[aprssig] BMW GPS

[Jim Lux]

I have an E46 (05 325cic) and I've looked into this (since it has the BMW 
Assist in it, and, for that matter, there's a nav system option).

I'm pretty sure the GPS data isn't available conveniently.  That's not to 
say that you can't find the wire carrying the serial data (in whatever 
format it happens to be in, probably not NMEA sentences) and cobble up some 
sort of PIC to convert it to something for your D700.

The E46es use BMWs iBus to send data around, and some of the 5s do this 
too, although some newer ones use CAN bus.  The question is whether GPS 
data appears on the iBus, in which case there's a variety of iBus interface 
widgets that "might" serve.
http://www.openbmw.org/bus/ might have some information. the HacktheIbus 
yahoo group also has a fair amount of information.

For all the hassle, and the cost of adapters, etc., you are probably better 
off just forking out the $50 for another GPS receiver (hey, my car has at 
least 4 GPS receivers now: BMW assist, the Magellan mapping thing, the one 
in my cell phone, and the one hooked up to the APRS)

Jim, W6RMK