Using High Precision External GPS Unit

When enabled with the appropriate subscription, the InfraMarker mobile application can integrate with high precision external GPS units. Both Android and iOS devices support external Bluetooth GPS units. Two of the officially supported devices, and the best integrated with InfraMarker, are the EOS Arrow 100 or 200 and the Trimble R1 or R2. For now, iOS devices will only support EOS and Trimble GPS units. Android will support these and should support other GPS manufacturers.

Android

InfraMarker integration with external bluetooth GPS devices on the Android platform is very simple. Only those GPS units which have applications that can publish to a mock location should be used.

For each GPS device, load the device manufacturer’s application to the Android device.

• Trimble: GNSS Status
• EOS: EOS Tools Pro
• Bad Elf: Bluetooth GPS

Next set the application as the Mock Location Provider by following these steps:

• In Android’s Settings, find Developer Options. If not available, find Build Number (search), tap multiple times to activate Developer Options.
• Find Mock Location App in Developer options and change to the downloaded GPS Device Application.
  
  

For another generic external GPS unit: 

• Install a vendor provided Bluetooth application or any generic Bluetooth GPS application.
• Connect it to the GPS unit.
• Enable "mock location".
• In the application, you may need to enable Mock Locations. For example, in EOS Tools Pro, the pull-down menu has a Mock Location option. GNSS Status does not require this to be performed.

There must be an active Bluetooth connection to the GPS device. The GPS Application must be connected to the GPS Receiver in order for InfraMarker to receive these locations.

With an external GPS unit, InfraMarker will be able to receive latitude, longitude, and accuracy data for geometry creation in manual or recording mode. Data will be recorded per point and include latitude, longitude, altitude, horizontal accuracy, bearing, and speed assuming the device provides the information in an NMEA string.

iOS

InfraMarker on iOS supports a variety of GPS devices, yet is especially integrated with the EOS Arrow 100 and 200 units.

For each GPS device, load the device manufacturer’s application to the iOS device.

• Trimble: GNSS Status
• EOS: EOS Tools Pro
• Bad Elf: Bluetooth GPS

From the IOS Settings Bluetooth menu, pair the GPS unit with the iOS device. Under My Devices, select Not Connected to initiate the GPS Connection to iOS. This will need to be done every time the GPS unit goes inactive. The GPS Application must be connected to the GPS Receiver in order for InfraMarker to receive these locations.

If the GPS unit is not an EOS device, then these devices will send InfraMarker position data including location, latitude, and longitude. Accuracy information, including accuracy data will not be passed to InfraMarker. That means that even if a unit has one meter accuracy, the location in InfraMarker will reflect that location, although the GPS info will pull the accuracy information from the iOS device (5 meters).

EOS Arrow 100 and 200 devices have full integration with InfraMarker. To reference this, go to the InfraMarker Settings menu and select High Precision External GPS from the Use external GPS option.

The options for "Use external GPS" include:

• Internal GPS ON. The internal GPS is used. Latitude, longitude, accuracy, bearing and speed will come from the internal GPS unit.
• Internal GPS OFF. The internal GPS unit is turned off to improve battery life. If the external GPS unit is paired and connected using one of the available Bluetooth GPS applications, the InfraMarker application will receive latitude and longitude data from the external GPS. All other position information fields including accuracy, bearing, and speed will come from the internal Location Manager. This means only the latitude and longitude is valid and useful location information. It is preferred to use vendor specificBluetooth GPS applications.

High Precision External GPS. This mode is defined specifically for the EOS Arrow 100 GPS unit. The Configure external GPS Settings are enabled in this mode.

In the Setup view, select the paired EOS Arrow 100 unit and the protocol "com.eos-gnss.positioningsource". The Connect button will perform the bluetooth connection to the external GPS.

Before the InfraMarker application is started, the EOS Tools Pro app should also be running on the device. The EOS Tools Pro will connect and configure the EOS Arrow 100 unit to use an RTK correction.

With the EOS Arrow 100 or 200 unit, the InfraMarker application will also be able to extract additional fields when placing an asset. Data will be recorded per point and include latitude, longitude, altitude, horizontal accuracy, bearing, and speed.