Having Windows 8 use a real GPS (NMEA) for Location Services

Question

I have a USB-based GPS receiver plugged into a Windows 8 Pro machine. It appears in the Device Manager as a COM port. The GPS receiver came with a demo program (GPSInfo) lets me choose the COM port, and displays all GPS info like Lat/Long, number of satellites, etc.

But this info doesn't appear to become available to Windows 8 apps like Maps. Maps is able to place me in the correct city, but many city blocks away from my exact location.

My research found this Q&A, which suggests that there needs to be a special driver to allow Windows 8 apps to see the GPS. This makes sense to me since apps shouldn't have to parse NMEA themselves. I would expect Windows to do this on their behalf. I thought that's what Windows Location Provider is, which is listed in the Sensors category of Device Manager.

So, do you know of a driver that'll adapt a COM port that provides NMEA into whatever interface Windows apps expect for exact location?

Answer 1

This software looks like it would do the trick:

http://www.turboirc.com/gps7/

Alternatively, check with your GPS manufacturer to see if they have drivers that are Windows Location API aware.

Answer 2

Bluetooth GPS works in Windows RT out of the box, so it should have no issues with Pro which should be more compatible. I used Bluetooth GPS with the built-in maps application with no problem.