GPS Dashboard

GPS Serial NMEA Decode and Display

GPS Dashboard displays navigation information from a serially connected GPS on the Mac. Gauges display track direction and speed, and digital readouts display latitude, longitude, altitude, and time. An odometer provides a display of distance travelled. The dashboard also shows which satellites are being tracked, and if the GPS has a 3D fix.

GPS Dashboard can synchronize with Apple Maps application providing periodic location updates, as well as show the current position on Google Maps.

The Record Track feature can save GPS tracks and waypoints to a file (GPX or CSV).

GPS Dashboard provides multiple display themes, and the user can customize the location, distance, altitude, and speed units.

Screenshots

Features

Decodes NMEA 0183 messages from any serially connected GPS device
Selectable data from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo GPS receivers
Supports devices connected with Serial-to-USB converters and Bluetooth serial devices
Compass gauge displays GPS track (north up or direction up)
Speedometer displays GPS speed
Displays satellites currently tracked and if the GPS has a 2D or 3D fix
Latitude, Longitude, Altitude display
Maximum and Average speed display, resettable
Resettable Odometer tracks distance travelled
Integrated internet-based Maps including street, satellite, topographic, and nautical
Synchronizes with Apple Maps, providing periodic GPS position
Sends position to Google Maps
Real-time graphs of speed and altitude
Displays raw NMEA strings (with optional filter)
Displays GPS position in decimal degrees, degrees and decimal minutes, or degrees/minutes/seconds
Displays altitude in meters or feet
Displays speed in knots, mph, or kph
Configurable speedometer range
Shows distance in nautical miles, miles, kilometers, meters or feet
Records GPS tracks in CSV or GPX format
Record GPS waypoints
Sky-view of satellite constellations and position history with azimuth/elevation cursor
Display of satellites tracked according to GNNS type
Sun and Moon positions and Moon phase
Sunrise, Zenith, Sunset, Moonrise, and Moonset times
Real-time graph of satellite signal level (SNR)
Option to prevent computer from sleeping
Displays magnetic and true directions and magnetic declination
SNTP Time Server
GPS Simulator
Control device settings by sending commands
Echo NMEA data to another serial port

Supported Devices

GPS Dashboard supports any GPS device with NMEA 0813 output over serial, USB, and bluetooth ports. If your device has a 9-pin serial output it can easily be adapted to the Mac using a FTDI serial-to-USB adapter or Prolific serial-to-USB adapter.

Some devices that are known to be compatible with GPSDashboard are:

Bluetooth connected BadElf GPS Pro BE-GPS-2200
GlobalSat BU-353-S4 (USB)
Garmin GPSMap 478 via a FTDI and Prolific serial to USB adapter
HiLetgo VK172 uBlox-7 USB GPS/GLONASS receiver
Canmore GT-730F USB GPS Receiver
Dual XGPS150A Bluetooth GPS
Devices with ublox Neo M8 chipset

Version History

Version 1.0 for MacOS

Release February 25, 2019

Version 1.1 for MacOS

Release March 16, 2019
Add Maximum and average speed display

Version 1.2 for MacOS

Release April 17, 2019
Real-time graphs of speed and altitude
New ocean-blue theme
Removed speed value in GPX file (for compatibility with GPX 1.1 format)

Version 1.4 for MacOS

Release May 13, 2019
Add support for GLONASS and Galileo GNSS satellites
Constellation map of satellites and history
Sun and Moon positions, Moon phase on Constellation map
Real-time graph of satellite SNR
Option to prevent computer from sleeping

Version 1.5 for MacOS

Release September 16, 2019
Added magnetic track indicator on Constellation map computed from NOAA world magnetic model

Version 2.0 for MacOS

Release December 18, 2019
Add integrated maps with position overlay, using online map servers
SNTP server to serve time sourced from GPS

Version 2.1 for MacOS

Release January 2, 2020
Add USGS topographic map and blank map options
Map updates include breadcrumb trail, map scale, and adaptive centering
Update to NOAA 2020 world magnetic model

Version 2.1.1 for MacOS

Release January 7, 2020
Fixes a bug where the world magnetic model could not be loaded in MacOS Catalina

Version 2.1.3 for MacOS

Release February 23, 2020
Minor bug fixes

Version 2.2.1 for MacOS

Release April 27, 2020
Waypoints with cool icons! Drag waypoints around the map or set as a destination
Set a Destination, see the great-circle course to reach it on the map
Distance, Bearing, and ETA to destination
Copy mouse and waypoint coordinates to clipboard

Version 2.3.0 for MacOS

Release October 16, 2020
Cache maps for fast access
Pre-Download map regions for later offline use
Zoom level shown on map
Fixed an issue preventing sending position to Apple Maps app

Version 2.4.1 for MacOS

Release April 8, 2021
GPS Simulator: simulate GPS messages and control the simulation position, speed, altitude, and track
The Track gauge now displays tenths of a degree
The Constellation View panel now displays magnetic declination, sunrise, sunset, noon (zenith), moonrise, and moonset times
NTP jitter estimate
Decode and display fix quality
Fixing bug displaying mouse coordinates when moving mouse across the 180th meridian

Version 2.5.0 for MacOS

Release July 4, 2021
Device control: send commands to the device over the serial port. Save frequently used commands.
Filter NMEA text display: search for specific text in the NMEA messages

Version 2.6.2 for MacOS