On my Asus EEEPC, I'm using a Microsoft USB GPS-360. Is there any such software that is compatible and will do that?

I want to take my netbook in my Jeep for off road wheeling, so highway maps do me no good at all. I will not be rock crawling so no real jarring or bouncing. Aerial maps that show the mountain trails are perfect, but I would like to track my progress, and maybe plot a route to see where I would turn, branch off etc. Driving mountain trails is hairy enough without not knowing where you are and where you're heading.

Thanks

Here are a few options that I'm aware of.

One is Google Earth. If you combine it with a good "front-end" program like Earthbridge or GooPS you can use it for realtime navigation. You can browse the area you want to drive in at whatever zoom level you need with the aerial/satellite view turned on and it will be saved in Google Earth's disk cache so that it can be used when you are offline.

The free version has a 2GB disk cache which will cover a very large area, even with highly detailed aerial views.

Google Earth is not terribly GPS-friendly on its own so you need a good GPS front-end program to make it easier to use for realtime navigation. GooPS and Earthbridge both do a good job of finding the GPS and making sure Google Earth can use it.

Limitation is whether you can get aerial/satellite images on Google Earth of sufficient resolution in the areas you want to travel. That's really easy to determine because you can just look at the area in Google Maps online to see. Or download and install Google Earth. It's free.

A second option is DeLorme Topo USA ver. 8. It has all the realtime navigation features of DeLorme's Street Atlas (and all the same street maps if you want a little onroad nav occasionally). It also has good topo maps (for the continental USA). But the key in your case is that it comes with a one year subscription to DeLorme's online map repository which includes lots of aerial imagery. You can download all you want and use it for advance planning and also for realtime navigation.

A third option might be National Geographic topos. I know that lots of people like them for planning camping and hiking and mountain biking trips. I know it will use a GPS but I don't know if it has realtime navigation or just spot location for your current static location. And I don't know if it has imagery available or just topo maps, which might be just as good for your purposes.

That's a start. Perhaps others have alternative suggestions.

...ken...

Thank you Ken that was very helpful and I will look at the options. I do have Google Earth and the aerial maps in that and Microsoft Maps have really excellent detail showing trails all over northern Nevada which is where I will be wheeling almost exclusively. I'll have to get one of the front end programs for my 360.

Thanks again.

Nat'l Geo's TOPO can:
1. mark your current location as a waypoint
2. show your current location
3. lay down a configurable track

See screenshots. It doesn't have aerial maps, just USGS topo maps,

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Thanks gadget girl but I need more than topo maps. I have that on my Garmin Etrex and while it shows my position and elevation it doesn't show the actual trails.

I just downloaded GOOPS free one to my netbook and it looks really good. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it.... I guess the best thing to do would be to go outside and plug in my GPS and then run GOOPS huh?

That's true. Nat'l Geo doesn't show anything but fire (forestry) roads and some major trails.
Does Goops give you any real advantage with Google Earth if GE it is already running OK with a GPS? I've been wondering about that.

I don't know. I've never had much luck getting GE to work smoothly with any of my GPS receivers so I use one of the frontends any time I want to use it that way. But I've honestly never looked at either one of them to see what else they do. I've already got so many GPS utility programs kicking around that they're starting to get confusing. That would be two more to get confused. ... At my advanced age I get confused enough trying to remember my name some days.

...ken...

Man I know the feeling Sometime I have a hard time figuring out how to get out of bed.....SHEEZ! I haven't had a enough time to fool around with either program yet but if GooPs works with GE well I'll will be so happy cuz it's exactly what I want. I actually stood outside today looking at the trail I'm going take over the mountain and said to myself "I gotcha now!" HAH

I guess I've been pretty lucky with GE with both of my receivers. GPSGate has been in the middle though, so I don't know if that's making a difference. GE finds GPSGate and locks on very well, even going down the road. I've been experimenting with GE's cache as I don't have mobile broadband....yet

....my GPS software folder on my USB HD is bulging! I just can't resist a new utility. I just store them away thinking....hey, that will come in handy someday! I get myself confused a lot!

Keep us posted as to how it works out. I live in the Rocky Mts. of Montana and am very keen on exploring more of the forestry roads in the Tribal Wilderness area of the Mission Mountains. The snow is starting to melt in the lower elevations. I want to compare Nat'l Geo to Google Earth side-by-side. (Most of these roads are in Nat'l Geo.)

These roads can be very confusing with so many branches and forks!

Yep and that's the reason I want a program that I can plot a course to a destination and when I get to a confusing intersection I will have waypoints and pins already there so I'll know which way I want to go. Nothing scarier than to get lost up in the mountains. I'll be doing this in late April or May and at these elevations there isn't any snow....low ranges.

How did Lewis & Clark ever manage without GPS!

Sure, they had compasses, but no maps!

That's because they had years to do it not hours.... HAHAHAHA

Well I fooled around a bit with both Goops and Google Earth and I now know I need help with both. I thought I could just save a map from Google Earth into a cache and then run Goops and the GPS would appear. Stupid me.... I think not. Goops says it acquired a signal but no cursor appears....duh.... I need help here folks. I wish there were some instructions for Goops.

BTW- I really like Mapsphere but of course ran into the same problem there. Guess I'm just a dumby.

I've just d/l'd GooPs...somehow I just can't resist yet another utility!

Here's what I did. I have a bluetooth GPS receiver that runs through GPSGate (only because I'm obsessive and I like to run a bunch of GPS apps at one time! ) GE works fine for me without Goops, but I tested it with GooPs just for fun.
When you start GooPs, go to the Options and make sure it isn't running in "demo" mode...Uncheck Demo Mode and change ID to "Me".
Select Autoscan and Autoconnect. It should scan the COM ports and select the one for your receiver. (I run GPSGate, so it selected a free COM port in GPSGate.) You should see a dialog where it is checking the COM ports...then it will say "Acquiring Signal". Once the signal is acquired and everything is hunky-dory (did I just say that?), GE will "see" "GooPsServers" in the "places" pane. Make sure the demos are unchecked and "Me" is selected in GE. Mine zero'd right in on my location in my GE cache. (I'm at work and don't have an Internet connection.
I'll be experimenting more too!

Also, you may already know this, but GE requires an Internet connection, unless you have cached the area you want to explore. While you have an Internet connection, browse the area at all zoom levels that you think you will need. Make sure each image has fully downloaded, before you move on. GE will automatically cache up to 2 GB of maps. This can be real PITA as it is time consuming if you have a large area, but will be worth it!

Thank you! Basically that's what I did and I got "signal acquired" but nothing showed on the map in GE. I disabled my wireless so I was not on line and the map I had saved seemed to be very clear from high altitude to low altitude. I guess I should go back and save several maps at different levels??

Gary, are you sure you are looking in the right place in Google Earth?

If the area where the trails are is not where you and your GPS are, and you are viewing the area where the trails are, that might be part of the problem.

I generally work with Google Earth at home so I've set my Start Location to my home. You can do this by viewing your home (or wherever) in Google Earth, selecting the VIEW menu and clicking on "Make this my Start Location".

That's just a shot in the dark and might have nothing at all to do with the problem, of course.

...ken...

Yes the map I had up in GE is the same one I am going to use from my house to Gerlach (100 miles) so my home postition is on the map. I really have to get out and play with it more too. I am planning on plotting my route on my home computer, saving it and loading it into my netbook... I think that will work...maybe???

The one thing I don't understand is the use of the cache. I know where it is but how can I manipulate it to use each zoom level of the map?

You know, Gary, I think I see the same problem you are having! When I first ran GooPs last night, I had no problem at all. Now, today, I have NO position marker at all, (I am at my Starting Location in GE.) I'll keep fiddling to see what could have changed!

(Just in case somebody asks, it wasn't the GPSGate marker that I saw last night. I had the blue GooPs arrow on my map. GooPs worked just fine without GPSGate running, as I tested it in that scenario too.)

Yep I saved a map from GE to My places and shut down my wireless, got off line, shut down GE and started Goops. It started GE off line, brought up the map and acquired the signal but never showed anything at my starting location. I'm using the Microsoft 360 and it says it acquires the signal so I can only presume it works with this unit.

Think cleaning the mud off will help???

I hope that passenger window was closed during the onslaught!

Terry

Geez I knew I forgot something

I didn't need a GPS to find my way into that mud hole...it was only about 200 feet off the highway... boooo....splush...

As long as you didn't need your GPS to find your way out!

Terry

It may help the GPS receiver to *see* the satellites better.

Gary, I figured out why GooPs stopped working for me. See if this pertains to your setup. When I Ifirst d/l'd GooPs, I put the file in a folder on my HD. I did notice that the first time you run GooPs, it created 2 other files - Me@localhost.trk and GooPs.trk in the folder. When I ran the executable the first time, I ran it from the folder on the HD. After that, I put a short-cut to the executable on my desktop. That's when it quit working and refused to mark my location. Even though it was just a shortcut and not a copy of the .exe, it refused to work correctly. This morning I deleted the shortcut and ran GooPs from the .exe in the folder. That fixed it!

BTW, that's some serious 4-wheelin'!

OK thanks I'll give that a try. I too put a shortcut on the desktop.

That was just seriously stuck in the mud....took almost an hour to get out..BACKWARDS.

Definitely won't work with a shortcut!
We just got back from a trip to Kalispell and GooPs & GE tracked perfectly. (I put the original file in a folder on my desktop and ran it from there.) I think I like GooPs better than just using GE alone with GPSgate; as this method will will only zoom to one level (about 3800 ft) when tracking. GooPs lets you zoom in and out and it will stay at whatever "altitude" you want.


Here's our last "serious" stuck. On top of a mountain in Montana on an ill-fated Christmas tree expedition. This is a very old 1985 Suburban that had no business on that mountain - my fault - I just knew the "perfect" tree was down this road off the beaten path!

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HAH...that's funny! Yep sometime you think you're doing good and you ain't HAHAHA

Well I can't get Goops to work at all even with an internet connection. I think I'm going to uninstall it from my netboook and directly download it to the netbook... I didn't do that originally. Also I'm not 100% sure it's working with my GPS 360 although it says signal acquired but how can I be sure. I wish I had some good instructions for both the porhram and the Microsoft GPS 360(got it free but no instructions and was able to download the driver)

The GPS-360 is a Pharos product Microsoft used with S&T before the Pharos GPS-500 came out. I can't track down an instruction manual but there is nothing you need to do anyway. Once the correct driver is loaded for your operating system, GPS data will appear on the appropriate COM port every time you connect the GPS to an USB port. I had heard some time ago on this forum that there might be an internal battery in that device that could fail though.

I am not familiar with the Goops diplay. Perhaps you should try Earthbridge as I know it clearly shows the incoming GPS signal strength and satellites.
Earth Bridge - Bridge the gap between Google Earth and your GPS receiver.

Terry

Is your GPS receiver working with other GPS software?

Seems like if GooPs is showing "Signal Acquired", you should be seeing a "GooPsServers" line in your "Places" in Google Earth sidebar. Make sure it is checked!

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I don't think it even installs to the OS, but it can't hurt to re-download.

Attached is a very useful little utility called GPSInfo to test your receiver. Also attached is a screenshot of the app. (It also doesn't actually install and is virus & malware free. It came from GlobalSat's Web site.) Turn your receiver on. Set the baud rate in GPSInfo to 4800 and tell it to scan for your GPS. When it finds it, tell it to "Start GPS". It will report a lot of useful info from your GPS receiver like the NMEA data streams and satellite constellation. The gurus on this forum can interpret the info for you. It saved the day for me when I was having problems with my used Bluetooth receiver and Garmin Mobile PC.

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Thanks for hanging in with me on this. I downloaded Earthbridge and my GPS runs just fine with it. In fact the data looks exactly like the dtata in the little utility you sent. I will check to see if Goops shows up in My places on Google Earth.

OK Goops shows up in myplaces just fine and yesterday we went out into the mountains for about 4 hours and and drove some trails and VOILA it tracked perfectly on my netbook with no interent connection. So today I started exploring around GE and found out about paths and that my GPS should actually follow a path I put in. That would be perfect and a better solution than the push pins but is there any way to scroll the map while laying down a path or can I connect two or more paths or do I have to make a bunch of individual paths along the route or?????? Also can I edit a path?? I would like to travel about 100 miles along ridge tops and valleys and the trails are clearly shown on GE but not at an elevation where I can see the entire route.

Hey Gary, LMGTFY (let me google that for you).

....."google earth paths"..........

Drawing - Google Earth Help

That should get you started.

...ken...

Thanks Ken but this dummy figured out how to move the map around using the arrow keys...DUHHHHH! read most of the help page but then skimming doesn't get it does it?

Gary, glad you got GE working. The path thing sounds interesting.

Ken, I looked at the help page you googled - when would you use that 3D polygon tool. A place marker?

LMGTFY - I love that!

I plotted the path from Fernley, NV to Gerlach, NV (where Burning Man takes place) right down the main powerline road over the mountains and what's really cool about paths is that I now have a nice red line showing me EXACTLY where the trail is even when the cached view gets fuzzy because there are a number of side trails that one could get off on that may prove too rugged or??? Took me quite awhile to put in the points but I wanted it very accurate. It may be worth the time. I also plan on plotting different paths in different colors so we can take short side trips to abandoned mines or towns along the way.

Watch it all turn to crap.....HAHAHAHAHAHA

Do keep us informed!!! When are you going on your expedition?

This could be really cool where I live, too. We live on the Flathead Indian Reservation right near the Tribal Wilderness in the Montana Mission Mountains. There so many dirt roads over the whole range just begging to be explored. I have been hesitating for the same reasons as you. It is so confusing! You could be wandering around in the mountains for days! (Plus, my husband isn't as adventurous as I am! After all, it was MY fault we got stuck in the snow, as I am constantly reminded!).

The more I think about how this thing works the more impressed I am. I just tried it without Internet and it is totally awesome! That pretty red line is as bright and clear as can be. There just won't be any getting lost following that.... of course it also helps that there are power lines close by.

Yep you don't want to be wandering around in mountains without some direction unless of course you're a pioneer but by the sound of it your hubby sure isn't.

I'm looking at April 12...that's a Monday...cuz out on the playa(Black Rock Desert) where Burning Man takes place about 9 miles east of Gerlach there is going to be a rocket launch by a bunch of high school kids that are designing and building a 25 foot tall rocket that can reach the stratosphere. It is sponsored by Sony and they have to do all the design work on Sony VAIO computers. There is quite a bit of interest in this event and I just informed Reno 4X4 that I would like to have a group us 4 wheelers go to Gerlach via the powerline road. I'm thinking we leave on Sunday late morning and spend the night out on the mountain top..probaly with some beer and a nice little propane grill... and arrive in Gerlach mid Monday morning and shoot out to the launch site. Since I just installed an auxiliary deep cycle battery in the Jeep I can take all the conveniences of home. I'll return by the highway probably. Of course the one thing that is a MUST when traveling in the desert is a gun. One never goes into the desert unarmed. In addition to a GPS I travel with a Glock 21.

I'll keep you informed on my progress but so far it has been a lot of fun.

My traveling companions.... notice the red path

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Your travel plans sound very interesting - wilderness travel mixed in with a lot of modern technology - this sounds like my kind of trip!

My husband is of the same mindset as you regarding weapons. We bought a gun just to take to Glacier National Park! (Illegal in Nat'l Parks, but Mike said he wasn't going to grizzly bear territory without one. I just carry my pepper spray.) We camp at Bowman Lake which is WAY off the tourists' radar.

I am looking forward to hearing about your trip and how Google Earth works out. You'll be my guinea pig!!

Take care and be safe!

Then you'll really love this page:

Let me google that for you

Bookmark it and share it with your friends who find it easier to type a long question to you than a short search term in their favorite search engine.

Most of my family are pretty sharp and get the message after I refer them to it three or four times.

...ken...

With any decent GPS you will never be left lost if you simply take the trouble to explore your GPS a little bit before you take off exploring some part of the planet.

Make sure the track log is turned on. Clear it at the start of your offroad trek. If the feature exists on your GPS, turn on the option that makes the track show on the display behind your position indicator (breadcrumbs for those who grock Hansel & Grethel).

If it's a long complicated journey save your track with a name occasionally but don't clear the track log.

Then, when you are totally lost and confused, save the current track again (belt and suspenders) but don't clear the track log, set the "show track on map" option on for that saved track or for the track log and follow it back to your jumping off spot.

So simple if you're prepared in advance.

Anyone who gets lost while packing a modern GPS is a candidate for the Darwin award and should just stay lost.

As I tell my wife when we do just that sort of thing, I may not have a clue where we are but it's really pretty and I know how to get us home.

...ken... Sit down, shut up and hang on!!

Sure is nice having that big screen though.... and big pictures...and a nice track to follow....oh ya! After exploring Google Earth a little more I sure am liking it a lot better than any of my other 4 GPS units. I don't know everything like some of you but I know what I like and like what I see. I promise I won't get lost.

Quote:

Oh! That is TOOO funny! I'm going to remember that one!

That reminds me of the "stuck in the snow" incident from above. I had to laugh. While Mike was trying to figure out how to get us "unstuck", I was admiring the absolutely gorgeous mountain sunset! He got a little exasperated with me. You would have thought we were in the middle of the Bob Marshall Wilderness and we were going to have to start hunting small animals!!! We were ONE MILE from the main road that goes to a ski resort.Gee, the worst thing that happened was we had to actually walk back to the road! (Intermittent cell phone reception.) No GPS necessary. He said I wasn't taking the situation seriously enough.

I have practiced with the tracks in the unit in state parks, just in case we ever really need to seriously backtrack. And Mike teased me then saying, "do you think we'll get lost when we can see the campsite?" Sheessh, I can't win!

He's the cautious one and I'm the "let's see what's around the next bend or down this road" type. But, I'm prepared with 2 GPS receivers, netbook, swiss army knife, matches, car chargers and lots of extra batteries. I also keep 2 mylar space blankets, water, and a sleeping bag in the vehicle! And a large furry dog!

But he carries a big gun! I would just say "Stand back, I have a GPS!"

Holy crap batgirl you are prepared!!!! I take a cooler full of beer, a couple of bottles of water, my lighter stick, 2 GPS's, a propane grill, some hot dogs and my binoculars. Of course I take the blow up air matress and a nice comforter.

Oh make my batteries lithium.

I think I got this way cause I moved to Montana from a southeastern North Carolina beach town (palm trees swaying in the breeze). I guess I thought I was moving to the North Pole! Quite a "climate change".

I guess! How long did it take you to stop shivering?? We moved from Michigan...all the green trees and bllue water..to the middle of the desert....brown mountains and sage brush. Oh well at least the winters aren't as bad.

Funny thing is one of the reasons we moved here was to escape the heat and humidity of NC. When we moved here I was battling Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism). One of the hallmarks is an extreme intolerance of heat. Now, 5 years later, the Graves Disease is in remission, I've lost 40 lbs and I am freezing!! I now miss the ocean and palm trees (not so sure about the humidity, though).

My husband complains all the time of gray skies and brown grass! We do have green mountains though.

Yeah my wife and I came out here to escape the lousy winters in Michigan and to be closer to her family and then she got cancer and died December 6, 2008. Now I really miss the green and the water...but not the humidity.

I am so sorry about your wife! That must be very hard as it hasn't been that long. Do you think you will move back to Michigan?

Oh, did I also mention that I carry ibuprofen, Pepsid AC, Sudafed, nasal spray, toothbrushes, toothpaste, nail file, band-aids, Rolaids, hand cleaner, lip gloss, and extra contact lens in my gadget bag?
(BTW, Timbuk2 makes terrific gadget bags !! http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/products/messenger/)

Well thank you and it is still very hard and no I like it here in Nevada.

I will be carrying a full first aid kit and your suggestions are good! I'm also finishing up my netbook tray for the Jeep. I think it's going to be a killer... I hope. Pics when I'm done with it.

Sorry, I haven't been around for a few days, but I have been working vewy vewy howd on my netbook tway.... says Elmer Fudd.

Here it is...works good too.

Take a look: http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/3396-home-made-mount-asus-eee-pc-netbook-jeep-grand-cherokee

Wow...I am impressed..I love the shock absorbers! What I great idea for off-road!
Is that a picture of your jeep on the back of the monitor, or do you know some trick for "back-to-back dual displays"? Hey, somebody should invent that.
We just traded Mike's totally useless (IMO) Bonneville for a 2004 Ford Expedition to pull our brand new toy...a travel trailer. And he has promised I can modify to my heart's content as long as, in his words, "It doesn't look like s**t!"
Can't wait to hear about your trip, coming up pretty soon...send pics!

Well the big trip to Gerlach had to be postponed for a few weeks....darn...but we will still be going. However tomorrow a bunch of us are going to take a day trip from basically Sparks, NV...exit 22 on I-80... to the petroglyphs up near Virginia City. Should be a really nice trail ride. Screen shot below of our route plotted on GE.....blue line. Red line is at the Jeep Trail is...well...impassable at best and only for super crawlers.

That Expo is a truly great vehicle that takes to modifications very nicely. I have a 2003 F-150 that is basically the same truck only a pickup. Good choice and with some bigger and a little more aggressive tires and maybe a little lift you'll have a truck that will go almost anywhere even the wilderness....I'm very partial to Ford cuz I worked for them for 30 years.

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Well we had our run up to the petroglyphs today and I have pictures but not up on photobucket yet however I have this short video of my neat setup that worked flawlessly. I was leading on the way out and just following the pretty red line. My GPS is leaving the yellow line right on top of the red line.....COOOOOL

[Video] Google Earth & GooPS in my bouncing Jeep