Geo Data Logger: Arduino+GPS+SD+Accelerometer to Log,

Time-stamp and Geo-tag Sensor Data

by techbitar

UPDATES

Oct 17, 2013: I have published a guide on using your Android phone to accomplish a similar task by
leveraging your Android device's built in GPS and sensors.
Feb 6, 2013: Featured on GeoAwesomeness http://geoawesomeness.com/?p=3388
Nov 24, 2012: Featured on Hackaday http://goo.gl/XX9oy
Nov 21, 2012: Featured by John Boxall @ Freetronics http://goo.gl/OvnNC
Nov 20, 2012: Featured on Dangerous Prototypes http://goo.gl/ve6Eu

INTRODUCTION
I thought it would be educational to build a prototype that I can take on the road to log, geo-tag, and timestamp sensor data to be analyzed later with mapping and/or data analysis applications. So I figured why not start
with a gadget that can log road conditions. This prototype, the Bump-O-Meter, measures road conditions by using an
Arduino, a GPS receiver, an SD card, and an accelerometer sensor.
This prototype is a generic sensor logging/geo-tagging gadget which means the accelerometer can be
replaced with any other sensor(s) to log and map anything anywhere.
As a matter or fact my next adventure with this logger is to replace the accelerometer with a pollution sensor
to visualize levels of air quality around town.
PROJECT SECTIONS
This guide is divided into the following sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Overview & Background

Hardware & Software Components
Wiring the Prototype
Logging data to the LC STUDIO SD Card
Geo-Tagging & Time-Stamping With the LS20031 GPS Receiver
Measuring Road Condition with an ADXL335 Accelerometer
PROGRAM: The Arduino Program That Pulls It All Together
PROGRAM: A Plain GPS Logger To Interface With Google Earth
Scrubbing & Formatting Data with a Spreadsheet

10. Plotting and Color-coding Road Condition Data with GPSvisualizer.com

11. Formatting GPS Date/time Output For Stamping Data
12. Speed vs. Logging Accuracy

PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Bump-O-Meter uses an Arduino to capture the X,Y,Z motion data generated by the ADXL335
accelerometer. In this case, we are measuring road "shakiness" as a result of road condition. Poor road conditions
and uneven road surfaces generate lots of sudden acceleration in the car body up and down (z-axis). But before this
data is saved to the SD card, it's tagged with location information from the LS20031 GPS receiver and also date/time
stamped in real-time using the GPS satellites' atomic clock. More on this later.
We want to capture and analyze the z-axis acceleration information visually to determine which road stretches
are poorer and need attention. We can repeat this and compare our data over time. The possibilities are endless.
Not just for road condition scanning, but for any sort of environmental geo data logging.
HOW TO USE
We can use this gadget by placing it in a car and driving over a given road stretch to assess its condition. We
can even attach this prototype to a bike or skateboard to identify irregular and rough stretches of tracks.
We can substitute the ADXL335 accelerometer sensor with any other sensor(s) such as temperature or
pollution sensors with simple code modification.
The data on the SD card can then be imported it into a spreadsheet for scrubbing, sub-setting, reformatting,
analysis, and visualizing.
We will also make use of a wonderful website GPSvisualizer.com to plot our data over a map using intelligent
markers that change shape and color according to magnitude of road shakiness so we can visually detect road
conditions in need of further inspection.
I have published a guide titled "Connect your LS20031 GPS receiver to Google Earth via PC" explaining how
to configure the LS20031 GPS receiver. You can refer to it for more details on how to use the LS20031 GPS
receiver.
HARDWARE & SOFTWARE COMPONENTS
HARDWARE

Arduino Uno or Leonardo*: $25 (Arduino.cc, Seeedstudio.com)

LS20031 GPS receiver: $50 (Ebay, Pololu, Adafruit, Sparkfun)
ADXL335 or ADXL345 Accelerometer (or any other sensor): $7 (Ebay.com)
SN74AHC125 as level shifter from 5V to 3.3V**: $1 (Mouser.com, Futurlec.com)
SD reader socket. The LC STUDIO: $2.50 (Ebay.com)
SD memory card. $5 for 4GB.
LED: $0.1
Resistor 1K Ohm: $0.1
Breadboard: $5
Jumper wires: $2
Male headers 2.45mm (0.1") - straight and right angle: $1 (Ebay.com)
Any battery or power source that can provide 7-12V and a minimum of 500mA.
* I have not tried this prototype with the Arduino Leonardo because of some known issues with the SD library .
But according to the release notes of the Arduino IDE 1.02 software these issues have been addressed.

** In the future, I am phasing out the SN74AHC125 level-shifter (5V to 3.3V converter) in favor of the CD4050BE
HEX Non-Inverting Buffer/Converter simply because it's more readily and cheaply available on Ebay.com. I
purchased 10 ICs for $4.0. That's $0.4 per IC. The CD4050 is not pin compatible with the SN74AHC125 but there
are plenty of examples on the net.
SOFTWARE

Arduino IDE 1.02

MiniGPS 1.4: This is a nifty utility to configure the LS20031 GPS receiver.
GPSvisualizer.com: This amazing website will help us plot logged sensor data along with the GPS coordinates
using color schemes to indicate road conditions.
MS Excel or comparable spreadsheet: We will use a spreadsheet to scrub the logged data, to remove any
garbage, to make sub-selections of our logged, and to format it in a manner that can be read by other
applications and websites such as GPSvisualizer.com and Google Earth.
SD Arduino library (bundled with Arduino IDE)

VIDEO OF IMPORTING/REFORMATTING LOG FILE

DISCLAIMER
This is a prototype and prototypes by definition are drafts of products not finished yet. Your feedback is appreciated.
CONTACT
Hazim Bitar (techbitar)
techbitar at gmail dot com

STEP#1: WIRING THE GEO-LOGGER

WIRING THE ARDUINO

GND
5V
3.3V
PIN13
PIN12
PIN11
PIN8

GND rail of the breadboard (usually the blue row)

To 5V VIN of the SD card
To the positive rail (red-lined row) of the breadboard
PIN5 (2A) of the SN74AHC125 IC
SD MISO PIN
PIN2 (1A) of the SN74AHC125 IC
LED POSITIVE

PIN4
PIN1(TX)
PIN0(RX)
ANALOG0
ANALOG1
ANALOG2
GND (bottom)

PIN12 (4A) of the SN74AHC125 IC

PIN9 (3A) of the SN74AHC125 IC
PIN TX of the LS20031 GPS Receiver
PIN X of the ADXL335 (or any analog sensor output)
PIN Y of the ADXL335 (or any analog sensor output)
PIN Z of the ADXL335 (or any analog sensor output)
GND rail bottom of the breadboard

WIRING THE SN74AHC125 IC

PIN1 (10E)
PIN2 (1A)
PIN3 (1Y)
PIN4 (20E)
PIN5 (2A)
PIN6 (2Y)
PIN7 GND
PIN9 (3A)
PIN8 (3Y)
PIN10 (30E)
PIN12 (4A)
PIN11 (4Y)
PIN13 (40E)
PIN14 (VCC)

GND rail of breadboard

Arduino PIN11
SD MOSI PIN
GND rail of breadboard
Arduino PIN13
SD SCK PIN
GND rail of breadboard
Arduino TX PIN1
GPS RX PIN
GND rail of breadboard
Arduino PIN4
SD CS PIN
GND rail of breadboard
Arduino 3.3V pin

WIRING THE SD CARD SOCKET

GND
3.3V
5V
CS
MOSI
SCK
MISO
GND

GND rail of breadboard

No connection
Arduino 5V pin
PIN11 (4Y) of the SN74AHC125 IC
PIN3 (1Y) of the SN74AHC125 IC
PIN6 (2Y) of the SN74AHC125 IC
Arduino PIN12
GND rail of breadboard

WIRING THE LS20031 GPS RECEIVER

GND
GND
TX
RX
VCC

GND rail of breadboard

GND rail of breadboard
Arduino PIN0 (RX)
PIN8 (3Y) of the SN74AHC125 IC
3.3V rail of the breadboard

WIRING THE ADXL335 ACCELEROMETER

GND
Z
Y
X

GND rail of breadboard

Arduino ANALOG2
Arduino ANALOG1
Arduino ANALOG0

3.3V
ST

3.3V rail of breadboard

No connection.

STEP#2: THE SD CARD

LOGGING TO THE SD CARD

The SD card, or Secure Digital card, is a non-volatile solid-state flash memory. Meaning if we disconnect
power, it will retain its data. With an SD card we can expand Arduino's permanent storage by gigabytes. This is
useful for applications that store large amounts of data such as data loggers. A 4GB SD card can be had for only $5.
POWERING THE SD CARD
The LC STUDIO SD card socket used in this project can be powered with 5V or 3.3V power sources. There is
an LM1117 3.3V regulator on board which can handle 800mA of current. The Arduino can provide 3.3V directly but
it's limited to 50mA. That's not enough to power the SD card. So I powered the SD card socket from the Arduino
Uno's 5V pin which can handle over 500mA of current. The 5V pin on the SD card socket will pass through the
LM1117 regulator and come out a 3.3V with a current ceiling of 800mAh.
Just because this SD card socket can be powered with 5V or 3.3V, we still can't connect 5V Arduino
pins to the SD card socket's pins. We have to level-shift the Arduino's 5V signals to 3.3V before we can connect
them to the SD card.
This is where the SN74AHC125 IC comes in handy. This IC can convert (level-shift) a total of 4 signals from
5V to 3.3V. This is perfect because for this project, I only need to convert 4 Arduino pins from 5V to 3.3V: three to
the SD card socket and one to the LGS20031 GPS receiver which is also a 3.3V module.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE SN74AHC125
You can replace the SN74AHC125 with the more available CD4050. I recently bought 10 of those from Ebay
for about $0.40 a piece. The CD4050 is not pin compatible with the SN74AHC125 but it's easy to use. You will find
many useful wiring examples for the CD4050 on the web.

THE ARDUINO SD LIBRARY

The Arduino IDE comes bundled with an SD library that's easy to use. You can include the SD library in your
Arduino program by selecting from the main menu:Sketch\Import Library\SD
The library also comes with ready to use example programs to get you up and running. You can open those
example programs from main menu:File\Examples\SD then pick any of the 6 example sketches. If you have the SD
card socket connected and an SD card inserted, those examples will work on the spot.
For this prototype, I am using an old XTREME MiniSD 1GB SD1 card with a standard SD adapter simply
because I have one available. I did not run into any performance issues with this class and model. Most memory
cards sold today are the faster SDHC variety.
SD CARD I/O STATUS LED
Since the SD card socket has no LED indicators, I have added a status LED wired to Arduino PIN8, via a 1K
Ohms resistor in series. This LED stays on so long as the SD card is working properly. I wrote the Arduino code so
that when a write or read of the SD card fails, the LED is turned off. This way we can just look at the prototype and
tell if something is wrong, along with other Arduino and GPS receiver LED indicators.
FORMATTING THE SD CARD
Using my Windows 7 computer I fully formatted the SD card as FAT16 once. Then, I quick format the SD card
after every trial just to be on the safe side.

STEP#3: GEO-TAGGING DATA: THE LS20031 GPS RECEIVER

LS20031 GPS RECEIVER SPECIFICATIONS

I am using the LS20031 GPS receiver in this prototype to tag logged data with both geographic location and
date/time stamp. The LS20031 is a bread and butter GPS receiver. It's very simple to operate. This receiver is made
by LOCOSYS Technology. I have attached the LS20031 datasheet to this section for those interested in
more detailed specifications.

Model: LS20031
Chip: MediaTek MT3329
Voltage: 3.3V
Frequency: L1 1575.42MHz, C/A code
Channels: Support 66 channels (22 Tracking, 66 Acquisition)
Update rate: 1Hz default, up to 10Hz
Hot start: (Open Sky) < 2 seconds (typical)
Acquisition Time: Cold Start (Open Sky) 35 second (typical)
Autonomous 3m (2D RMS)
Position Accuracy: SBAS 2.5m (depends on accuracy of correction data)
Datum: WGS-84 (default)
Max. Operating Altitude: < 18 Km
Max. Operating Velocity: < 515 m/s

GPS RECEIVERS & NMEA SENTENCES

When the GPS receiver is powered up, it will start transmitting information via it serial (TX) pin in the form
of standardized comma-delimited text lines. These standardized text messages are called NMEA
sentences containing latitude, longitude, date/time, among other useful data.
NMEA stands for National Marine Electronics Association. This is the industry body that comes up with
standardized message formats for GPS receivers to simplify using this technology.
NMEA sentences start with GP + a three-letter identifier that tells us what sort of data is contained in this
NMEA sentence being transmitted by the GPS receiver.
The LS20031 sends out the following NMEA sentences.

GGA Global positioning system fixed data

GLL Geographic position - latitude/longitude
GSA GNSS DOP and active satellites
GSV GNSS satellites in view
RMC Recommended minimum specific GNSS data
VTG Course over ground and ground speed

The one I find useful for this project is the RMC ($GPRMC). Here's a sample RMC sentence and an
explanation of each element:
$GPRMC,053740.000,A,2503.6319,N,12136.0099,E,2.69,79.65,100106,,,A*53

Message ID: $GPRMC RMC protocol header

UTC Time: 053740.000 hhmmss.sss
Status A: A=data valid or V=data not valid
Latitude: 2503.6319 ddmm.mmmm
N/S: Indicator N N=north or S=south
Longitude: 12136.0099 dddmm.mmmm
E/W Indicator: E E=east or W=west
Speed over ground: 2.69 knots True
Course over ground: 79.65 degrees

Date: 100106 ddmmyy

Magnetic variation: degrees
Variation sense: E=east or W=west (Not shown)
Mode A: A=autonomous, D=DGPS, E=DR
Checksum: *53
End of message termination

POWERING AND WIRING THE LS20031

I mentioned earlier that I had published a guide to help configure the LS20031 GPS receiver. The LS20031 is
a 3.3V module which means it's powered by a 3.3V source. This also means we cannot connect the Arduino
output pins, such as the TX pin (5V), to the LS20031 RX pin (3.3V) without converting from 5V to 3.3V.
In this prototype, I use the SN74AHC125 as level-shifter from 5V to 3.3V. We should be able to take the
LS20031 GPS serial output pin, the TX pin (3.3V), and wire it directly to the Arduino's serial RX receive PIN1 (5V).
The Arduino's 5V pins can handle a 3.3V signal and will treat it as a logical high.
CONFIGURING THE LS20031
For this prototype I used MiniGPS 1.4 to configure the LS20031 GPS receiver as follow:

Baud rate: 4800

Fix Update Rate: 5/sec
NMEA outputs: RMC output set to 1 while all other NMEA outputs set to zero (0). At 5Hz, this means 5 RMC
messages per second.

I know this may sound confusing to some of you but please stick to my settings. Once you get your prototype
up and running you can change the parameters.

STEP# 4: FEELING THE ROAD: THE ADXL335 ACCELEROMETER

The ADXL335 is a 3-axis analog acceleration measurement sensor. That's a mouthful. Basically, this gizmo
can detect speed of movement, also known as g-force, in three directions: up/down (z), forward/backward (x), and
sideways (y). The axis directions change depending on how we position the sensor IC.

The ADXL335 has a measurement range of 3 g minimum for each axis. When you are standing still, the
earth exerts a gravitation force of 1g. This sensor outputs signals in the form of voltage changes ranging from 0 to
3.3V. At zero gravity, the voltage value of the Z pin is right in the middle between 0V and 3.3V = 1.65V.
The accelerometer can measure the static acceleration of gravity (1g) as well as tilt-sensing applications and
also dynamic acceleration resulting from motion, shock, or vibration. Which axis of the ADXL335 reports 1g is
dependent on how you position the chip.
THE ADXL335 GOES MOBILE
I drive a Toyota Yaris, a good car as far as reliability and fuel economy but not known for its luxury
suspension system. This is perfect for my purposes. A high-end suspension system may dampen road bumpiness
possibly generating weaker and inconclusive ADXL335 sensor readings.
POWERING THE ADXL335
This particular ADXL335 breakout board must be powered by a 3.3V source. It's also configured to provide
updates 50 times per second. That's plenty of resolution for our road condition sensing device.
Since the Arduino Uno can handle reading 3.3V signals without conversion, we can wire the ADXL335's
X,Y,Z outputs pins (3.3V) to Arduino Uno's analog input pins (5V) directly.
ADXL335 DATASHEET

STEP#5: THE ARDUINO PROGRAM THAT PULLS IT ALL TOGETHER

This program reads the LS20031 GPS receiver and saves the NMEA sentences
generated by the receiver as-is to the SD card. The program also reads the X, Y, Z pins of
the ADXL335 accelerometer and saves them with each NMEA line saved.
The Arduino program I developed for this prototype uses the SD library. I am not
using TinyGPS to interact with the GPS receiver or SoftwareSerial. I did not need TinyGPS
for this project since I am saving raw NMEA messages to the SD card. As for
the SoftwareSerial library, after I ran into a few issues which were time consuming to resolve
I decided to stick to the default Arduino serial library.
The downside of not using SoftwareSerial in this project is that the GPS Receiver will be using the
Arduino's RX/TX pins to read configuration commands and to send GPS data to the Arduino. This means we
don't have the Arduino Serial Monitor available for debugging.
More importantly, we will have to disconnect the Arduino Uno's PIN0 (RX) from the GPS receiver's TX
pin before uploading an Arduino program. If we don't disconnect Arduino's PIN0 (RX) from the GPS receiver,
it will most likely fail to upload the Arduino program from the PC to the Arduino because of serial conflict. I
found this to be a small price for the gains in coding compactness and shortened development cycle.
The data saved by this program to the SD will look like the list below. Theoretically, five lines of GPS and
sensor data will be generated per second. This log can be imported as a comma-delimited file into a host of
applications such as spreadsheets or databases for scrubbing, analysis, and charting:

446,425,542,GPRMC,093116.200,A,3158.0155,N,03551.5032,E,18.78,291.56,111112,,,A*54
443,442,542,GPRMC,093116.400,A,3158.0159,N,03551.5020,E,18.78,291.79,111112,,,A*50

444,435,523,GPRMC,093116.600,A,3158.0163,N,03551.5009,E,18.77,292.32,111112,,,A*53
444,432,525,PRMC,093116.800,A,3158.0167,N,03551.4998,E,18.75,292.88,111112,,,A*5A

// ====================== START PROGRAM ==========================

/*
PROJECT: Bump-O-Meter (Geo Data Logger for Sensors )
DEVELOPER: Hazim Bitar (techbitar at gmail dot com)
DESCRIPTION: This program reads the ADXL335 accelerometer sensor data (X,Y,Z) or any
sensor data then saves this data to an SD card along with geo-location and a date/time stamp
generated by the LS20031 GPS receiver
LICENSE:
DATE:

I am placing this code in the public domain

NOV 16, 2012

*/
#include
#define LED 8
// status LED for SD operations
#define BUFF_MAX 100 // size of GPS & SD buffers

File GPSlog;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(4800); // The LS20031 GPS receiver must be set to 4800 for program to work
// You can use the statements below to send configuration commands to the LS20031 GPS.
// But for this to work, the baud rate must be set on the LS20031 GPS receiver to 4800.
// You can use the MiniGPS 1.4 utility to configure or query the LS20031 GPS receiver.
//
// LS20031 COMMANDS:
// Serial.print("$PMTK251,4800*27\r\n"); // Set GPS baud rate
// Serial.print("$PMTK314,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0*2C\r\n"); // Set RMC to 5 fixes/second.
// Serial.print("$PMTK220,200*2C\r\n"); // GPS update rate at 5Hz
pinMode(10, OUTPUT); // Per SD library notes, pin 10 must be set to output
pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);
if (!SD.begin(4)) {
// SD card detected?
digitalWrite(LED,LOW); // turn off status LED if SD detection fails
return;
}
else digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // turn on LED if SD detection is OK
GPSlog = SD.open("GPS.log", O_CREAT | O_WRITE); // open/append to a file GPS.log

if (!GPSlog) {
// test if file can be opened
digitalWrite(LED,LOW); // turn off status LED if file open fails
return;
}
else digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // turn on status LED if file open is OK
}
void loop()
{
char inBuffer[BUFF_MAX]; // buffer used to read NMEA lines from GPS
byte outBuffer[BUFF_MAX]; // buffer used to write NMEA lines to SD card
int sizeBuffer = 0;
// counter of how many chars per line
// HERE WE DECLARE MORE OR LESS ANALOG SENSOR VARIABLES
char an0[4], an1[4], an2[4]; // char variables to store analog pin values. Total 6 pins from 0-5
while (Serial.available()>0) // if serial data available from GPS
{
sizeBuffer = Serial.readBytesUntil('\n', inBuffer, BUFF_MAX); // read one NMEA line from GPS until end of line
// THIS IS WHERE WE READ SENSOR VALUES
itoa (analogRead(A0), an0, 10); // X read and convert numeric analog pin to char
itoa (analogRead(A1), an1, 10); // Y ..
itoa (analogRead(A2), an2, 10); // Z ..
for (int i = 0; i < BUFF_MAX; i++) outBuffer[i] = inBuffer[i]; // create CSV file on SD
int j = 0;
// THIS IS WHERE WE WRITE SENSOR DATA TO THE SD FILE
if (GPSlog) {
GPSlog.print(an0); // write ANALOG0 (X) to SD
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an1); // write ANALOG1 (Y) to SD
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an2); // write ANALOG2 (Z) to SD
GPSlog.print(" , ");
// If you only want NMEA output logged, comment out all above GPSlog.print statements
GPSlog.write(outBuffer, sizeBuffer); // write GPS NMEA output to SD
GPSlog.print("\r\n");
GPSlog.flush();
digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // Keep LED on so long as SD logging is working.
}
else {
// if the file didn't open, turn LED off
digitalWrite(LED, LOW); // turn LED off if writing to file fails
}
}
}
// ================ END PROGRAM =====================

HOW TO ADD/REMOVE SENSORS TO THE GEO DATA LOGGER

This program will read up to 6 analog sensors and save their values to the SD card. There are two places in the program
where you need to make changes to suit your needs:
1. DECLARING SENSOR VARIABLES
In the declaration section, we create text variables that will hold the converted numeric values of the sensors before we
write them to the SD card. Here, we are declaring for a maximum of 6 analog sensors. Reduce as needed.
char an0[4], an1[4], an2[4]; an3[4]; an4[4]; an5[4];
2. READING SENSORS
In this part of the program, we convert the numeric sensor readings to text before we write them to the SD card. Change the
next code segment in the program to add/remove sensors as needed. You can have up to 6 analog sensors read in this
program:
itoa (analogRead(A0),
itoa (analogRead(A1),
itoa (analogRead(A2),
itoa (analogRead(A3),
itoa (analogRead(A4),
itoa (analogRead(A5),

an0, 10);
an1, 10);
an2, 10);
an0, 10);
an1, 10);
an2, 10);

3. WRITING SENSORS VALUES TO THE SD CARD

After we read the sensor(s) above, we write their text values to the SD card. In the code segment below, we are adding a
comma between each sensor value written to the SD card so we can separate them. This makes it easier to import them into
a spreadsheet program as comma-delimited text:
GPSlog.print(an0);
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an1);
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an2);
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an0);
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an1);
GPSlog.print(" , ");
GPSlog.print(an2);
GPSlog.print(" , ");

// write ANALOG0 to SD card

// write ANALOG1 to SD card
// write ANALOG2 to SD card
// write ANALOG3 to SD card
// write ANALOG4 to SD card
// write ANALOG5 to SD card

STEP#6: A PLAIN GPS LOGGER TO INTERFACE WITH GOOGLE EARTH

For those who want to use this prototype as a generic GPS logger, to track your path,
just upload the Arduino code below. This program will generate raw NMEA RMC sentences
to file GPS.LOG on the SD card without any sensor data.
We can then Import the GPS.LOG file into Google Earth and generate
maps overlaid with your logged track points. Please refer to my LS20031 GPStutorial on
how to import a raw GPS NMEA log files into Google Earth.
You can also import this NMEA log file into Excel as a comma-delimited text file and reformat it for
GPSvisualizer.com to draw maps with track points and more. More on this in the next sections.
// ================ START PROGRAM =====================
/*
PROJECT: A Plain GPS Logger
DEVELOPER: Hazim Bitar (techbitar at gmail dot com)
DESCRIPTION: This program logs GPS location information wherever you go and saves to the SD card as raw
NMEA data to be imported into Google Earth.
LICENSE:
DATE:

I am placing this code in the public domain

NOV 17, 2012

*/
#include <SD.h>
#define LED 8
// status LED for SD operations
#define BUFF_MAX 100 // size of GPS & SD buffers
File GPSlog;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(4800); // The LS20031 GPS receiver must be set to 4800 for program to work
pinMode(10, OUTPUT); // Per SD library notes, pin 10 must be set to output
pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);
if (!SD.begin(4)) {
// SD card detected?
digitalWrite(LED,LOW); // turn off staus LED if SD detection fails
return;
}
else digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // turn on LED if SD detection is OK
GPSlog = SD.open("GPS.log", O_CREAT | O_WRITE); // open/append to a file GPS.log
if (!GPSlog) {
// test if file can be opened
digitalWrite(LED,LOW); // turn off status LED if file open fails

return;
}
else digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // turn on status LED if file open is OK
}
void loop()
{
char inBuffer[BUFF_MAX]; // buffer used to read NMEA lines from GPS
byte outBuffer[BUFF_MAX]; // buffer used to write NMEA lines to SD card
int sizeBuffer = 0;
// counter of how many chars per line
while (Serial.available()>0) // if serial data available from GPS
{
sizeBuffer = Serial.readBytesUntil('\n', inBuffer, BUFF_MAX); // read one NMEA line from GPS until end of line
for (int i = 0; i < BUFF_MAX; i++) outBuffer[i] = inBuffer[i]; // create CSV file on SD
int j = 0;
if (GPSlog) {
GPSlog.write(outBuffer, sizeBuffer); // write GPS NMEA output to SD
GPSlog.print("\r\n");
GPSlog.flush();
digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // Keep LED on so long as SD logging is working.
}
else {
// if the file didn't open, turn LED off
digitalWrite(LED, LOW); // turn LED off if writing to file fails
}
}
}
// ================ END PROGRAM =====================

STEP#7: SCRUBBING & FORMATTING DATA WITH A SPREADSHEET

With enough road data captured on the SD card, we now start the data scrubbing and re-formatting in
preparation for analysis and visualization in Excel, GPSvisualizer, or our favorite data analysis and charting tool.
Remove the SD card from the socket and insert into PC SD card reader. Copy the GPS.log file to your PC
and Run Excel (or your favorite spreadsheet application). The steps below are for Excel 2007:

STEP 1: From Excel, File/Open and select GPS.log. Make sure you select File Type All Files (*.*) else you will
not see the file GPS.log listed. Open file. This will launch the Text Import Wizard.
STEP 2: Select Delimited radio button. Click Next.
STEP 3: Select Comma check box only. Cick Next.
SETP 4: Excel will import the GPS.log file into columns and rows. The columns are ordered in this manner: X, Y,
Z, NMEA output type, UTC Time, Status A: A=data valid or V=data not valid, Latitude, N/S: Indicator N N=north or
S=south, Longitude, E/W Indicator: E E=east or W=west, Speed over ground, Course over ground, Date,
Magnetic variation, Variation sense: E=east or W=west, Mode A: A=autonomous, D=DGPS, E=DR, Checksum.
STEP 5,6: In column 'F' you will see one letter either A or V. A means valid fix. V means invalid data. So delete
all rows that are invalid.
STEP 7: Also, delete jumbled lines.
STEP 8: Keep columns C (z-axis), G (Latitude), and I (Longitude) but hide other imported columns.
STEP 9: Add header labels to the top of the remaining three columns: N, Latitude, Longitude.
STEP 10: Now select and copy to clipboard the range of rows you wish to map in GPSvisualizer and don't forget
to also copy the columns header labels.

With the selected data in the clipboard, we are ready to paste it into GPSvisualizer so we can map and
analyze our logged data.

STEP#8: PLOTTING AND COLOR-CODING ROAD CONDITION DATA

WITH GPSVISUALIZER.COM

First, let's open GPSvisualizer and open the "Plot data points" page:
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=data

STEP 1:
Find the scroll box titled "Or paste your data here" and delete everything in it then paste the data you
have copied from Excel into it. You should get a clean three column content with the headers N Latitude Longitude.
Make sure you don't change the headers in any way after you paste them and don't add commas or tabs in
between. Just a straight paste from Excel.
STEP 2:
You can skip this step for now or you can make changes to "Data point options" to follow my settings
as shown in the figure.
STEP 3: Click "Draw the map" button and watch the magic.
HOW TO READ THE MAP
A Google Map will be displayed and overlaid with the route points captured by our geo data logger. In my
case, I have selected stars as the icons for the data points. The larger and more blueish the data point or the smaller
the more reddish the bigger the road bump or pothole.
By clicking on a star, a balloon will pop up with the z-axis value read by the ADXL335 accelerometer.
Long road stretches of comparable greenish colors and values (typically 520 in my case) mean the road is
smoother.
We can change the icon shapes, their minimum and maximum sizes, and other parameters from the "Data
point options" section.

TRANSLATING SENSOR DATA INTO ROAD CONDITION INFO

I have simplified this part so almost no math will be needed to assess road conditions using the data
generated by the ADXL335 sensor. So there will be no translation from raw accelerometer sensor outputs to g
values. The whole trick wrests in road condition profiling and sensor data comparison.
PROFILING ROAD DATA
Different geo data loggers may produce different readings than mine for various reasons having to do with
sensor type if a different accelerometer is used, suspension system differences from one car to another, orientation
of the geo data logger, etc. So we need to profile normal road conditions and abnormal road condition before we can
make sense of our data using your geo data logger in your particular environment.
Profiling road conditions is simple. We record senor data generated by the ADXL335 sensor while we drive
over a good road stretch then do the same with sensor data generated when we drive over a rough road stretch such
a bump or pothole.
In my case, I get an average of 520 for the z-axis on a good road stretch. I can use this as a frame of
reference so if I get sample data of 520 plus or minus a few notches (you decide what's the acceptable range) then
this is a good road. So 520 +/- some value of your choosing is the profile of a good road condition. But if I drive over
a bump or pothole, I get sensor z-axis readings that hover around 500 on the low end and 535 on the high end. This
will be my profile of a rough road.
The basic assumption here is that I am using the same car, with the sensor placed in the same spot in
the car, and driving at the same speed every time I profile the road with my geo data logger.
In the "Data point options" by assigning the "Min" color field my my lower z-axis number and "Max" field my
high z-axis number, now I can use GPSvisualizer.com to determine visually, by color or size of marker, where to find
poor road stretches, potholes, and bumps.
ANALYZING SENSOR DATA AND ROAD CONDITIONS
When it comes to analyzing the sensor data, sometimes bumps my look like potholes and vice versa. It's
possible to log what seems like a pothole condition when in reality we are just dropping back to normal street level
right after a road bump. It's also possible to get a sensor reading the resembles that of a bump when the car
starts climbing out of the pothole.
We look for small or large z-axis readings, based on the min/max values withing the range of captured data,
to identify abnormal road conditions. But classifying these road conditions might require more analysis. We can
always play around with GPSvisualizer settings until we get the visual representation we need.
The important thing is to record presence of a road condition in need of attention or to avoid it next time you
are on the same road.

STEP#9: FORMATTING GPS DATE/TIME OUTPUT FOR STAMPING DATA

Since time-stamping logged data is important for many projects, I will
explain how to extract and format the GPS generated time/date data.
In this project, we hid all data columns in Excel except columns
containing z-axis data, latitude, and longitude. If we wish to keep a date/time
stamp to map and visualize along with the rest of the retained sensor and
GPS data columns, we simply don't hide column E (time) and column M
(date).
The LS20031 GPS receiver, as with other GPS receivers of its class,
updates its internal clock to sync with the GPS satellites' internal atomic clock
which is accurate to 1 billionth of a second.
The GPS receiver sends date/time stamped location fixes via a variety of NMEA text sentences. We have
chosen the RMC NMEA message for this project. This is how an RMC sentence looks like.

$GPRMC,093025.600,A,3157.8299,N,03551.5057,E,18.18,37.45,111112,,,A*6C
The boldfaced number from the left end of the NMEA sentence is the UTC Time. It's interpreted according to
this format string: hhmmss.sss. So 093025.600 can be displayed as: 09:30:25.
The second boldfaced number from the left is the date. It's interpreted according to this format
string: ddmmyy. So 111112 can be displayed as 11-November-2012
UTC Time (Zulu) is Coordinated Universal Time. You can calculate your local time as needed by adding or
subtracting hours and minutes before or after UTC time.

STEP#10: SPEED VS LOGGING ACCURACY

NOTE: I have oversimplified the concepts in this section to keep this guide short and accessible. For those who are
interested in a more detailed explanation, there are many helpful references on the web.
The accuracy and resolution of the geo data logger will depend on many facors such as:

The speed by which we are moving with the geo data logger.
The frequency by which sensors can generate fresh readings.
The frequency by which the GPS receiver can generate location fixes to tag sensor data with.
The SD card read/write performance.

The speed of the microcontroller, for number crunching and formatting.

As for our Bump-O-Meter, we have the following specs to work with:

The LS20031 GPS receiver can report a location "fix" 5 times a second (datasheet says 10Hz but
field experience shows 5Hz is reliable)
The ADXL335 Accelerometer generates motion data at a rate 50 times per second.
SD cards have an average latency of 100 ms even though the specs allow for 200 ms. Some old SD cards can
handle 150KB/Sec to 200KB/Sec. More than enough for our data logger.
The ATmega328p runs at a cool 16Mhz.

MATH FOR FUN (No such thing)

So the bottleneck for our Bump-O-Meter will be the GPS receiver, at 5 updates per second (5Hz). Let's assume we
are driving at 60 Km/h and the GPS is reporting 5 location fixes per second.

60 kilometers per hour = 1 Km per minute.

1 kilometer per minute = 16.6 meters per second.
Since the LS20031 GPS receiver provides 5 fixes per second that's a fix every 3.3 meters. Keep in mind this GPS
receiver is accurate within 2.5 meters.

At 30 kilometers per hour, we can double the accuracy of our logger and so on. At 15...and so forth.
The key thing is to record a road bump or pothole even if we don't have its exact location. Because so long as
we capture the bump's existence on our logger, we can find it if we go searching for it within +/- 2.5 meters (GPS
accuracy) of the location reported by the logger.
For smoother data such as the ones generated by outdoors temperature and humidity sensors, we can make
use of fairly simple techniques for guessing in-between data, such as interpolation.

INTERPOLATION OF MISSING DATA

Interpolation is a method of guessing a mid data point within two recorded sensor data points. For examples,
if we drive down the highway while logging temperatures, if our geo data logger is capturing temperature
readings every 100 meters, it might be possible to interpolate (guess) the in-between temperature every 50 meters.
The change in outdoors weather temperature within 100 meters is not typically abrupt but tend to be gradual. So if
we log 32 degrees F at 0 meters and 33 degrees F at 100 meters. We can make a reasonable guess that at 50
meters or somewhere in between the temperature can be 32.5 degrees F. This is the simplified version of data
interpolation.
Some interpolation might be possible and meaningful between two logged temperature points over a certain
distance. Interpolating road conditions, on the other hand, may not be as simple.
Potholes and road bumps don't lend themselves to interpolation. Unlike the gradual change in many
environmental conditions, potholes tend to be sudden. Potholes are not typically preceded by increasingly larger
potholes. And they are not followed by increasingly smaller pot holes. For detecting pot holes, we have to drive
slower to give our geo data logger time to catch those (<15 Km/h). Also, we can slow down when we see an
approaching pothole or a road bump to make sure our geo data logger catches it. In real world situations, we tend to
slow down anyway as we approach a bump or pothole so that works well for our purposes.

SOURCE: http://www.instructables.com/id/Geo-Data-Logger-ArduinoGPSSDAccelerometer-to-l/