What is the NMEA 0183 Data Sentence?
Jim Sexton responds:
The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) publishes a data output standard called the 0183 data sentence. This data consists of latitude (LAT), longitude (LON), course over ground (COG), speed over ground (SOG), date, and time. This data sentence allows your GPS / DGPS / LORAN to communicate with other electronic devices such as navigation computers and radars. Any modern GPS / DGPS / LORAN receiver that outputs the NMEA 0183 data sentence can be used with all current mapping software.