Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@jilkka
Last active January 10, 2020 20:06
Show Gist options
  • Save jilkka/c4d0d384ea659022e857046bbe0a5739 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save jilkka/c4d0d384ea659022e857046bbe0a5739 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Write GPS data to a file using Python and GPSd
# Runs perfectly using Python 2.7.3 on Raspian.
# GPSD Official Documentation:
# http://www.catb.org/gpsd/gpsd_json.html
# Original GpsPoller script by Dan Mandle:
# http://www.danmandle.com/blog/getting-gpsd-to-work-with-python/
# Original readCoordinates funtion by recantha:
# https://github.com/recantha/picorder-v3/blob/master/picorder.py
# Additional modifications by Jacob Ilkka:
# http://blog.jacobilkka.com/python-gps-data-writer/
# https://gist.github.com/jilkka/c4d0d384ea659022e857046bbe0a5739
import os
import time
import math
import threading
from gps import *
gpsd = None #seting the global variable
class GpsPoller(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self):
threading.Thread.__init__(self)
global gpsd #bring it in scope
gpsd = gps(mode=WATCH_ENABLE) #starting the stream of info
self.current_value = None
self.running = True #setting the thread running to true
def run(self):
global gpsd
while gpsp.running:
gpsd.next() #this will continue to loop and grab EACH set of gpsd info to clear the buffer
if __name__ == '__main__':
gpsp = GpsPoller() # create the thread
try:
gpsp.start() # start it up
while True:
def readCoordinates():
lat = gpsd.fix.latitude
lon = gpsd.fix.longitude
speed = float("{0:.2f}".format(gpsd.fix.speed / .44704)) # convert to mph
alt = float("{0:.2f}".format(gpsd.fix.altitude / .3048)) # convert to feet
climb = float("{0:.2f}".format(gpsd.fix.climb / .3048)) # convert to ft/s
track = gpsd.fix.track
fixtype = gpsd.fix.mode
if (math.isnan(lat)):
lat = "No fix"
if (math.isnan(lon)):
lon = "No fix"
if (math.isnan(speed)):
speed = "No fix"
else:
speed = "%s mph" % speed
if (math.isnan(alt)):
alt = "No fix"
else:
alt = "%s ft" % alt
if (math.isnan(climb)):
climb = "N/A"
else:
climb = "%s ft/s" % climb
if (math.isnan(track)):
track = "%s'" % track
else:
track = "No Track"
if fixtype == 1:
fixtype = "No Fix"
else:
fixtype = "%sD" % fixtype
coords = [lat, lon, alt, speed, climb, track, fixtype]
return coords
coords = readCoordinates()
d = open('currentData.py', 'w')
d.write('# currentData.py \n \ncoords = %s' % coords)
d.close()
print "\n \n"
latitude = coords[0]
longitude = coords[1]
altitude = coords[2]
heading = coords[5]
speed = coords[3]
climb = coords[4]
fi = coords[6]
print "Latitude: ", latitude
print "Longitude: ", longitude
print "Elevation: ", altitude
print "Heading: ", heading
print "Speed: ", speed
print "Climb: ", climb
print "Fix: ", fi
time.sleep(10)
except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit): #when you press ctrl+c
print "\nKilling Thread..."
gpsp.running = False
gpsp.join() # wait for the thread to finish what it's doing
print "Done.\nExiting."
@silver2row
Copy link

Hello,

Where did you find the GPS library? I have not been able to find it for importing and usage.

Seth

P.S. I am trying to update your software and the software from the past in your examples to a Python3 version on the BBB family of boards on a Debian Distro.

@silver2row
Copy link

Hello,

Okay. I figured out what happened. The gps library was another library outside of gpsd when Python2 was not deprecated.

Seth

P.S. If you have any pointers, please do not hesitate to point me towards solutions. I am going to work on this today.

@silver2row
Copy link

Hello Sir,

I got it to work but not w/ python3 yet. Still trying over here.

Seth

P.S. That software works like a charm w/ my leftover python2 packaging.

@silver2row
Copy link

Hello,

Anyway...thank you for making this freely available w/ the current sources of those sources. I looked up a couple.

Seth

P.S. Um, I have given up and moved on to GPSD, e.g. from gps3 import gps3 and so on. I did use some of your software to change how I view the data in my .txt file that I would then place in a .kml file. Nice! Thank you, sir.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment