GPS software for PDA's

wolfman

There seems to be a lack of GPS stuff on Boards in general, both handheld receivers such as Garmin, Magellan etc and receivers for use with laptops, PDA's etc

Seemed like a good place to post this as it concerns PDA's

Anybody have any good links to software or maps for use with either Palm or Pocket PC??

I bought one of the Aldi PDA's a couple of months ago and it came with their own software which is very good, but the level of mapping for the rest of Ireland is a joke, so I went looking and so far I am trying out Mapoplois with some demo maps, which incidentally is VERY important for Irish maps. Because of the poor availability of maps for Ireland, you could purchase some maps and have have no detail for your area!!

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear from all other users and of course handheld GPS users also

jt

hello
what PDA did Aldi do? Is it Palm OS based?

jt

Rabies

Ireland is nearly fully mapped out. It was on the news a week or so ago. When it is done there will be a proper map released for PDA or PC.
Did a college project with GPS and PDA before. Some cool stuff can be done with it. Tricky to create your own maps, locations and roads but it can be done

jt

i've toyed with using a gps/laptop combination on field survey projects but had problems connecting the garmin etrex and a laptop (the connection cable i bought didn't work). Instead I just use the etrex as a stand alone device and transfer lat/long coordinates by hand.

did the aldi pda have built in gps? did u get it in ireland?

jt

Rabies

Originally posted by jt
i've toyed with using a gps/laptop combination on field survey projects but had problems connecting the garmin etrex and a laptop (the connection cable i bought didn't work). Instead I just use the etrex as a stand alone device and transfer lat/long coordinates by hand.

i used a free version of Xylon and some thing else to capture lat long coord. modified it a bit for what i needed.

wolfman

Originally posted by jt
hello
what PDA did Aldi do? Is it Palm OS based?

jt

Its a Medion PDA running Pocket PC 2003. Came with a GPS receiver and software on CD and 2 x 256 MB SD cards complete with maps for Ireland, UK & Europe. Great little system too I might add

wolfman

Originally posted by jt
did the aldi pda have built in gps? did u get it in ireland?

jt

It has a plug in receiver (made by Royaltek) and it runs off the cigarette lighter in the car. Thats the downside. It cannot be used outside of the car as the receiver needs a constant supply to it.

The maps are actually very good wherever there is detail but as usual that generally only means Dublin etc.

Because all the maps came on CD, you can scrap them from the SD cards and just export from your PC to your PDA and it only takes up a few megabytes using the area you require and not having all of Europe etc on it.

This then leaves you with 2 nice 256MB MP3 cards which can be played on the PDA using the headphones and Media Player or the MP3 player program that came on it!!

Yes I bought it in Ireland. About 2 months ago they had a special. It was 499 for the lot and also the machine itself is 64MB with about 56 or 57 roughly.

There's actually a thread here about the Aldi PDA. I think its in the Classifieds-Bargains section.

jkb_dub

I gave up on looking for maps for Ireland. I use TomTom 2 on an Ipaq 2210 as I spend a lot of time in the Benelux. I've found it excellent although the maps are expensive.

Hooked up to the ipaq I've a fortuna bluetooth gps which works well, battery life can be a pain. Also I've a haicom cf gps to save me carrying the bluetooth and pda around when walking around.

I'd be interested if you've found any decent packages with Irish maps available. Seems a waste never using it when I'm here....

wolfman

Like i said above, I've been trying Mapopolis. The maps mightn't be as nice and pretty as some of the other software, but they seem quite good. Try it out here

jkb_dub

Nice one,
I downloaded the demo for Dublin, looks good especially considering it's a free trial.. Works with the GPS card no problem... I'll test it out over the next few days..
Thanks again...

luckat

Wouldn't it be great if it could be transferred to mobile phones.

wolfman

There are some of these available as maps for mobiles, and then any mobiles such as the Xda or other ones which are combined PDA's and phones will accept GPS receivers and work the very same.

hshortt

Theres software called wayfinder for Nokia's and SonyEricsson.

Check some information here http://www.totalpda.co.uk/section25.aspx

GPS Maps of Ireland are few and far between, but Mapopolis seem to be organised. You can also try Destinator http://www.destinator1.com they have a new version 3.0 which has good maps of Ireland.

Another good GPS software is FollowMe, this allows you to track you journey and build your own maps etc. Very good, only 20 bucks. Check that here http://www.jgui.net/gps/followme/

Cheers

iano

Most of these products get their map data from one of two or three sources.
NavTech and TeleAtlas seem to be the main ones.

Is anyone aware of significant progress being made with mapping Ireland in detail?

I have asked the various vendors but they normally reply with something wooly like "we are currently working on improving Ireland coverage".

Anyone using a product that covers (to street number detail) areas outside Dublin, Belfast and (for some strange reason) Kerry?

Thanks for your input.

delta

Originally posted by Rabies
i used a free version of Xylon and some thing else to capture lat long coord. modified it a bit for what i needed.

Damn, I would read this after writing a data logger

I'm fiddling with one of these too, I've a Dell Axim X5 and a Pretec PocketPC antenna that slots into the CompactFlash port. I've no mapping software, but for the record the Pretec card is pretty good.

Is it possible to turn scanned OS maps into GPS compatible maps, anyone heard of anything like that? Any software for doing the GPS to National Grid conversion?

iano

Any software for doing the GPS to National Grid conversion

The Ordnance Survey provide an application to "transform co-ordinate points and co-ordinate point text files between the Irish Grid, ITM (Irish Transverse Mercator), and UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) co-ordinate reference systems."

http://www.osi.ie/gps/secure/converter/download.asp
You will have to register but it is free.

Another one that claims to support Ireland is http://franson.biz/coordtrans/download.asp

HTH,
Ian.

banjaxxed

if anyone's interested in shannon cruising/navigation, you can download the whole shannon estuary in garmin .img format, totally free.

http://www.iwai.ie/maps/shannon-erne/

i'm still trying to find a free version of software that can display this info, pocket MV is nice but has a time limitation, i will probably buy the fecker for €20 just to use these maps.

jwt

Just for info.

The new version of TomTom navigation software tomtom5 does NOT include maps of Ireland!

bummer


John

skearon

jkb_dub wrote:

I gave up on looking for maps for Ireland. I use TomTom 2 on an Ipaq 2210 as I spend a lot of time in the Benelux. I've found it excellent although the maps are expensive.

Hooked up to the ipaq I've a fortuna bluetooth gps which works well, battery life can be a pain. Also I've a haicom cf gps to save me carrying the bluetooth and pda around when walking around.

I'd be interested if you've found any decent packages with Irish maps available. Seems a waste never using it when I'm here....

I've tried numerous packages and have found CoPilot 5 to have the best current maps of Ireland, much better than Mapopolis, SmartST and Destinator.

I use CoPilot myself and have sold quite a few copies of it to my clients with PDAs

byrnefm

Is the general map coverage of Ireland from these various software packages about the same as Google Maps? (http://maps.google.co.uk) According to Google, not only does the town where my parents live not exist but there isn't even a road to Killybegs! :rolleyes: On the other hand, its map coverage of Dublin is very good (though you can't search for any Irish towns, only UK ones with its search feature).

kevmac

Quick FAQ: I use CoPilot 5 with my PPC because they use NavTeq maps which are excellent for Ireland.

Do not use any software that use TeleAtlas maps as these only have the major cities on them and nothing else.

Loads of info here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=258397&highlight=satnav

skearon

byrnefm wrote:

Is the general map coverage of Ireland from these various software packages about the same as Google Maps? (http://maps.google.co.uk) According to Google, not only does the town where my parents live not exist but there isn't even a road to Killybegs! :rolleyes: On the other hand, its map coverage of Dublin is very good (though you can't search for any Irish towns, only UK ones with its search feature).

Attached is picture from CoPilot (PC version, but same maps as Pocket PC)

For me it was the only package I found that showed the towns of Wicklow and Rathdrum.