gps recommendations?

[Jerry Feldman]

The advantages of Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom is that your maps are 
loaded for the whole country.. But, with Google Maps, you canpre load 
maps in the cache.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14zoQFZZm8s
http://www.androidpit.com/Google-Maps-Update-Brings-Offline-Navigation-to-the-Mix

So, Tom, You can preload Google maps.

WRT: Universal wifi. Today wifi (both 802.11xxx) and cell (3G, 4G, LTE 
...) are short range and would require towers. It would be nice to have 
a free satellite link, but that is not going to happen. But, with 
today's smartphones, you should be able to load most of the maps you 
need. I'm not sure if you can configure Google Maps to use cache or maps 
on the SD card.

One advantage of smartphone based maps is that locations can be derived 
from the cell tower, so if GPS is unavailable, you will triangulate off 
of the towers.

On 05/20/2013 09:20 AM, Tom Buskey wrote:
> FWIW, I have a garmin.  I set the destination, then I add destinations 
> as vias working backwards from the destination.  This lets me force 
> the GPS route on the fly & get an estimate of how long it will take.
>
> I have to go fairly close past the vias or the GPS will try to get me 
> to turn around.  Then I cancel and redo my route.
>
> Lifetime updates are worth getting.  I like that my GPS works w/o cell 
> towers (I go into rural VT/NH sometimes).
>
> If Google could come up with Google Maps that functions w/o internet 
> access, it'd be way better then a GPS IMO.  I think Google would be 
> more likely to build universal WiFi though.
>
>
> On Sun, May 19, 2013 at 7:21 AM, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org 
> <mailto:gaf at blu.org>> wrote:
>
>     One feature that I was not able to get working on the Android
>     version of
>     Google Maps is route manipulation by moving the lines like you can on
>     the web version. The advantages of a commercial GPS system, like
>     TomTom
>     is the screen size. Also, your maps are all preloaded. In a
>     smartphone,
>     your maps are loaded via your data connection, but there is a way to
>     preload your maps before going into an area where you may not have
>     wifi.
>     It depends on your cache size. Also look at mapdroyd. I once compared
>     Google Maps nav with Lexus nav, and I preferred the Google Maps route.
>
>     On 05/18/2013 07:44 PM, Mac wrote:
>     >
>     > My tomtom was stolen a year ago. About that time I upgraded my
>     Android
>     > phone. I tried google maps and navigator and found it more than
>     > adequate. Haven't bothered with anything else since.
>     >
>     > On May 18, 2013 2:14 PM, "David Rysdam" <david at rysdam.org
>     <mailto:david at rysdam.org>
>     > <mailto:david at rysdam.org <mailto:david at rysdam.org>>> wrote:
>     >
>     >     On Sat, 18 May 2013 14:03:23 -0400, Jerry Feldman
>     <gaf at blu.org <mailto:gaf at blu.org>
>     >     <mailto:gaf at blu.org <mailto:gaf at blu.org>>> wrote:
>     >     > On 05/18/2013 01:46 PM, David Rysdam wrote:
>     >     > > On Sat, 18 May 2013 11:49:21 -0400, Joshua Judson Rosen
>     >     <rozzin at geekspace.com <mailto:rozzin at geekspace.com>
>     <mailto:rozzin at geekspace.com <mailto:rozzin at geekspace.com>>> wrote:
>     >     > >> David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org
>     <mailto:david at rysdam.org> <mailto:david at rysdam.org
>     <mailto:david at rysdam.org>>> writes:
>     >     > >>> Helpfully unhelpful: But maybe what this proves is that no
>     >     GPS has ever
>     >     > >>> heard "it's the journey, not the destination".
>     >     > >> I think the point of Tilmann's notes in the FoxtrotGPS
>     manual
>     >     is that
>     >     > >> `the vertices *are* the edges', e.g.:
>     >     > >>
>     >     > >>      * Do not set your waypoints on crossings. Instead, set
>     >     them on the
>     >     > >>        road between crossings.
>     >     > > I saw that. It's possible that it might function the way you
>     >     suspect in
>     >     > > some cases. However, having had some inexplicable (and some
>     >     > > explicable-by-positing-the-GPS-is-dumb) experiences, I
>     suspect
>     >     what
>     >     > > would frequently happen is a route that did NOT include
>     that edge,
>     >     > > except for the one point I happened to stick on there. I.e.
>     >     > >
>     >     > > 1) a completely unexpected route
>     >     > > 2) get on an entrance ramp to My Chosen Highway
>     >     > > 3) drive past the point
>     >     > > 4) take the next exit
>     >     > > 5) continue on with GPS's idea of what I want
>     >     > >
>     >     > > This is "easily" solvable by putting more points on My
>     Chosen
>     >     > > Highway...for someone with infinite patience in trying to
>     >     trick software
>     >     > > into doing the right thing. From the volume of responses
>     I've
>     >     gotten
>     >     > > telling me about wayPOINTS, routePOINTS, and
>     >     POINTS-of-interest, I must
>     >     > > be the only one who wants a feature that lets me input
>     *lines*.
>     >     > >
>     >     > You can to that with Google Maps. I'm not sure exactly
>     what you
>     >     want to
>     >     > do, but it is much more flexible than the standard GPS.
>     >
>     >     Yeah, at one point I was going to say "What I want is Google
>     Maps, but
>     >     in portable form". That's not exactly true, but closer than
>     what I
>     >     have
>     >     now. Maybe I need to get an smartphone. But it seems like if
>     this
>     >     functionality can exist in a phone, it can exist in a GPS. Or
>     >     maybe the
>     >     crucial factor is the internet access, in which case a
>     smartphone
>     >     wouldn't help me either (since I wouldn't always be in a
>     coverage
>     >     area).
>     >
>

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id:3BC1EB90
PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66  C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90