gps dongle for netbook

[photoman290]

anyone used a usb gps dongle. thinking of getting one for my netbook.

[greasemonkey]

Never heard of such a thing till I googled it. Sounds handy. Looks as though it needs software downloaded to operate it, not just the dongle.

[Jamesrl]

I think you also need a gps antenna built in.

[julianf]

Bob,

Your laptop probably does not have a serial interface, but, if it did....

You could probably pick up a hand held garmin - an older one, for next to nothing.  Not that ive done it, but they (at least some of them) have serial interfaces for connecting to a computer.

You would have a bit of a bonus then of having the hand held unit too, which sometimes comes in useful.

I dont know how much usb gps units cost, or what you want to do with it - or what software you want to runm but its a consideration?

[photoman290]

julian, as i have a netbook i thought gps may be useful. i do have a gps phone but it is far from ideal.  no serial port. i have serial to usb card but that could get complicated. will stick to printed maps i think.

[kamaangir]

Just looked at a couple of ebay ones and they mentioned several software that it was compatible with, of those mentioned only 1 offers UK maps and pc map software:

http://copilotgps.com/uk/store/laptop.asp

What a lot of 4x4 owners do is get just maps (like ordinance survey) and use it for green laning, no satnavs or google maps will work when you are off main roads. With just maps you don't get the 3d screen view of the area you are travelling down and you need to buy the maps of each area you want to go into. I am sure if you wanted to download it to make sure it works with your pc you can find sources for it with out having to pay out.

I find that its a pain to use the maps only without the 3d view of the area I am travelling through.

[julianf]

Possibly its the same, or somthing similar, but i recall that people driving in africa were talking about software where you could scan in your paper map, and align it on the screen, so as the gps stuff was overlaid on top of it. 

Similar situation - no gps maps availible.

[julianf]

eg -

http://www.expertgps.com/help/calibrating-a-scanned-map.asp

there may be others, thats just what i came across now.