Life of a Web Programmer

Earlier today I discovered I had a quandry. I want to be able to track my runs to see how far I go, where I go, how long it takes me, what kind of altitude changes I experience, current speed, airspeed of coconut laden swallows, and that kind of thing.

Because I don’t have a Google Android phone I have to make due with my Sprint Mogul. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad phone. It’s just not an awesome phone either.

After a little bit of poking around I found a free piece of GPS mapping software called GPSVP. I downloaded and installed it, and could not get a GPS signal. Durr.

Here is the solution.

1. Run GPSVP
2. Tap “Menu”
3. Tap “Setup->Settings”
4. Change the “Port” to COM4
5. Change the Port Speed to 4800

It now connects to the GPS satallites just fine.

To use the software, just start it up and go about your business. After you are done with your run, it generates a “track” file. Then simply upload that using GPS Visualizers Google Earth or Google Maps converter.

Tada! You now have a cool record of your run! Including distance, altitude, etc.