> You posted a support question into the User Contributions subforum.
> I've moved it here to the proper Support Forum.
Sorry about that Peter. It was my first post to the forums, and it looks like I treated the subforum categories as the main forum choices, not noticing that I was actually in the main forum folder - I'll know for next time!
> How does your real GPS in your aircraft connect to the iPAD?
I have an external GNS 5870 MFI GPS that connects via Bluetooth (I don't have the 3G version of the iPad, so I do not have the built-in A-GPS component).
> Are you sure the iPAD application even accepts NMEA positional data to override the internal GPS readings?
> Are there any PC applications which do talk "NMEA" with your iPAD apps?
There actually is a marine navigation app that uses NMEA information sent from a PC via Wifi to the iPad, and they do provide instructions of how to set up the linkage:
http://brookhouseonline.com/pdf%20files/pc_ipad_comms.pdf
I have not taken a detailed look at the GPSout function within FSUIPC - does it use an IP/port combination to allow access to it's NMEA data? If so, I may be able to access some type of virtual COM port/network device from the iPad end of things, but that's where it kind of falls apart for me solution-wise - There doesn't appear to be any easy way to access that type of IP driven networked content from within either the ForeFlight or Air Navigation Pro apps (in the instructions for the marine navigation program referenced above, their iPad app contains a feature specific for grabbing IP-based NMEA information from a wireless network PC, which completes their link nicely).
An FSX-related variation of the above example is FSWidgets' iGMapHD app for the iPad:
http://fswidgets.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=52
It provides a "Network Pack" server that sends co-ordinate and traffic information from FSX to the iPad via an IP/port combination which can be "read" by their iGMapHD client. However, I suspect their information stream is probably proprietary (i.e. does not adhere to NMEA standards), and to try and get one of the real-world iPad flight apps to intercept the feed runs into the same problems as I mentioned previously (i.e. how do I "trick" the apps into thinking the IP/port combo is a GPS?).
> I suspect you'd need a specific USB driver written to do the PC end
The XMapsy client-server solution (http://www.xmapsy.com) has an excellent setup for sending NMEA formatted data to the iPaq via IP, wherein the client component converts the NMEA data stream to a virtual COM port that many different navigational programs on the iPaq can link to. It seems that it may be the "client" portion that's missing from the iPad equation (perhaps instead of creating a virtual COM port, it would need to convert the data to a virtual Bluetooth GPS or something, although iPad jailbreaking issues may enter into the picture at that point).
> The latest Lua com library includes facilities for handling USB devices.
> A USB Port Monitor program, such as that from Aggsoft. (http://www.aggsoft.com).
Thanks Peter, I'll explore some of these options.
Michael