Topic GPS gadgetry

10cents

I've noticed recently that a lot of gadgets have come out with GPS capabilities. I'm familiar with GPS transceivers as survey instruments but I've never seen one in a celfone. Does the things work? Or are they just another expensive but useless feature.

Donkey

How Stuff Works article on GPS phones
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps-phone.htm

Here is the V325, Motorola's first GPS Phone
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/...-31641997.html

harvcr

GPS is a great device and I didn't know they already had cellphones with this feature included. I think this is great step forward in technology since it saves the paper, ink, and time that it usually takes to print directions from a computer

eshana27

the best phone i know wid good gps features i nokia N95. I have a friend who has it. It has many feautres other than GPS but the GPS is the best feature it got. And it works perfectly like a GPS instrument.

jnjsarauer

Speaking of GPS, does anyone on here have a GPS device and use it regularly? We live in a rural area and don't do a lot of traveling, so for us, it doesn't seem to be something we have a big need for. I'm wondering how much people actually use GPS in their day-to-day lives.

senojekips

If you purchase any GPS device for serious use, make sure that it has enough memory to be able to load good maps. Generally the maps supplied with a GPS are very basic.

The other thing is that it must have a I/O port and cable so that you can load your own large scale maps, routes, waypoints and comments etc. The ideal software for managing your data is called OziExplorer. It allows you to transfer your tracks etc onto and off of third party scanned maps in a number of different formats, GeoTiFF, jpeg, bmp, you name it
Below is a copy of a 100km round trip from my home to an old goldmine and return the larger is at 1:50K scale the other at 1:1M The larger being a portion of the smaller at the bottom right hand corner of the track.





Altering routes and wayponts is possible on most GPS units, but is much easier to do on your 'puta. It may then be uploaded to the GPS.

MontyB

Hehe my brother has one and uses it constantly although I have never figured out why, I suspect it has something to do with a love of gadgets than anything else.

As far as using them to travel well I have found travel maps and road signs to be just as effective as any GPS on the market, I don't deny the usefulness of these items in aircraft, ships and in uncharted areas (hiking, the Amazon etc) but I seriously doubt the need for them in cars.

Still I said the same thing about cellphones and must be the only one in the country that doesn't need one permanently attached to his ear.

-HAL-

I got a TOMTOM One XL GPS for my car a while ago and even if I don't use it that much I still find it highly useful when trying to find new places in cities since the roadsigns aren't the easiest thing to navigate by there..
But other than that I don't use it very much.

MontyB

Hehe I like the included maps:

Included maps:

franchise59

My wife and I used to use the GPS function in our teen's cell phone to track and make sure she was where she was supposed to be. We found that when using that function, the service left a lot to be desired. The biggest thing I didn't like was that if the GPS satellite couldn't get a fix on the phone, the phone reported the last cell tower it connected to as the location of the phone. Ultimately, we stopped using the GPS. Maybe the technology has improved now because it has been a couple years since I used it, but I was not satisfied with it when I tried it.

As for a dedicated GPS unit. We own 2, both Magellans and love them both. My wife used hers more than me, but they are great tools. The big plus is my GPS is not useless if I change phone carriers.