8)

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=70144&ra=true#productTab