How to install and use an EverMore USB GPS receiver with Autoroute 2010 on Windows 7.

This blogpost may be of use to some people. A few years a go I bought a cheap GPS Receiver off Ebay so I could use it on a laptop with AutoRoute.
Here are details on how to connect, install and get it running on Windows 7 with Microsoft Autoroute 2010.

Here is a photograph of the EverMore GM-R700 GPS Receiver, as you can see it consists of a small unit (4cm x 5cm) that houses the GPS receiver and an RS232 to USB convertor with a flying USB lead on it.

EverMore GM-R700 GPS Receiver.

When you plug in the USB connection from the EverMore GPS Receiver into a laptop running Windows7 it will show this error.

You need to get the correct driver for this so visit the Silicon Labs website and download the latest driver from their driver page here:

Silicon Labs UART Driver website

Click the link in the first section "XP/Server 2003/Vista/7" - VCP Driver Kit.

As I am using Windows7 I downloaded the file "CP210x_VCP_Win_XP_S2K3_Vista_7.exe"

Install this driver software and then you should get this message above the status bar :

Make a note of the COM port that has been allocated to the GPS, in this example its COM4

You can now Run Microsoft AutoRoute 2010.

Click on the "GPS Task Pane" icon at the top (the red compass)

On the GPS pane panel thats now appeared on the left side, click on the "Configure GPS..." button and select COM4 and click the OK button.

Now click the Green play button, If you have ticked the "Provide navigation" box then it will show a safety warning screen just click on "I agree".

In the bottom left of the AutoRoute screen it will show

"GPS [Status: Searching for satellites Sats:0]"

Allow a few minutes for the unit to update its Almanac and Ephemeris data.

After a while the number of Sats should increase. As you can see in my example below (marked with a big red arrow) I can see 8 Satellites parked up here on Vernon Street in Derby.

You need to be able to see 3 sats before it can locate your position..

Screengrab of AutoRoute 2010 in use with my GPS.

For comparison here is a screen grab of the location map app on my iPhone 3GS, as you can see it maches up with where AutoRoute thinks I am parked. Of course its nice on the iPhone as you get a real satellite image of where you are.

iPhone Mapping App location.

One point worth noting is that make sure you fully boot Windows7 before you connect the GPS to the laptop otherwise Windows will misidentify the GPS as a Mouse and install a mouse driver for it causing the mouse pointer to fly around the screen out of control!

Hope someone out there finds this blogpost of use.

For reference :

The EverMore GM-R700 is a 16 Channel GPS unit with Standard NMEA-0183 at 4800 baud.

Andy