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How to (FAQ)

License keys and new versions of the software
Where to get examples of SHP files?
How to broadcast NMEA via UDP?
How to load route from file?
Where can I get NMEA examples?
How to connect to GPS Generator via virtual null modem?
How to connect GPS Simulator to device which provides BlueTooth SPP-service?
How to connect to GPS simulator from Bluetooth device without SPP service?
I get an error message "Access violation at address 006A2E90 in module 'avGPSGenPro.exe'. Read of address 00000004".

License keys and new versions of the software

If after upgrading of the GPS Generator it does not accept your license key (this may occur, for instance, if you purchased the software several years ago), then feel free to write us (see contacts) and new key will be sent to you.

Where to get examples of SHP files?

Here you can download examples of shape files (*.shp) containing roads in different countries.

Roads and highways in Greece, Haiti and Dominican republic, Cuba, USA, Canada:

It is possible to use roads from these files for GPS simulation as shown in this video:

How to broadcast NMEA via UDP?

Starting from v.4.0.5 GPS Generator PRO has an option to send simulated NMEA protocol via UDP. This article describes how to configure GPS Simulator to send UDP datagrams to specific host or broadcast (multicast) NMEA UDP within network.

GPS Generator can send generated NMEA data via UDP. It can send UDP packets to specific host, broadcasting data within network or multicasting to a set of host.

To configure the software prease click 'Data Transmission >> Communication Port Settings' menu item.

Then Switch to 'UDP' page, please.

On this page user can specify address (or name) to send UDP packets to and UDP port. Address can be specific host address (like '192.169.213.1' or 'myhost'), local host address ('127.0.0.1' or 'localhost'), broadcast address ('255.255.255.255') or multicast address (like '239.254.48.102').

Port can be any not used port (like 8899, 1234 etc).

After that press 'OK' to close the dialog.

When you start GPS simulation, the software will start to send NMEA packed to UDP to specified address and port.

You can use the following program to test that everything is ok and data can be received:
Download UPD Listener 

Microsoft .Net framework is required to run this tool.

Unpack the downloaded archive and go to 'UDPListener/bin/Release/' folder. Start 'UDPListener.exe' file. After that if everything is ok it will start to receive and display received data.

By default this listener is configured to listen on local host address '127.0.0.1' with port #8899. These are default settings for GPS Generator.

Source code (C#.Net) for UDP listener is included, so you can change it (address, port etc) as you wish.

How to load route from file?

You can load previously created route from file. To load route data from file switch to Route mode page, then press Load... button and select *.csv file. The file shall contain tabulated data in the following format:

1st line contains number of points. Each next line contains data for each waypoint (name, latitude, longitude, altitude, speed on segment), separated by semicolon.

Example of csv file:

10
W1;-46.1502641367563;166.023055697577;100;20
W2;-46.5305712165813;166.764654503236;100;30
W3;-46.6066326325463;167.544284016877;100;40
W4;-46.587617278555;168.476036362448;100;50
W5;-46.5495865705725;169.27468123008;100;50
W6;-46.4735251546076;170.244464283634;100;50
W7;-46.0361720128089;171.195231983196;100;50
W8;-45.351619269124;171.10015521324;100;40
W9;-44.8952507733341;171.746677248942;100;30
W10;-44.2218987384408;172.608738233039;100;20

When this file is loaded to GPS simulator the following path will be created:

Where can I get NMEA examples?

You can use GPS Generator to generate NMEA sentences of required version.

Example of NMEA 0183 v2.3. output (somewhere in Red Sea):

$GPGGA,160023.69,1130.832,N,04344.045,E,1,04,2.6,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7C
$GPGLL,1130.915,N,04344.052,E,160024.70,A*0C
$GPGGA,160025.71,1130.998,N,04344.060,E,1,04,2.7,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*74
$GPRMC,160026.73,A,1131.081,N,04344.067,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*5A
$GPRMC,160027.74,A,1131.164,N,04344.074,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*54
$GPGLL,1131.247,N,04344.082,E,160028.76,A*06
$GPGLL,1131.330,N,04344.089,E,160029.77,A*0C
$GPRMC,160030.79,A,1131.413,N,04344.096,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*56
$GPGGA,160031.80,1131.496,N,04344.104,E,1,04,1.8,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*72
$GPGGA,160032.81,1131.579,N,04344.111,E,1,04,2.0,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7F
$GPRMC,160033.83,A,1131.662,N,04344.118,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*53
$GPGGA,160034.84,1131.745,N,04344.126,E,1,04,2.9,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7C
$GPGGA,160035.86,1131.828,N,04344.133,E,1,04,2.6,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*70
$GPGGA,160036.87,1131.911,N,04344.140,E,1,04,2.9,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*72
$GPRMC,160037.88,A,1131.994,N,04344.148,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*5F
$GPGLL,1132.077,N,04344.155,E,160038.90,A*06
$GPGLL,1132.160,N,04344.163,E,160039.91,A*04
$GPGLL,1132.243,N,04344.170,E,160040.93,A*08
$GPGGA,160041.94,1132.326,N,04344.177,E,1,04,1.3,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*70
$GPGLL,1132.409,N,04344.185,E,160042.97,A*0C
$GPGLL,1132.492,N,04344.192,E,160043.97,A*09
$GPRMC,160044.98,A,1132.575,N,04344.199,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*56
$GPGLL,1132.658,N,04344.207,E,160046.00,A*09
$GPRMC,160047.01,A,1132.741,N,04344.214,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*56
$GPGGA,160048.02,1132.823,N,04344.221,E,1,04,1.5,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7E
$GPRMC,160049.04,A,1132.906,N,04344.229,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*5E
$GPRMC,160050.05,A,1132.989,N,04344.236,E,300.00,4.96,110213,0.0,E*5E
$GPGLL,1133.072,N,04344.243,E,160051.07,A*07
$GPGLL,1133.155,N,04344.251,E,160052.08,A*0C
$GPGLL,1133.238,N,04344.244,E,160053.09,A*00
$GPGLL,1133.321,N,04344.237,E,160054.11,A*03
$GPRMC,160055.12,A,1133.404,N,04344.230,E,300.00,355.32,110213,0.0,E*5B
$GPGGA,160056.14,1133.487,N,04344.223,E,1,04,1.1,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*73
$GPGGA,160057.15,1133.570,N,04344.216,E,1,04,1.7,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7A
$GPGLL,1133.653,N,04344.209,E,160058.16,A*05
$GPGLL,1133.736,N,04344.202,E,160059.18,A*03
$GPGGA,160100.19,1133.819,N,04344.195,E,1,04,1.2,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7A
$GPGLL,1133.902,N,04344.188,E,160101.21,A*0D
$GPGLL,1133.985,N,04344.181,E,160102.22,A*0B
$GPRMC,160103.23,A,1134.068,N,04344.174,E,300.00,355.32,110213,0.0,E*51
$GPGLL,1134.151,N,04344.167,E,160104.25,A*04
$GPGGA,160105.26,1134.234,N,04344.161,E,1,04,1.6,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7E
$GPGLL,1134.317,N,04344.154,E,160106.28,A*0B
$GPGLL,1134.400,N,04344.147,E,160107.29,A*08
$GPRMC,160108.32,A,1134.483,N,04344.134,E,300.00,351.35,110213,0.0,E*5C
$GPRMC,160109.32,A,1134.565,N,04344.121,E,300.00,351.35,110213,0.0,E*50
$GPGLL,1134.647,N,04344.108,E,160110.33,A*0F
$GPGLL,1134.730,N,04344.096,E,160111.35,A*0F
$GPGGA,160112.36,1134.812,N,04344.083,E,1,04,2.8,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*77
$GPRMC,160113.38,A,1134.894,N,04344.070,E,300.00,351.35,110213,0.0,E*57
$GPRMC,160114.39,A,1134.977,N,04344.057,E,300.00,351.35,110213,0.0,E*58
$GPGGA,160115.40,1135.059,N,04344.044,E,1,04,1.7,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*70
$GPGLL,1135.141,N,04344.032,E,160116.42,A*07
$GPGLL,1135.224,N,04344.019,E,160117.43,A*0E
$GPGGA,160118.45,1135.304,N,04343.997,E,1,04,1.9,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7D
$GPRMC,160119.46,A,1135.384,N,04343.975,E,300.00,344.96,110213,0.0,E*59
$GPGLL,1135.465,N,04343.953,E,160120.47,A*0D
$GPGLL,1135.545,N,04343.931,E,160121.49,A*05
$GPGGA,160122.50,1135.626,N,04343.909,E,1,04,1.0,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7B
$GPGGA,160123.52,1135.703,N,04343.877,E,1,04,1.8,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*7E
$GPRMC,160124.53,A,1135.780,N,04343.846,E,300.00,338.25,110213,0.0,E*51
$GPGGA,160125.54,1135.858,N,04343.814,E,1,04,1.2,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*70
$GPGLL,1135.931,N,04343.774,E,160126.56,A*0C

You can also use this free online tool (NMEA emitter) for getting sample NMEA with random coordinates if you don't care about values in NMEA sentences.

How to connect to GPS Generator via virtual null modem?

First of all you need to install GPS Generator and virtual null modem software (com0com).

By default 2 virtual COM ports will be installed. They will have CNCA0 and CNCB0 names. You can use default names (example for CNCA0 port name):

However, in order to use these virtual COM ports in other applications we suggest to rename them. It can be done in "Setup command prompt" or "Setup" utility (see "Programs / com0com" in Start menu).

If you prefere to use command prompt:

1. Launch the Setup Command Prompt shortcut.
2. Enter the change commands, for example:

command> change CNCA0 PortName=COM2
command> change CNCB0 PortName=COM3

If you use GUI "Setup" utility simply rename port names:

Please choose names for COM ports that are not currently used in your system.

After that 2 new COM ports will be available. Configure GPS Generator to write NMEA sentences to one of them (for example to COM2) and other application to read from another port (COM3). Launch the software and start Generator. If everything is done correctly client application will read NMEA sentences from COM3 port.

How to connect GPS Simulator to device which provides BlueTooth SPP-service?

Any version of BlueSoleil BlueTooth driver can be used for described connection method (steps 1-10).

This topic describes how to connect GPS simulator to BlueTooth enabled device which provides SPP (Serial Port Profile) service.

BlueTooth driver: BlueSoleil v. 3.2.2.8
PC with OS Windows XP Pro with SP3
BlueTooth device with SPP support

1. Turn on BlueTooth on a device.
2. Open BlueSoleil main window and click on orange circle to search devices. The device shall be found.
3. Double click to device image or select 'Refresh Services' context menu item to get list of services this device provides. As one can see this device supports BlueTooth Serial Port service.

4. Pair the device and PC (you may need to enter the same passkey for them) as usualy for BlueTooth devices.
5. Right click to COM port image and select 'Connect' context menu item. You can also right click on device image and select 'Connect / BlueTooth Serial Port Service' menu item.
6. The following dialog appears. Remember displayed serial port number (8 in this case). Press 'Yes' or 'No' as you wish.

7. Now the device and PC are connected via BlueTooth COM port. PC shall use displayed COM port number (8 in this case) for communication. The device shall use a port that was configured as incoming on it.
8. Launch GPS Generator and open 'Data Transmission / Communication Port Settings' dialog.
9. Enter COM port name as '//./COM' and corresponding port number (8 in my case). Unfortunately the software will not be possible open COM port if you specify its name simply as 'COM'.

10. Start GPS simulation. After that the BlueTooth device will start to receive NMEA data via BlueTooth COM port.

How to connect to GPS simulator from Bluetooth device without SPP service?

BlueTooth driver: BlueSoleil v. 3.2.2.8
PC with OS Windows XP Pro with SP3
Asus P320 with Windows Mobile 6.1Pro

Some devices do not provide Serial Port Profile (SPP-service). In this case the device does not have incoming Bluetooth COM port. At the following picture one can see that selected ASUS_P320 does not provide SPP-service.

So, the only way to connect the device and PC via Bluetooth Com port is to connect them using outgoing COM port on the Bluetooth enabled device. You need to perform the following steps to connect them:

1. Open 'Settings / Bluetooth manager' of the device.
2. Open 'Devices' tab and press 'Add Device:'.
3. Select your PC from a list (your PC shall be discoverable).
4. Pair the device and PC (you may need to enter the same passcode on the device and PC).
5. Now you need to create outgoing COM port to PC from the device. Switch to 'COM ports' tab.
6. Press 'Create Outgoing Port' and select your PC from a list.
7. Choose name for outgoing COM port (in my case it is COM6) and press 'OK'. Programs on Bluetooth enabled device shall use this COM port to get GPS data from PC.
8. Run some GPS software on the device and choose outgoing port (COM6) in it. Make the software to open COM port.

9. You will see a notification saying that Bluetooth device has connected to Serial Port A. In my case it has connected to COM10. This COM number shall be used in GPS Generator.
10. Launch GPS Generator.
11. Open 'Data Transmission / Communication Port Settings' dialog.
12. Specify the correct port name and number (Serial Port A). Pay attention to COM port name: "//./COM".
13. Unfortunatelly the software is not able to find this virtual COM port if you specify it simply as "COM".

14. Press 'OK' and start simulation. After that a software on the Bluetooth device shall start to receive NMEA data.

I get an error message.

If you get an error message "Access violation at address 006A2E90 in module 'avGPSGenPro.exe'. Read of address 00000004" or something like this, this means that something happened with configuration file.
How to fix this issue. Simply remove this file:

c:\ProgramData\Avangardo\GPSGenPro 4\avGPSGen.dat

Unfortunately, this also drops your settings of the GPS Generator.