Pda Transfer To Gps

[+AtoZ]

Is there a PDA that will let you transfer data, waypoints, from GPX from the PDA to the GPS as an alternative to using a laptop or PC. This would be good when you want to travel light and not have to worry about carring a laptop. I am in the market for a new PDA so what would your suggests be or is this even possible?

cheers

[+overtaxed1]

I haven't done it, but I understand that you need a PDA with a serial (ie slow) rather than USB connection. Also, your GPSr needs to also use a serial and not USB connection. It really sucks IMO that there is no way to link two USB devices. At one time, I read that there was a "USB On the Go" that was supposed to allow two USB devices to interact without a computer, but I am not sure what has happened to the idea.

[+sailorjp]

My 60CSx and my pda both have/can use a micro SD card. Is there such a thing as passing gpx files with this card between the GPSr and the pda?

[+PDOP's]

A to Z you can do this with serial connections and software like Cachemate or GPilotS. As mentioned previously I don't believe it's possible over USB due to the master/slave conflict (both the PDA and GPS are slaves and can't talk to each other)

Edited July 9, 2006 by PDOP's

[R_S]

A serial connection is actually symmetric, although we usually think of one device (with a DB9M connector) as the host and the other (with a DB9F connector) as the client. PCs think of themselves as hosts, so have DB9M connectors, which means that devices like GPSrs and PDAs come with a DB9F connector on the cable. To connect a PDA to a GPSr over a serial connection accordingly requires one of the following: (a) a DB9M-to-DB9M NULL MODEM connector (NOT a straight-through connector) with the serial cable of each device plugged into it, or (b, neater) an off-brand, usually very short, DB9M serial cable for the GPSr, which will already be wired correctly to connect to the PDA serial cable, or (c, neatest if there is a cable for your PDA) a connected pair of cables from PC-mobile, one with the correct connector for the GPSr and one with the correct connector for the PDA. GPS-enabled applications on the PDA will then work fine with the live signal from the GPSr, provided that the GPSr is set to the protocol that the application expects (usually NMEA for generic applications), the application is told on which COM port to look for input, and possibly the port speeds (usually 4800baud for transmitting live GPS data) and flow control parameters are set correctly. Unfortunately even with the fastest available COM port speeds between a PC and a GPSr, a serial connection is very slow for file transfer, and this is not usually supported between a PDA and a GPSr. So even if you make a serial connection, you will not be able to transfer files over it.

 

A USB connection is quite different. Although data can be transmitted in either direction, one device is the host and one device is the client. A GPSr is ALWAYS a client device. ALL PDAs are also client devices, but SOME PDAs can ALSO be set up as host devices. I think there may now be some PDAs that are USB 2.0 High Speed clients, but AFAIK those few PDAs that can operate as USB hosts do so over USB 1.1. This is much faster than serial but much slower than 2.0 High Speed (2.0 HS supports the slower protocols as well). Also AFAIK, all current USB GPSrs use 1.1, so in any event that is the fastest available connection option.

 

The next problem is that to recognise a client USB device, the host device needs a client-specific driver, another difference from a serial connection which is completely generic. If you use a USB GPSr on a PC, you will have installed a driver for it. AFAIK there is no GPSr for which any PDA driver is available, so you cannot make a USB connection between a GPSr and a PDA that transmits a live GPS signal in the way that is possible over a serial connection.

 

Some GPSrs, like the recently introduced Garmin 60 and 76 x-series models, can (with the latest firmware) be put into USB Mass Storage Device mode, which makes them look like a USB 1.1 card reader for the microSD card. MSD is a generic USB protocol whose driver is built in to Windows XP, so you don't need an additional driver on your PC. I do not know whether this protocol is built into Windows Mobile 5, but it is certainly not built into any earlier version of Windows Mobile. However, there are relatively hard-to-find third-party MSD drivers available at a modest cost for WM2002 and WM2003, and the driver that I use works on WM2003SE after one warning at installation time. Can't advise about Palm PDAs. To make all this work, you need the USB cable for your GPSr, and either a USB host cable or a cradle with a USB host port for your PDA (might be intended for a USB keyboard) into which you can plug it. Put the GPSr into USB MSD mode BEFORE you connect, and the microSD card in your GPSr will magically appear in File Explorer on the PDA as a USB Disk. You can then move files to and fro as normal. You probably would not want to do this with anything big like map files, but it is fine for waypoints and tracks. How useful it would be is a different matter. Finally, the new Garmins draw power from the USB connection if they have the chance, and this may drain your PDA battery rather quickly, although of course there is no problem if the PDA is externally powered.

 

So the conclusion is that you can transfer live GPS data over a serial connection but not a USB connection, and you can transfer files over a USB connection but not over a serial connection. But (i) you will need a PDA that provides HOST USB - check the specifications very carefully (ii) you will need a USB MSD driver (except possibly for WM5) (iii) you will need a USB host cable or cradle for your PDA (iv) you will need to be able to put your GPSr into USB MSD mode.

 

It is probably much simpler - and faster - just to remove the microSD card from your PDA, put into a microSD-to-SD adapter, put the whole lot into your PDA, and transfer files between the microSD card and either a second card in the PDA (if it takes both CF and SD) or Flash ROM or main memory, which can be used as temporary storage to bridge between the microSD card and an ordinary SD card. You will need no special cabling, USB host capability, or special drivers to do it that way!

[+PDOP's]

So the conclusion is that you can transfer live GPS data over a serial connection but not a USB connection, and you can transfer files over a USB connection but not over a serial connection.

You can transfer data other then live NMEA over serial. See GPilotS (only for Garmin) for more info. While serial com port speeds are slow they are adequate for waypoint transfer and I do this all the time between my Garmin 76C and Palm m100 PDA.

[+IV_Warrior]

My 60CSx and my pda both have/can use a micro SD card. Is there such a thing as passing gpx files with this card between the GPSr and the pda?

 

I use GPXSonar on my PDA, and use it to create a waypoint file for my Meridian, and put it on the SD card. Then just pop the card out of the PDA and into the GPS to load waypoints into the GPS. I don't know what GPS or PDA you have, but you could probably do something similar, as long as there is a PDA program that'll create the correct waypoint file for your GPS.

[R_S]

GPioltS: is this acually doing a FILE transfer, or is it, as I suspect, an "intelligent" transfer of information like waypoints to the device storage as distinct from a microSD card? A serial connection should certainly be fast enough for that purpose, and it is interesting to know that someone has implemented it. I can't see any reason why even file transfer should not be implementable over a serial connection, nor indeed any reason why it should not be possible to implement a Garmin USB driver under WM, but I'm not aware of anyone having done it.

[+Trial and Error]

Nice info on the cables. Waiting on my new Explorist 600 to come in. Was using a cable to transfer between my Palm m125 and Meridian Gold using cachemate. I understand that there is no way to transfer between the PDA and the Explorist 600. I was looking at just transfering to a SD card and putting it in the GPS. Seems that GPXSonar is only for PocketPC. Is there a way to move the waypoints to the SD Card to work on the explorist? I do not have the Explorist yet but seems to be really different than the Meridian.