GPSSC Speed Camera program for MS Windows.

GPSSC is a speed camera warning program that will run on a MS Windows laptop with a GPS unit attached.  The GPS must be able to send NMEA codes to the laptop comms port, most do but a few might not. The program gives spoken warnings as you approach each speed camera. It also has other views, one that displays nearby POI (points of interest) ,several route and compass views that operate like a car Satnav and an NMEA track editor view that can also be used as a Wiki OpenStreetMap OSM or GPX map viewer. You can also display Trekbuddy maps.

GPSSC version 11.0.0.0 12 July 2015. 

GPSSC will run in Microsoft Windows versions XP, 7, 8 and 8.1 32bit or 64bit.

gpssc.zip 3.5 Mbyte - see requirements

New in the latest version of the program is a Trekbuddy map viewer. For information on this new feature follow this link ...Trekbuddy view...

The gpssc.zip file contains a 32bit and a 64bit version of the program along with a few sample configuration files and the GPSSC HTML web pages that you find on this web site.
It is best to extract the files to your C: drive so that the files end up in C:\GPSSC and it's subfolders. You can use 7Zip, Windows Extract all or any other unzip utility. You also need  several subfolders below C:\GPSSC.  They are: Voice, POI, Saves, Routes, GPX, Tracks, Trail and Log. The first two should be created when you unzip the gpssc.zip file, the others are optional and you will need to create them yourself .  The addition folders are the default locations for files of those types and are there for your convenience but are not essential.
The gpssc.zip file contains a 2015 OpenStreetMap UK GPSSCCamera.txt speedcam file. If you are upgrading your version of GPSSC you might want to take care not to overwrite your existing file.

The NMEA editor and Trekbuddy viewer and conversion utilities of GPSSC do not care where the program is run from. So if you are only using these parts of the program it is possible to install GPSSC in a different folder or drive. The speedcam part of the program will complain about a missing GPSSCCamera.txt file and you will then need to manually edit the registry and change any references to C:\GPSSC under the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GPSSC to your location.  Be aware that if you run the Test - Check Registry function in GPSSC this will set all the registry values back to default.  It is not recommended to run GPSSC from a different folder as this has not been tested and some of the disk browse buttons have hard coded default folder locations.

GPSSC can import speed camera databases from three different source formats.  Magellan, Garmin CSV or the older OV2 format.  The latest TomTom OV2 format is not supported.

If you have a newer PocketGPS format database which contains directions, p or t prefixes you should convert the file(s) using the Convert - Convert multi PocketGPS file(s) to CSV menu. The output database file name is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt. There is an option in this dialog to use short camera names. This makes the display of the camera names less cluttered but has the side effect of making the names non unique. If you use short names you can not also use excluded cameras in your routes. The source file format can be CSV or the older OV2 format.

If you have a Magellan format database you can convert the file pocketgps_uk_sc.csv  so that it can be used with GPSSC by using the GPSSC Convert - Pocketcamera to GPS CSV file menu. The output database file name is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt .

If you have a garmin csv format database you can convert the file using the GPSSC Convert - Garmin to CSV menu . The output database file name is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt .

1. Extract the program to C:\GPSSC. If you use 7-Zip and extract to the C: drive then the subfolders should be automatically created and the files will be in the correct folders. Sound wav files are located in the C:\GPSSC\Voice folder. POI (Point of Interest) files are located in the C:\GPSSC\POI folder.
2. If you intend to use the Routes view and create routes place them in the folder C:\GPSSC\Routes.
3. If you intend to record the NMEA output from your GPS to a log file create a folder called C:\GPSSC\Log.
4. If you intend to save your current track and position to a file create a folder called C:\GPSSC\Saves.
5. If you intend to edit your NMEA tracks create a folder called C:\GPSSC\Tracks.
6. If you intend to use Gpolylines in the Trail view create a folder called C:\GPSSC\Trail.
7. To start the 32 bit version of the program run C:\GPSSC\GPSSC-x86.exe or to start the 64 bit version of the program run C:\GPSSC\GPSSC-x64.exe. You may want to create a shortcut on your windows desktop to make it easier to start the program. The first time the program is run it will offer to create default registry entries to store the programs settings.  You should answer Yes when prompted to create the registry entries.  Many parts of the  program will not work with out the registry entries.  The parts that do not use registry entries are Track Editor, Trail view and most functions on the Convert menu.
8. The speedcam file that comes in the gpssc.zip file does not contain all the UK speed cameras. You'll probaly want to get your own up to date one from else where on the web and use one of the convert options on the Convert menu to convert it to GPSSC CSV format and save it to the file C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt.
9. Configure your GPS interface for NMEA messaging and attach your GPS. Some GPS don't need configuring they can just be plugged in and will work.  You may need to edit your registry to fix a long standing Windows problem that causes a jumping mouse problem.  See my link at the bottom of this web page - Fix for Windows jumping mouse problem.
10. Use the Options > Comm Settings menu to configure the laptop connection to the GPS.
11. Use the Options menu to configure any other options.
12. Click the GPSSC Start button to start the connection to the GPS.
13. To pause or stop click the Stop button.

Once you have your speed camera database installed you can test it by using the Do a ondraw option from the Test menu.  You should see something like the following in which you can see letters representing the speed cameras in the Newbury area.   If you choose Action > Manual Location you can move around and see other cameras.

Points to watch

• When you first power on your GPS it can take up to a minute before it starts to send NMEA messages. 
• Window areas do not display unless the whole of the area is visible. The program window size is best set to 800*600. There is a window resize button on the toolbar that sets 800*600 size or you can use the number 6 key. If you want to see the GPS NMEA strings that appear at the bottom of the program window then resize the window to 800*700 and set the display to night time colours. 
• The minimum useful PC specification for speedcam part of this program is 800*600 screen resolution and sound i.e. the ability to play wav files.  Otherwise the spec is not too important because the program is designed to run on old low spec laptops. If you are loading or converting very large OpenStreetMap XML map files then a high spec PC is required.
• This program only works with comm ports, real ones or soft or emulated ports such as USB to RS232.  It does not work with USB to USB.
• This program has been tested with a Garmin 12, a GPS 4now bluetooth GPS through an ES-388 USB adapter and a blue USB 02 XDA SERIES SATNAV GPS RECEIVER   It has also been tested with the XPort com port splitter utility from http://www.curioustech.net/xport.html
• If you want to change the voice used you can replace the wav files with your own.
• Voice warnings are issued at 1500, 1000 and then every 100 metres. I find this works well in practice with little chance that you'll ignore the warnings.  After a while when you are used to the program it is possible to tell from the warning timings if the camera is ahead or off to one side and not on your route.  If you prefer fewer warnings you can delete or rename some of the wav files in the C:\GPSSC\Voice folder.
• The letter that displays on the map at each camera position is the first letter of the camera type. If you are using you own database make sure that the camera type in column six has at least one character to indicate the camera type. Each row of the database contains eight entries Latitude, Longitude, road name, location name, local hazards, camera type, permanent site (Yes/No), speed limit separated by commas. e.g. 50.209011,-5.352350,GATSO:653@60,,,GATSO:653@60,, As far as I know there are currently no speed camera databases available that include road name, location name or hazards so these fields are normally empty.
• When several cameras are placed one after the other and each is less than 200 metres apart then only the first camera will be announced.
• You can get the situation where a mobile or red light camera is placed just before a static camera.  This will hide the static camera and you may not be able to see it on the map because it is under the other camera.  So be aware that you can get several cameras in the same location and that only the closest may be announced.
• If your GPS looses reception because of trees or other overhead things then you will not get warnings while you have no GPS reception.  This is normally not a problem because of the way that GPSSC counts down to the cameras and even if GPS reception is poor you normally still get plenty of warning when approaching cameras.
• Cameras are only announced when you are approaching them and not when you are driving away from them. i.e. when the distance to the nearest camera decreases it will be announced. The effect of this is that when you are travelling between two cameras then the distance to the second camera is only announced after you reach the mid point between the two cameras.
• Specs average speed display. Your average speed is calculated from the GPS location nearest to the last passed specs camera.  Not from the specs camera position. The distance travelled is measured by a series of straight lines between each GPS location reading. This means the distance may be slightly less than your actual distance and the average speed shown slightly higher than your actual speed.  The more bendy the road is then the less accurate the average speed reading is. No GPS altitude readings are processed so if you are in hilly terrain this will again give a reading a little higher than your actual speed.  If the vehicle path loops back towards the specs camera within 300 metres of the camera that loop distance might be discarded.  If specs cameras are staggered on each side of the road then your average speed is likely to be incorrect because it may be calculated using the distance from the camera on the other side of the road. Specs zones do not include your time waiting at traffic lights.   Waiting at traffic lights does not give you a lower average speed and allow you to go faster else where.  The first five letters of the camera type in your database must be 'Specs' for the camera to be recognized as a specs camera.   I don't have a calibrated speedo to test against.  The speedo on my car seems to read about five mph more at 70 than the GPS reports.  It seems that it is common for car speedos to read higher than your actual speed.  You can also manually start or clear the specs average speed display using the space key.  This is handy when travelling through road works where the specs camera locations are not known in advance.   If the space key does not start the specs average speed this could be because it is being cleared straight away because there are no cameras on the map.  To get around this zoom out the map until a camera come into range, this can be any type of camera it does not have to be a specs camera.  You speed at your own risk don't blame me if you get caught.
• As a general rule it is better to have your GPS connected at lower baud rate speeds e.g. at 4800 or 9600 rather than at higher speeds.  At high speeds you might get com buffer overflows and loose some NMEA strings.  In theory this should not happen because GPS are supposed to only send strings every second and should not send more if they are connected at higher speeds.  As I don't think there is any advantage to connecting the GPS at higher baud rate speeds I would therefore suggest using the lower speeds. Some GPS will only work at 4800.
• POI view - shows nearby POI.  You can download POI from various locations on the internet.  Do a search on Google for poi, ov2 or ovr.  To use them in GPSSC they need to be in Garmin CSV format.  You can download a free program called PoiEdit from the internet which will convert from many formats into Garmin CSV and also has a handy batch convert function. The format of the POI files is:

;Longitude,;Latitude,;Name,;Details
-5.6824,50.1559,NatTrust The Levant Steam Engine,
-5.5686,50.1325,NatTrust Trengwainton Garden,

• The header line is optional but if you have it must start with an ; .
• It's a good idea to only put POI in your POI folder and not other types of file or folders because they can cause a problem.
• Route view - shows points on your route.  To create a route you must use a text editor such as notepad or Microsoft Excel.  The file must be saved comma delimited.  A good place to get longitude and latitude values is the www.streetmap.co.uk web site. Route files should be placed in the C:\GPSSC\Routes folder. The format of the route files is similar to the format of the csv POI files:

-1.186023,51.668279,A4070,Right turn into lane to Burcot
-1.192873,51.661179,A415,Right turn on to A415 heading west
-1.264974,51.654773,Culham,Left turn heading south
-1.265984,51.645968,?,Turn Right toward Sutton Courtney
-1.313131,51.643870,Drayton,Turn left heading south
-1.314248,51.617757,Steventon,Turn Left towards A34
-1.302751,51.618678,A34, Head South on A34

•  Route name and speed camera excludes.  The first line of a csv route file can contain the name of the route.  To include a route name start the row with a semi-colon (;).  If a route has a name this will be shown in the Route Picker dialog instead of the file name and also in some other route dialogs.  Cameras can be excluded for a route by putting a colon (:) at the start of a row and following it by the name of a speed camera that you want to be excluded.  Excluded speed cameras are not displayed or announced.  The reason I've added the exclude camera function is that for a while I was travelling on a section of the M4 with Specs cameras and some of the cameras positions were staggered on the opposite side of the carriage way.  To allow GPSSC to show the average speed between the Specs cameras only on my side of the carriageway I needed to be able to exclude the cameras for the other carriageway.  So to do this I would have a route for east bound and a route for west bound and each would exclude the cameras on the opposite carriage way.  I also added the Route Picker dialog for easy selection of the routes.  The Test - Create passed camera list - function is an aid to creating excluded cameras (see lower down).

;To Maidenhead excluding some cameras
:specs:36655@50
:GATSO:643@30
:GATSO:1540@30
:GATSO:1262@30
-1.06548,51.43926,M4 junction 12, continue towards London
-0.97215,51.41287,M4 junction 11, continue towards London
-0.85671,51.43142,M4 junction 10, Continue to junction 8 9
-0.72796,51.49821,M4 junction 8 9, exit and take second exit on roundabout
-0.71209,51.50403,A308M, Take first exit right on to A308 to Maidenhead

• The third column (Text1) can contain a : This changes the way the waypoints are spoken.  Without an : the spoken format is Text1, Text2, Distance to. The third column (Text1) can contain a : character. This changes the way the waypoints are spoken.  Without an : the spoken format is Text1, Text2, Distance to the waypoint, metres.  With an : the spoken format is Text2.  So for the example below the first waypoint would be spoken as 'A4070 Right turn into lane to Burcot Distance metres'.  The second waypoint would be spoken 'Right turn on to A415 heading west'.  The reason for this is to allow waypoints to be added for extra spoken text where you did not want the distance to be announced. 
  

-1.186023,51.668279,A4070,Right turn into lane to Burcot
-1.192873,51.661179,:,Right turn on to A415 heading west
-1.264974,51.654773,Culham,Left turn heading south

• Route files should not contain thousands of points.  Typically they should contain less than a hundred.  Having too many points in a route will slow down your laptop.   This is because unlike the POI or speed camera files where only the local points are loaded into memory, every point in a route is loaded into memory.  If you have large route files that are slowing your laptop you should consider splitting them into several different files.
• If you want to mute the speed camera warnings at any time use the Q key.
• There is a view mode that is a combination of the compass and route views.  The shortcut key for this is the period (.) or you can select it by using the F5 key to sequence through the view modes.  You can also select it from the View menu.  This version of the program also has shortcut keys for selecting the Route mode.  The keys Z, X and C select Motorway, Country or Town route modes.  The route announcement distances for the Motorway mode have been increased slightly to 1400 and 600 metres to give earlier warnings.  This version also has speed camera icons that appear on the second row.  An icon is shown for each type of camera that is within a 250 metre range.  The reason for this is that when several cameras are very close together the program only gives warnings for the closest camera.  For example a mobile camera can cloak a nearby Gatso.  In this example when both types of camera are within 250 metres of your position the program will now display a icon for both a mobile camera and a Gatso camera.  There are icons for these types of camera - Other, Truvelo, Temporary, Specs, Redspeed, Monitron, Redlight, Gatso and Mobile.  Up to nine icons can be displayed at once, one for each camera type within a 250 metre range of your position.
• This is not a professionally tested program.  It is designed as an alternative to expensive professional products for those who do not have the need or desire or ability to pay for such products.  It's functionality is only tested in a limited way and when using it you should take this into account.

Menus

File

Open - Opens a GPSSC record file from the C:\GPSSC\Saves folder and loads the track and GPS position from the file. Any existing track will be replaced with the track in the file. The GPS must be stopped if you want to see the map at the GPS position in the file. If the GPS is started the map will move to the current GPS position.

Save - Saves a GPSSC record file to the C:\GPSSC\Saves folder. A record file contains the current track, GPS position and time.

Save As - Saves a GPSSC record file prompting you for a file name.

Print - Prints the current view. This can be the map view, POI view or track editor view.  There is no print option for the other views.

Print Preview - Print previews the current view. This can be the map view, POI view or track editor view.

Print Setup - Allows you to select a printer and select printer options.

Exit - Closes the comms port and exits the program.

View

Allows toolbars or the Status bar to be turned on or off.

Camera Map - Displays the camera position view. This is the default view.

Display POI - Displays nearby points of interest instead of the camera map. Camera detection and audible warnings still work as normal when you have the POI view enabled.

Route -  Displays nearby route points and route information instead of the camera map. Camera detection and audible warnings still work as normal when you have the Route view enabled.

Compass - Displays a compass instead of the camera map. Camera detection and audible warnings still work as normal when you have the Compass view enabled.

Pointer - This is a view that combines the Route and Compass views together. It also has a couple of pointer arrows in the middle of the compass. The outer arrow points from your current position towards the next route point. The inner arrow is green and points towards the next route point when you have passed the nearest route point, when you approach the nearest route point it points from the nearest point to the following point and is blue. The outer arrow is coloured red before you reach your first route point and thereafter it is green. To summarise green or red arrows point towards your next route point, the blue arrow points from the next route point to the following route point (i.e. the direction you are likely to go after the next route point).

Trail - This view is similar to Pointer view but has two small compasses and can display your location and trail against a Google map Gpolyline.  The route points are displayed larger for easier reading.  Click the following link for more information on this view. ...Trail view...

Track Editor - This view is used for editing NMEA tracks or displaying JOSM osm/gpx tracks as a background map. In this view you can extract sections of an NMEA log and save them as new log files. This is intended to be used to extract portions of a large NMEA track. The NMEA tracks can be split or trimmed into smaller sections. This will allow you to select parts of NMEA tracks for upload to web sites such as Wiki OpenStreetMap. Click the following link for more information on this view. '...Track editor...'

Trekbuddy - Display a map from a set of Mobile Atlas Creator Trekbuddy map tiles.
Click the following link for more information on this view. ...Trekbuddy view...

Pocket GPS to CSV file - Converts the Magellan speed camera database to this programs format.  The default output file is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt. You can specify the output name if you want to create other camera databases.  When you waPocket GPS to CSV file - Converts the Magellan speed camera database to this programs format.  The default output file is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt. You can specify the output name if you want to create other camera databases.  When you want to use them you will need to rename them to C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt You can also use this menu to convert an OV2 format file.

Garmin CSV - Converts a Garmin format csv speed camera database to this programs format.  The default output file is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt as above. You can also use this menu to convert an OV2 format file.

Convert PocketGPS file(s) to CSGarmin to CSV file - Converts a Garmin format csv speed camera database to this programs format.  The default output file is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt as above. You can also use this menu to convert an OV2 format file.

Convert multi PocketGPS file(s) to CSV - Converts a Garmin format CSV file(s) speed camera database to this programs format. It also removes direction, p or t prefixes from the camera names. The default output file is C:\GPSSC\GPSSCCamera.txt as above. You can also use this menu to convert an OV2 format file. There is an option in this dialog to use short camera names. This makes the display of the camera names less cluttered but has the side effect of making the names non unique. If you use short names you can not also use excluded cameras in your routes.

GPX Route to Route CSV - Converts a GPX route file to this programs route format.  This is mainly intended to be used with the Marengo Route Creator web site where you can easily create a route and download it in their GPX format.  It will also support some other GPX files from other sites.  The source file will contain route information in this format. ‹wpt lat="51.426527" lon="-0.898195"› ‹name›SU7670‹/name› ‹desc›SU7670 : Mill Lane, Sindlesham‹/desc› .  I've tried it with files from the following sites. tor - http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map/

My Googlemap .gpx route or track uploader and creator web page.

http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/googlemap/iegmap.html

GPX Track to Route CSV - Converts a GPX track file to this programs route format.  The source file will contain track information in this format. ‹ trkpt lat="54.148832" lon="-2.295177"› ‹ /trkpt›

To make a GPSSC route file using Google map directions use my Googlemap web page:
http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/googlemap/iegmap.html

NMEA log to track or route GPX - Creates a GPX file from a GPSSC NMEA log file.

JOSM GPX to map project - Creates a GPSSC track project from a GPX track file. This creates a track project file and a set of NMEA files for use in the NMEA track editor. It was originally intended to convert Josm GPX files to a track project that you could then add your own NMEA tracks to but this became unneccesary when I added the option to directly import a GPX or OSM XML into the track editor. However I have found it useful for converting tracks from my old Garmin 12 GPS. The GPSBabel program can retrieve tracks from a Garmin and convert to NMEA but I found the NMEA format was unusable. Instead I use GPSBabel to retrieve a track from the Garmin as a GPX file and then us the GPSSC JOSM GPX to map project function to convert the GPX into a set of NMEA files. I can then edit the NMEA tracks in the track editor before converting back to GPX format for uploading to Wiki OpenStreetMap. If you use this method you need to have the Garmin track record method set to fill rather than wrap. This ensures the track points are sequencial. s memory when loading and are quicker to load.  You can export a GPX directly from Josm but if you want to have the tracks colour coded in GPSSC then you need to use the GPSSC convert menu.  Part of the OSM to GPX process is to copy the OSM tags into the GPX track name. You can manually make a larger single map if you copy several GPX files into one larger file and that will still load ok in GPSSC.  OSM files exported from Merkaartor do not work in GPSSC because GPSSC expects tracks to be on separate lines (for a fix see Add new line pairs below).

Big OSM to GPX track - Converts an Wiki OpenStreetMap OSM from their web site or Josm program into an multitrack GPX track file.  This is the same as the OSM to GPX track menu but is designed to be used to extract an area from a large OSM file.  You can specify the boundaries of the area to extract.  You can download Big OSM to GPX track - Converts an Wiki OpenStreetMap OSM from their web site or Josm program into an multitrack GPX track file.  This is the same as the OSM to GPX track menu but is designed to be used to extract an area from a larger OSM file.  You can specify the boundaries of the area to extract.  You can download an OSM of the UK from http://nick.dev.openstreetmap.org/downloads/planet and then use this menu to extract smaller map areas from it. In practice it is possible to extract areas up to one degree of latitude and longitude. These can take anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours to extract depending on how many nodes are in the area.  Coordinates are entered in decimal format not degrees, minutes, seconds e.g. 51.10481. The Translate unicode characters tick box translates unicode pairs in the range 0xC380 - 0xC3BF to ascii codes 0xC0 - 0xFF.  This allows characters such as the ß in  the german word straße to be displayed correctly when you use the GPX in the NMEA track editor view.

Add new line pairs - Adds a new line character pair to a file after each </trkpt> <trk> </trk> </name> <trkseg> </trkseg> />.   This allows files from sources which have lots of things all on one line to be used in GPSSC.  For example GPX track files from GPS TrackMaker and OSM files from Merkaartor.

SRTM HGT to GPX track - Converts a SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission file (height file) to a GPX track file that you can load and view in track editor view.  This doesn't work as well as I would have liked.  The resulting gpx contours are zig zaggy and broken into separate segments but as long as you don't zoom in too far they are ok.  They look a bit odd, a bit alien arty.  You can only use the three arc second files, not the US area higher definition ones.  Make sure you unzip the SRTM files after downloading before using them.  The resulting gpx are fairly large and take a few minutes to load into the track editor.

 Fast OSM to GPX track file - This is the same as the Big OSM to GPX track menu and converts an OSM file into a GPX track file.  It is optimised for quicker conversion and is much quicker than the other menu but is limited to a maximum of two millions nodes in the output GPX file.  That's not really a problem because if you use a larger than that GPX in the GPSSC Track editor you'll find it takes ages to load.

 Extract Speedcams from an OSM file - Allows you to extract all the speed cameras in an OSM file and write them out to another file in iGo or GPSSC format. You can get an OSM of all the UK from http://download.geofabrik.de/europe/great-britain.html the direct link to the OSM file is great-britain-latest.osm.bz2. Unzip the file using 7zip and use it as the source file.  It will take about ten minutes for the speed camera file to be created.
For more info on OSM speed cameras see Speedcams.

Action

Mark Location - Saves the current GPS location in the file C:\GPSSC\MarkedSpots.txt.You can also use the Mark button on the toolbar to do this.

Log NMEA Data - Allows you to record and save all the GPS NMEA data to a file.

Mute - Turns the sound off or on. You can also use the Mute button on the toolbar to do this.

Select Poi Files - (Point of interest) POI files downloaded from the internet tend to be in files by subject.  This menu allows you to select which POI files you currently want to use.  You can only select POI files which are in your C:\GPSSC\POI folder.  As a general rule it is best to only select a few at a time because the program searches through the files every 30 seconds to find POI that are local to your current position.  If you select dozens of POI files then the program is going to be very busy processing them.

Near Poi List - When the POI view is enabled this shows a list of nearby POI.  This is handy because if you have many POI on the map view they can be on top of each other and difficult to read.

Near Camera List - Lists the cameras that are in the current map area.

Route Excluded List - List the cameras that are excluded by the loaded route.

Route Point List - displays the points in the loaded route file. 

Route Picker - Contains a list of favorite routes that can be quickly selected with numeric keys or mouse.  To add or select another route, click on the Change button on the right of line.  The letter R on the keyboard also opens the Route Picker.

Manual Location - Lets you set a manually location or scroll up or down  the map.  This is used to view the map outside of your current location.  Make sure GPS communications are stopped before using this otherwise the map just jumps back to your current location.  Restart GPS communications once you are done.

Select Route File - Select and open a route file.  When the Route view is enabled points of your route will be displayed on the map. The name of the last route file used is saved in the registry so that it can be automatically loaded when using autostart.

Options

Auto start - Items that are ticked will auto start when the program is run.  

• GPS communications, opens the comms port and reads the GPS NMEA strings (same as clicking the Start button).
• Size window, resizes the program window to 800 by 600. 
• NMEA log, creates a new log file each time you start GPSSC and records all the GPS NMEA strings to it.
• Load route, loads the last route that you manually loaded, your route file must be in the C:\GPSSC\Routes folder.

Comm Settings - This is where you set the port settings for your GPS. Must be set to the same as your GPS.  Best set to lower speeds 4800 or 9600.  If your GPS supports various interface protocols make sure it is set to NMEA. 

Speed - The GPS reports current speed in knots.  It can be displayed as miles per hour,  knots or kilometres per hour.

Map scale - Sets the area covered by map and more importantly the area that is monitored for speed cameras.  A map scale of 4km gives good results. This can be set lower if you are driving in town at lower speeds and higher for fast motorway speeds.  You can also use the plus and minus buttons on the toolbar to change the maps scale.  A minimum area of 4km is monitored for cameras regardless of the zoom setting.

Route - Allows you to set which columns in your route file are displayed on the map. A '*' is all ways displayed for each route point on the map.  In addition you can also display the following. Point number, the line number of the point in the route file.  Text 1 (columns 3). Text 2 (column 4).

Route Speech Options - Choose a Speak Timing mode. The waypoint texts are spoken twRoute Speech Options  -  Choose a Speak Timing mode. The waypoint texts are spoken twice as you approach each waypoint.  The trigger distances are 1200m and 400m in Motorway mode, 600m and 300m in Country mode and 500m and 150m in town mode.  If you are using Town mode then the waypoints need to be accurate otherwise you might not get the 150m trigger because you do not get closer than 150m to the waypoint.  The actual distance spoken is the distance to the waypoint when GPSSC sent the text to the agent.  By the time the agent has finished speaking you may have travelled some distance past that point.  When waypoints are close together the first trigger point will be the mid distance between the previous and next waypoint.  So for example if you were in Motorway mode and you have two waypoints set which are 500 metres apart and you want to leave at the second one, you will only get the text for the second waypoint spoken when you are 250 metres from it.  In which case you should consider putting text for the second waypoint also on the first waypoint. You can also add addition waypoints for additional spoken text, e.g. add a waypoint 3000 metres before your desired exit saying for example "Continue past next exit and exit at junction 10". 

Scr = 800*700 - Sets the program window size to 800 * 700.  This is large enough for all the screen info to be displayed including the NMEA sentences at the bottom of the window.  This is useful if you want to size the edges of the program window outside of the visible screen. y.

Specs average speed - Calculates your average speed between specs cameras.  When you leave a specs area and no specs cameras are on the map the average speed is cleared.  You can also clear/reset or start the specs display manually by using the space key.

Track Logging - Records a list of previous position co-ordinates and displays them on the map as a travelled track.  This gives a indication on the map of the route travelled against the positions of the speed cameras.  This is a temporary log and the track is not permanently saved to disk.  Set the track length to a lower value for low spec laptops.  Changing the track length clears the current log.  Switch off track logging for bottom spec laptops. 

Start Time - Allows you to choose routes and the night display colours when GPSSC starts between specified times.  For example you can use this to automatically load one route when you travel to work and another when you return home.

Time Zone - The GPS gives the time as GMT. Enter your time offset in hours to display local time.

Colours - Allows you to choose two colour schemes, one for day use and one for night use.

Use day colours - uses the day colour scheme, this can also be set by using the day button on the toolbar.

Use night colours - uses the night colour scheme, this can also be set by using the night button on the toolbar

Run

Start - Starts the program by opening the comm port and reads the GPS NMEA data. You can also use the Start button on the toolbar.

Stop - Closes the comm port and stops monitoring the GPS.  You can also use the Stop button on the toolbar.

Tracks

The Tracks menu is for use in the Track Editor View mode. This view is used for editing NMEA tracks or displaying JOSM osm/gpx tracks as a background map. For an example screen shot and instructions for this view click ' here'

Trail

Trail lets you use a Google map Gpolyline as a trail in the Trail View mode. You can create a Gpolyline while creating your route file on the web at 'http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/googlemap/iegmap.html'

Trekbuddy

Trekbuddy viewer. Displays a Trekbuddy map. For information on this new feature follow this link ...Trekbuddy view...

You can start the Trekbuddy viewer by using the View menu and Trekbuddy. Options and printing for the Trekbuddy view are under the Trekbuddy menu.

Test

Do a ondraw - Processes a dummy test NMEA string and displays the result.  The window size must be set to at least 800 * 700 to show everything. 

Check Registry - Creates any missing registry entries and sets all options to defaults.  You only need to run this if you want to set everything to defaults.  Normally you would not need to run this because the registry entries are created the first time you run the program.  There is no un-installer for this program, if you don't like the program you might want to manually remove the registry entries by using the windows registry editor.  You need to delete the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GPSSC.

Load camera file - Manually loads the near camera list. When a GPS is connected this list reloads automatically every thirty seconds.  If you disconnect a GPS and change the map area you can manually load the camera file to update the displayed cameras. You must have a current location before the near camera list can load.

Get distance to a location - Calculates the distance between two locations in kilometres. 

Send log file to port - Sends a set of NMEA strings to the comms port. If you record your GPS NMEA output to a text file using using the Action > Log NMEA Data menu or from another program and you have a second PC you can send the file from one PC to another PC running  GPSSC to simulate having a GPS attached. Normally you would need a Null modem or laplink cable to connect the two PCs.  If GPSSC has been started then you must click Stop so that the comms port iSend log file to port - Sends a set of NMEA strings to the comms port. If you record your GPS NMEA output to a text file using using the Action > Log NMEA Data menu or from another program and you have a second PC you can send the file from one PC to another PC running  GPSSC to simulate having a GPS attached. Normally you would need a Null modem or laplink cable to connect the two PCs.  If GPSSC has been started then you must click Stop so that the comms port is closed before you can use this utility.

Speak a test phrase using the route voice - Lets you listen to some sample text to check that your sound is working .

Create passed camera list - Creates a list of passed cameras from an NMEA log file.  Displays your speed at passed cameras from an NMEA log file.  The primary use of this function is to aid in creating a list of excluded cameras for a route file.  For example if you are regularly travelling a certain route you can save the GPS NMEA sentences to a NMEA log file.  This file can then be used to create a list of cameras along the route.  I.E. By searching for cameras that are more than 300 metres from your route you can then exclude these from your route and prevent warnings for them. You can copy paste this list into your route file.  By setting the nearest distance to 0 you can also get your speed for the nearest GPS position to each passed camera.  When copy pasting to your route files only copy paste the camera names e.g ':MOBILE8093@30' do not incude the additional information such as the distance and passing speed.  If you are using routes with excluded cameras it is also a good idea to have a copy of the route in the Route Picker without the excluded cameras in case you unexpectedly need to divert off route and want to be able to quickly re-enable the excluded cameras. 

Replay a log file - Replays a journey from an NMEA log file. 

Snap to route - Sequences through the points in the currently selected route file setting the map position to each point in turn. This brings the route into view on the map. This is intended to make it easier for you to see the route points layout on screen after you have created a new route. You will need to have your GPS stopped or disconnected to prevent the location jumping back to your GPS position.  

About - Displays version and purchasing information.

Shortcut key list - Displays a list of shortcut keys and their assignments.

Other things

My Googlemap .gpx route or track uploader and creator web page.

http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/googlemap/iegmap.html

My Ordnance Survey maps javascript bookmarklet. Allows you to import/export GPX files on Ordnance Survey map web sites.

http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/osmap/osbookmark.html

Fix for Windows jumping mouse problem.   This is handy if you are using a USB GPS.  Especially if you plug your GPS into several ports.

http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/FixSerial/fixserial.htm

GPS NMEA Builder utility for MS Windows - Creates a set of GPS NMEA $GPGGA strings from a set of POI (point of interest) co-ordinates. Useful for simulating the $GPGGA strings a GPS would create for a route. 

http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/ukspeedcamera/GPSNMEABuilder.html

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Last updated 23 February 2020.