[ros-users] Standard GPS Message

[Eric Perko]

Bill,

I am also interested in a standardized GPS message and graphical tools
for visualizing it. The visualization tools definitely need a way to
show both the fix and standard deviations at a minimum in order to be
useful in my opinion.

I don't see any notion of standard deviation of the fix in the gpsd
message format. That is _really_ important - am I just missing the
field in the gpsd message (I couldn't find any documentation on what
each field in that message actually means or what units it has, any
hints?). As far as other formats for GPS messages, I work with Novatel
ProPak units which have a pretty complete set of outputs. The PDF at
http://www.novatel.com/Documents/Manuals/om-20000094.pdf is the user
manual for it and we currently use the BestPOS packet type - while not
ROSified, I would like a message that can convey a good chunk of that
data.

As far as a waypoint format, what type of waypoints are you thinking?
I have the beginnings of a simple KML reader that we
(mobilerobots.case.edu) have been using to translate GPS waypoint
goals into goals that the move_base can handle. What are you thinking
of needing in addition to, say, a list of gpsd_client/GPSFix messages?

In general, I would definitely be interested in a standardized GPS
message format and helping to design and review any proposed formats.

- Eric

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 6:02 PM, Bill Morris <morris at ee.ccny.cuny.edu> wrote:
> I want to see if the GPS message format can be standardized, and I was
> wondering if anyone had pointers on what steps need to be taken to get
> the message format(s) considered for the D-Turtle release.
>
> The review process for camera_info_manager seemed to work well enough so
> perhaps something like that can be used.
>
> Right now I'm writing a driver for a GPS that does not work with gpsd,
> and our lab is working on building some graphical GPS tools so it is
> probably a good time to standardize the message format before we get
> much further.
>
> I think the gpsd message format looks like a good start, but I would
> also like to see some sort of waypoint format as well. This will help
> ensure that all of the tools developed are interoperable.
>
> Current Formats
> http://www.ros.org/doc/api/gpsd_client/html/msg/GPSStatus.html
> http://www.ros.org/doc/api/applanix/html/msg/GpsInfo.html
>
> Are there any other GPS formats in use?
>
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