MapThis and 5.50 GEN

[Twisky]

For my birthday I asked my girlfriend to get me a GPS-290 from eBay.

It eventually came in the mail from Hong Kong and I started setting up MapThis.

The program works fine on my PSP and it displays the maps I made with GMDL.

When I click start > GPS Info. It shows that I am connecting to 1-3 satellites but the fix column says -0- for all of them.

I am not sure what the problem is because in all the screen shots and videos I have seen, many people have 4-8 satellites locked on.

If someone could give me some advice that would be awesome, otherwise this was a waste of $47 . .

[dragon92]

Haven't you ever used a GPS device before?Get out with it and wait.That's the trick.

[andreq]

Firstly, welcome aboard !

As dragon92 said (in his tone ;) ) :

You can't use (in most case) GPS device inside a building.

Try to get outside and stay in place for 1-2 minutes.
When you have 3 locked satellites, you should be able to have your position.
Also, more satellites will be listed after the initial lock.

Furthermore, if you are outside and not picking up on 3-4 satellites, check if your not to close of a high building (sky scraper).

Finally, you should have a clear view of the sky in 3 opposite direction

See my upper duper diagram

p.s. It's a top view -_-... and I'm left handed... trying to draw with a computer mouse using my right hand...

[Twisky]

Thanks for the help andreq but it still doesnt work.

Last night, after I posted this thread, I went to bed with MapThis running.

It had found 2 satellites when I went to bed (both not fixed) and when I woke up in the middle of the night, some 3 hours later, it showed like 10 satellites with 6 fixed.

Why does it take so long to get a fix? I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia and there are no big buildings or even too many trees near my house.

Also, I was on the top floor when I got the 6 lock-ons.

[Twisky]

WOW !

I went outside with it for the first time, just now.

It found 10 satellites and locked on to 7 within seconds. I guess its just terrible inside.

The only problem is that my PSP analog stick drifts to the top left from over use and it causes the GPS mode to stop. Anyway to fix that?

[andreq]

replace your analog stick?

If you know about PSP dev, you might be able to compile your own version of mapthis with no analog stick control.

I'm Flash Game developer and I wouldn't do it (it's more that I'm not motivated about it than I don't have the skills, C or C++ isn't that complicated anyway)

Good luck :)