StormSource Software, a GPS software component vendor located in Colorado, has announced the release of a new version of its “GPS.NET Global Positioning SDK” software designed to greatly minimize the development time for writing commercial-grade, location-based services. The software manages all communications with GPS devices, allowing software developers to focus on actual business uses of GPS. Other features such as enforcement of precision, support for mobile devices, and support for international use promise developers solid performance while saving thousands in development and testing.

The topic of precision enforcement is of special importance with StormSource and its president, Jon Person. “GPS devices are subject to gross positional error at times, even with DGPS and WAAS enhancements. Unfortunately, this is frequently overlooked by developers and even by third-party GPS component vendors,” warns Jon. “This could be disastrous in a commercial environment.” Jon encourages developers to take a second look at their software tools and consider finding alternatives if they do not provide the ability to monitor and control “dilution of precision.”

The newest version of GPS.NET, released today, improves precision with a new feature which uses a “fuzzy logic” algorithm to determine the reliability of a satellite fix. The release also focuses on saving business money spent on technical support with a feature called Automatic Device Discovery. Jon explains: “Typically, a customer has to tell the software where the GPS device can be found on their computer before it will start working. This is a lot to ask of people, especially those who may not be computer-savvy. Automatic Device Discovery solves this problem by quickly locating GPS devices and determining the proper settings. The software now just knows what to do to connect.” Jon adds that this feature typically finds devices on desktop and hand-held systems in less than two seconds.

Another feature introduced in the latest release improves support for mobile environments. “A bomb disposal unit in Sweden approached us about difficulties they were having when their wireless GPS devices strayed too far away from their laptops,” recalls Jon. “They asked us to improve GPS.NET by making able to detect when a device goes out of range, and then automatically re-connect to it as soon as possible. We were glad to include this feature for them.”

This latest version of GPS.NET Global Positioning SDK is now available online for purchase and evaluation at the company’s web site: http://www.gpsdotnet.com GPS.NET works with Visual Studio.NET 2002, 2003 and 2005 (a.k.a. “Whidbey”) and supports desktop, PocketPC and WindowsCE platforms. GPS.NET supports NMEA and Garmin® protocols, with additional support for both serial and USB Bluetooth™, Compact Flash, and Secure Digital devices. GPS.NET is “Windows Mobile” certified and was nominated this month for the PocketPC Magazine Best Software Awards 2004.