title: Creating a program that takes GPS data and displays the current location on a geo-referenced image
body: <p>My name is John and I am a grad student at the University of Florida.  As part of my research one of my tasks is to create a piece of software that is to display a map of the surrounding area, which shows the current location (from a GPS), and to implement a shapefile (as a boundary outline).  I am not able to really get enough information to get on the right track on how to do this, and would appreciate any assistance!</p>
  
  <p>The project involves a large-scale robot that will be operated by tele-communication in rough terrain.  So this mapping and gps software will need to be entirely offline, but the location in use will be known.  It is very preferred to find a cost effective means to doing this process (maybe even a simple API that could do the simple task, dll libraries, or active x.</p>
  
  <p>My initial guess is to use a geo-referenced image (that I would get the lat and long of and know the boundaries of that image).  Then from a GPS I then would treat the image as an XY plot somehow and that would provide the current position.  Obviously even this step can be a challenge depending on what kind of image, map, kml file, etc that I can find and use.</p>
  
  <p>So I would appreciate any advice, suggestions, or comments.  </p>