best GPS "today"

[Lin]

Art,

Phones like Android do use real GPS.  However, unlike stand-alone GPS systems, the actual mapping software is not resident on the device.  Instead, the phone communicates your location through the internet to a server that does the work.  Apps are often like that.  I recently went on a trip to India and bought a Hindi translation program.  This thing worked great.  It could translate anything I could think of.  I get real pleasure out of hearing it translate things like, "Sir, your camel has eaten my soup (Mahasaya apane unta mere supa khaya hai)."  I thought that it would be amazingly useful in my travels.  Unfortunately, it turned out that the reason it had such a vast vocabulary and range was that it functioned through the internet.  Since there was no available 3G network or wifi where I traveled, the thing was useless.  Good thing I did not have any problems with camels.

[JohnEd]

Eric,

As soon as I can but it will be a while.  Thank you for your response.



John

[demodriver]

Eric,

As soon as I can but it will be a while.  Thank you for your response.



John

What company is your service thru? I have at&t and I can upgrade my plan at anytime with a new contract.

Good luck!

[JohnEd]

I have a bundled pack with Verizon.  Air card, cells and land line for a year.  My sound quality with AT&T was very good and I was happy with them.  Problem was that they performed poorly at Quartz when i was looking.  Veriz was supposed to be doing well out in the desert so I went with them and their sound quality is inferior.  I understand that AT&T is doing really well in that vicinity now that I have switched.....oh, well.  SamoSamo.

John

[Jaime]

I use Delorme on a HP computer 21in touch screen that serves as my TV as well. I like delorme as it has a special step up for touch screen. and acts like a standard GPS with touch screen. I also use the Android Navigation app and it works flawlessly mainly in my towed. Almost forgot the HP has built in camera and microphone witch works with Delorme's voice navigation command center.

[technomadia]

I have a Palm Pre smart phone with Google Maps and GPS apps. Funny the dont work when I get into areas without digital cellular service, which tells me its not a real GPS, but is triangulating off cellular towers to find position, and using google maps for altitude. Someone say otherwise if they truly know, but I believe all smart phones work this way and none are actually using the GPS satelites for data.

FYI - because they are online and have a data connection, smart phones can get a GPS fix much faster by using "assisted GPS" with a little help from nearby cell towers and even WiFi base stations.  With assisted GPS technology, a smartphone can even get a fix indoors where a traditional GPS will be totally lost. But every modern smartphone also has a real GPS receiver in it that locks onto the same satellite signals as standalone GPS devices, and that receiver works even offline in the middle of nowhere.

The problem you have noticed is that if you are out of range, your phone knowing where you are doesn't help much if it doesn't have a map to display. And the free Google maps program that comes with the iPhone and Android and Palm Pre relies on a data connection to Google to display maps. It can sometimes be smart enough to pre-cache the maps, but in general, if you are out of range, you are out of luck.

On the Pre, I don't think there are any alternatives with local maps.  Not sure about Android.  But on iOS, there are dozens of them.  Even Tom Tom, Garmin, and Magellan sell iPhone GPS apps that turns your iPhone or iPad into a full-on works-offline standalone GPS.  All the maps are built in - the apps are 1GB to 3GB in size to fit the entire country on board.  But with iOS devices ranging from 8GB to 64GB, you can actually have several full GPS navigation apps on board.

If you have any more tech questions, ask away.  Though I am still a bus novice, I am a more than a tad bit knowledgeable when it comes to mobile tech.  In a former life, I actually used to be the "Chief Spy" for Palm and PalmSource...  *grin*

   - Chris

[babell2]

Not sure about Android.  But on iOS, there are dozens of them.  Even Tom Tom, Garmin, and Magellan sell iPhone GPS apps that turns your iPhone or iPad into a full-on works-offline standalone GPS.  All the maps are built in - the apps are 1GB to 3GB in size to fit the entire country on board.  But with iOS devices ranging from 8GB to 64GB, you can actually have several full GPS navigation apps on board.

If you have any more tech questions, ask away.  Though I am still a bus novice, I am a more than a tad bit knowledgeable when it comes to mobile tech.  In a former life, I actually used to be the "Chief Spy" for Palm and PalmSource...  *grin*

  - Chris

Have any of you tried the Locus free nav program?  I would like to intigrate a Android tablet as part of the dash system in my bus.

Brice

[Len Silva]

No matter which one you choose, be sure it has a female voice.  When I tried the male voice, I ended up responding "Don't tell me which way to turn, you jerk "

[Ncbob]

Cat Farnsworth just visited us on her way back to TX and the poor soul had used Google to map her trip. She had been muddling around in our mountains, on back roads mostly, until she could find a wireless signal to Dallas and he bailed her out. She was only 2 miles from us when she finally called.

While her visit was short (and well received) I offered her my Garmin GPS for the rest of her trip. She sweetly declined because she hadn't used one in the past so she settled for my Road Atlas.

I, for one, don't want to involve my laptop for my Nav aid. My Garmin is now considered obsolete by the Mfr. but still gets me where I want to go. I'll consider another one of these days because I subscribe to the KISS principle. I don't want a phone that takes pictures, allows me to surf the 'Net and sends me astronomical bills at the end of the month.

Bob