Two awesome Map/GPS apps

[wfooshee]

That's exactly how I use Delorme Street Atlas, it's had GPX export for 2 years, at least. Nice to see it in Streets & Trips finally. I need to get to work updating my previously linked mapping programs thread!

 

[blufjr]

Hudson posted:In any case, trackr is totally a big hit! Only issues are the drain on my phone's battery power.

I found this other tracking system put together by some of those PNW geeks (I guess) and it is called InstaMapper. After reading their info. and their recomendations this system can be very inexpensive if you buy a prepaid cell phone for around $40 and then use Boost's unlimited data plan on a daily basis at 0.35/day. (especially if you only pay for 6 months you are riding). You then install the phone on the bike as a permanent fixture (that is wired into the battery or fuse block). Where ever the bike is the unit is sending signals. If bike is stolen, you have a tracking system in place to locate. Nice to tell the cops where the bike is as it is being tracked or to tell them how to track it. Put the phone in the car when you lend the car to your kids and track there movements. Check it out.

I'm making a comparison of paying $20/mo for a add on package with my AT&T Fam plan to get GPS.

 

[Fred W]

been messing with InstaMapper for a couple of hours now and cn't get it working on my Verizon BlackBerry Curve 8330. The phone has an internal GPS and I can get it to work in BB Maps OK. It would be a kind of cool thing to have when on the bike, so my wife could see where I'm at. Though I might not want her to be abl;e to see just how fast I'm getting there...

Looking through the InstaMap forum it seems a lot of Verizon BB customers have trouble getting this working

 

[Hudson]

I received my 755t from Costco last night and plotted a short custom route on the S&T 2010 edition, exported to GPX, and copied it to the Garmin's GPX file, then imported the route using the "Import from file" command on my garmin. Presto, instant route!

I then typed in "Legoland", found it on the S&T, and clicked the "Download to GPS" button, presto, it downloaded to my favorites, so when we land today in Orange County, one click and a route is plotted, instead of having to wade through Garmin's route process to find Legoland. You can do this online at Bing too.

Buh Bye Mapsource!

 

[Fred W]

What did the S&T 2010 set you back? This may be worth actually paying for...

BTW - why would you intentionally go to a place called "legoland?"

 

[Auburn]

What did the S&T 2010 set you back? This may be worth actually paying for...
BTW - why would you intentionally go to a place called "legoland?"

Fred he works for MS. His pricing is the employee discount.

At Amozon it is $37.99

Amazon

 

[Fred W]

What did the S&T 2010 set you back? This may be worth actually paying for...
BTW - why would you intentionally go to a place called "legoland?"

Fred he works for MS. His pricing is the employee discount.

At Amozon it is $37.99

Amazon

You mean he is a shill?

Oh my... I'm so disappointed.

But if it works as well as he shills it does, $38 is a decent price to pay, eh?

 

[happyPuppy]

Hudson, same with me I picked up S&T 2010 and goodbye map source. It imports routes well too

 

[FJRGuy]

Thanks, Hudson. ... Too bad you guys don't take your Tutorial on the road

Hudson, I'm sure we could provide a room and AV equip for a tutorial at CFR 2010! ;-)

... Garmin was brilliant to introduce communicator, which uses a Java script language to allow any website to easily port map information to a GPS unit. Lots of websites have adopted this tool to produce very cool apps which download all kinds of data to GPS.

Hmmm... this sounds interesting... gotta look into this!

Hudson posted:In any case, trackr is totally a big hit! Only issues are the drain on my phone's battery power.

I found this other tracking system put together by some of those PNW geeks (I guess) and it is called InstaMapper. After reading their info. and their recomendations this system can be very inexpensive if you buy a prepaid cell phone for around $40 and then use Boost's unlimited data plan on a daily basis at 0.35/day. (especially if you only pay for 6 months you are riding). You then install the phone on the bike as a permanent fixture (that is wired into the battery or fuse block). Where ever the bike is the unit is sending signals. If bike is stolen, you have a tracking system in place to locate. Nice to tell the cops where the bike is as it is being tracked or to tell them how to track it. Put the phone in the car when you lend the car to your kids and track there movements. Check it out.

I'm making a comparison of paying $20/mo for a add on package with my AT&T Fam plan to get GPS.

Been using instamapper on my iPhone for a while now (thanks to a thread found here. Works great for me and, as I tend to ride on paved roads, the lack of ability to track me in the bush out of cell coverage is of little consequence. Where there is cell coverage losses on the roads, it always picks up where it left off at the next coverage area. I think anyone that matters can interpolate where I've been between the signals!

It's not a SPOT but the SPOT was designed primarily for activities that are not on the hiways and byways and although it is a cool toy, it's benefits just don't justify the cost for me. Oh, and my iPhone hasn't been recalled!