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Pocket PC software for Geocaching

RUS

By RUS
in GPS technology and devices

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Dan_Edwards

+Dan_Edwards

Posted
Posted

While the maps don't cover anyware I want to go yet, Pocket PC Maps looks interesting, and at least mentions that the program would be good for Geocaching.

 

There is also XMap from Delorme and TOPO! from National Geographic.

 

This page has a lot of info on GPS and PocketPC's. Some well done reviews of the software available available as well.

 

I know your quest was for software, but here is a Compact Flash GPS with software.

 

Dan

 

A = A

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alexm

+alexm

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by TopoGrafix:

ExpertGPS for PocketPC will be released soon. I've been testing it on local geocaches - having a big color screen is great!

 

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

 

Too bad there's no room for alpha testers (hint). icon_smile.gif

 

alex

 

There's also mapopolis:

http://www.mapopolis.com/

 

It claims to do street level routing on the handheld. Would be interested to hear if anyone has any comments on the paid-for version.

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hacked0ff

+hacked0ff

Posted
Posted

I have a Mapopolis subscription and I like it a lot better than MS Pocket Streets. It does indeed do street level routing and the maps (at least the ones I have) seem to be fairly up to date. The maps are very nice and the scrolling is outstanding. The two biggest problems with Mapopolis are:

1. You have to download each county separately.

2. It doesn’t do any map stitching.

I understand that fixes for the second problem are supposedly in progress.

 

For long trips, I will usually use the Map Source maps in my GPS along the way and fire up Mapopolis for the final destination or specific stops along the way. I recently went to Savannah for the first time so I downloaded all the county maps from Atlanta to Savannah. Mapopolis gives you the option to load a specific map or all contiguous maps.

It loads each map into memory, so if you have a lot of maps, your device will run out of memory causing the application to close.

 

I wish it had the ability to add waypoints by lon/lat. That would make it great for navigation to the general location of a cache.

For me, I give it a big thumbs up, you mileage may vary. Since I already owned a GPS and a Pocket PC, for me it was better solution that buying a GPS for my handheld.

 

 

-tommy

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phantom4099

+phantom4099

Posted
Posted

So this expert gps for pocket pc, does that allow the downloading of maps (with out calibrations)? Because that is what stopping me from getting oziexploer maps, I hate makeing and calibrating the maps(I am trying the demo).

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

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alexm

+alexm

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Airlid:

ExpertGPS for PocketPC will be released soon. I've been testing it on local geocaches - having a big color screen is great!

 

Any chance you'll be spilling some of the beans as to what we can look forward to seeing in the future? "Testing it on local geocaches" and "big color screen" leads me to believe you're using it in "mapping gps" mode. i.e. a PPC with a compact flash GPS of some sort.

 

Is it basically ExpertGPS for smaller screens, or what? Does it still manage waypoints, etc?

 

Thanks!

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infosponge

+infosponge

Posted
Posted

Oh, man...I just wet myself. :-)

 

That would be seriously cool. I don't have a PocketPC, but I sure would think about buying one...

 

What you really need is a Linux version...then I could use it on my laptop or on a handheld running Linux.

 

quote:
Originally posted by TopoGrafix:

ExpertGPS for PocketPC will be released soon. I've been testing it on local geocaches - having a big color screen is great!

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topografix

topografix

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by alexm:

Any chance you'll be spilling some of the beans as to what we can look forward to seeing in the future? "Testing it on local geocaches" and "big color screen" leads me to believe you're using it in "mapping gps" mode. i.e. a PPC with a compact flash GPS of some sort.

 

Is it basically ExpertGPS for smaller screens, or what? Does it still manage waypoints, etc?

Thanks!

 

ExpertGPS for PocketPC is basically ExpertGPS (with all the features you love) running on PocketPC. It includes all the waypoint/route/track management features, and supports all the GPS receivers that ExpertGPS does.

 

It's really designed to be used in Tracking mode, though. Put your GPS in NMEA output, or attach a Compact Flash GPS card, and switch to the Map page. ExpertGPS for PocketPC shows your position in real-time, and includes new navigation features to take you straight to the cache.

 

There are some features of ExpertGPS that have been removed. There's no import/export, although .loc and .gpx files are supported. All of the Internet-enabled features are currently turned off, although if wireless IP solutions get popular, I'll add them back in. There's no automatic downloading of topo maps and aerial photos - but ExpertGPS (for PC) includes a fast way to export any map (topo, aerial, or the new scanned maps) for use in the PocketPC version.

 

I've been working on ExpertGPS for PocketPC for almost a year now. Unlike other mapping programs that have ended up on the PocketPC, I wanted ExpertGPS to be a true PocketPC application, and behave appropriately. The underlying GPS and mapping engine is the same as the PC version, but the entire UI has been rewritten to conform to Microsoft standards. Tap-and-hold menus replace the right-click context menus. All the dialogs are full-screen.

 

ExpertGPS for PocketPC is intended to replace your mapping GPS. I've been putting extra effort into replicating the other GPS functions you rely on. The compass page, for example, has a big color compass dial and pointer, and also has three user-customized fields for displaying distance to destination, speed, bearing, time to go, etc.

 

For those of you who would like to get an early look at ExpertGPS for PocketPC, do the following:

 

1. If you haven't already, purchase ExpertGPS (for PC). You'll need it to create maps for the PocketPC version.

2. Send me an email at pocketpc@topografix.com, and tell me what PocketPC model you own, and what GPS you plan to use.

3. Sign up for the ExpertGPS mailing list, if you haven't already.

 

The first public testing of ExpertGPS for PocketPC will probably start in December, with the official release in early 2003.

 

Happy caching!

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

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topografix

topografix

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by alexm:

Any chance you'll be spilling some of the beans as to what we can look forward to seeing in the future? "Testing it on local geocaches" and "big color screen" leads me to believe you're using it in "mapping gps" mode. i.e. a PPC with a compact flash GPS of some sort.

 

Is it basically ExpertGPS for smaller screens, or what? Does it still manage waypoints, etc?

Thanks!

 

ExpertGPS for PocketPC is basically ExpertGPS (with all the features you love) running on PocketPC. It includes all the waypoint/route/track management features, and supports all the GPS receivers that ExpertGPS does.

 

It's really designed to be used in Tracking mode, though. Put your GPS in NMEA output, or attach a Compact Flash GPS card, and switch to the Map page. ExpertGPS for PocketPC shows your position in real-time, and includes new navigation features to take you straight to the cache.

 

There are some features of ExpertGPS that have been removed. There's no import/export, although .loc and .gpx files are supported. All of the Internet-enabled features are currently turned off, although if wireless IP solutions get popular, I'll add them back in. There's no automatic downloading of topo maps and aerial photos - but ExpertGPS (for PC) includes a fast way to export any map (topo, aerial, or the new scanned maps) for use in the PocketPC version.

 

I've been working on ExpertGPS for PocketPC for almost a year now. Unlike other mapping programs that have ended up on the PocketPC, I wanted ExpertGPS to be a true PocketPC application, and behave appropriately. The underlying GPS and mapping engine is the same as the PC version, but the entire UI has been rewritten to conform to Microsoft standards. Tap-and-hold menus replace the right-click context menus. All the dialogs are full-screen.

 

ExpertGPS for PocketPC is intended to replace your mapping GPS. I've been putting extra effort into replicating the other GPS functions you rely on. The compass page, for example, has a big color compass dial and pointer, and also has three user-customized fields for displaying distance to destination, speed, bearing, time to go, etc.

 

For those of you who would like to get an early look at ExpertGPS for PocketPC, do the following:

 

1. If you haven't already, purchase ExpertGPS (for PC). You'll need it to create maps for the PocketPC version.

2. Send me an email at pocketpc@topografix.com, and tell me what PocketPC model you own, and what GPS you plan to use.

3. Sign up for the ExpertGPS mailing list, if you haven't already.

 

The first public testing of ExpertGPS for PocketPC will probably start in December, with the official release in early 2003.

 

Happy caching!

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

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infosponge

+infosponge

Posted
Posted

Dan -- since you mentioned that ExpertGPS would be used to generate maps for the PocketPC version, does that imply that we'd also be able to take scanned maps, import them into ExpertGPS, then export and use them on the PocketPC?

That would be really great and would also mean I would no longer need to fight with Navitrak over making open map data available for the DNA GPS. :-)

Any suggestions on the kind of memory capacity someone would want to have for something like this?

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topografix

topografix

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by infosponge:

Dan -- since you mentioned that ExpertGPS would be used to generate maps for the PocketPC version, does that imply that we'd also be able to take scanned maps, import them into ExpertGPS, then export and use them on the PocketPC?

That would be really great and would also mean I would no longer need to fight with Navitrak over making open map data available for the DNA GPS. :-)

Any suggestions on the kind of memory capacity someone would want to have for something like this?

 

Yes, you can calibrate any scanned map and use it on the PocketPC, just as you can with the new beta version of ExpertGPS.

 

The PocketPC version relies on the PocketPC operating system to decompress the JPEG, BMP, or PNG images. I've found that the OS can only handle maps up to about 2MB in size. (To test - try opening the image in Pocket Internet Explorer)

That works out to about 1000 x 1000 pixel maps. I added a "Switch Maps" command so you can quickly load an adjacent map if you need more area.

 

I've been testing with an iPaq 3600. Since I use a CF GPS card, all my maps go in the internal memory. I use the iPaq the same way I use my GPS receivers and my laptop - I delete all the data before each trip, and only load the waypoints and maps that I need for the trip. I keep a master copy of all my GPS data and maps on my desktop computer.

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

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alexm

+alexm

Posted
Posted

quote:

ExpertGPS for PocketPC is basically ExpertGPS (with all the features you love) running on PocketPC. It includes all the waypoint/route/track management features, and supports all the GPS receivers that ExpertGPS does.

 

steydrtcuj[087-384u9jwirnjgv,jghxfg'pouig

 

Sorry, had to wipe the DROOL from my keyboard. icon_smile.gif

 

Count me in!

 

alex

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azmark

+azmark

Posted
Posted

Trippy, the correct serial cable for hooking a GPS to a CE device, consists of the following..

 

GPS - CPU serial cable,,usually obtained from your GPS manufacture

 

Null Modem Gender changer...from your computer store.

 

CE serial sync cable...usually an add on from your CE manufacture,,,and add on alternative to your USB sync cradle.

 

Put those three together and you have it. Unweildy but you have it. Many custom Garmin cables out there,,,very few for Maggie.

 

Dan--- you should try the dual CF sleeve that is out. It's the MemPlug by pitech. I use it for my 256meg CF memory, and a bluetooth CF card. But would also be great for GPS and memory. Just 49.00 buck from CompUSA!

 

AZMark

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alexm

+alexm

Posted
Posted

quote:
Aside from a compact flash GPS card... how do you hook your GPS to your PDA?

 

You can also check out PC-Mobile. This place was mentioned in a thread a while back by ?Dragoon?. It's in Hong Kong and the shipping hurts, but their "hot-swap" cable soltutions beat the snot out of the Magellan Serial -> Null Modem -> Gender Changer -> iPaq Serial mess I had going on before.

 

They do Garmin and Cell Phone cable solutions also. Pretty intuitive. So far, I'm quite impressed with it.

 

...

alex

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phantom4099

+phantom4099

Posted
Posted

I ordered from their, the cable seems a little light, but I figured I should not man handle it with my ipaq attached, so it not too much of a problem. The cable it self works good. I also got the AA battery extender, which also works as advetised, but I wish the cable was a little longer. I can't place the pack in my pocket since it will not reach.

 

The shipping only cost $5, so thats not to bad for registered air mail from Hong Kong.

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

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Airlid

+Airlid

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by TopoGrafix:

quote:
Originally posted by RUS:

Any ideas or links to existing PPC software

 

ExpertGPS for PocketPC will be released soon. I've been testing it on local geocaches - having a big color screen is great!

 

icon_smile.gif

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

 

I bought a serial IO card for my pocketpc and I have gotten my GPSR to talk to the pocketpc. Now all I need is the software *anxiously waiting*

 

Thanks Dan icon_razz.gif

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