Dashware nerds: How to make a gauge for 3D GPS data?

[Buckeye]

It would be cool to have a Dashware gauge to trace the GPS rocket flight on a 3D map like Google Earth:



However, the Dashware map gauges are 2D only, accepting latitude and longitude and converting to X and Y map coordinates. No elevation or Z coordinate. So, the above looks like this:



Is there a way to trick Dashware? I found this in the FAQ, using an image component, but it is still 2D:

How can I get a Google/Bing map on my video? - DashWare

 

[KerryQuinn]

It is possible to do, but I don't know a "quick and easy" method.

If you can convert the data you collect from your GPS device into "KML" data, you can use the instructions here:

https://support.google.com/mymaps/answer/3024836?hl=en

to put your 3D data into google earth where you can view it from any angle you'd like.
In the attached picture, I used this approach to take *calculated* data from OpenRocket and overlay it onto one
of my clubs actual rocket launch fields.
-Kerry

 

[Buckeye]

Yeah, I can get kml into Google Earth no problem. That is my first picture above. However, I want the GPS track to animate, like the Dashware 2D map gauges that trace the route over time, synced to my on-board video and altimeter data.

I played around with the "tour" function in Google Earth, but that isn't what I need.

 

[SpaceManMat]

It would be cool to have a Dashware gauge to trace the GPS rocket flight on a 3D map like Google Earth:

View attachment 313128

However, the Dashware map gauges are 2D only, accepting latitude and longitude and converting to X and Y map coordinates. No elevation or Z coordinate. So, the above looks like this:

View attachment 313129

Is there a way to trick Dashware? I found this in the FAQ, using an image component, but it is still 2D:

How can I get a Google/Bing map on my video? - DashWare

You should be able to use some trig to modify your x, y and z coordinates to display in any required orientation. Then you could use this technique as long as you can get a screen shot from google earth at the same orientation.

 

[SpaceManMat]

Yeah, I can get kml into Google Earth no problem. That is my first picture above. However, I want the GPS track to animate, like the Dashware 2D map gauges that trace the route over time, synced to my on-board video and altimeter data.

I played around with the "tour" function in Google Earth, but that isn't what I need.

Did you get this working? If you want to attach your log file I’ll give it a shot when I can.

 

[Buckeye]

Did you get this working? If you want to attach your log file I’ll give it a shot when I can.

Nope. I never did anything more with this. You want my GPS track (kml)?

 

[SpaceManMat]

Nope. I never did anything more with this. You want my GPS track (kml)?

I don’t think KML has time encoding on it (at least the stuff I’ve looked at before didnt). Your original logs would be better.

 

[SpaceManMat]

I managed to do this using NMEA Monitor to replay NMEA files at 1 sample per second.
I had to use 2 programs to get the data to Google Earth. In GE I used the Movie Maker option to record the result as it played

Video will be here once upload is complete:
[video]https://youtu.be/fS7y4_uARrI[/video]
Note that you need to wait a bit for the action to start.

The Following is an overview of the configuration:
NMEA Monitor read in NMEA log file and output to com port 23 port
Virtual Serial Port Driver redirects com port 23 port to com port 24
GPS Gate Splitter read in com port 24 and output using its built in adapter to Google Earth

NMEA Monitor is available here for free http://4river.a.la9.jp/gps/
Virtual Serial Port Driver is available here for free 14 day trial https://www.eltima.com/vspd-comparison-chart.html
I've not tried it but this this completely free alternative may work instead of VSPD http://com0com.sourceforge.net/
GPS Gate Splitter is available here (don't get confused with their server product) http://gpsgate.com/download

Edit - ok failed to upload overnight. For some reason GE produced a nearly 1GB movie. The worst bit is that the reason I thought it was successful is that it was taking for ever to play back on my old laptop. In fact what GE did was to time compress the whole thing back to a 6 second movie undoing all the work I went to getting it to display at the correct speed :rant::gavel::cry:
So if you want to do it this way you’ll need to do some sort of screen capture as well.

 

[Buckeye]

No joy on the youtube video.

 

[SpaceManMat]

I've finally managed to get google earth to produce 3D videos of flight tracks.

 

[Buckeye]

Nice. What is the secret?

 

[SpaceManMat]

You need to create animated routes in google earth. These have timed updates to the route that displays each segment. When you record a video of the animation in GE it will keep those timings.

https://sites.google.com/site/kmltouring/animating-a-line

For the animation to be any good however, you must have reasonable data to animate. GPS coordinates with 1 second intervals is not that good, particularly during launch where your rocket accelerates violently for a few seconds. Of course this time is also when you may be getting all sorts of lock issues / data loss etc, which does not animate very well. Also some GPS aren't very good with altitude either so this does not help. To get around the data issues basically requires combining NMEA data from GPS with altimeter data, manipulating it a bunch to fill in the data gaps, plus you need to produce coordinates at about 5 per second to look realistic. Using the enhanced data then you can produce an animation that looks reasonable.

My data on ascent / apogee was particularly bad so I also integrated gravity-curve data from OR, which was mostly successful.

I have a spreadsheet that does most of this, but its pretty rough and full of all sorts of things that I tried and abandoned or hacked at multiple times. Plus some features that I don't want to release to the general public. However if you have the data (NMEA, altimeter and potentially OR sim) then I'm willing to look at it and perhaps even produce a version of the spreadsheet for public consumption. It will probably take some time however.

 

[Buckeye]

Good work. Thanks for the link. I am still hoping that Dashware can eventually do this with less hassle/editing.

 

[SpaceManMat]

Even if they do (which doesn’t seem likely) you’ll still need an onboard log file from a quite decent GPS unit that keeps lock during boost and has multiple coordinates per second.

 

[Martini]

SpaceManMat, do you think your method could be fiddled with to make only a 3D overlay?

I'd like to replace the map in the top left corner with a 3D rendering:

 

[SpaceManMat]

It looks like you could use google earth to display a black background with only your flight path shown. Apparently NASA did this to produce the nightlights on google earth. In fact I actually did something similar to tint the farmland greener when I did my video, so I believe it would not be an issue. You would first produce a video of this in GE and then use video editing software to add it to the corner of your main video, would not need to use dashware for that part.

https://support.google.com/earth/forum/AAAA_9IoRZwDbuf3hdbSjw/?hl=en