GPS Help

 

I need a handheld GPS, but after 3 years of searching and research, I
still can't figure out what I need - GPS manufacturers easily have the
worst marketing departments in the entire high-tech industry.

My wife flipped a coin and bought me one, but even though it's loaded
up with all kinds of useless bells and whistles, and was far out of my
original budget, it STILL won't do what I need, since it doesn't take
the required memory thingie that will allow me to spend another $120
on a map, so it's going back.

My needs are incredibly basic - I need to be able to plot my location
on a topo map, and I'd like to be able to save a route, then download
the data onto a topo map.  I'd like a compass too.  It seems that I
SHOULD be able for find something that does these minimistically basic
functions for ~$150 or less.  All I really want is to identify and
walk my property boundries, and mark some points of interest.  That's
it.  The most basic $50 GPS will do the job, but I would like to be
able to interact with a topo map, and that is where the whole thing
seems to fall apart.

There is the most basic functions on a GPS, IMHO, yet I can't find any
units that will do just these simple things.  The only sure-fire
option is to buy the most expensive unit offered, which still won't do
anything without a software package, then buy a topo map software
package and hope it actually will work.  This approach will likely
yield the desired result, but at a cost of >$600, and will load me up
with 1000 features that I don't want or need.

Are there any products out there that actually contain the 3 or 4
desireable GPS features for walking the woods w/o loading up and
charging for all the stuff that I don't need?

Thanks - JayC

 

wrote:


My Garmin Vista does this.  I don't use Garmin software to do it
either, but I haven't messed with it since it wont stay on due to the
battery connection being incredibly crappy.

Mike Baxter

 



You are talking about a geo-referenced map.  There was a guy in here that
posted some humongous gis maps, I didn't capture all of them because I was
on a dial-up.

I'll be darned if I can offer up a program that can tie all your routes
together and place them on a map.  That doesn't cost a zillion (that's way
more that a brazillion-sorry Tiago).

Joe

XL600R

 



I imagine you have found this place already http://www.delorme.com/    I have
never bothered to get such a device but as long as you remove the condition
that it be handheld and instead plug it into a usb port these guys have had
something that will do those things you list for quite a while.  Of course
you have to buy the topo maps separately on disc.  Actually I can't say for
sure they don't have a handheld device that will do that when plugged into
the usb port of a computer with the topo maps.  I spent a good amount of
time looking at raw land for sale and I am pretty sure loggers and folks in
the real estate business must have this stuff to plot the property lines on
topo maps and print the acreage down to decimals.  Or more exactly in the
case I saw the topo maps on the computer screen the real estate folks got
the logging folks to do it.

Fran

 


that's easy


you mean "save a track" - a "route" is a pre-programmed sequence of
waypoints you can setup in your gps

no sweat, just try and STOP a gps from saving a track


oohhh, there's a challenge

the closest I've come is a program published by National Geographic
called "Topo!" - as I recall, it allowed me to import into Topo! a
track I'd saved on my GPS and put it on Topo's (topo) map then edit it

That's the program that Bill Dart uses to make those great maps like
the ones we got from him at Baumgartner.


hell, my old eMaps do that


hell, my old eMaps do that and you can pick up a warranteed eMap on
eBay for $100

You know, now that I've had to give up dirt biking, I've got all this
stuff just laying (lying?) around, I'll send you an email and see if I
can make you up a "care package."  If you don't get an email from me
in the next day or so, post saying so.

-Joe