Navpoint Desktop

Navpoint makes the user's current location available in KML format over a local HTTP server (listening on 127.0.0.1; external devices cannot connect). Its main purpose is to allow GPS tracking from a digital globe program such as Google Earth Pro. (Navpoint is not developed or endorsed by Google.)

Navpoint makes the geographic data available in KML format at http://127.0.0.1:8888/navpoint.kml. The navpoint_link.kml file in this repository contains a link to this URL configured to update every three seconds; simply open this file in Google Earth or another compatible program to connect to Navpoint Desktop.

Connection modes

Navpoint can obtain location information from two different sources. The first, recommended where possible, is from a USB GPS receiver that supports the NMEA 0183 protocol. (A handheld GPS receiver connected to a computer may or may not work; it does not work with my Garmin GPSMAP 64st. Any common USB GPS dongle, such as this one available from Amazon should work, although, of course, I cannot guarantee that any particular device will be compatible with Navpoint. On Windows, USB mode should work out-of-the-box with a compatible GPS receiver; on Linux, your user account needs to be a member of the dialout group. If you get "Permission denied" errors from Navpoint, run sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER, then log out and back in.

Alternatively, you may use the Navpoint Mobile Android app. This uses an Android phone's GPS receiver to obtain location data; however, it is typically less accurate than a USB module, and more likely to have problems. Navpoint Desktop runs a second HTTP server listening on the computer's local IP address (e.g. 192.168.x.x), and the phone connects to this server and sends location updates via HTTP requests. If you want to use Navpoint Mobile, choose that option when opening Navpoint Desktop, then scan the QR code from Navpoint Mobile. (Make sure that your phone and computer are on the same Wi-Fi network, or that your phone's hotspot is on and your computer is connected to it.)

Licensing

Navpoint Desktop is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0, except the files navpoint/get_ip.py and navpoint/fix_path.py, which are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International due to use of code published on Stack Overflow (get_ip.py and fix_path.py).

Navpoint Mobile is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.