GPs for laptops???? please explain

I asked the same question in 2001 but have forgotten the answer now. I am sure some luminaries will be along shortly :-)

G'day, I'm feeling luminous. You need 2 things to turn a laptop into a gps, hardware and software. The hardware is a gps device that can communicate to the laptop, the cheapest being little $70 units on eBay that talk to the laptop using either a USB cable or Bluetooth. The gps device is a little thing about the size of a matchbox which you sit on the dash so it gets a good signal. Once the hardware is up and running then gps data is coming from the device and streaming into the laptop. To do anything with it you need software which is a computer program. There are programs out there that are laptop versions of the ones that run in gps units but they are a bit pricey eg Copilot. These give turn by turn directions just like a normal gps but on the big laptop screen. Most people using a laptop as gps are not using it in the normal sense. They are using it with software such as Oziexplorer and some version of topographical maps. There are no turn by turn directions this way but you can track your progress in real time on screen.
Using the laptop in the car is awkward and the price of gps units has dropped a lot so using the laptop in this way is less attractive now.

Mike

You need a GPS receiver. Usually we just use a mouse type (no screen) that plugs into the USB port.

Then you need software to read the GPS data - Oziexplorer is the main one used around here.

Then you need digital maps to display where you are - Natmap maps covering the whole of Australia are the usual ones used.

Gps $100+
Oziexplorer $100+
Maps $100+

This will give you detailed maps on where you are. This does not give you tyurn by turn street directions.

Alan

Also, to run Oziexplorer your laptop needs to be running Microsoft Windows XP, not Linux.

All of the above (if you have windows XP, oziexplorer does not run on Linux) still only gives you a pointer on a map showing where you are. Once you have obtained the maps, some for a price.

Side benefits are:

1. being able to plan a route to get some where if you have time and programmme knowledge of creating a route in the software.

2. recording track where you have been.

If you want to enter a location, and get voice directions there, forget the laptop and get a Tom Tom or similar device. It still shows where you are lost.

I note some of the replies above that refer to Windows 7 and Vista.

Unless you had a gun held to your head, why on earth would you run such an OS?

A stable version of XP is all you need.

If you want eye candy and functionality, Ozi doesn't run on it.