Using Bluetooth GPS

I am trying to get a Delorme BT-20 GPS unit to work with Street Atlas 2007 on my MBP.
I realize that Delorme doens't officially support Mac computers, but I also know that many experienced Mac users have gotten certain things to work.
I am trying to get my BT-20 to work on my MacBook Pro with VMWare Fusion and SA 2007.
The MBP recognises the BT-20 and will pair with it. But under bluetooth preferences, it shows up as:
type Unknown
Services None
Paired Yes
Connected No
I assume my inability to get SA 2007 to see the GPS starts in the bluetooth preferences. Does anybody know how to fix this?
I have tried plugging in the BT-20 with USB, but that doesn't work either.
Thanks,
Kirk

Thanks, Rich
Of course a dedicated satnav device will be better, but I am trying to compare N-series phones versus Windows Mobile handhelds, which are also widely used for in-car usage instead of a dedicated satnav device.
Some of my colleagues use a Windows Mobile handheld phone a 400+ processor and they are quite happy with in-car navigation with voice hinting.
Now I think, should I also purchase a Windows Mobile phone with GPS onboard (and I am quite sure that GPS functionality will satisfy me).
The opposite variant is to buy an N-series phone like N73, which I like very much (and I am sure about its phone functionality).
May I ask you what kind of disadvantages you faced using N73+GPS in car for navigation with voice hints? Was the map rendered too slow with big delays? What exactly was wrong?
Many thanks,
Alexey

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N80 Bluetooth GPS Problems ???

Navicore have a Symbian series 3 version of their navigation software available unfotunately they do NOT support the N80, their official reply to me :
'It has been unfortunately identified that there are some problems in the Bluetooth connection between N80 and a GPS receiver. Therefore an application like Navicore using a Bluetooth GPS connection does not work in a reliable way. The problem is under further investigation and we shall add N80 to the list of compatible phones as soon as there is a solution available.'
is there an official reeponse from Nokia to this ????Message Edited by energylevel on 19-Jul-2006
10:50 AM

I have the same problem with Nokia N80 (firmware V 3.0617.0.6). You can take a look at this thread:
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=connectivity&message.id=2715&...
So far I haven't received Nokia feedback and looks like no newer firmware exists at the moment.
DziugasMessage Edited by mnlz on 19-Jul-2006
11:50 AM

MBP and Bluetooth GPS dongle

I bought a Bluetooth GPS dongle for a PDA some years ago. This model:
http://www.freedominput.com/freedom-accessories/keychain-gps-2000
Now I wonder whether it is possible to connect and use it with my MacBook Pro. Does it require 3rd party software? If so, any recommendations? Is it possible to make it work with Google maps somehow?
I have searched for information on this but almost all the postings deal with the use of GPS dongles with the iPhone.
Thanks a million!

DeLorme sells Street Atlas USA 2010 separately for $40. They also sell it with the BT-20 Bluetooth GPS adapter for $100. SA USA 2010 does support many GPS devices including 'generic NMEA', but I'm not sure how the Bluetooth communication is handled. Contact their tech support and ask: www.delorme.com
Note that Street Atlas USA 2010 is a Windows program, so you have to run it under Bootcamp, Parallels, Fusion or the like.

Recommendations for Bluetooth GPS for N95

Has anyone got any recommendations for a Bluetooth GPS receiver (to improve the dire performance of the inbuilt one) available in UK?

I bought the Nokia N95 8GB for its 'all in one device 'convenience.
I bought an external Bluetooth GPS, not because the inernal was no good, or not accurate enough but because I did not want to destroy it with vibration and rain, strapped to the handlebars of my Yamaha XT225
I want to create tracks (kml?)that map out the roads, lanes and footpaths of Cebu, Philippines using my Motorbike, in places the car could not go.
I decided on the Wintec G-Rays2 (WBT-201). This is more than just a Bluetooth GPS, as it has a 'logger' function also (collecting up to 131,072 waypoints). It is also much quicker at acquisition than the internal GPS (34 seconds or if data is still in memory 4-33 sec).
Even in a car, the WBT-201 G-Rays2 unit, can be positioned on the dash, whilst from anywhere in the car, the N95 receives the NMEA0183 format data stream giving position, speed, altitude and time, together with estimated error and satellite status.
'Sports Tracker' works very well with this for receiving the data stream 'live'. Once 'captured' it has many 'export' formats of the captured information. Test 'Tracks' of the same 'Route' using the internal GPS and another time the WBT-201, show the external unit to be more accurate. Having said that, the internal GPS is actually pretty good at capturing the same track.
The only real 'negative' of the WBT-201, is the 'TMXTool' software (for configuring the settings, on the go, rather than connected to a PC), is for PPC, and not S60. However the 'TimeMachineX' software is OK for 'Windows' use.
David

Reading bluetooth GPS data from a Nokia phone

I have a problem reading data from a MTK bluetooth GPS device from a Nokia phone (7610, Symbian S60).
I wrote a midlet (my phone supports CLDC 1.0/MIDP 2.0) that create a thread to read data
from the device (using RFCOMM protocol), the code is:
package gpsreader.bluetooth;
import javax.microedition.io.*;
import java.io.*;
public class BTrxtx implements Runnable {
private String url = ""; // Connection string to the bluetooth device.
private boolean canRead; // True if possible to read from device.
private boolean canWrite; // True if possible to write to device.
private String btstr = ""; // Last received string.
private int strCounter;
private int byteCounter;
private StreamConnection conn = null;
private InputStream inputstream = null;
private OutputStream outputstream = null;
private boolean newStr;
private static final char[] EOL_BYTES = {'\015','\012'};
public BTrxtx(String u) {
url = u;
canRead = false;
canWrite = false;
strCounter = 0;
byteCounter = 0;
newStr = false;
Thread t = new Thread(this);
t.start();
private void openInput() {
canRead = false;
try {
inputstream = conn.openInputStream();
canRead = true;
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("oin");
System.out.println(e);
private void openOutput() {
canWrite = false;
try {
outputstream = conn.openOutputStream();
canWrite = true;
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("oout");
System.out.println(e);
private void openConn() {
try {
conn = (StreamConnection) Connector.open(url);
openInput();
openOutput();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("oconn");
System.out.println("Failed to open connection: " + e);
private void closeInput() {
try {
if(inputstream!=null) {
inputstream.close();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("cin");
System.out.println(e);
private void closeOutput() {
try {
if(outputstream!=null) {
outputstream.close();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("cout");
System.out.println(e);
private void closeConn() {
try {
closeInput();
closeOutput();
if(conn!=null) {
conn.close();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("cconn");
System.out.println(e);
public void run() {
openConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
try {
int i = 0;
char c;
String s = "";
// Start reading the data from the GPS
while(canRead==true) {
i = inputstream.read(); // read one byte at the time.
if(i==-1) {
closeConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
openConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
continue;
byteCounter++;
// Every sentence starts with a '$'
if(i==36){
if(s.length()>0) {
strCounter++;
setBtstr(s);
s = "";
c = (char) i;
s += c;
System.out.println("GPS return no data");
setBtstr("BTend");
}catch(Exception e){
setBtstr("BTrun");
System.out.println(e);
private String byte2hex(byte b) {
char[] alphaHex = {'0', '1', '2', '3',
'4', '5', '6', '7',
'8', '9', 'A', 'B',
'C', 'D', 'E', 'F',
int low = (int) b & 0x0f;
int hi = (int) (b & 0xf0) >> 4;
String res = String.valueOf(alphaHex[hi]) + String.valueOf(alphaHex[low]);
return res;
public boolean sendData(String data) {
boolean res = false;
try {
if((canWrite==true) && (conn!=null) && (outputstream!=null) && (data!=null)){
StringBuffer rec = new StringBuffer(256);
// Calculate checksum
int index = data.length();
byte checksum = 0;
while(--index>=0) {
checksum ^= (byte) data.charAt(index);
rec.setLength(0);
rec.append('$');
rec.append(data);
rec.append('*');
rec.append(byte2hex(checksum));
System.out.println(">"+rec.toString());
rec.append(EOL_BYTES);
outputstream.write(rec.toString().getBytes());
}catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println(e);
return res;
public int getStrCounter() {
return strCounter;
public int getByteCounter() {
return byteCounter;
public String getBtstr() {
newStr = false;
return btstr;
private void setBtstr(String s) {
newStr = true;
btstr = s;
public boolean receivedData() {
return newStr;
The problem is on method "run" at line:
i = inputstream.read(); // read one byte at the time.
after reading some data (usually one NMEA string) read method returns -1,
and even if I try to close the connection and re-open it, after some other data is read,
the midlet is terminated by the phone with an error (something like "jes-13c-java-comms@1441adE32USER-CBase 40").
The GPS receiver is working, since from my PC I am able to connect with a bluetooth USB dongle and read outputs using RFCOMM.
Thx for any suggestions,
LB.

Work around.
I can not say I solved it, but I managed to get a work around:
I read in another post that there are some problems in thread handling on Nokia phones, so I rewrote the class so that it runs on the main thread and now it seems to work (I can not update the screen while reading from the device, but this isn't a big issue for me).
Just in case anyone is interested here is the final code:
import javax.microedition.io.*;
import java.io.*;
public class BTBrxtx {
private String url = ""; // Connection string to the bluetooth device.
private boolean canRead; // True if possible to read from device.
private String btstr = ""; // Last received string.
private int strCounter;
private int byteCounter;
private StreamConnection conn = null;
private InputStream inputstream = null;
private boolean newStr;
private String s = "";
private static final char[] EOL_BYTES = {'\015','\012'};
public BTBrxtx(String u) {
url = u;
canRead = false;
canWrite = false;
strCounter = 0;
byteCounter = 0;
newStr = false;
openConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
private void openInput() {
canRead = false;
try {
inputstream = conn.openInputStream();
canRead = true;
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("oin");
System.out.println(e);
private void openConn() {
try {
conn = (StreamConnection) Connector.open(url);
openInput();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("oconn");
System.out.println("Failed to open connection: " + e);
private void closeInput() {
try {
if(inputstream!=null) {
inputstream.close();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("cin");
System.out.println(e);
private void closeConn() {
try {
closeInput();
if(conn!=null) {
conn.close();
}catch(Exception e) {
setBtstr("cconn");
System.out.println(e);
public void readInput() {
try {
int i = 0;
char c;
// Start reading the data from the GPS
while(canRead==true) {
i = inputstream.read(); // read one byte at the time.
if(i==-1) {
closeConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
openConn();
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
}catch(Exception e) {
continue;
byteCounter++;
// Every sentence starts with a '$'
if(i==36){
if(s.length()>0) {
strCounter++;
setBtstr(s);
s = "";
c = (char) i;
s += c;
return;
c = (char) i;
s += c;
System.out.println("GPS return no data");
setBtstr("BTend");
}catch(Exception e){
setBtstr("BTrun");
System.out.println(e);
private String byte2hex(byte b) {
char[] alphaHex = {'0', '1', '2', '3',
'4', '5', '6', '7',
'8', '9', 'A', 'B',
'C', 'D', 'E', 'F',
int low = (int) b & 0x0f;
int hi = (int) (b & 0xf0) >> 4;
String res = String.valueOf(alphaHex[hi]) + String.valueOf(alphaHex[low]);
return res;
public int getStrCounter() {
return strCounter;
public int getByteCounter() {
return byteCounter;
public String getBtstr() {
newStr = false;
return btstr;
private void setBtstr(String s) {
newStr = true;
btstr = s;
public boolean receivedData() {
return newStr;
Now I call method readInput in the main thread and than use getBtstr to retrieve data.
I'm still interested to know if someone had similar problems and how they have been solved.
Thx

I need to buy a Aeronautical bluetooth GPS for IPAD 2, Does somebody have a recomendation ?

I have a GPS BT-338 but it´s doesn´t work with my IPAD2, appearently because only selected Bluetooth GPS are available to work with Apple technology.
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This one is good:
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http://www.freedominput.com/site/index.php?Itemid=81&id=96&option=com_content&ta sk=view
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Hi
I want to use a GPS Sat Nav system in my car and figured that, if my powerbook can do it, why buy a sat nav system?
I have recently seen a bluetooth gps receiver which does not include any software.
I figured I could possibly donload a GPS sofware package from version tracker such as MacGPS Pro.
1) Am I on the right track here?
2) I live in Spain, so I am wondering if any of the shareware on version tracker will be any use due to my location.
Any tips/advice would be most welcomed.
Thanks
Rich
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No, unfortunately. You'll have to try third-party sources such as eBay or the Buy-Sell board at Brighthand.com
smkranz
I am a volunteer, and not an HP employee.
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Please click the "Kudos, Thumbs Up" at the bottom of this post if you want to say "Thanks" for helping!
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