Height (Altitude)

[tama]

Does this (http://gps.dg4sfw.de/files/height_8.zip) progy works for TT One 3rd (with version 8.01) ?
Thanks

 

[gatorguy]

The altitude report on any automotive pnd will not be accurate. Not unusual at all for a true altitude of 1000 ft to be reported as anywhere from 500 to 2000 ft.

If altitude is important, use a handheld gps that includes a barometric altimeter.

 

[flyer1024]

It works ok although as mentioned not totally accurate. I don't find 500 foot variations on my unit.

There is a config file where you can set the offset to make it closer to your actual altitude. Go to google earth for your home location and there you can find your altitude on the bottom toolbar. change the config file offset to reflect this and you're set to go.

don't go flying with it, but it's ok for a driving reference.

It does update rather slowly though. sometimes going down the backside of a hill, it's still catching up from the upside of the hill. It's a limitation of the gps, not the software.

 

[gatorguy]

I'm not saying it will be off by 500 ft every time Flyer. But whereas your x/y location may be reported as accurate to within say 12 meters, your vertical/z accuracy can be off by a factor of much more than that. While we're on the subject, the horizontal accuracy reported is only an estimate, perhaps based on CEP, tho TomTom doesn't confirm which method they use. If is is CEP based, then multiply whatever reported accuracy you have by 2.3 to get a 95% probability that your true location is within a circle of that dimension. Example: TT reports your accuracy at 10 meters. Multiply by 2.3 to get 23 meters. That would be a more accurate figure to go by. If reporting on elevation instead, throw any way of determining how accurate it is by only the report out the window. Even after calibrating your TomTom by verifying your current position altitude on Google Earth, coming back to that exact same spot a week later is unlikely to show anything near the same altitude.

 

[RobertB]

Even though it's wildly inaccurate, I really like Height. It was reasonably easy to set up, once I figured out what to copy where. One hint: your day and night screens may have the same number (which is one of the params you have to set up in the config file), so don't let that surprise you.

It displays the current altitude in just the right place, and looks as though it was built in to the unit. I don't see any change in performance, even on my underpowered low-end ONE unit. Excellent program.

But yeah, it suffers from GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). It can only be as accurate as the data the TT passes to it, and the unit's software and hardware is optimized for two-dimensional travel. I view it as an interesting amusement, not as a surveying benchmark.

For me, it was a great first hack. If I had more time, I'd try more fun stuff.

Don't forget to do your full manual ("explorer") backup, though, before installing anything.

 

[flyer1024]

interesting. I agree that it is not that accurate. I just turned my one on while I type this and my home was set at 55 feet (from the google reference) when I set up the software. as I sit typing this the program started at 22 feet, slowly increased to 55, then slowly went up to 75 and is now back down to 55. all this in about three minutes. It continually moves up and down while the gps is stationary, but seems to average at 45-60 foot range.

the major airport near my home lists it's runway at 247 feet (from it's website) and I see numbers in that area when I drive by on the main highway which is about level with the runway.

I wouldn't attempt to land a plane on that runway using it, but it is good enough to give me an idea of the terrain height when in various areas around here. Just a fun thing really.

 

[Ricochet]

Even though it's wildly inaccurate, I really like Height. It was reasonably easy to set up, once I figured out what to copy where. One hint: your day and night screens may have the same number (which is one of the params you have to set up in the config file), so don't let that surprise you.
...
Don't forget to do your full manual ("explorer") backup, though, before installing anything.

I instructions weren't translated very well. They appeared to say to place everything to the device's Root, but that didn't work. The on-screen day/night numbers didn't appear. Unfortunately, I never got around to fixing it.

So, I have two Height files: Height_8.TOC & Height_8.CAB, sitting in the device's root.
Does the .cab need to be unpacked, first?

Thanks.

 

[RobertB]

Sorry, I guess that's a frequent problem for us programmers... once everything's working, we look back and say "oh, that wasn't so hard".

Here's what he says:

Just extract the package, extract the "cab"-file in it and throw the file and the directory in it onto your TT, root (topmost) directory.​

What that *means* is:
* Unzip the .zip file, somewhere on your PC. It contains a .cab file and a .toc file. (I don't know what the .toc file is -- I eventually ignored it.)
* Now, unzip the .cab file! I remember (now) that I missed that step too, and wondered why nothing happened when I copied it to my unit.
* When you unzip the .cab file, you'll find a file called "ttn", and a "Height" directory with a couple of files in it: height.cfg and height.so.
* Those are the things you copy to your unit. Put "ttn" in the root, and copy the "Height" directory and files to a "Height" directory on the unit.

Simple, right?

 

[Ricochet]

...
* When you unzip the .cab file, you'll find a file called "ttn", and a "Height" directory with a couple of files in it: height.cfg and height.so.
* Those are the things you copy to your unit. Put "ttn" in the root, and copy the "Height" directory and files to a "Height" directory on the unit.

Simple, right?

Sure. I'm a software developer, too. I speak "pidgin documentation" ...just not that dialect.

Okay, I did unzip the .cab to look inside, but I didn't extract the contents, following the destructions...
I'll give that a try.


A .toc file is a "table of contents" (possibly like .jar file's manifest). A host of apps use them, each with its own proprietary formatting.

 

[RobertB]

Yeah -- looking inside the .toc revealed an XML-formatted file with data about the application. That was why I also thought that copying the .toc and the .cab would cause some magic to occur on the unit. But it looks like the "ttn" file is the one that tells the unit what additional object modules (.so in Linux) to load. Removing the .toc file from the unit didn't have any effect.

Don't forget that you'll have to modify height.cfg to indicate which screen numbers it should display on. Since my day and night screen are both "7", I configured it to also display the height on the map view.

 

[alfie67]

I like this program! Got it to work on first attempt AFTER reading all instructions.

Thanks!

 

[sturmey]

Thanks for posting the "how to". I tried several different ways to put the files on the device and finally got it after reading this thread. none of the other instructions mentioned putting the files in a directory called "Height".

This was the key that kept it from working for me, but now it does. Thanks

 

[Bennie]

Could you please post a screen shot of how the config file needs to look to make this work on a tomtom one 3rd edition. I tried it and it only displayed a 7 on my driving screen.

 

[RobertB]

Here's mine, on the device as x:\Height\height.cfg (case may or may not be important)

x32     # x-position of height-numbers in real pixels, between 0 and about 300-400
y4      # y-position of height-numbers in real pixels, between 0 and about 220-250
h0.0    # geoidal separation, value will be added to height, meter or feet
mf      # mode, "m" for meter, "f" for feet
d7  # screen identifier for when to display height, day colors (was 19028, now 7)
n59131   # screen identifier for when to display height, night colors (was 8500, then 7, now 59131 for map screen)
s1      # font size, value between "0" (small) and "3" (big).
f0      # font color, "1" = black, "2" = white, "0" = day/night-automatic
al      # alignment: "l"eft, "c"enter, "r"ight

That "d7" looks like is the problem. You're seeing "7" on the screen, which means that "7" is the number you need to put next to "d".

For whatever reason, my unit uses screen number "7" for both day and night. So I found the screen number for the map screen, and told Height that it's the night screen "n59131". That way, I have altitude displayed in regular mode and in map mode.

Hope that helps!

 

[Bayard]

Altitude

I sure would like to get "Height" to work, but even after reading Jougart's and several other's installation instructions and trying many possible configuration of the files, I still get repeated resets of my TomTom 740 Live. It never reaches the third brightness level of the startup screen.

I am unable to match the files/extracted-files from the .zip download with the various instructions.
The downloaded file was:
height_11.zip
which when unzipped resulted in:
Height_11.cab
Height_11.toc
Extracting the files from Height_11.cab gave:
height.cfg
height.so
ttn
ttninit
but no folders.

I have tried all files in the root directory, the height files in a Height directory, ttninit and Height_11.toc variously on the root and Height directories, but none suffice.

Maybe the program won't work with the 740, application 8.370, map v830.2284.

Has anyone been successful with the 740 (or equivalent) and if so, with what software and files/configuration?

Bayard

 

[RobertB]

How about:

* Delete any files that you copied previously
* Reboot
* Copy just the ttn file to the root
* Put height.cfg and height.so in a directory called "Height"
* Make sure the capitalization matches

If that doesn't work, then you've reached the limit of my expertise! (that was a short journey!)

 

[Bayard]

"Height" Instalation solved!

"Height" is working on my 740, thanks to Joghurt!
He indicated that my .cab file was not unpacking properly, listed where the files should go and all works!
Thanks, Joghurt.

Bayard

 

[JimT]

I can not get height to work on my 740. It just keeps re-booting. I'm placing the two heigh files in a "Height" folder and the ttn file in the root. What am I doing wrong???

 

[Bayard]

Height

JimT, sorry for taking so long to reply, but just got out of the hospital.
Unfortunately I don't remember the exact answer to the problem, but was associated with the structure of the unzipped files, they were all at the same level when I unzipped them.
The solution was obtained when I e-mailed Jorgut and he sent me the correct formation of the files. Again, I'm unable to find that information, I think it was on one of the other TomTom forums.
If you still need it, let me know and I'll continue to search for it, or try to diesect my files.
Bayard

I can not get height to work on my 740. It just keeps re-booting. I'm placing the two heigh files in a "Height" folder and the ttn file in the root. What am I doing wrong???

 

[JimT]

JimT, sorry for taking so long to reply, but just got out of the hospital.
Unfortunately I don't remember the exact answer to the problem, but was associated with the structure of the unzipped files, they were all at the same level when I unzipped them.
The solution was obtained when I e-mailed Jorgut and he sent me the correct formation of the files. Again, I'm unable to find that information, I think it was on one of the other TomTom forums.
If you still need it, let me know and I'll continue to search for it, or try to diesect my files.
Bayard

Hello Bayard!! Yes I would still like to install height. I just can't get it to work. I can work anyother plugin but this one. THNX for your help!