GehPehEs™ - Alpha 03

Intro - Help - Download - Bug-Report

Hello and welcome to GehPehEs - my little free GPS Software for Macs and Windows95 PCs.
This is the first release to show some of the functionality the final application will have.
There are no major bugs I know of - so everything build into this early version of GehPehEs should work fine - otherwise I need your bug reports to fix the problem...

My intentions to programm GehPehEs were: fun, a GPS Programm that fits exactly my personal needs, the need for a serial interface I had to do for a customer project and I would like to have a special GPS software for bikers. There are no commercial plans at the moment because I don't see a big customer base with a need for another commercial product in this niche. The only thing I could think about - maybe some company would like to have a customized version of GehPehEs - to be given away for free together with any GPS product?! Because of the development plattform I choosed, I could easily change the complete interface to refelect a companies CI... Also I could do something similar to GehPehEs as a Java app - don't know why, but maybe some company needs a Java implementation.

The current version is not final at all! It's a working version with the needed implementation of the NMEA-0183 protocol to transfer live data and the GARMIN protocol to transfer waypoints, routes and track records. The layout of the software should work perfectly on a laptop - the windows version needs some improvents with the handling of the app-windows - and should also work as a background app. The Macintosh PPC and Windows95/NT version is ready for download. If somebody needs a Win3.1 or Mac68K version - ask me! Since I only own a single GPS receiver, a GARMIN GPSII+, I could test the software with this unit only...

I plan the following improvements for the final version (but this depends strongly on your input):

• attach a searchable database for the routes and waypoints (Edit, Search, Copy, Delete). There will be a new data format called "Tour" to include several routes, the roadbook and comments.
• online database with direct access from GehPehEs - to exchange waypoints and routes with other users
• upload of waypoints and routes
• roadbook editor with a connection to the database of routes. If you plan a route you will get the GPS data and a roadbook as print-out. The roadbooks are also part of the online database
• additional software for the PalmPilot to exchange data between the Pilot-GPS receiver-Desktop PC
• auto-save of preferences
• Windows version still needs some minor interface changes

There will be no support for scanned maps (maybe in a later version)! My intention is no additional "moving map" software - this is not usefull at all IMHO - but a smart tool to store, retrieve, search and manipulate the GPS data. So I see the database as a very important feature and also the integration of a roadbook and the online database to exchange the tour-data with other users should resolve very practical aspects of our "GPS-life".

To build up the final version I need your input. I gave you a raw description of what should be included in the final release. What do you think about my ideas? Do you need any other functions? What should be improved? Is there anything you don't like with GehPehEs? At the moment there is a small and limited group of 10-15 people testing GehPehEs. You should all see your ideas beeing reflected in the final build! Hopefully that's enough attraction for you to help me getting something usefull out... Please remember: this should be shomething usefull for bikers first of all!

Before you download your copy of the GehPehEs alpha version - here is the online tutorial (very basic) with some screenshots to give you an impression of what to expect from GehPehEs.