OpenStreetMap
Today I did a long trip to Schülp by bike, recorded a lot of data and made photos of street signs. Unfortunately all data seems to be lost somehow - mtkbabel can't read any data and the Windows programme (Datalog) that is distributed with the device is buggy and spits out error messages. So don't buy an iBlue 747, it seems to be bad quality (especially the Windows programme).
Discussion
Comment from tuxbenz on 24 August 2008 at 20:20
i have a 747, it is the best receiver i ever tested, no complains at all..
i use linux and the bt747 java program from source forge,
with windows you need to install a driver for it.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bt747/
if you need more infos, please contact me - german language if possible
Comment from ott on 24 August 2008 at 21:50
Mtkbabel uses the specification which was created by the bt747 project, so theoretically there should be no difference. But I think that it wasn't a software issue, because it seemed the device didn't record any data, maybe because I changed the logging format(?).
But Datalog seems to be a very poorly engineered, this suggest, that this is true for the device too. After several attempts I succeeded in erasing the device and restoring the default configuration.
I did a small test run and everything worked, so I think a can use the device now, even if the reason for this issue remains unknown.
What really annoys me is that the device doesn't have a display that displays status information, time and location. When I bought it, that didn't seem to be a problem for me, but now I think it would be nice to have one (especially because the LEDs indicated that is was recording).
Well, now I have to take like it is and currently it seems to be working ;) and I hope I won't have any problems with it in the future.
Comment from le_top on 25 August 2008 at 13:57
BT747 is smarter in its downloads and does more advanced checks on the data returned by the device. While the download commands are in the specification, the advanced download method is not and a look at the gpsbabel code shows that it does not have several protections.
If you did not erase your device, there is still a good chance that you can download the content using BT747.
Further, it could be that mtkbabel does not understand the log format change - try converting the downloaded file with bt747.
Comment from tuxbenz on 26 August 2008 at 03:27
i dont know the windows software, but if you have changed the record format without erasing the old stored data logs on the 747, this could produce the problems. i think this will change the the internal record size, so the already stored data does not match to the record fields and the reading software might get confused.
to resolve the no-display-problem, you can try a free gps java software for your mobile phone an connect it to the gps receiver by bluetooth. so you can see the coordinates and a map etc. on your mobile phone.
Comment from tuxbenz on 26 August 2008 at 03:42
but i think the 747 does not log data in the internal memory in the bluetooth output mode. i am not shure about this information, i do not use the bluetooth mode yet.
imho the mobile phone software must log the data if the 747 is in bluetooth gps mouse mode.
Comment from le_top on 26 August 2008 at 09:35
The iBlue 747 does log the data when in Bluetooth mode but only when bluetooth is not sleeping. Therefore when the iBlue is disconnected, the logging stops after a minute or two.
If you change the log format without erasing the old log this does change the record size, but the information is in the log and BT747 interprets that correctly.
The LEDS on the iBlue do not indicate it is recording - they only indicate lock, low battery, memory full, memory almost full and waypoint storage, charging status. Switching the device off and then on actually enables the logging 'for sure'.
Comment from ott on 26 August 2008 at 10:12
As far as I remember I didn't erase the memory when changing the log format, maybe this was a problem for mtkbabel and Datalog (but on the other hand I changed the log format with Datalog which seems to erase the memory after changing the options).
Anyways, I'm using BT747 now which seems to work more or less. Thanks for the advice.
Comment from le_top on 26 August 2008 at 10:34
Datalog erqase the memory after a format change because it does not support a log with multiple log formats.
BT747 warns about incompatibility when making a log format change without an erase.
If you have the '.bin' file from before you can try to convert using BT747 and get your missing data.