Future Dream GPS, What Would You Have Yours Do?

[Guest Zig]

If you could design your own GPS, what would you want it to do? I would want one that does all the things that my Emap does, but I want a illuminated screen that I can plug in and mount to my truck dash for navigation like the luxuray cars have in them.

 

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Beter to Zig then Zag

[Guest garminpilot]

High Res display

More than 18 MB of Map Memory

Helix antenna for great canopy reception

light weight, small

 

Never mind ..GARMIN already makes those

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by garminpilot:

High Res display

More than 18 MB of Map Memory

Helix antenna for great canopy reception

light weight, small

 

Never mind ..GARMIN already makes those

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• Geocaching Icons
• Waypoint comments that dont reset every time I power off the unit.
• Waypoint projection in feet, not miles.

Those are some of things I'd love to see on the otherwise awesome Garmin 76/MAP76 series.

[Guest ClayJar]

My dream feature, which I have attempted to pass along to the Magellan firmware guys, is to be able to save/load waypoints/routes and tracks to/from SD cards. Imagine the looks on the Garminites faces when the Magellanites show them infinite saved tracks! Mua-ha-ha-HA!

[Guest jndery]

A screen I could read!!

[Guest worldtraveler]

Adding a MMC card slot to the Garmin V to hold 64 meg (or more) of map info that could be downloaded from a PC via a USB cardreader lickety split instead of the current ~30 min. for 19 meg.

 

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Worldtraveler

[Guest macdaddymd@aol.com]

?A GPSrt (receiver-transmitter) that would know where you are and advise you if you are approaching a problem zone (weather, accident, construction, etc.) and recommend detours.

?A GPSr that was connected to geocaching.com, and advised you when a new cache was placed in your area of interest, placing the coordinates, icon and comment directy on your GPS.

?An emergency locator button that sent your coordinates to emergency personnel in the event of an injury.

 

Oh, yes... I'll be wanting all this in a unit with 10-day battery, hi-res color screen with 3D topo rendering, weighing 4 oz, fitting in my pocket. And 1 Gb memory. And about $200. And unlimited free hardware/software upgrades for life.

 

Okay, I'll shut up now, but it's a nice dream!

 

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Kent

Harrisonburg, VA

macdaddymd@aol.com

 

[This message has been edited by macdaddymd@aol.com (edited 28 December 2001).]

[Guest Geoffrey]

How about a rechargable GPS. Just plug in the GPS into a 12 volt source to power/Recharge the GPS.

 

A GPS that can use Sony Camcorder Lithium-Ion batteries for instance.

 

A GPS with an emergency hand crank to recharge the internal batts in the middle of the forest.

 

Garmin could comeout with a rechargable battery pack for the Etrex series, since the battery door comes completely off the unit.

 

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Geoff's GPS Information Page

 

Geoff's Information on GPS units, and price guide for several units

[Guest GeoScouter]

A GPS with memory banks:

 

Each bank would store custom waypoints, routes, etc and you could choose which memory bank the GPS would display. I would have one memory bank for geocaching, another for camping, hiking, hunting, traveling, etc. This would eliminate clutter on the display. Of course you would be able to copy waypoints or routes from one bank to another and over lap the memory banks if needed.

 

Locking waypoints, routes:

 

You could lock a waypoint or route so it can't be deleted or changed in the field.

 

IR sensor:

 

So you can transfer waypoints in the field to a friends GPS like a Palm tranfers programs to another Palm.

 

Display and Storage:

 

Display more then one coordinate system format at one time.

 

Higher resolulation and larger display.

 

Easier editing of waypoints and text.

 

More memory and have removable media and mapping software become more of a standard.

 

Faster CPU for screen redraws.

[Guest n1niq]

I would love a gps/ham radio combination with a terminal node controller (radio modem).

 

A keyboard would also be nice as well as the ability to store the text of a cache web page.

 

Chris

 

[This message has been edited by n1niq (edited 28 December 2001).]

[Guest Hamster]

Great Dream! I really like the idea of the traffic hazzards etc. This could be done a number of ways, but some kind of wireless internet access could allow this type of advanced functionality. It would be very very cool.

 

quote:

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Originally posted by macdaddymd@aol.com:

?A GPSrt (receiver-transmitter) that would know where you are and advise you if you are approaching a problem zone (weather, accident, construction, etc.) and recommend detours.

?A GPSr that was connected to geocaching.com, and advised you when a new cache was placed in your area of interest, placing the coordinates, icon and comment directy on your GPS.

?An emergency locator button that sent your coordinates to emergency personnel in the event of an injury.

 

Oh, yes... I'll be wanting all this in a unit with 10-day battery, hi-res color screen with 3D topo rendering, weighing 4 oz, fitting in my pocket. And 1 Gb memory. And about $200. And unlimited free hardware/software upgrades for life.

 

Okay, I'll shut up now, but it's a nice dream!

 

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[Guest WaylandersMA]

quote:

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Originally posted by Geoffrey:

How about a rechargable GPS. Just plug in the GPS into a 12 volt source to power/Recharge the GPS.

 

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Yeah. Imagine having it always plugged into the car and you pull it out for the hike fully charged. With the 30 second turn off on the Etrex already there this would be perfect.

I would pay Garmin $70.00 for a rechargable pack that fit into my Etrex.

 

Paul

[Guest navdog]

I would be in geocaching heaven if Garmin made the Vista with a Quad helix antenna and it had the routing function of the GPSV !!!!

[Guest welch]

im thinking about trying some night time caching. reading over the post from ppl who have tried it, they seemed to really enjoy it, and it appelled to me.

 

the thing is im not sure how well i could watch the trails with my flashlight or NVG if i get a pair and watch my gps for directions. i thought it would be cool if there were a gps that gave you directions to the cache so you dont need to turn on the light or bother to look at the thing for any reason. just set it to "go" for the coors and listen to the thing.

 

i guess having different tones for the direction you need to go/ the direction. or even better have the thing actually talk, you it tells you got left, you turn and it tells you to go forward XXXFt./ miles whatever. and of course you would also need to able to turn off the voice so it wouldnt get annoying.

 

another benifit is blind people could use this gps for geocaching or even to go to? the store maybe or something... how would a blind person get to the park, i dont know but its an idea....

[Guest dakboy]

Maybe my MeriGold has it and I just haven't found it, but I'd like to have the LCD turn off after 2 minutes of me not touching the controls. Save on battery quite a bit.

[Guest laurie]

quote:

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Originally posted by Geoffrey:

How about a rechargable GPS. Just plug in the GPS into a 12 volt source to power/Recharge the GPS.

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This would be great especially if the GPS could use regular COTS batteries like either AA or AAA so you could bring spares with you on your hunt.

 

Laurie

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by dakboy:

I'd like to have the LCD turn off after 2 minutes of me not touching the controls. Save on battery quite a bit.

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Great idea, I didnt even KNOW how bad I wanted this until you mentioned it.

[Guest dakboy]

I got another one. I'd like a GPS that can take CompactFlash cards (my MeriGold takes SD) so that I can use the cards interchangably with my digital camera and GPS.

 

Taking it one step further, let me take a picture with the camera, then put the card in the GPS and associate a waypoint with one or more photographs.

[Guest stevesim]

quote:

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Originally posted by dakboy:

Maybe my MeriGold has it and I just haven't found it, but I'd like to have the LCD turn off after 2 minutes of me not touching the controls. Save on battery quite a bit.

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Actually, the LCD display does not consume very much power in a GPS receiver. Most of the power is used by the receiver circuitry and the CPU in computing the present location. Most Garmin units have a "Battery Saver" feature which reduces the frequency of position updates to use less power.

 

Steve Simpkin

[Guest Choberiba]

Stevesim: Actually, the LCD display does not consume very much power in a GPS

 

Then how about a supplimental solar cell... that Sally Sells by the seashore

[Guest EcoDrive]

You guys may not be all that far off. AudioVox makes a combination GPSr/FRS radio.

Not sure how good it is, but you can check it out on their website.

[Guest Ranz]

Believe it or not, there is also a GPS camera. I forget the brand but I think I saw it on one of the posts. It shows the coords in the corner of the picture.

 

[Guest ptv99jgc]

I would like all the features of the Vista, but always more memory and faster uploads. The ability to plug in an external antenna. Have it double as a cell phone, the size of my current phone so that I always have my phone and GPS with me in one unit. Extended battery life and the charging systems mentioned previously. Had wondered why the charging system was not part of Garmin's units already, seemed like an logical feature.

[Guest LarsThorwald]

Cell phone with a web feature. Search geocaching.com for new caches, no matter where you are, without your laptop and assorted hassles.