GPSr on a laptop

[+bobva]

Sorry,,,I know its been asked but i cant find it.

 

Can we view the GPSr screen on a laptop?

 

In my case Im using a 62ST.

 

Thank You

[+mpilchfamily]

I don't think so.

 

I don't know of any hand held GPSr that can output it's screen to another source. You may be able to find software that will allow you to do a screen shot to save as a picture.

 

What are you trying to achieve?

[+bobva]

I don't think so.

 

I don't know of any hand held GPSr that can output it's screen to another source. You may be able to find software that will allow you to do a screen shot to save as a picture.

 

What are you trying to achieve?

 

Not really trying to achieve anything special just a big screen while driving on the logging roads, ETC ETC

 

And get a better view of were youre at.

 

Example how more switchbacks to POI without zooming in out fowarding and reversing the GPSr all the time.

Edited May 3, 2011 by bobva

[+mpilchfamily]

Yep that is a drawback to a hand held. It may offer turn by turn directions but the screen size isn't well suited for car navigation.

 

Well you could get an actual nav unit for your vehicle or you could get a USB GPSr for the laptop and use the laptop as your GPS.

[+CacheFreakTim]

Delorme used to make a USB gps for laptops called the LT-20. It was about a hundred bucks when it was on sale. I am not sure if it is still produced though.

[+IBcrashen]

Garmin used to have a program called Nroute. Not sure if its available anymore though. Try doing a search for it.

[+Red90]

The answer is "maybe".

 

There are many programs to use on the laptop. nRoute is one and is free. The question is whether the 62 will port real time data. It "might". First get the Garmin USB drivers from Garmin and install them. Look on the GPS for the interface options (if they exist) and set to "Spanner" mode. Hook up the GPS to the computer and when it asked if you want to go to mass storage mode, choose "No". Wait and see if the computer recognizes the GPS. If so, run nRoute and it should work.

 

nRoute: http://gawisp.com/perry/nroute/

USB Driver: http://gawisp.com/perry/usb_drivers/

 

There were problems with similarly new units (Oregons, etc..) having dropout problems with the spanner mode. You will have to see.

 

nRoute will only work out of the box with "older style" Garmin maps, before around 2010 or so. The newer maps can be converted, but that is another topic.... Once a map is installed into Mapsource, it will show up in nRoute.

 

Like I say, there are many other programs and if this works, there are ways to make them work as well.

[+DazeDnFamily]

We use a DeLorme LT-40 (Click HERE for Amazon.com) which we paid about $35 for last year. They are apparently, still pretty cheap. Makes my laptop into a 15.6" Nuvi, and the software that comes with it will display GPX files, and route you to the cache. When we get to the parking grid, we hop out with the handheld. The roads in that thing amazed us. It routed us through 2 creeks on a 1 lane gravel logging road on a mountain in Georgia. So, from what I can tell it has the fidelity you're looking for. And, it does "stand up" the map like you'd get on a Nuvi, if you want it to. It also does voice support (it talks to you), and it can do turn to turn directions. We don't use it all that often (only when we're outside of our normal caching area), but so far, it has been reliable, and well worth the money to us.

 

Later!

[+CacheFreakTim]

We use a DeLorme LT-40 (Click HERE for Amazon.com) which we paid about $35 for last year. They are apparently, still pretty cheap. Makes my laptop into a 15.6" Nuvi, and the software that comes with it will display GPX files, and route you to the cache. When we get to the parking grid, we hop out with the handheld. The roads in that thing amazed us. It routed us through 2 creeks on a 1 lane gravel logging road on a mountain in Georgia. So, from what I can tell it has the fidelity you're looking for. And, it does "stand up" the map like you'd get on a Nuvi, if you want it to. It also does voice support (it talks to you), and it can do turn to turn directions. We don't use it all that often (only when we're outside of our normal caching area), but so far, it has been reliable, and well worth the money to us.

 

Later!

 

Are there any Geocaching applications that take advantage of it?

[+debandrobin]

If you Google GPS dongle you will find many satellite receivers that connect to a computer. It will function like a vehicle GPS unit. You could then open Geocaching.com in a window ( if you are able to access the internet that way) and have the best of both worlds.

[+DazeDnFamily]

It ingests the GPX files generated by PQ's, and will navigate you to the cache. Symbology is a bit weird, but I could prolly manipulate that if I tried. It isn't a paperless option, as far as I know, but, if you have internet access, or the GPX loaded in GSAK, you have all the data. DeLorme makes it (and the PN-XX series of GPSr), so if there were interest, they might be receptive to making it more caching friendly. In the time I had a PN-30 (even used), their tech support was outstanding. Also, as far as I know, any NMEA compatible mapping software you have will allow the "puck" (or dongle..puck is a common term for it) to put down an arrow for you. It has options to light up an LED, red, yellow or green, depending on the fidelity of the connection it has. (Yellow is a 2-D signal, and green is a 3-D signal. With a green light, it has never plotted us off of a road we were on.) As has been posted, there are many different makes and models of these. I recognized the DeLorme name, so that's the one I went with. I personally can't comment on any of the other ones.

 

Later!