Real time vehicle tracking with Garmin 60cx?

[planewood]

Does anyone make a device that would plug into a Garmin handheld GPS that would give real time tracking?

 

Basically, all it would have to do is read the coordiates from the device and email them to an address using cell phone technology or maybe GPRS.

 

My wife is getting lost all the time and she has no concept of compass directions, cannot read maps, and certainly can't operate a GPS. So, when she gets lost she could call me and I could get on the internet and see where she is located. I already have a 60cx so it seems like a fairly cheap add-on device could do the job.

[+StarBrand]

There are a number of cell phones that do just that all by themselves.

 

Looking .......

[JDiablo]

Maybe you can get her a cheap nuvi and teach her how to use it? Might be the best in the long run?

[+dakboy]

Car GPS (like a Nuvi) or talk to your cell company. Verizon offers (or used to) a "chaperone" package where, with the appropriate plan & phones that had the requisite features, you can see where the other phone is, or use it to get directions.

 

VZ Navigator & Family Locator are the names of their offerings. I think Nextel/Sprint has something similar, and you could also do it with an iPhone on AT&T with the right application (probably other phones as well).

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

Nuvis are very simple. All she would have to do is press "Where to" and "Home."

[JohnMac56]

If you get her one of the following cell phones you can sign up for the free google latitude and track her online...

 

Google Latitude is a feature of Google Maps for mobile on these phones:

 

Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1

iPhone and iPod touch devices

most color BlackBerry devices

most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices

most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones)

 

Go to :Google Latitude for more information...

[Ken in Regina]

All good suggestions so far. Here's another.

 

Check out GPSGate. If the GPSMAP60Cx sends the GPS data out the USB port it can be connected to a netbook and used as you asked. GPSGate will see the GPS data from the 60Cx and will send it to the GPSGate server once every minute or so.

 

This is a really messy solution, though. It requires a laptop or netbook in the car. It requires the GPS to be connected to the laptop (any decent GPS receiver will do, eg. Globalsat BU353 which can usually be found for $35-$50). It requires both the laptop and GPS receiver to be running and a live internet connection. It's not only messy but quite expensive for this use.

 

As someone else said, a nice cheap refurbished Nuvi installed in the car. Turn it on, wait for a lock, poke "Where To?", poke "Home" and it will talk her through it turn by turn. Of course it would take some setup ... you would have to enter "Home" in the Favorites for her.

 

The Nuvi also has a nifty "Where Am I?" function if she really needs your help. That screen will tell her the lat/long coordinates, the nearest address, the nearest intersection, the nearest hospital, the nearest police station and the nearest gas station.

 

...ken...

[Ken in Regina]

Oh yeah, one more thing. You said she can't operate a GPS. You may be right about something like your 60Cx. The GPSMAPs (60 and 76) and the various eTrex models are about the least intuitive electronic devices you can buy. They are extremely rich in features and you can actually learn how to use all those features ... eventually ... if you really work at it. But they make VCRs seem downright helpful by comparison.

 

Many of the advanced smartphone functions that would be needed for the cell phone suggestions in this thread might be equally intimidating to access (they will be if your wife is anything like mine).

 

But the Nuvi is quite another thing altogether. If you've never seen one in action you owe it to your wife to take a look at one. It really doesn't get any simpler. Turn on the power switch and wait for it to say it's ready. Poke the great big "Where To?" button on the main screen. Poke the great big "Home" button on the next screen. Follow the spoken turn-by-turn directions home.

 

You can mount it in the car in a mount that's dead simple to insert and remove the device. If you or your wife would rather not tempt fate by having it mounted in the vehicle, get her one of the small ones and she can just toss it in her purse or the glove box for when she might need it. All she has to do is pull it out, put it on the dash or the passenger seat, turn it on and off she goes. I like the car mount because you don't need to remember to keep it charged. It will just run off the car's 12V power.

 

Another advantage to a solution like this is that Garmin has made the Nuvi very patient. If your wife misses a turn it will simply recalculate the route correction and guide her from there. No matter how often she strays from the route.

 

Will you be that patient?

 

...ken...

[+dakboy]

Another advantage to a solution like this is that Garmin has made the Nuvi very patient. If your wife misses a turn it will simply recalculate the route correction and guide her from there. No matter how often she strays from the route.

This can fail sometimes. Last summer, we were in Indiana & got into a very tightly-knit group of streets (2 small houses per block). My wife missed a turn, and then while our Magellan Maestro was recalculating, she made another turn. And another. And another, trying go get herself un-lost.

 

I tried to tell her to just stop and let the GPS figure out A) where we were and how to get out of there but she was convinced she could drive her way out of it. Wasted probably 10 minutes on that exercise.

[Ken in Regina]

I tried to tell her to just stop and let the GPS figure out A) where we were and how to get out of there but she was convinced she could drive her way out of it. Wasted probably 10 minutes on that exercise.

And I'll just bet the Magellan was a bunch more patient about it than you were.

 

...ken...