Colin's Astronomy Pages

Software

AstroGPS

This utility is used to add a link between your NMEA compatible GPS and your sky charting software. Use it to update your computers time, and to set your observing location. Currently this utility supports Skymap Pro sky charting software. You can also update your Autostar directly using the Autostar RS-232 cable.

Requirements

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
1 Serial Port
1 GPS that supports the NMEA protocol
Cable to link GPS to Serial port

You also need one or more of the items below.

A Telescope with Autostar.
SkyPro Pro v5 or upwards.

Release History Download (3.9Mb)

Version 1.1.0.3 (3rd September 2005)

Altered the installation directory from Application Data to Program Files\Dawson Graphics\AstroGPS
Fixed a problem which causes Windows 98 PC’s to fail to open the COM port (Thank you to Tom Tallbott)

Version 1.1.0.2 (7th January 2005)

Fixed a problem where the GPS routines would incorrectly interpret the Latitude and Longitude as 0. (A big thank you to Sergio Tognolotti his help debugging this tricky problem)

Version 1.1.0.1 (4th January 2005)

Added debug mode to help diagnoses of NMEA translation problems. To start debug logging add /Debug:1 to the command line. To do this, right click on the AstroGPS Icon, then select properties add /Debug:1 at the end of the target line. If done correctly when you start AstroGPS you will be told that you are in Debug mode. You will be told where the log file will be created (in the same folder as the main program).

Version 1.1.0.0 (2th Janruary 2005)

Added Autostar Support. To use this feature you need to first connect to your GPS and
download location information.

Version 1.0.0.5 (5th December 2004)

Changed the way that COM Ports are evaluated for computers running on Windows 98/ME.
This change will not effect any Windows NT/XP users.

Version 1.0.0.4 (22nd November 2004)

Fixed bug in setting the Time Zone information (my thanks to Gary Trapuzzano for supply information about this)
Added support for the GPS altitude detection.

Version 1.0.0.3 (21st November 2004)

Added support for Skymap pro Version 6,7,9 and 11 (My thanks for Chris Mariott for giving me the inside information needed to do this, before the release is ready).
Tidied up the code to improve on code reuse.
Added code so that the program uses only the RAM that it needs.

Version 1.0.0.2 (20th November 2004)

Removed shareware restriction. I’ve decided to release this product as freeware.

Version 1.0.0.1 (1st August 2004)

Fixed problem with evaluation mode not initializing properly.

Version 1.0.0.0 (1st August 2004)

Updates system time.
Support for Skymap Pro Version 5,8,10