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NMEA & GPS Setup

Bristol Maps can connect to external NMEA devices over your local network for GPS positioning, depth sounder data, water temperature, and AIS vessel tracking.

What is NMEA?

NMEA 0183 is a standard protocol used by marine electronics. By connecting Bristol Maps to an NMEA server (such as a Yacht Devices gateway, chart plotter, or other marine electronics), you can:

  • Use an external GPS instead of the device's built-in GPS
  • Display water depth from a depth sounder on the navigation banner
  • Read water temperature from a temperature sensor
  • Receive AIS data from an AIS receiver

Connecting to an NMEA Server

  1. Open Settings from the Tools tab
  2. Scroll to the NMEA Settings section
  3. Enter the IP Address of your NMEA server (e.g., 192.168.0.208)
  4. Enter the Port number (e.g., 1456)
  5. Tap Connect

The connection status will show whether the link is active.

Network Required

Your device must be on the same local network as the NMEA server. This typically means connecting to the same Wi-Fi network or a direct connection.

NMEA Features

Depth Sounder

When connected to a depth sounder via NMEA, the water depth is displayed on the navigation banner.

Setting Description
Depth Sounder Offset Calibration offset for the depth reading (e.g., to account for transducer placement)
Depth Data Sharing Toggle to broadcast depth data to your fleet group

AIS Sharing

Enable AIS Sharing to relay AIS vessel data received from your local AIS receiver to your fleet group via the cloud. Group members will see the same AIS targets on their maps.

See AIS Vessel Tracking for more about AIS features.

NMEA Location Updates

Enable NMEA Location Updates to use the external GPS from your NMEA server instead of your device's built-in GPS. This can provide more accurate positioning if you have a high-quality marine GPS receiver.

Supported NMEA Sentences

Bristol Maps processes the following NMEA sentence types:

  • $GPRMC / $GNRMC -- GPS position and velocity
  • $GPGGA / $GNGGA -- GPS fix data
  • $SDDBT / $SDDPT -- Depth below transducer
  • $YXXDR -- Temperature sensor data
  • AIS messages -- Vessel tracking data (types 1, 3, 5, 18)

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