---
id: pynmea2
version: "1.19.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pynmea2 — Python library for the NMEA 0183 protcol

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 150.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

pynmea2 is a Python library that reads and writes NMEA 0183 protocol sentences—the standard format for GPS receivers, marine instruments, and navigation devices. It parses raw NMEA strings (like "$GPGGA,184353.07,1929.045,S,...") into Python objects with named fields, and can reconstruct NMEA strings from those objects. The library extracts structured data such as timestamp, latitude, longitude, altitude, and satellite count, and provides convenience properties to convert between NMEA's degree-minute-second format and decimal degrees.

The package is designed for applications that need to read GPS or marine data from serial ports, log files, or other NMEA sources. It handles optional checksums (can validate, require, or ignore them), supports multiple sentence types (GGA, RMC, etc.), and works with both Python 2.7 and modern Python 3 versions. No external dependencies are required—it installs as a single pure-Python wheel.

Use it for:

- Read GPS coordinates from a serial port and convert them to decimal degrees for mapping or location tracking
- Parse NMEA log files from marine instruments to extract and validate navigation data
- Build a real-time GPS dashboard that decodes live NMEA streams and displays position, altitude, and satellite info
- Generate NMEA sentences programmatically to simulate or test GPS device behavior
- Integrate GPS data into IoT or embedded systems that communicate via NMEA protocol

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Parses and generates NMEA 0183 sentences from GPS and marine navigation devices, converting raw protocol strings into Python objects with accessible fields.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no dependencies, installs cleanly, carries a permissive MIT license, and solves a specific and well-defined problem. Install it if you need to parse or generate NMEA 0183 sentences from GPS or marine devices.

## Install

pip install pynmea2
uv add pynmea2
poetry add pynmea2

## Installing pynmea2

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with last commit on 2026-04-21 and 680 repository stars.

License in practice: MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for commercial and open-source projects alike.

Quickstart:

pip install pynmea2

import pynmea2
msg = pynmea2.parse("$GPGGA,184353.07,1929.045,S,02410.506,E,1,04,2.6,100.00,M,-33.9,M,,0000*6D")
print(msg.latitude, msg.longitude, msg.altitude)

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles all NMEA 0183 sentence types or only a subset of the protocol
- Performance characteristics when parsing high-volume streams from serial devices
- Whether helper properties like latitude/longitude conversion are available for all sentence types

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 150.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

nmea 0183 parser, gps sentence parsing, marine navigation data, nmea protocol python, gps data extraction, serial gps parsing, navigation sentence decoder, gps-navigation, serial-protocols, data-parsing

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