GPS on Surface RT

[Dwa1971]

Just curious what you are using for mapping on the Surface to take advantage of the Holux GPS. I want to use my Surface in a road rally so that we can back out on a larger screen than a traditional GPS screen to see the bigger picture. thx

 

[DBDev]

This GPS BT device, Dual XGPS150, claims to work with Surface RT:

Dual XGPS150 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver - Windows Phone GPS Receivers - The WP Central Store

Can anyone confirm before I shell out my $100 bucks? Why would this one work but not others??

Yes, can anyone confirm this?

 

[Lester Berg]

My wife and I are tech nomads. We live in our RV full time, going where the tech contracts take us. It's vey difficult to position a 'standard' GPS unit in a place where it can be seen easily without taking your eyes off the road. It's even harder if you want the person in the passenger seat to assist with navigation.

There are a lot of reasons (that I won't get into) behind my choice of the Surface RT, and a GPS module would be the icing on he cake.

The store for this website is advertising an RT compatible device, though I couldn't vouch for the claim:
Dual XGPS150 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver - Windows Phone GPS Receivers - The WP Central Store

 

[toff972]

I found this link on the web, i think it could be interesting
http://www.gpscity.com/pdfs/Surface_Tablet Pairing_Instructions.pdf

 

[E Lizzle]

I found this link on the web, i think it could be interesting
http://www.gpscity.com/pdfs/Surface_Tablet Pairing_Instructions.pdf

Interesting. The screen shots are from a Pro, I wonder if they actually tried it on an RT or just assumed it works.

 

[Wayne Hetherington]

I can confirm that the Dual XGPS150A can connect to a Surface RT running Win 8.1. However the results may not be what you want. I bought the BT GPS receiver about a year ago so that I could add GPS to my iPad2. The iPad pairs up perfectly and the iOS location services automatically sense the GPS signal. There are a myriad of mapping an navigation apps that make use of offline maps that I have used for driving, boating, etc. The iPad works great, the Surface RT not so much.

Here is what happens so far. The instructions quoted above work as advertised on the Surface RT and were really easy to follow. Just pair the BT device and the Surface automatically picks up the receiver. The only weird thing was that the GPS was initial sensed as "Other" device but the instructions covered that. Win 8.1 even auto-configured the COM port so I did not have to follow the second half of the instructions!

Now the bad news. Despite being paired, the GPS will not connect. I am told that the connection will not be established until an app on the device calls for GPS data. I am unable to find an app that does this. There are several mapping apps and even some GPS apps but each seems to call the Surface RT location service which is pulling its location data from the WiFi connection and not the COM port. When I turn off the wireless, all apps loose their location data despite the paired BT GPS device being on and available.

So far I have been unable to find a way to configure Surface RT's location service to pull its data from the BT GPS instead of the WiFi, but I have only been at it for a few hours. I may find a solution yet and will post it if I do. Or if someone else know how to do this, please share.

 

[Luis Garces]

Any luck getting a GPS receiver to work?

For those wondering what a large screen GPS could be used for... think small airplane moving map display. For some aviators that buy older airplanes and can't afford upgrading all of the avionics ($$,$$$) having GPS capability on the Surface would be a great/cheap upgrade.

-Luis

 

[Greywolf1967]

My question is, why on earth can I not link the built in GPS of my Windows phone (Nokia Lumia 1020) to my Surface RT. My old HTC HD2 used to serve up it's GPS to a netbook via blue tooth.

Why with Windows Phone 7 did we loose the ability to pair a phone as a GPS?

 

[Elvis7]

My USB GPS dongle came in today, ND-100s , windows 8.1rt recognized it but was unable to install the drivers...
I was really hoping it would work.