Planning a head, GPS locator

We have kept talking about a GPS locator on Super Crawler, so the robot can reach a point on the map using this locator. For this purpose we need to have a GPS locator installed on the robot telling our navigation program where the robot actually is on the map. But how can Super Crawler receive the coordinates ? Manual input(a semi numpad on the robot) ? Wireless communication to a WiFi unit connected to our navigation system / micro-controller ?


Today we were discussing this at the Robotica Osloensis lab and we came up with an idea that needs more time and research to find out if it is possible. We know current GPS locators in the market can have buddy units. Meaning they can know about the position of another GPS locator(at least the same brand), of-course this is possible if the other unit is willing to share its location. This means there should be a protocol/API on the system that we can use to receive the destination coordinates from the GPS sattelite. . For this purpose first we need a sender(another GPS locator which sends the information). This way, we would face one difficulty :

• If our purpose is to use the GPS sattelite API/Protocols to let our system know where it should move, we need a locator ourself(at the lab). The locator would send the correct data if we are standing at the target position, but if we do not want to be at destination, we should hack the client(GPS locator), so it would send the coordinates we would want it to & not its current location(the lab).

Our plan ahead is to first give the final destination to the robot & would wait up to Super Crawler finds it way there. As a 2nd test-case we would like to test giving the navigation system a virtual path(series of locations on the map) so it would make its way up to each point on the map and then the next up to the end of the path. Anyway this is going to be cool as it gives us the chance to collect lots of statistical data out of adding this feature to Super Crawler. These statistical data can be current speed of the Super Crawler, the traversed path & even a report on Super Crawler website about the current location and the traversed map  ... I have a lot in my head about these stuffs but I know one thing for now. This project is just getting cooler & cooler :-) We are now looking into some opensource technologies that help us for developing this feature for Super Crawler :

• GeoServer : An open-source server written in Java which lets users to share and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major spatial data source using open standards. GeoServer has evolved to become an easy method of connecting existing information to Virtual Globes such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind as well as to web-based maps such as OpenLayers, Google Maps and Bing Maps.
• GeoWebCache : A product that seeks to break down the limitations of tile caching.
• OpenLayers : An open source JavaScript library for displaying map data in web browsers.