netbook mapping

[paulm]

i've just bought an asus netbook for use in the car, which will be supplying all my music via external hard drive, together with all my mapping.

which software is best for morocco/western sahara? i cant seem to find this package on memory map, however i might be looking in completely the wrong area!

also, for the gps part of it, is a garmin handheld the best to use? something like: http://www.ebay.co.uk/ctg/Garmin-eTrex- ... 86.c0.m14#

if there's a simpler solution then please let me know

 

[SimonD]

People rave about Olaf maps

 

[paulm]

i've downloaded that, looks pretty good!
will this have live tracking in mapsource while using garmin gps?

 

[SpinDrift]

Hi Paul,

Olaf's Morocco maps are what you want. I ran Olaf's maps on a Garmin program called nroute when I went out there. The current versions of Mapsource don't do live tracking. nroute with the right Garmin gps will show you your live position. In Morocco I used a Garmin GPSMap60 in combination with nroute and it worked fine. In the Pyrenees I used a Garmin V but for some reason there was a significant lag (like many minutes) in showing my actual position on nroute. I don't know why this was. Afaik, the etrek will be fine - it is similar to the GPSMap series.

The Garmin Nuvi range does not support live tracking on a laptop. However, iirc I had loaded Olaf's maps onto an sdcard and could use the maps on my Nuvi 770 - but without turn by turn capability because Olaf's maps do not support this.

An alternative is to use a generic USB GPS such as the GlobalSat MR350 (which I belive Gary is using) or BU353. I order to use a generic GPS with nroute you would have to run GPSGate to emulate a Garmin GPS. I am currently testing this combination: nroute, GPSGate and the MR350. The lag I experienced with the Garmin V is not apparent with the MR350.

The advantage of the etrek over the GlobalSat devices I mentioned aboive is that the etrek is a protable device - you can remove it from the vehicle and use it when walking around.

cheers

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

My MR350 has proved to be quite unreliable, I'm glad I didn't abandon my old Garmin GPS IV.

 

[SpinDrift]

Hi Jon,

In what way did you find the MR350 unreliable? It certainly seemed to be more sensitive as it accurately placed a fix where the Garmin V struggled to lock onto enough satellites to do so.

cheers

 

[paulm]

Hi Paul,

Olaf's Morocco maps are what you want. I ran Olaf's maps on a Garmin program called nroute when I went out there. The current versions of Mapsource don't do live tracking. nroute with the right Garmin gps will show you your live position. In Morocco I used a Garmin GPSMap60 in combination with nroute and it worked fine. In the Pyrenees I used a Garmin V but for some reason there was a significant lag (like many minutes) in showing my actual position on nroute. I don't know why this was. Afaik, the etrek will be fine - it is similar to the GPSMap series.

The Garmin Nuvi range does not support live tracking on a laptop. However, iirc I had loaded Olaf's maps onto an sdcard and could use the maps on my Nuvi 770 - but without turn by turn capability because Olaf's maps do not support this.

An alternative is to use a generic USB GPS such as the GlobalSat MR350 (which I belive Gary is using) or BU353. I order to use a generic GPS with nroute you would have to run GPSGate to emulate a Garmin GPS. I am currently testing this combination: nroute, GPSGate and the MR350. The lag I experienced with the Garmin V is not apparent with the MR350.

The advantage of the etrek over the GlobalSat devices I mentioned aboive is that the etrek is a protable device - you can remove it from the vehicle and use it when walking around.

cheers

fantastic information
thank you very much

Paul

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

In what way did you find the MR350 unreliable? It certainly seemed to be more sensitive as it accurately placed a fix where the Garmin V struggled to lock onto enough satellites to do so.

Sometimes, depending on the alignment of the stars perhaps, it doesn't work, as in fails to send any data. I don't use my truck very often and when I do I rarely put the PC on but it only does it when I'm not in a position to investigate properly and then of course when I do get round to investigating it behaves itself again. It's an infrequent problem but would be a major PITA if I didn't run my trusty old GPS IV as a backup. Connections are fine, no obvious signs of physical damage. It might just be needing a reset, or it might have lost track of where in the world it is and be doing a full cold start or something else but with no display the information available is quite limited.

When it's working it seems to match the GPS IV for accuracy which has an external antenna placed on top of the dash.

 

[paulm]

ok, i've sorted out mapsource, nroute, and i've got my garmin etrex venture hc gps.

they all talk to each other, however i'm having trouble with the routing part of nroute.

did a trip down to dorset using some free updated gb+contours "routable" map.

however it couldnt route at all, and ended up trying to take a direct line from my house to the location.

am i missing something? user error?!

if this isnt just restricted to my use, then is there a more suitable version of software for mapping/routing using the olaf maps?

 

[SpinDrift]

Hi Paul,

iirc the Olaf maps are not routable. What I had done was create and upload the waypoints and then follow roads/tracks on the map from one waypoint to the next.

cheers

 

[paulm]

thanks
i've noticed that the morocco overland site has the routes as downloadable waypoints.
fingers crossed this should be ok