Jordi Gauchía's IceNav Turns an Espressif ESP32 Into a Graphical, Offline, OpenStreetMap GPS

Maker Jordi Gauchía is looking to build a handheld Espressif ESP32-powered gadget for offline navigation with graphical mapping, as an alternative to expensive and often locked-down commercial GPS units — and has recently unveiled the third in the IceNav family.

"This project began more than 10 years ago when I decided to try out a GPS module along with a [Microchip] ATmega328, to understand how it works and to start learning about the world of GPS," Gauchía recalls of the project's earlier prototypes. "I replaced the Atmega328 with an ATmega644, added an SD card, a compass, and a few other things, and everything was programmed from scratch. The initial project was evolving."

That initial prototype, though, would end up as so many others do: forgotten in a drawer. At least, until last year when Gauchía decided to revisit the project — and completely rebuild it, switching to the Espressif ESP32 platform from Microchip's AVR range. The IceNav V3, to give the current prototype its full name, includes a color 320×480 TFT touchscreen display, a magnetic compass, Bosch BME280 temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor, and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver compatible with the GPS constellation.

For mapping, the IceNav leans on the OpenStreetMap project — a community-driven effort to deliver high-accuracy street-level maps for the entire globe, free for all to use. These are loaded onto an SD Card, allowing the IceNav to operate entirely offline with no need for an active internet connection.

While Gauchía admits that it's still very much a work in progress, IceNav is already usable on a range of ESP32-based development boards. More information is available in Gauchía's Hackaday.io write-up, while the project's source code is available on GitHub under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 3.