Laptop with aircard and GPS antenna

[+CSpenceFLY]

I'm buying a laptop to use as a moving map in our motorhome and plan to put an aircard in it for wireless internet and the perfect paperless caching.What,if any,software can be used for moving map display with cache info imposed on the map?

[+NightPilot]

Street Atlas 2007 for one. Probably Streets&Trips. There may be more. I received SA07 for Christmas, and it's ok. The routing is good, once you figure out the quirks of the interface. You can open .gpx files and show the waypoints on it. My Palm running Mapopolis is more reliable, though. I've never used S&T, but there are certainly many here who have, and can provide more recommendations.

[+CSpenceFLY]

Any other comments?What is a good brand GPS antenna for a computer?

[+NightPilot]

You need more than an antenna, unless you're connecting your GPS to the computer, and need an external antenna. If you want a separate GPS, I would get a bluetooth model, and a bluetooth adapter for the computer. That way you don't need any wires, and can put the GPS where it gets a good signal, and the computer where you can use it. There are USB GPS receivers available, but you have that wire in the way all the time. I just bought a bluetooth adapter for my Garmin, instead of another GPS. That was probably short-sighted, though, and in hindsight I would probably have been better off getting a bluetooth GPS for not that much more money.

[+CSpenceFLY]

My post may have been miswritten.I assume these GPS and software packages that I see for computers come with the reciever.Is that correct?If so where is the best place to look?

[+sledgehampster]

Look here DeLorme Street Atlas 2007 or here Streets and Trips 2007 with GPS Locator. Both items can cometimes be found cheaper at Circuity City, Staples or any other such "big box" store.

[segler999]

No, not just an antenna. You need an "active" receiver with usb.

 

The one I like is the usglobalsat BU-353 with usb. It uses the supersensitive SirfIII chipset. Plugs in to the laptop and is used by Streets&Trips right off the bat. This is exactly the "moving map" thing you are looking for.

 

You can buy S&T either with or without a receiver. I had bought S&T 2006 without a receiver, then later bought the BU-353 to use with it. Works very well.

 

Other software will work, too. Just make sure that the communication is set to NMEA for the receiver.

[+CSpenceFLY]

Thanks for the info

[+CSpenceFLY]

Laptop is here.Now I need to decide which GPSr to get for it.

[+1stwarrior95]

No, not just an antenna. You need an "active" receiver with usb.

 

The one I like is the usglobalsat BU-353 with usb. It uses the supersensitive SirfIII chipset. Plugs in to the laptop and is used by Streets&Trips right off the bat. This is exactly the "moving map" thing you are looking for.

 

You can buy S&T either with or without a receiver. I had bought S&T 2006 without a receiver, then later bought the BU-353 to use with it. Works very well.

 

Other software will work, too. Just make sure that the communication is set to NMEA for the receiver.

 

I use S&T myself. I got the package with the reciever.

I really like it.

 

I've been looking for another "antenna/reciever" because I installed my S&T on my wife's laptop also. I just searched for the aformentioned usglobalsat BU-353. $60-$75 is the cheapest I found it so far. That's rather out of my price range right now.

Are there any other recievers that are compatable with S&T?

[+CSpenceFLY]

Ended up with Streets & Trips for now. Can someone tell me how to load the waypoints into it.

[vagabond]

Ended up with Streets & Trips for now. Can someone tell me how to load the waypoints into it.

The easiest and fastest way is to use GSAK

You can download your PQs then laod them into GSAK from there you can load them into the GPS streets and trips and a PDA if your using that.

After you load the PQ into GSAK it will just take a few minutes to load the GPS and the PDA and streets and trips.