Ultimate & affordable GPS device could be made using todays technology

[mrmojorising]

So I've been playing with the Garmin 60csx i just got and it's neat. The routing software, topo maps, street maps and drawing speed don't measure up to google maps though. The screen resolution and size doesn't measure up to an iphone either.

 

It seems to me that you could make the ultimate gps by combining the sat/topo/street and routing data from google maps by downloading it to one of the huge hard drives that come with ipods these days (160 gigs was the biggest one produced and you would have to d/l all the data as you wouldn't always be in cell phone range), and combining that huge ipod drive with the gps and screen of an iphone and voilla you have a far superior, yet affordable gps to anything in existence.

 

I know this would face challenges...rights to google maps (maybe google could make this gps unit themselves, they're about to produce their own cell phone) and battery life (solid state storage might take care of this), but there doesn't seem to be any technological reason why something like this couldn't affordably exist today

Edited December 14, 2009 by mrmojorising

[NordicMan]

First off I don't think 160 gigs is near big enough to store what is available on Google Maps.. how long would it take to download? I assume all this should be at very little cost too?

 

I personally like to keep Google maps where it is,, on the web and in my dream world Google maps will show "real time data" so I could see where cars/people/whatever are at this very moment

[mtbikernate]

hahaha, yeah, 160gigs might put a little dent in the data. That would be enough to store point, line, and polygon data like roads and water. I dunno if that's even enough to store 1:24k contours on top of all that. But it's DEFINITELY not enough to store satellite imagery. Shoot, 160gigs wouldn't even cover a single state!

 

Where I was an undergrad, we had a library of high-res sat imagery (say, detailed enough to identify the payload of pickup trucks on the freeway) that covered just our county and it was probably more than the 160gigs (it was all on cd-rom, and there were well over 100 of 'em) of the portable drive you mention.

 

Seriously, the TDS survey GPS/win mobile computer I use at school would be even better than your option, but still not good enough to accomplish what you want. it even has a USB port to attach an external HDD (I've seen them at 1.5TB so far).

 

Unfortunately, sat imagery occupies too much space to install more than a limited amount onto a handheld device. right now the only option is a live download via cellular service (unless you can pack a whole server stack and a generator along with you), and you'll just have to suffer in areas with no cell service.

 

For those occasions, devices that function independently of the cell network are going to be the only options. that will last for quite awhile.

[+Map Monkey]

bad thursday...

Edited December 15, 2009 by Map Monkey

[Ken in Regina]

It would be a whole lot easier to just connect your 60CSx to a netbook with Google Earth and Earthbridge or GooPS on it and use the 60CSx as your receiver for the netbook (works better than most of those $35 pucks you see out there!!). If you want to be able to use it when you don't have a wifi connection, add one of those USB sticks for cellular data and you're in business anywhere you've got a cellular connection.

 

For offline use in constrained areas you can browse the area in Google Earth ahead of time to get the necessary stuff into its cache.

 

If a 9" or 10" netbook screen is too big for you, there are some Windows computers with 7" and even 5" touchscreens out there (check out Viliv, for instance).

 

...ken...