# Guide by Jaryd; How to add GPS to a Raspberry Pi Pico | Get Real-Time Location in Your Project! **URL:** \ **Category:** Guides\ **Created:** [21 March 2025 03:41 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119 "2025-03-21T03:41:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jaryd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/jaryd/32/8778_2.png) [@Jaryd](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Jaryd)\ **Post date:** [21 March 2025 03:41 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/1 "2025-03-21T03:41:58Z")
Hello forum goers, got another one for you! Just a quick guide diving into using a GPS module with the Pico (you could most definitely do this with any MicroPython microcontroller as well). We have written a nice little library that handles a lot of the GPS parsing and UART communication, and we end it by putting it all together with some other Piicodev modules to build a device that takes in a target location and uses your current location to display the direction and distance to there. A fun little project, check it out if you are keen!: [**“How to add GPS to a Raspberry Pi Pico | Get Real-Time Location in Your Project!”**](https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/raspberry-pi-pico/how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico/) ![](https://core-electronics.com.au/media/faq/GPS-Pico-300x300_1.jpg) [**Read more**](https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/raspberry-pi-pico/how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico/) ---
**Author:** ![sanperez313](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/sanperez313/32/12582_2.png) [@sanperez313](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/sanperez313)\ **Post date:** [17 August 2025 04:37 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/2 "2025-08-17T04:37:21Z")
Very cool! I wonder if it would be possible to get better location accuracy with multiple low budget, economic GPS modules. Maybe with some fancy software tricks like sensor data fusion or something. Would love to see more GPS related stuff… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ahsrab292840](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@ahsrab292840](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/ahsrab292840)\ **Post date:** [17 August 2025 16:16 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/3 "2025-08-17T16:16:56Z")
Do I need pico W for GPS projects or will only Pico suffice? ---
**Author:** ![Jaryd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/jaryd/32/8778_2.png) [@Jaryd](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Jaryd)\ **Post date:** [17 August 2025 22:29 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/4 "2025-08-17T22:29:54Z")
Hey @sanperez313, Now that’s a question! I’m unsure if you would get a better reading using the measurements of multiple of these. You might be able to get better real-time location with an IMU and a GPS, but to get a more precise location, you might need to get a better GPS module. Let us know if you do explore anything cool though! ---
**Author:** ![Jaryd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/jaryd/32/8778_2.png) [@Jaryd](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Jaryd)\ **Post date:** [17 August 2025 22:30 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/5 "2025-08-17T22:30:37Z")
Hey @ahsrab292840, A regular Pico will work just fine! We don’t use any of the wireless features of the Pico W, its all handled by the GPS module. ---
**Author:** ![Noel302162](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8dc957/32.png) [@Noel302162](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Noel302162)\ **Post date:** [8 February 2026 07:32 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/7 "2026-02-08T07:32:21Z")
Hi Jaryd, Love these guides. I note in the video you have the aerial attached to the gps unit somehow. How did you do this? I’m using double sided tape. Is that similar to you? Is the reason the aerial is detachable to actually get it further away from the electronic noise generated by the unit? Do you think that you attaching the aerial to the unit may reduce the ability of the aerial to pick up a signal or reduce the units efficiency? ---
**Author:** ![Jaryd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/jaryd/32/8778_2.png) [@Jaryd](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Jaryd)\ **Post date:** [8 February 2026 21:44 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/8 "2026-02-08T21:44:08Z")
Hey @Noel302162, welcome to the forums! In the guide, we just used blutac to hold the aerial ontop; this was just for demonstration purposes though. I would try to move the antenna away from any electronics as much as possible. Depending on your project, this could have between a slight difference and a quite noticeable difference in accuracy and time to get a lock. I wouldn’t go overboard and run a 2-meter cable to the antenna, but its worth just shifting it away if your project will allow it. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![Aswin324864](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@Aswin324864](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Aswin324864)\ **Post date:** [15 July 2026 16:08 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/9 "2026-07-15T16:08:16Z")
can i use embedded c instead of micro python?? ---
**Author:** ![Jaryd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/forum.core-electronics.com.au/jaryd/32/8778_2.png) [@Jaryd](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/u/Jaryd)\ **Post date:** [15 July 2026 23:58 UTC](https://forum.core-electronics.com.au/t/guide-by-jaryd-how-to-add-gps-to-a-raspberry-pi-pico-get-real-time-location-in-your-project/22119/10 "2026-07-15T23:58:59Z")
Hey @Aswin324864, As long as you can read a UART it should be the same idea! You are just receiving the standard formatted message and extracting the relevant info. An LLM like ChatGPT or Claude will be more than able to translate the micropython GPS library if needed as well. We do also have a version of this guide in [C++ for the Arduino Uno](https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/how-to-add-gps-to-an-arduino/) if that helps as well! Hope this helps!