A tricorder in yoko mode: PSP GPS and Minna no Chizu 2

(tags hardware, PlayStation Portable, GPS)

Last week along side the DS purchase, I bought the PlayStation Portable GPS attachment with the Minna no Chizu 2 (みんなの地図２, or Everybody's Map 2). This is the first GPS I have that I actually use as a mapper. So now I can cart around the PSP as a toy GPS. Yes, it's just a toy for the dabbler.

I already traveled my normal work route and my Nipponbashi / Osaka Den Den Town route from Tennoji through that Tennoji Zoo. The GPS part is functional, but it doesn't mean its reliable. It seems I have to wait a long time (couple of minutes?) for the first synchronization. If I have clear skies and no big buildings around me, it will continue to receive signal and show my current position in signal intervals. This is after learning I need to keep that GPS attachment parallel (not perpendicular) to the ground. There doesn't seem to be a way to add an attenna to it.

There is also another signal method, called PlaceEngine. This is very interesting. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it requires that you turn on your Wi-Fi. It's a service that can be used from your notebook PC, as well. Just with the PlaceEngine (free) service, you can get your position within a couple of meters, when it is accurate. Most of the time it's not, and most of the time there's no signal. I got an accurate signal in downtown Kobe, on occasion. Hm. Am I "warmapping"?

For walking around and looking geeky, I set the signal polling to every 10 seconds, "PlaceEngine then GPS" method. That way I can turn off PE with the hardware switch. There is no such switch for the GPS. This works, because if I get both PE and GPS, and PE is not giving me a good positioning, I want it to use GPS. Since the PSP is not a PC, it doesn't seem to multitask the PE and GPS polling. One alternate method "GPS then PE" seems slower. This doesn't drain my battery as fast as I thought.

Minna no Chizu 2 is more than a GPS/PE enabled map. It is connected to the online user-generated content site PetaMap. You can upload your "My Spots", edit and share them in Web 2.0 fidelity. When you want to put the data back onto your PSP, you just download it as a Guide, kinda like a restaurant guide. Unfortunately, PC integration ends there. You can't download it in format you started with, or make paths or do more fancy stuff.

PetaMap uses Google Maps, which in turn uses Zenrin map data, which is the creator of this PSP software. Zenrin is the big name for map data, and as far as I can tell its accurate. The map data includes icons for convenience stores and gasoline stores, etc.

Also that PlaceEngine requires service data (of course the UMD has some data already). It's a big 15MB file that seems to be updated weekly. One interesting thing is that you can post your position data to PlaceEngine which they will use to correct the data. Since the PSP is a lot smaller than a PC, it should work better for this purpose.

Here's a couple of things I wish it could do:

• Work in an (outdoor) train or bus.
• Automatically record waypoint data like a normal portable GPS does.
• Add a graphical user layer for paths.
• Add/draw my own icons for positions.

Here's a couple of things it does that I think botches it:

• Load times to get to the first map. Ugh, 2 to 3 minutes? Who needs a movie intro?!
• Fade in/out effects for the menus. Ugh, waiting 2 seconds is the crap.
• Loading "My Spots" data is not automatic.
• Favoring measurement method. Sure you have both signals coming in, but which one does the user want to use?

And well, here's what it does good:

• GPS works
• PlaceEngine works in a downtown area
• You can rotate the map freely because everything is a vector.
• Find best path from an arbitrary Start and Goal.

Unfortunately for me, I had to upgrade my PSP firmware to 3.11 to use it.

Well if I ever travel, I'm going to try to use this. There is Tokyo this weekend...