Comments on: Where are the Firefox GPS add-ons? http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493 Things I love, things I hate, and things I just don't understand Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:21:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Mark http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-9343 Mark Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:27:17 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-9343 I don't know of any news for Windows - the link that you posted looks like it could be a good start for someone looking to implement a suitable add-on for Windows 7 though. For Linux the outlook is a little better: "<a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Using_geolocation" rel="nofollow">Firefox 3.6 added support for using the GPSD service for geolocation on Linux</a>". I haven't tried it myself yet, though. I know one person who has tried it, and he had no success with it: his GPS defaults to outputting in its own proprietary format; GPSD can read it normally, but Firefox apparently tries to parse the NMEA strings itself - which isn't the format coming out of the GPS. It seems like it defeats the purpose of using GPSD if you're going to ignore its ideas about location in favour of parsing the raw data yourself - GPSD becomes little more than a serial port aggregator in that situation. So even on Linux it would seem that there's still scope for an add-on which actually queries GPSD for its own parsed location information, rather than raw data. I don’t know of any news for Windows – the link that you posted looks like it could be a good start for someone looking to implement a suitable add-on for Windows 7 though.

For Linux the outlook is a little better: “Firefox 3.6 added support for using the GPSD service for geolocation on Linux“.

I haven’t tried it myself yet, though. I know one person who has tried it, and he had no success with it: his GPS defaults to outputting in its own proprietary format; GPSD can read it normally, but Firefox apparently tries to parse the NMEA strings itself – which isn’t the format coming out of the GPS. It seems like it defeats the purpose of using GPSD if you’re going to ignore its ideas about location in favour of parsing the raw data yourself – GPSD becomes little more than a serial port aggregator in that situation. So even on Linux it would seem that there’s still scope for an add-on which actually queries GPSD for its own parsed location information, rather than raw data.

]]> By: aprold http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-9342 aprold Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:13:04 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-9342 Found a GPS sensor here: http://www.turboirc.com/gps7/ Found a GPS sensor here: http://www.turboirc.com/gps7/

]]> By: aprold http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-9341 aprold Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:54:11 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-9341 Hi! Any news? Searching the net revealed not much and it looks like there are no Firefox GPS add-ons available yet. Also, it seems that Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform is a platform without any GPS device drivers. Does someone know if there has been any progress on the subject lately? Hi! Any news? Searching the net revealed not much and it looks like there are no Firefox GPS add-ons available yet. Also, it seems that Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform is a platform without any GPS device drivers. Does someone know if there has been any progress on the subject lately?

]]> By: cimnine http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-8582 cimnine Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:14:04 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-8582 Since Windows 7 Microsoft provides a 'Location Platform', maybe this could help developing an addon. And I've read somewhere that Garmin provides a GPS Plugin for IE. Since Windows 7 Microsoft provides a ‘Location Platform’, maybe this could help developing an addon.
And I’ve read somewhere that Garmin provides a GPS Plugin for IE.

]]> By: Mark http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-8492 Mark Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:52:49 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-8492 Unfortunately not. I think that an add-on to do this on a Linux system should be quite easy using GPSd to interface to the GPS unit, but I have no idea if there's an equivalent abstraction layer available for Windows or MacOS. If no abstraction layer is available, it would imply that a generic add-on would have to deal with all the different GPS units itself. I'm surprised, however, that none of the GPS vendors seem to be offering add-ons to work with their own particular units. Unfortunately this leaves us in a catch-22 situation: no add-ons mean that few sites use geolocation; few sites using it mean that there's little incentive to develop an add-on. Unfortunately not. I think that an add-on to do this on a Linux system should be quite easy using GPSd to interface to the GPS unit, but I have no idea if there’s an equivalent abstraction layer available for Windows or MacOS. If no abstraction layer is available, it would imply that a generic add-on would have to deal with all the different GPS units itself. I’m surprised, however, that none of the GPS vendors seem to be offering add-ons to work with their own particular units.

Unfortunately this leaves us in a catch-22 situation: no add-ons mean that few sites use geolocation; few sites using it mean that there’s little incentive to develop an add-on.

]]> By: Judit http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-8491 Judit Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:44:01 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-8491 I'm looking for the same thing... Did you find out something?? I’m looking for the same thing… Did you find out something??

]]> By: » Where are my six honest serving men? My Green Life http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493&cpage=1#comment-8357 » Where are my six honest serving men? My Green Life Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:13:11 +0000 http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=493#comment-8357 [...] is the 21st century: GPS is fast becoming a ubiquitous technology; drive sizes are no longer a limiting factor; we’re storing ever larger numbers of files. Why [...] [...] is the 21st century: GPS is fast becoming a ubiquitous technology; drive sizes are no longer a limiting factor; we’re storing ever larger numbers of files. Why [...]

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