The app can connect to an external source of GPS or NMEA data using Bluetooth or WiFi (TCP/IP). The features described here require a Memory-Map Professional license. Sign in to activate your Professional license, or use a free 10 day demo period for evaluation.
This can be used to connect to marine instrumentation (including AIS) on a boat, or to use a high-precision GPS, or just to improve the battery life of the device.
In addition, you can capture raw NMEA 0183 data to a file, and play back the file later.
Under GPS Settings, click the Data Connection button.
To connect to a Bluetooth GPS or NMEA to bluetooth device, first close the app and go to the Bluetooth settings in the Android Settings app. Turn on the data device and make it discoverable, then connect to the device on the phone to create a pairing. Now in Memory-Map, go to GPS Settings, Data Connection, Bluetooth and select the device.
The app can connect to a specific IP address and port number using TCP/IP, and is compatible with most NMEA to Wifi adaptors or AIS units with built-in WiFi. Refer to your device instructions to set up the WiFi network and determine the IP address and port number that you want to listen to.
The app processes most NMEA sentences commonly used in marine instrumentation, such as water depth, boat speed, wind speed and direction. It can display any of this data on the Navigation data screen. You will need to customize the Navigation data screen to select the information.
If connected to a DSC equipped marine radio, the app will display the location of DSC position reports and DSC Distress signals, as a mark on the screen. It also sends a system Notification when a distress signal is received.
AIS is a powerful system for avoiding collision at sea that works by radio transponders on commercial ships. See the next page for details.
Click the NMEA Debug button in the GPS Settings dialog to start capturing raw NMEA data for later analysis or replay. When you are finished recording the activity, Go back to the GPS Settings dialog and tap End Debug. For convenience, you are prompted to share the data file via email, etc, but you can cancel out of that and the data will remain stored until it is overwritten by another Debug session. Data is stored in a file called "nmea_debug.txt" in the Download/Memory-Map folder.
To replay the data, Tap Data Connection in the GPS Settings and select Simulation File. Place any NMEA data log files as txt files in the Download/Memory-Map folder to access them. When the replay reaches the end of the file, it automatically restarts at the beginning.