Gps Receiver Usb Driver

In GPS conversations the word 'sensor' can be used two ways.
1. Some like to use it when referring to a GPS receiver, like a Globalsat BU-353 USB receiver or a Garmin 10x Bluetooth receiver.
2. In this post I am going to use it exclusively to refer to Windows new Sensor API (API = Application Programming Interface . how programs/apps talk to each other and to hardware items).
Microsoft introduced the Sensor API and Location API in Windows 7 but retained the old COM port code as well. Anyone using serial comms or USB-to-serial thingies probably remained blissfully unaware of this addition because nothing really changed for them.
With Windows 8.x Microsoft introduced a 'mobile' extension to the Windows operating system that continues in Windows 10. This allows us to select an operating mode that best suits the device we are using and the type of work we are doing. There is now a Desktop mode which looks and acts just like older versions of Windows and runs all the stuff we've been using for years.
In Windows 8.x/10 Microsoft continues to support COM port use for Desktop apps. So if we want to use a common USB or Bluetooth GPS receiver with a Desktop navigation app, like Microsoft Streets&Trips or DeLorme Street Atlas or ALK CoPilot, on a laptop we just continue to do as we've always done and they'll continue to work just fine.
What's new about Windows 8.x and Windows 10 is the mobile side of the operating system. This was added to allow us to more easily use more portable devices like tablets, or touchscreens in newer laptops and desktop systems. Apps can be specifically coded to run exclusively in the new Tablet mode. They are referred to by Microsoft as Modern apps. These Modern apps will run in Tablet mode or in a window in Desktop mode.
This is where the new Sensor and Location APIs come into play. The Tablet mode and its Modern apps do not understand the concept of COM ports for communication with a USB or Bluetooth GPS receiver. Instead, the Modern apps look for the GPS data to be provided by a sensor.
Most USB and Bluetooth GPS receivers do not come with a sensor driver.
They will still work fine for conventional desktop apps like CoPilot, Streets&Trips, Street Atlas, whatever. But Modern (mobile) navigation apps know nothing about conventional COM ports. They only look for the data coming off the Location sensor.
I've written this post because, unlike our Android or iOS phones and tablets, very few Windows laptops and tablets have built in GPS chips. This means we still have to use an external GPS receiver like the BU-353 or similar. But the lack of COM port support on the mobile side of Windows 8.x/10 means you have to figure out how to get the incoming GPS data through the Location sensor to a Modern navigation app.
If you want to use one of the many new Windows tablets or a new laptop with touchscreen or one of the new 'convertibles' that can be either a laptop or tablet -- all of which come with Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 -- and you want to use one of the Modern navigation apps from the Windows Store you have some additional steps to make your GPS receiver work with them.
First you have to install the necessary USB-to-serial driver or Bluetooth driver for the GPS device you are going to use. That's still necessary to get the GPS receiver's data coming into the computer.
Then you need a COM-port-to-Location-sensor driver.
TurboIRC's GPSDirect is the only Sensor mapping driver I've been able to find so far. I have tested it with the Globalsat BU-353 S4 USB GPS receiver and it works fine.

Here's a link to the relevant page on their web site for GPSDirect and related products. They have done some neat work.
UPDATE:Here's an updated link for the download as of 13 Nov 2016. It's a very good resource page.
UPDATE:Here's an updated link for the download as of 24 Sep 2017 08 May 2019.
If you like to play around with this stuff, in addition to the GPSDirect Sensor mapping driver you can also get Android and iOS apps that will let you direct the output from the GPS chip in your Android or iOS phone to the GPSDirect driver on your Windows tablet or laptop. If you already have an Android or iOS phone that has a pretty good GPS chip in it you can use it to provide a GPS signal to your Windows tablet or laptop in place of an external GPS receiver. (NOTE: I have not tried them yet so I can't say how they work.)
..ken..