DJUnreal

Hey all,

Just thought I'd drop you all some information. Most people post here to ask questions so I thought I'd make a change.

I finally decided on a GPS receiver the other day - the GlobalSat BC-337 SiRFStar III Compact Flash one to be exact. Absolutely fantastic bit of kit. TTFF is pretty fast, and warm starts are almost instantaneous as long as you aren't doing 70mph!!!

To compliment this, I've fiddled with a couple of programs.

For a laugh, google earth for the PDA, using wifi and my GPS card to show me where on an aerial photo I was, always good fun.

More usefully, A program called Memory Map. Highly useful on the PC/Laptop for plotting routes etc, the program allows you to then dump it to your PDA through activesync (with your existing license and everything) from inside the main window. Very cool. What's even cooler though, is that you can set a route up on your PC, drop it to your PDA, then when you're out and about, you can get your PDA to track your actual route against the route you've pre-defined, and show you where you are in relation to where you should be.

Add this to the ability to download other GPS traces back to the original Memory Map software (for other teams that are out hiking the same route with you) and you can instantly see where it starts to get fun.

However, it's even better than that. What about people who fly aircraft in their spare time? What about people who need an A-Z?

Memory Map will do it all. You can buy all sorts of different maps for it, depending on what you want, I currently have topographical landsat imagery and so on for a large area of the USA, quarter and half million scale aeronautical maps for the whole of the UK, 1:25k and 1:50k scale OS maps for the whole UK and an A-Z of London!!!

The ONLY niggle I've found with this software is with it's GPS pickup. It doesn't like to use Windows control in order to access the GPS, rather it prefers direct access and refuses to work without. The other confusing thing was that I had to tell it the wrong make of GPS card in order to get it to read data. Not a problem, just slightly annoying!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this software will even do elevation information if you have the right maps, so can plot a 3D route against your actual route, also in 3D. How cool is that?

dlweston

If you do a search, you will find quite a bit of information on Memory-Map. It is not the right map for elevation. It only uses elevation data you get from Memory-Map. Elevation data is fairly inexpensive though. You also get the 3D map on the PC/laptop version of the program. The PDA version will only display a normal 2D map and an elevation profile. An elevation profile is the distance along your route on the X axis and elevation on the y axis.

It also does not do everything. Memory-Map is a topographic navigation program. It is mainly used for hiking, boating, off road driving, and I use it canoeing. I also use it to mark my location in some of the huge METRO parking lots in the Washington, DC area when we visit our son. We once went into DC three days in a row. On the third day, we got mixed up and thought we parked it in the place we did the day before. It took us about 10 or 15 minute wondering around to find it. Since I have started marking the position before leaving the van, we have not lost the van since.

For street navigation, you will want a street navigation program. With Memory-Map, you will have to to plan the route totally be hand. You also have to watch the screen to know when to turn. I use OnCourse Navigator 6 for street navigation. It know where you are from the GPS. You just tell it the address you want to go to, set some route options if you want like to take or avoid toll roads and it will plan the route for you. It will also give youu turn by turn voice directions. OCN6 also does not like it when I try and let Windows control the GPS. OCN6 will not work for you, because it is the USA version. You can look at Nav N Go's iGO which is the European product OCN6 is based on.

One additional handy use of OCN6. When we are done wondering around seeing the sites in DC, I just fire up OCN6. It like most street navigation programs has POIs (Points Of Interest). I just have OCN6 show me where the closest METRO stop is.

DJUnreal

I completely agree that it won't do EVERYTHING. That's why I'd personally use TomTom or something similar for Satnav purposes. But for just checking up on maps, it's a top bit of kit.