Gps Software For The Win32 Platform...

[nekohunter]

First of all, I confess, I am a newb to GPSing and Geocaching. Also, I am a college student, so that sort of establishes my budget.

I notice most people around here prefer handheld GPS units. Back when I worked at RadioShack, I picked up a Digitraveller GPS when they were discontinuing in the neighborhood of $20. I hacked up a serial cable for it, got it working with VisualGPS on a notebook PC, but was wondering if there was a better (yet cheap) package available. VisualGPS works, but it's a bit of a pain to just run off lat/lon coordinates rather than plain English instructions, like "30 ft. north to waypoint".

TIA

[Dale_Lynn]

"... plain English instructions, like "30 ft. north to waypoint".{/i]

 

huh?.... Most GPS usually give L&L and direction in feet or meter measuremnets..

 

My Magellan in my prefered configuration, uses the compass screen to point me in direction and I use feet as a distance meanurement....

 

As for software to "talk" to GPS from laptop/desktop you may want to try EasyGPS. But question is will it interface to your "Digitraveller GPS" unit.

 

Dale

Edited October 27, 2005 by Dale_Lynn

[Dale_Lynn]

Edited to Zip

 

Dale

Edited October 27, 2005 by Dale_Lynn

[robertlipe]

Software like EasyGPS or most of the other packages mentioned in software.asp in this group are meant for transferring waypoints to a unit that has a processor and a screen. As I recall, the Digitraveller is one of the "hockey puck" class of units - a receiver that just hocks NMEA sentences to some other device for use.

 

http://support.radioshack.com/support_comp...doc69/69477.pdf

 

If that's the kind of device you have, it would probably work well with things like the various moving map (S&T, Delorme, etc.) software on a win32 system, but programs like EasyGPS or GPSBabel wouldn't be a fit.

 

Are you seriously proposing taking this thing with a win32 host (i.e. a laptop) into the field for geocaching?

[+Sputnik 57]

If it is really just a GPS dongle, then any mapping software that supports NMEA should talk to it. Microsoft Streets and Trips (which Robert abreviated as S&T) would probably be the best bet on your budget, since you have a serial connection.

 

Geocaching with a laptop might work for urban "park and grab" micros, but as Robert noted, not too efficient for hiking in the woods (although I understand some cachers do it).

[nekohunter]

Thanks for the responses, guys... Yes, as robertlipe said, the Digitraveller is a "hockey puck" GPS dongle that just feeds NMEA data across a serial connection. Guess I should have explained that better. At the moment, I've got it set up with a Toshiba Libretto sub-notebook, so it's not too unwieldy.

 

So far, my friends and I have been on mostly familiar ground and have relied heavily on Google Maps' satellite images. But as we leave our little bubble, it might be useful to have some other tricks up our sleeves.

[cam_oai]

Route66 is the good program if you live i Europe.

Edited October 29, 2005 by cam_oai

[JDMC]

USAPhotoMaps is free and should work with your GPS. At jdmcox.com

[+IV_Warrior]

Any used handheld, outdoor GPS in good condition would be better suited to geocaching. Save the digitraveler and the laptop for getting to the parking spot. Even a Etrex Yellow, at around $100 new would be better suited.