When you start the app it will show GPS coordinates in an old style digital watch type display.
The first two readings are your latitude and longitude at the time of last reading, and are displayed to five decimal places. They also show a measure of how accurate the reading is, which is visible as +-65m (or 180ft if in imperial) for example. That indicates that the reading could be off by anything up to 65m, although usually it is not as far wrong as that. Accuracy should improve the longer you are on the page (see below) up to a point.
(note that if you have the new DDM or DMS modes switched on, the display will be updated accordingly)
The third box ("alt") shows the altitude above sea level. If you do not have a good GPS based fix (see below) then this is unlikely to show anything other than "unknown".
If the digital font is hard for you to read, you can turn it off on the settings page.
As an alternative, in settings it is possible to change this display to Uniform Transverse Mercator (UTM) style coordinates instead. This is of the form of "Northings" and "Eastings". These are like the distance north or east (in metres) from the centre of a specific "zone". There are many zones over the surface of the earth, for example much of England is covered by zone 30U and the eastern side by zone 31U. Due to the varying sizes of these (roughly) oblong zones, and the desire for all northings and eastings to remain positive, there is never a point at or near zero on eastings or northings. The centre of each zone should be around 500km easting for example but you can't find the place on the map that corresponds to a northing of 0m and an easting of 0m. This is a shame in a way because then it would be easier to explain. You could say that a northing of 1800789 was 1,800km and 789m north of some specific place. As it is, you are better to compare relative northings and eastings of places. However it still means that you can see a more direct relationship between how far you have travelled between two points (maybe marked as waypoints) in terms of if you've travelled 50km north your northing is likely to increase by 50000 (except in the somewhat unusual case where you change zones), which can be fun.
Finally, as a sort of guideline or amusement, you can display a map behind the coordinates - there is a setting to turn this on in the settings page.
For most users this screen may be all they will want to use, however there are also some more advanced features related to waypoints.
Accuracy
When you first start up the app it will just show whatever was last detected by the phone which may or not be up to date. However, once the app has been started it should start to search for an up to date location, so accuracy may improve and the location may change for a few seconds or so.
The readings come from the internal location systems of the iPhone/iPad/iPod. All these devices have some capability to deduce their own location, however (as with any location sensitive app) you will get the best results by far from a device that has a true GPS receiver built into it, such as the iPhone 3G/3GS/4.
GPS receives its signal from satellites and in direct line of sight. To get the best signal and the most accurate position YOU MUST BE OUTDOORS and with an uncluttered sky. Trees, buildings, and even nearby bodies can block GPS signal resulting in a slow and/or inaccurate reading. Some claim that pointing the camera at the sky should give the best results possible on the GPS as the sensor is located just under it (on an iPhone 3GS).
The iPhones with built in GPS will be able to give better accuracy but still bear in mind you will rarely get a better accuracy than 10-20m even in optimal conditions. (Other iOS devices will rarely, if ever, give an accuracy of less than a few hundred metres.)
Waypoints
Waypoints are just marking where you have been for later. To do so, simply press the Waypoint button on the top left of the GPS screen each time you want to mark your position.
The list of locations will be kept in the phone and can be seen on the Waypoints tab. Also they can be downloaded using the built in web server.
Also as a new feature on version 1.1 of the application, they are available in iTunes when the device is plugged in. Select the device from under the devices list on the left hand side in iTunes. Then on the right hand side, select the Apps tab. The screen below that will change to show you all the apps on that iPhone as usual. The bottom half of the screen will show "File Sharing". Under the Apps panel of "File Sharing" select GPS (or GPSHD) and the recorded waypoints will be visible in three formats, html, csv (for Excel) or kml (for Google Earth or Google Maps). Select the file you want and save it to your computer, double click to open as usual or drag and drop as you would with any normal file.
Finally, it's also possible to email a friend (or yourself) the recorded waypoints in the same three formats directly from the app. On the iPhone version, go into the email tab, on the iPad version there will be a toolbar button for the same feature. In either case, press the button corresponding to the format you wish to use. It will then create a suitable email with the file attached. You then simply enter the address you wish to send the mail to and press the Send button.
If the recipient reads the file using an iPad and has a suitable app, they can open the file directly in that app, which works very well. For kml files, the recipient should have the Google Earth app (or something similar) installed on their iPad. For the csv file they should have Numbers (or something similar).
Web server
The web server is one of the more unique features of the app but unfortunately one of the hardest to use.
It allows you to connect to the GPS receiver with a computer (Mac or PC) and view your current location or download the list of waypoints saved in the app.
First, you must switch the web server on in the settings page of the app and you must make sure that your iPhone is connected to wifi on the same network as the computer.
Next you must find out what "IP address" your iPhone is using on the wifi network. To do this, go into the iPhone settings and tap on the Wi-Fi setting. Your current wifi network should have a tick next to it. Carefully tap the blue circle with the white arrow on it located to the right of your wifi network name. You will be shown a page of information including the all important "IP address". Make a careful note of it (perhaps using a pen and paper). The IP address will be four numbers that are separated by full stops. So it might look something like 82.101.2.233
Quit the settings on your iPhone and go back into the GPS receiver app. Make sure that you keep it running then go to your PC and start up your web browser. In your web browser on your PC/Mac you must type the "IP address" into the address bar.
If all goes well, you will see your current location pop up in the web browser after a short delay.
It should look something like this:
| Latitude | 51.5449 |
| Longitude | -0.1746 |
| Accuracy (m) | 53.00 |
| Time | 2010-09-28 22:48:16 +0100 |
Waypoints
If you do not see this then you can try using the prefix http:// before your IP address as some browsers prefer that format.
Version 5 will probably be the last major releases of GPS Receiver HD as it's time for me to move on and pursue other projects.
Fast Working GPS ★★★★ Dec 8, 2010 by AntofagastaPhil
It works and it is fast. Last year the gps programs on my iTouch gave my present position in Antofagasta, Chile as some town in Austria. I am glad to say this app hits the nail on the head:Antofagasta,Chile with Lat = -23.67and Long = - 70.41And it is fast, I got my location in the blink of an eye.
Great Navigation App ★★★★★ Jun 26, 2011 by irandolph1
Very fast....easy to use. Would like to see all the enhancements suggested. I would pay for this app when it gets better.
Practical ★★★★★ Jun 14, 2011 by Philippe HOFFMANN
Practical and usefull for propel interested in geolocalisation. Gogo job!
BEST ★★★★★ Jul 3, 2011 by tttffd
It is BEST GPS POINTER
Great APP ★★★★★ Nov 20, 2011 by NBaumgratz
Love it!
Gps ★★★★ Oct 15, 2011 by Aivaday
Muy recomendable
Cool program with a nice simple design ★★★★★ Oct 3, 2011 by wlperry
I really like this program. It is clean and simple and does what it is supposed to. The author is also really helpful and responsive and I can see great potential in this program. If it had offline maps it would be awesome.
Nice tool ★★★★ Sep 24, 2011 by Areyt
Simple to use waypoint tool. Would like to see ability to add a note to each waypoint.
Very responsive developer. ★★★★★ Sep 20, 2011 by asksteevs
The app as it now stands is a strong 3 stars. I gave 5 because the developer has been nothing but helpful, prompt, and responsive in helping me resolve my small issue.Give us a unit preference, a better icon, a speed display, perhaps the ability to string waypoints together in the kml, and this app is a standalone 5 stars. Well done!
GPS Receiver HD, is now maintained and distributed by Paul Shelley, originally developed by Carl Peto.