Pdas And Aerial Photos

[+Web-ling]

I prefer to geocache/benchmark without a GPS, using aerial photos and topo maps.

 

I want to get a PDA in order to reduce the MASSIVE amounts of paper printouts needed to cache GPS-less.

 

I basically know NOTHING about PDAs, and am still running my PC under Windows 98 with a dial-up connection.

 

I need a PDA and software that will allow me to download cache files, aerials, and topos.

 

Several questions:

 

1) What PDA software would be good for plotting waypoints on aerials and topos?

2) What are some good sources for the aerials and topo maps? I currently print mostly from LostOutdoors.com.

3) Depending on the software, what PDA would be most economical yet meet my needs?

 

Thanks,

[+Stunod]

I use a program called PhotoView on my Palm m130 to view jpg files. You could save the images from LostOutdoors.com as jpg to your PC, then transfer the file to your PDA.

[+EScout]

My Sony Clie TJ25 came with a .jpg viewer. This Palm 5 PDA has a 320X320 color screen. I use USPhotoMaps on the home PC. Load the .gpx file to USPhotoMaps and your waypoints will show. Then save the page to a .jpg file and move it to the PDA.

 

Using TOPO! on the PC, put the waypoints on the map (use GPSBabel), and convert the map page to .jpg.

 

This Sony can be purchased for as little as $120 after rebates, but needs a memory stick to use the .jpg files.

[+NightPilot]

I alsu use USAPhotoMaps. It will automatically download aerial photos of the area you select, and you can tell it to save them as .jpg files. It will also import the .gpx files and show the caches. I save these to my SD card for my Palm Zire 71 and use the Photo app or a jpg viewer to view them. Works fairly well, but it's a small screen, so there isn't as much detail as you would see on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

[+JeepCachr]

Definately try USA photo maps. Its free and nothing commercial iv'e seen comes close to it. It does exactly what your asking for.

[+JeepCachr]

double post

Edited April 5, 2004 by JeepCachr