roqyBT
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Add GPS to your jailbroken WiFi iPad with BTstack GPS
A while back, TUAW took a peek at RoqyBluetooth, a GPS solution for jailbroken iPads and iPod touches. Today, Matthias Ringwald has released BTstack GPS. Like Roqy, BTstack GPS offers integrated core location for Bluetooth-enabled devices that lack an onboard GPS system. Retailing for $5 (via the Cydia store), BTstack GPS was written by the same developer who created BTstack, allowing iPhone OS units to communicate with external bluetooth devices including keyboards (you may be familiar with his BTstack Keyboard application), mice, Wiimotes, and now, Bluetooth GPS dongles. The software requires you to disable Apple's Bluetooth in the settings app. You then launch the GPS app, wait for your system to detect the external GPS unit, select it, pair, and then wait again as the GPS unit finds locks to the medium orbit satellites that provide GPS data. This can take a minute or two, so be a little patient. Once the lock finishes and the GPS data starts flowing, Ringwald's app will update, showing your current location on a map.
hacksugar: Putting iPod touch GPS to the test with roqyBluetooth
A few weeks ago, I wrote lovingly about GPS. For me, at least, GPS on the iPhone OS family is often more about the social features that location unlocks than about simple positioning. With GPS, you can track your trips to share with friends and family, see what people have been Yelp-ing about, and find what's happening right now, right near you. When I heard about GPS for iPod touches, I got excited. For a while, I've been reading about roqyBluetooth (aka roqyBT). It's a system hack that allows you to connect an iPod or an early model iPhone to an external GPS receiver over Bluetooth. Yesterday, I finally got a chance to put RoqyBT to the test. Retailing for 8 Euros (about $11), roqyBluetooth is a jailbreak application sold through Cydia and the Rock Store. Its Bluetooth stack implementation hooks into the iPod's Core Location system services. In use, any application that normally queries for Core Location data gains access to the Bluetooth-originated GPS data (including location, elevation, and so forth) just as it would normally receive WiFi positioning or, in the case of the iPhone, cell tower positioning. It works. I bought a simple Bluetooth GPS unit from Semsons.com for about $20. After installing roqyBluetooth and pairing it with my BT GPS, I was able to run Trailguru and track my progress through several trips as I walked and drove to various locations. The Trailguru results were similar to the trails I recorded simultaneously on an iPhone 3GS using the same software. All in all, success. So what were the ups and downs of the process?
