NAME
    GPS::Lowrance - Connect to Lowrance and Eagle GPS devices

REQUIREMENTS
    The following non-standard modules are required to use this
    module:

      Carp::Assert
      GPS::Lowrance::LSI
      GPS::Lowrance::Trail
      Parse::Binary::FixedFormat
      Win32::SerialPort or Device::SerialPort

    GPS::Lowrance::Trail requires these modules:

      Geo::Coordinates::DecimalDegrees
      Geo::Coordinates::UTM
      XML::Generator

    If you want to use the screen capture function, you also need
    the following module:

      GD

    This module should work with Perl 5.6.x. It has been tested on Perl
    5.8.2.

  Installation
    Installation is standard:

      perl Makefile.PL
      make
      make test
      make install

    For Windows playforms, you may need to use "nmake" instead.

SYNOPSIS
      use GPS::Lowrance;
      use GPS::Lowrance::Trail;

      $gps = GPS::Lowrance->connect(
                Device     => 'com1',
                BaudRate   => 57600,
              );

      $trail = $gps->get_plot_trail( plot_trail_number => 0 );

      $gps->disconnect;

REVISION HISTORY
    Changes to this package since v0.10:

    0.20  11 Mar 2004
	- made send_a_waypoint synonym for set_a_waypoint to be
          consistent with LSI naming convention
	- added functional get_waypoints and set_waypoints methods
        - added GPS::Lowrance::Waypoints class for waypoints
	- added set_plot_trail
	- get_plot_trail is an autoloading method
	- removed AUTOLOAD, made module an AutoLoader
	- autoloaded get_* methods created in BEGIN statement instead
	* fixed reversed x and y for get_plot_trail_origin and
          get_plot_trail_deltas
	- added set_plot_trail_origin and _set_plot_trail_deltas
	- added GPX format to eg/extract-trail.pl
	- requires GPS::Lowrance::Trail 0.40
	- fixed typo in POD SYNOPSIS
           (thanks to Mike Castle <dalgoda at ix.netcom.com>)
	- added test cases for LSI restriction constants
	- converted hardcoded LSI restrictions to constants
	- additional comments in code and updates to documentation
	- additional assertions
	- DESTROY method disconnects
	- added test cases for some functions
	- added assertions to Geo::Coordinates::MercatorMeters
	- added signed_long and signed_int conversion functions
	- decoding of signed integers should now be machine independent

DESCRIPTION
    This module provides a variety of higher-level methods for communicating
    with Lowrance and Eagle GPS receivers.

    This is an experimental module with only a partial implementation to
    read data from the device.  It is documented, however.

    More detailed information can be found in the POD.

    Examples can be found in the "eg" directory in this package.
    
CAVEATS
    This is a beta version of the module, so there are bound to be some
    bugs. In the current form it is also far from complete.

    This module was tested with "Win32::SerialPort", although it should use
    "Device::SerialPort" on non-Windows platforms. However, this has not yet
    been tested.

  Compatability
    This module should work with all Lowrance and Eagle devices which
    support the LSI 100 protocol.  It has been tested on the following
    model(s):

      Lowrance GlobalMap 100 (same as Eagle MapGuide Pro?)

    If you have tested it on other models, please notify me.

AUTHOR
    Robert Rothenberg <rrwo at cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    Copyright (C) 2004 by Robert Rothenberg <rrwo at cpan.org>.

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.2 or, at
    your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.