GPS on the Surface Book

[sharpuser]

The US Globalsat ND-100 GPS Dongle works great with my Surface Book. I am quite sure it will also work with the Surface Pro 4, since it also works with my Surface Pro 3.

Plug and play. Mostly play.

1) Plug in the dongle to any USB port on the Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 or Surface Pro 3.

I tried every USB port on the Surface Book and on the Surface Dock. Works with every one. Drivers are already compatible with Windows 10, and no software needed to be added. COM6 is one of the Dock ports.

2) Start your GPS-enabled app, such as the built-in maps with Windows 10 or Google Earth. The built-in maps do not require an Internet connection.

The ND-105C meets the same specs, and should work also.
Cost is about $30 to $40.

 

[unruledboy]

nice gig, mate.

it would be nice if next gen of SB/SP come with 4G/GPS option

 

[albertan_bear]

I have same one. Works OK. For better accuracy I recommend from same manufacturer - BU-353-S4.

 

[sharpuser]

Indeed, I now use the BU-353-S4 , available for about US$35. It includes a magnet for attaching. Beware, though, the magnet can interfere with credit cards in your computer bag.

 

[Compusmurf]

I couldn't find the first dongle on amazon, however, I got the QSTARZ bluetooth 818XT. It works great for apps that want GPS data from a com port. However, you need an addon piece of software called GPSCOMPLETE (or GPS Sensor driver) if you want to feed GPS to windows location services and to feed any "Metro" type universal apps. It takes the GPS NMEA data and feeds it over as part of the sensor services because the win apps are sandboxed and cannot read external hardware. I've confirmed GPS Sensor driver feeds data properly using MS MAPS and Sygic universal apps. The accuracy rating of both go WAY up when enabled VS just exterpolating positions from WIFI and crap. You cannot have both Win 32 and Win universal apps reading at the same time, have to disable the add on driver to switch. Fortunately it's a live switch with no reboots and takes merely 2 seconds to do.

 

[benjithall1983]

Indeed, I now use the BU-353-S4 , available for about US$35. It includes a magnet for attaching. Beware, though, the magnet can interfere with credit cards in your computer bag.

View attachment 7762

Any idea if the USB version of this will work on the newest Surface Pro X that supports GLONASS? I'm specially looking for an option that updates location live while driving. What's a bit confusing is the newest LTE capable Surface Pro X has GPS built in, but utilizing it is a mystery to me.

 

[sharpuser]

I see your question, @benjithall1983, but have no idea. Back when I made these posts, I tried to use my iPhone as a USB dongle and pick up GPS from that. Unfortunately, the GPS words were not passed on, as that merely provided Internet access.