Home › Laptop GPS Software › Looking for Windows GPS software for North America, Europe, Middle East, etc.
I am new to this forum. I recently purchased a Sony Vaio P series UMPC with a built-in GPS. It came with MS Streets and Trips 2009, but having worked with this program, it seems to lack basic navigation functions. Therefore, I am looking for a real GPS turn-by-turn navigation progam that can take advantage of the built-in GPS and can use a variety of maps (North America, Europe, Middle East, etc.). I do a lot of traveling and a small navigator application that I can purchase maps for will come in very handy.
The Garmin Moble PC seems very attractive, but to use maps other then the built-in map, it seems that I have to purchase the version that comes with the GPS. This is a problem because it is one more item to carry and maintain. Their USB GPS uses a USB port (the machine only has two) and a long cable that has to be stored, and their Bluetooth GPS needs to have the battery charged. Inconvenient when you have other things to carry. I need something small and light.
What I am looking for is an application like the Garmin Mobile PC but that uses the built-in GPS of the Sony.
I have scoured this forum, and have looked over the internet, and have had no success. Nav applications are readily available for North America or Europe, but to find one that can take different maps seems difficult.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Steve Jacobson
The Garmin Moble PC seems very attractive, but to use maps other then the built-in map, it seems that I have to purchase the version that comes with the GPS. This is a problem because it is one more item to carry and maintain. Their USB GPS uses a USB port (the machine only has two) and a long cable that has to be stored, and their Bluetooth GPS needs to have the battery charged. Inconvenient when you have other things to carry. I need something small and light.
What I am looking for is an application like the Garmin Mobile PC but that uses the built-in GPS of the Sony.
I have scoured this forum, and have looked over the internet, and have had no success. Nav applications are readily available for North America or Europe, but to find one that can take different maps seems difficult.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Steve Jacobson
Quote:
Originally Posted by srjacob
I am new to this forum. I recently purchased a Sony Vaio P series UMPC with a built-in GPS. It came with MS Streets and Trips 2009, but having worked with this program, it seems to lack basic navigation functions.
Quote:
I have scoured this forum, and have looked over the internet, and have had no success. Nav applications are readily available for North America or Europe, but to find one that can take different maps seems difficult.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
You have a couple of options. Of course you can purchase one of the versions that comes with a Garmin GPS receiver. As you already know, you can then acquire other Garmin maps for it.
The limitation of having to have a Garmin GPS receiver only applies if you are using Garmin maps which are locked. There are some maps you can purchase from Garmin that are not locked (Metroguide Canada and Topo Canada are two that I know of, for example).
One of the reason Garmin devices are so widely popular is that it is pretty widely known how to create maps in Garmin format. So there are lots of free unlocked maps in Garmin format available for downloading. I'm refering to legal maps that have been created from scratch by other people, not Garmin maps that have been illegally cracked.
If you can find the maps you need that are not locked, either from Garmin or from some other source, you can use the software-only version of Mobile PC.
What areas of the world do you need?
...ken...
Regarding Streets and Trips. It is not intuitive to use (I have a Kenwood Nav in my car, and it's fairly intuitive) and I can't find any good documentation anywhere. I can get it to navigate somewhat, but it doesn't let me know what street I am on. If there was good documentation somewhere, I might change my opinion.
However, I would like a nav were I can get city maps of Europe, the Middle East, the Gulf States, and topo maps of the world. Except for Garmin, the best I have found is the Fugawi Global Navigator, which can use the Sony built-in GPS.
I really want to learn only one nav application, not several depending on what region of the world I happen to be in, and I don't want to be concerned with an external GPS device. The one built-in to the Sony Vaio P series computer seems to work great.
Any comment on the Fugawi Global Navigator?
Again, thank for you help.
Steve
However, I would like a nav were I can get city maps of Europe, the Middle East, the Gulf States, and topo maps of the world. Except for Garmin, the best I have found is the Fugawi Global Navigator, which can use the Sony built-in GPS.
I really want to learn only one nav application, not several depending on what region of the world I happen to be in, and I don't want to be concerned with an external GPS device. The one built-in to the Sony Vaio P series computer seems to work great.
Any comment on the Fugawi Global Navigator?
Again, thank for you help.
Steve
I have not used Fugawi. That is perhaps an oversight on my part. Fugawi has always struck me as very much a "roll your own" product whereas I come to laptop navigation from personal navigation devices where you just turn it on and go. At most you buy some different maps from your vendor (Garmin in my case) and load them up as needed.
I did look at Fugawi a few years ago but I was looking at it for a very different reason. Now that winter is here and golf season is over I guess I should take a look at Fugawi and see how it has progressed.
I can say that the software-only version of Mobile PC will do what you want as long as you can stay clear of Garmin's locked map products (aside from the maps that come with it, of course). If you just plug something like "garmin compatible maps" into your favorite search engine you should get lots of hits. That will allow you to decide whether you can get the coverage you need.
I know you won't get the entire world but there is a tremendous amount of work being done at www.openstreetmap.org and similar sites. Openstreetmap has the goal of doing a complete world map. There are related sites for work focused on specific regions, whose work is directly linked into the overall effort.
Other independent sites have smaller goals to do regions, like www.malsingmaps.com for Malaysia/Singapore and other parts of SE Asia.
There is a mix of free and commercial products out there that are Garmn-compatible.
With either Fugawi or Garmin I think you will still have to do a fair bit of your own work to assemble all the maps you require for anything approaching world coverage. It's too bad Garmin makes it such a pain to use their software-only Mobile PC product with their non-bundled map products for more than just regional coverage.
...ken...
I did look at Fugawi a few years ago but I was looking at it for a very different reason. Now that winter is here and golf season is over I guess I should take a look at Fugawi and see how it has progressed.
I can say that the software-only version of Mobile PC will do what you want as long as you can stay clear of Garmin's locked map products (aside from the maps that come with it, of course). If you just plug something like "garmin compatible maps" into your favorite search engine you should get lots of hits. That will allow you to decide whether you can get the coverage you need.
I know you won't get the entire world but there is a tremendous amount of work being done at www.openstreetmap.org and similar sites. Openstreetmap has the goal of doing a complete world map. There are related sites for work focused on specific regions, whose work is directly linked into the overall effort.
Other independent sites have smaller goals to do regions, like www.malsingmaps.com for Malaysia/Singapore and other parts of SE Asia.
There is a mix of free and commercial products out there that are Garmn-compatible.
With either Fugawi or Garmin I think you will still have to do a fair bit of your own work to assemble all the maps you require for anything approaching world coverage. It's too bad Garmin makes it such a pain to use their software-only Mobile PC product with their non-bundled map products for more than just regional coverage.
...ken...