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Evaluation: My new Navitrak Digital Navigation Assistant


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I got my Navitrak today and have played around with it... I thought I would shate my initial impressions with you.

 

I got the box - it was much smaller than I had thought. In it was the software, some topo maps of my area and a case containing the unit. THe case the unit comes in is super trick - similar to the military cases that held our AN/PVS7B night vision goggles in the fact that it is waterproof and airtight - there is even a purge valve for chenges in atmosphere.

 

I installed the software on my computer, put the topo maps on the MMC card, stuck the card in my GPS and went outside to test it out...

 

I got outside and held down the power button, looked inside and it came to live. I saw the map in the topo display, but I didn't see the position change. I watched the coords and they never changed once. I was thinking, man, this thing is broken. But then I realized it had gotten a cold fix from the time I turned it on to the time I opened the viewfinder and looked inside. Needless to say, I was pretty amazed.

 

The viewfinder is bright and clear, but I think a thicker rubber boot would ne a bit nicer. Not to complain, though. The topo map is wonderful - I can't say that I've seen a GPS that is more accurate, including my Globalnav 6000 handheld chartplotter. I put a golfball on the ground, marked the position and came back to the spot every time within one meter. I have not turned the WAAS off to see the difference, but I'll probably never do that, anyway.

 

The compass is awesome, too. You can hold it at a 45 degree angle and it still provides an accurate bearing. Also, when the compass is on, it projects a bearing line in the end of the viewfinder in the direction it is facing. Very cool.

 

Loading the maps is a painless operation, though they include two programs - one for loading the maps to the card and one for actually managing data, like waypoints, tracks, routs and trails. I would like them to incorporate these items together into one package.

 

Selecting and marking waypoints is very easy, as is all of the other navigation features. The menus are intuative and easy to use, as are the two buttons and "arrow key" type button on top of the unit.

 

It's my guess that the unit averages the location because when standing still, my position never moved. The topo maps are awesome and provide very good detail; it's like looking at something from Topo zone in 1:24000 scale. Awesome!

 

As an initial impresstion, I am very impressed with this unit. The fit and finish is outstanding, even though I hate yellow (I would rather have black and OD green). It holds nicely in your hands and feels very durable when squeezing tightly it in your hands.

 

I'll have some photos, screenshots and more of an in-depth review on my site soon.

 

Mark Dougan

douganm@bellsouth.net

http://www.geonavigation.com

 

[This message was edited by markusby on April 13, 2002 at 07:29 AM.]

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Oh yes - I forgot. The reception is awesome! I turned it on inside my office and it gave me my position after several seconds. There are three power settings - untra-low, normal and dense foliage. The DNA picked up my location in my office while set on Normal.

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It's not bad. I have a small head and I can still see what is in front of me when looking into the viewfinder. Kelly yelled at me, however, for driving and checking out the accuracy of the topo maps. As far as memory is concerned, I can fit almost all of Palm Beach county on the standard 32m MMC card with which it comes.

 

Lots of people think that looking through the scope would be a pain - it really is not. It;s not as convenient as looking at the screen on my Vista, but then again, my Vista is not nearly as accurate, won't hold a lock on the sats like this one will and the digital compass is absolutely unphased by verticle tilting movement in the DNA where as the Vista, if it is not vary still, you won't get a good reading. I tried jogging last night and the compass still told me where I was heading. icon_wink.gif

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It's not bad. I have a small head and I can still see what is in front of me when looking into the viewfinder. Kelly yelled at me, however, for driving and checking out the accuracy of the topo maps. As far as memory is concerned, I can fit almost all of Palm Beach county on the standard 32m MMC card with which it comes.

 

Lots of people think that looking through the scope would be a pain - it really is not. It;s not as convenient as looking at the screen on my Vista, but then again, my Vista is not nearly as accurate, won't hold a lock on the sats like this one will and the digital compass is absolutely unphased by verticle tilting movement in the DNA where as the Vista, if it is not vary still, you won't get a good reading. I tried jogging last night and the compass still told me where I was heading. icon_wink.gif

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Where would you get maps for such a beast?

 

I thought that buying scanned USGS topo maps was expensive.

 

Is there a source of calibrated satelite imagery that one could use?

 

quote:
Originally posted by markusby:

I can fit almost all of Palm Beach county on the standard 32m MMC card with which it comes.


 

I grew up in Palm Beach county. I remember two altitudes: dry and wet. Why would you need a topo map when there is so little elevation change?

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Hey Harrkev... The answer to your question will amaze you. Your question is:

>Where would you get maps for such a beast?

>I thought that buying scanned USGS topo maps was expensive.

 

The correct answer is:

 

http://data.geocomm.com/dem/demdownload.html

 

Yes, you can download all the digitized USGS topo maps (saved in a Tiff format, or a GeoTiff... if you use a GIS program like Manifold, it automatically knows all of the coordinates of anywhere on the map) you want for FREE! Yes, for free. Try it.

 

Go to that link, select a state and select a county. If you just want a digitized Topo map, pick Digital Raster Graphics - 24K (if you want 24k scale). You will then have to click the Quad you want. If you go to Toposource, it will tell you the name of the quad at the top when you are at the area you want.

 

You can open this file up in just about any image program you wish, but to make full use of it, spend a couple of bucks and get Manifold - it's the least inexpensive and very comprehensive GIS program available. The link is www.manifold.net

 

Anyway, once you open it in Manifold, you can import waypoints and they will be automatically positioned on the USGS image.

 

You are probably wondering what the other things on that page are other than the Digital Raster Graphics (DRG) files. Well:

 

Hydrography is a list of all of the waterways, lakes and rivers in that area. If you had something like Manifold, you could import this, make your own (you can do that anyway), change it, or whatever you want.

 

Landuse - shows all of the folliage and other pertenant things that hapens on land except for roads, pipelines, hydrographyn railroads and wetlands.

 

These I've named have their own files. You can build your own maps to suit your own needs. A USGS topo map is a combination of all of these things. Oh yeah... you can also get DEM's of elevation, too.

 

The purpose of having a USGS topomap in Florida is the same as having one anywhere. THere is a LOT more information on a USGS TOPO map than merely elevation. Plus, I can make my own maps for various things. I can add buildings, bounderies or whatever I want. If someone came up to me and told me he wanted to divide 500 acres into six zones, I could do it on the computer, download it to my GPS and go out and show him how it would look instead of having an expensive surveyer come out and do the work. Sure it might be a meter or two off, but for a visual, it doesn't matter.

 

Let's say the sewage department wanted to be able to have their stuff on a GPS. All I have to do is download that county's DRG files, overlay the DEM files for the Pipelines and upload it into the GPS. Wala... it took a few hours of work and I just sold a GPS unit for a coupole of thousand dollars. The sewage department is happy because they can locate their lines and their above-ground locations just by looking into the GPS. The military could use such a thing to plot a mission, complete with hostile unit information, hostile areas and other valuable data that could easily be called upon in the field.

 

The same could be done with fire departments (to locate hydrants), electrical companies, railroad companies, police, etc... the applications are endless. And it only takes a GPS loving person with a little computer skills to put everything into place. Yes, the little unit has a lot of potential. And best of all, the information if free!

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It can take both, but only one at a time. As far as I know, you can get 256 megs on a card... that's a hell of a lot of map space. I think Michelle told me that about 2800 square miles can fit on the 32 meg card... that would mean 22,225 square miles (or an area about 150 miles by 150 miles) can fit on the 256 meg card. That's a hure area, considering you are getting 24k scale.

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AFAI, the 256MB cards will be out soon, but are not out yet.

 

The SD and MMC are almost identical. SD is a little thicker, and has two extra pins. For a device designed for SD, the SD card will be faster. SD is also available in larger sizes.

 

Markusby, thanks for the reply. I will check that site out. I know that the USGS sells this data. How can sombody give it out for free. I am not complaining, just a little confused.

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quote:
Originally posted by harrkev:

I know that the USGS sells this data. How can sombody give it out for free. I am not complaining, just a little confused.


 

quote:
In the United States, like all other non-classified government technical material, all of this wonderful map data is free for the taking. By law, it is in the public domain and can be taken and resold. In fact, quite a few companies are in the business of taking free government maps, changing them a bit using tools like Manifold System, and then reselling those maps to the masses in the form of proprietary map products.

 

In contrast, virtually all other countries sell their government map data and attempt to enforce a government monopoly on the sale of map data. Except for international map data created by the US, it is very difficult to find free maps of international areas. To this day, the very best digital maps of the entire world are those created by US military organizations and released by the US government.

 

From the above it sounds like we have a wealth of data in the US that other nations do not have. This is true, but there's a catch: most of the data published by US agencies is published in a form that is unusable by ordinary citizens. All of those billions of dollars in digital map creation often end up increasing the personal fortunes of a few, limited GIS companies because the government publishes the data in unique formats that only a handful of privileged inside contractors can utilize. For example, DLG, SDTS, VPF and TIGER formats are used by USGS, the military, and the Census Bureau for highly detailed maps; however, until Manifold appeared on the mapping scene the only practical way to utilize these free maps was to purchase an expensive, old-fashioned GIS system plus one or more expensive format converter packages.

 

USGS publishes hundreds of gigabytes of detailed, high-quality free maps for the US. Almost all of them are in DLG, DEM, or SDTS formats. If you have Manifold you can download and utilize these maps. If you have another GIS package, you will likely have to purchase a converter that in many cases will cost more than all of Manifold System! Manifold does such a good job of converting many formats and it is so inexpensive that many ESRI, MapInfo and other users have purchased Manifold just to make it possible to convert many different formats into their "home" GIS system.


 

Markusby, thanks for the cool sites!

 

AtP

 

[This message was edited by Atilla the Pun on April 09, 2002 at 01:32 PM.]

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Yes, it does indeed have a serial port. It plugs in under the battery compartment - being that this is a beta version, it is not fully functional. But the full version will be complete with real-time communication as well as an emulation mode.

 

I am unsure what they are... probably just a different file format, like an Arch something format.

 

Hey AtP - Where did you find that long quote? Was that from Manifold or a post someplace? Whoever wrote it is right... Manifold is one hell of a program for the price... and it has something like 50 import and export filters. Perty cool, eh?

 

You can do some really cool things other than USGS maps... for instance, I took our customer list and related it to a zip code database. From there, I made a map - it shows all of our customer locations and each state is colored to show how many customers are in that area. It's really awesome.

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That quote is straight off the Manifold Web site. Sorry for quoting that much (about 1/4 of one of their info pages), I could have just let it go with one or two lines to make the point. But I'm brain dead today. Just started a new job working from 7pm to 3am and my daughter was coughing up her lungs outside my bedroom door around 8am this morning. icon_frown.gif

 

AtP

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That quote is straight off the Manifold Web site. Sorry for quoting that much (about 1/4 of one of their info pages), I could have just let it go with one or two lines to make the point. But I'm brain dead today. Just started a new job working from 7pm to 3am and my daughter was coughing up her lungs outside my bedroom door around 8am this morning. icon_frown.gif

 

AtP

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quote:
Originally posted by markusby:

Whoever wrote it is right...


 

Well, it was a little bit of sales BS. Statements like "because the government publishes the data in unique formats that only a handful of privileged inside contractors can utilize..." makes it sound like the formats are secret. That just isn't so.

 

I know it isn't a fair comparison, but the quote reminds me a bit of the guy that wears the 'Riddler' tights and sells the 'get money from Uncle Sam' book on TV...

 

-jjf

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quote:
Originally posted by jfitzpat:

 

Well, it was a little bit of sales BS. Statements like "because the government publishes the data in unique formats that only a handful of privileged inside contractors can utilize..." makes it sound like the formats are secret. That just isn't so.

-jjf


 

Yeah, it's hype, what did you expect? icon_smile.gif

 

Markusby,

Since I am still suffering from some confusion about map formats usable by GPS's maybe you can help me out in regard to the DNA....

 

Specifically, what format are the maps for this GPS in? Are they proprietary, or can you modify the map you load into the GPS?

 

AtP

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quote:
Originally posted by jfitzpat:

 

Well, it was a little bit of sales BS. Statements like "because the government publishes the data in unique formats that only a handful of privileged inside contractors can utilize..." makes it sound like the formats are secret. That just isn't so.

-jjf


 

Yeah, it's hype, what did you expect? icon_smile.gif

 

Markusby,

Since I am still suffering from some confusion about map formats usable by GPS's maybe you can help me out in regard to the DNA....

 

Specifically, what format are the maps for this GPS in? Are they proprietary, or can you modify the map you load into the GPS?

 

AtP

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They are working on it, but you will be able to modify them. Currently, for development purposes, they are in a proprietary format to work out the kinks. But it will come with a complete software package that will allow you to modify the raster (digital topo) images AND Vector (satellite images, like you find on terra server) to fit your needs.

 

Since I am one of the beta testers, I'm lucky enough to try out the goodies and make suggestions (how in the world do you spell suggesgions? I think I;ve had one too many Amaretto's).

 

Some of the current things are really cool - for instance, if you have the compass activated, you have the option to draw a bearing line across the map to where you are looking. It is awesome and a real help for geocaching, I've found.

 

Anyway, they will have the complete set of USGS 24k maps available, as well, in addition to the satellite images. icon_razz.gif

 

As a beta tester, it amazes me that something so new in development is so advanced. I've done plenty beta testing in the military and the initial product wasn't half as good in such a short period, now were the manufacturers so willing to listen to feedback from the field.

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They are working on it, but you will be able to modify them. Currently, for development purposes, they are in a proprietary format to work out the kinks. But it will come with a complete software package that will allow you to modify the raster (digital topo) images AND Vector (satellite images, like you find on terra server) to fit your needs.

 

Since I am one of the beta testers, I'm lucky enough to try out the goodies and make suggestions (how in the world do you spell suggesgions? I think I;ve had one too many Amaretto's).

 

Some of the current things are really cool - for instance, if you have the compass activated, you have the option to draw a bearing line across the map to where you are looking. It is awesome and a real help for geocaching, I've found.

 

Anyway, they will have the complete set of USGS 24k maps available, as well, in addition to the satellite images. icon_razz.gif

 

As a beta tester, it amazes me that something so new in development is so advanced. I've done plenty beta testing in the military and the initial product wasn't half as good in such a short period, now were the manufacturers so willing to listen to feedback from the field.

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And since they are, here is a suggestion for them.

 

Install a USB port in addition to (or even instead of!) the serial port, get away from total dependance on the serial stuff. USB is sooooo much easier for us to use (no crawling on the floor to get to the back of my full tower, just hit my USB hub) and the data transfer rate is much faster. icon_smile.gif And if you don't already have a USB port you can get one for under $40 US.

 

And since you'll already be in "demand mode" send the same message to Manifold? I know I plan to when I order their software later this year.

 

AtP

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And since they are, here is a suggestion for them.

 

Install a USB port in addition to (or even instead of!) the serial port, get away from total dependance on the serial stuff. USB is sooooo much easier for us to use (no crawling on the floor to get to the back of my full tower, just hit my USB hub) and the data transfer rate is much faster. icon_smile.gif And if you don't already have a USB port you can get one for under $40 US.

 

And since you'll already be in "demand mode" send the same message to Manifold? I know I plan to when I order their software later this year.

 

AtP

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Wow, this product sound really great...the only thing I don't dig is having to look in a view finder. Why don't they have a screen? How about a model that does have a full screen like other handhelds? I mean a quality GPS with quality mapping software, that is customizable would be really nice.

 

ummmm....not sure what to say here....so ummm, well errrr, uhhhh, well I guess that's it.

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quote:
Originally posted by Atilla the Pun:

Install a USB port in addition to (or even instead of!) the serial port, get away from total dependance on the serial stuff.


 

The only problem with this is that you then loose flexibility.....

 

No serial -> no NMEA -> no interface to other navigation instruments (boaters beware)

 

No serial -> no DGPS -> Once again, boaters beware.

 

This is probably the reason that the serial ports hang on so long. Some people (mainly boaters) who buy a GPS expect to be able to interface to other equipment. A serial port and NMEA strings are THE standard to use. Adding support for two interfaces can also add to size/weight/cost/battery-usage.

 

-----

Any similarity between my opinions and reality is entirely coincidental.

--Harrkev

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Tha is not necessarily true... there are USB to serial interfaces that you can by for about two dollars. As far as uploading and downloading maps, tracks, waypoints, form data dn other things like that, you just pull out the card and stick it in the USB card reader (included in the package). Then you have all the advanteges that it comes with. Not THe card reader is USB 2.0 compatible to the data transfer rate is MUCH faster than standard USB (anyone know the rate? I think it's like 10 times as fast). THat makes a big difference when loading up a 256 meg card with your favorite topos. icon_razz.gif

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Tha is not necessarily true... there are USB to serial interfaces that you can by for about two dollars. As far as uploading and downloading maps, tracks, waypoints, form data dn other things like that, you just pull out the card and stick it in the USB card reader (included in the package). Then you have all the advanteges that it comes with. Not THe card reader is USB 2.0 compatible to the data transfer rate is MUCH faster than standard USB (anyone know the rate? I think it's like 10 times as fast). THat makes a big difference when loading up a 256 meg card with your favorite topos. icon_razz.gif

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Every GPS device with USB would incur the overhead of a USB licensing fee that must be purchased from Intel. For lower end units, it would make the profit margin that much smaller.

 

Additionally, including USB would require yet another IC chip on the board unless the unit happens to be implemented with a chip that already has an integrated USB interface.

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quote:
Originally posted by Riff:

Every GPS device with USB would incur the overhead of a USB licensing fee that must be purchased from Intel. For lower end units, it would make the profit margin that much smaller.

 

Additionally, including USB would require yet another IC chip on the board unless the unit happens to be implemented with a chip that already has an integrated USB interface.


 

FWIW, there is no licensing fee to use the USB specification ( http://www.usb.org ). However, hardware costs could be slightly higher. I think a Phillips solution runs about $10-$13 in modest volumes, which could tranlate to $30-$40 to the customer.

 

-jjf

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