 | Home > Expedition & Overland > Laptop GPS, Maps, and route tracking |
 
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| SJM Member Since: 09 Dec 2007 Location: Kent Posts: 237  
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I'm in similar situation, although not needing a laptop in the car etc. I was on an off road weekend a few weeks back with a guy who was using (I think) a handheld Garmin and then uploading/ downloading data to his laptop. I'll see if I can get his email address and get some info from him as it will help us both. Simon
'11 Defender 110XS Utility SW '07 Discovery 3 HSE '58 Porsche 356A (not good off road) '59 Lambretta (not good on or off road!) |
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18th Aug 2011 7:39pm |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2636  
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Simon
I'll show you my set up next weekend when we catch up. In a nut shell I have a panasonic cf 18 either mounted on the passenger side or the wife has it on her lap. I also have a MIO 550 PDA in my line of sight as it is safer to view whilst on the road. I also find this easier to see the turns as i have the scale turned up. The laptop is good to see the bigger picture as well as planning alterative routes if lanes are shut. Both running memory map. I plan the routes I take on the laptop then copy to the PDA. Once home I tidy up the tracks i.e delete the road sections, just leaving the BOATS and UCR's. Once done I copy that back to the PDA so that they are the same. Both are continually powered, the PDA by a dedicated socket and the laptop via a wired in inverter. The laptop uses a booth tooth GPS mouse, the PDA has GPS built in through I do have an external ariel on the roll cage as it helps to fix the position quicker. Hope this helps Mark |
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18th Aug 2011 9:05pm |
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| Sonic3d Member Since: 28 Jan 2008 Location: Ross on Wye Posts: 1505  
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With Garmin on the laptop you will need NRoute to get a moving map
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18th Aug 2011 10:01pm |
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| Mark_110DCPU Member Since: 26 Jul 2010 Location: West Sussex Posts: 78 
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Memory Map is really very hard to beat, if you are in the UK.
However, something like oziexplorer is pretty good if you can get good quality maps as image files, as it does not reply of a digital map format, just some registration marks onto an image you supply. I spent the last weekend running Memory map constantly with my Garmin GPS60 plugged into the serial port on my Toughbook cf18. I gave up faffing with the usb gps mouse things, and just bought the lead for my hand held. it took less than 2 minutes to get it working that way! hth Mark [:O|===|O:] 2001 110 TD5 Doublecab |
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18th Aug 2011 11:23pm |
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| Glynparry25 Member Since: 16 Feb 2009 Location: Miserable Midlands Posts: 3015  
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I agree with that 100%.... but for Europe and further not so much. I am using it here in Cyprus with a map downloaded from GeoTIFF, but the map quality is pants compared to the 'OS Style' military maps I have- as a result I am using the laptop as reference and using paper maps for the nitty gritty stuff (how old school is that!)
Mark, tell me more! So if I go for Oziexplorer I will be able to scan my maps into say a JPEG and then link them into the program?
If you are buying a complete setup inc computer, I would do as I (and Mark) have done. The Panasonic range can be bought with GPS on it (which works inside the vehicle). on my CF-19 I also got GRPS so can connect to the internet. I bought mine for work as I kept on killing normal laptops and now use it for everything. 2 years down the line, 2 war zones and about 7 other countries- well worth the extra pennies  . Also has a RS232 input which is handy for diagnostic 
Glyn   |
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19th Aug 2011 6:54am |
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| SJM Member Since: 09 Dec 2007 Location: Kent Posts: 237
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Thanks Mark - will look forward to seeing it next Sunday. At this stage I think a handheld Garmin will be fine, and I can then upload/ download and play with on the Mac when I get home. Do all Garmin handhelds record the route you have taken then? And do they all allow you to upload maps from another source? I'm off to the Garmin website later to read up, but any tips will be helpful
 Simon
'11 Defender 110XS Utility SW '07 Discovery 3 HSE '58 Porsche 356A (not good off road) '59 Lambretta (not good on or off road!) |
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19th Aug 2011 9:43am |
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| Mark_110DCPU Member Since: 26 Jul 2010 Location: West Sussex Posts: 78
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Glyn,
Have a look on the official site - http://www.oziexplorer.com/ - however, my rudimentary understanding is that you can do exactly that, yes I have to admit that I have never used it, but it has always been my intention to swap to ozi should I be travelling abroad and/or where digital mapping is not easily available. So long as you can scan and/or stitch scans together accurately to make a decent area of coverage it seems like the way to go to me. In the UK we are spoilt with the quality of mapping the OS provides. Memory map works beautifully with it, but for other areas a more flexible solution is required - hence Ozi. SJM - mine is a quite basic handheld Garmin - I use it for walking alongside a paper map, rather than as my only naviation tool. Even the ability to stop, and have an exact (within reason) fix is a massive advantage. The moving map element could be added at a later date, and I cannot recommend the toughbook enough. Mine was acquired fairly secondhand, without the GPS or GPRS, but does have wireless. If I were to buy new, I would do the same as Glyn however! [:O|===|O:] 2001 110 TD5 Doublecab Last edited by Mark_110DCPU on 19th Aug 2011 12:47pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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19th Aug 2011 10:56am |
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| u23mt2 Member Since: 22 Jun 2011 Location: UK Posts: 4 
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So far I have the trial version of Oziexplorer and it seems pretty good Ishould probably just buy the full version and get the moving map facility working. I agree 100% the maps for the UK availible are excellent but I won't be using it for the UK much....
I did have a wee look at Memory Map and the huge bonus was the detail that the OS maps give. Sounds like Ozi is the way forward? I did have a brief look at Fugawi maps but its quite expensive for what it is, but on the plus side you can buy maps straight from Fugawi that dont need scaled or played with to make them work??? The toughbooks are good but bulky and expensive, I was thinking of using a solid state netbook or tablet mainly coz they are small and easy to remove or stash out of sight when the car is parked. I'm interested to see if anyone has killed them in a car? Does anyone have first hand experience of Ozi? I'm interested to see how easy it is to set up a map and input routes and track routes you are driving. I'll report back if/when I eventually get around to getting the full version. Thanks all for the responces. |
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19th Aug 2011 12:05pm |
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