GPS for the Windows Mobile 5? 48
billapepper asks: "I recently purchased a Sprint PPC-6700 and was looking to add GPS navigation functionality, however there are quite a few to choose from. I've read about TomTom, Co-Pilot Live, and Garmin Que, but haven't been able to tell which one is worth the $200+ price tag. I was wondering what the Slashdot community felt was the best based on support, functionality, accuracy, map sizes, and ease of use. As a side note, I already purchased Microsoft Pocket Streets 2006 (which came with a GPS receiver), so the ideal option would be a way to hack Pocket Streets to add routing capabilities and, if possible, voice guidance."
Depends on where you use it... (Score:2, Informative)
That being said, I hate the database. I think TOMTOM is much more euro-centric that they would lead you to believe. The online traffic stuff (last time I checked) was England-only. I went on a trip up to northern Wisconsin in the U.S. and it lost track of the major roads about halfway up the state.
Major cities in US seem to be fine, however. Denver, LA, Minneapolis, all tested fine. However, it almost didn't even have Chandler (growing suburb of Phoenix) in the database at all!
For contrast, we had gone to the same Wisconsin location on a previous trip and took my 2001-Navi Acura (this was 2004 when we went) with a fixed DVD for data and the map data was spot-on. I think Acura uses Navteq, not sure who TOMTOM uses. I'm sure someone else here can fill in that blank.
Accuracy (Score:4, Informative)
I have driven around the country (US) using a tablet PC and using a voice addin to Mappoint 2004. It is by a huge measure the most reliable navigation system that is commericially available.
Mappoint 2006 comes with built-in Voice-Prompted Driving Guidance -- but I have not tried it.
Just my 2 cents.
Pharos GPS (Score:2, Informative)
copilot ... (Score:2, Informative)
I bought copilot 5 - should have stuck to tomtom
navigon or tomtom i suppose. (Score:5, Informative)
they all have their pros and cons
tomtom is great and quite fast. a nice allrounder with a nice sdk
navigon is actually the best one, but a major memory and cpu hog with a REALLY expensive sdk
fleet navigator is buggy as hell and crash prone. the sdk is primitive. but there is a version of fleet navigator called truck navigator and it is the only pda navigation software (and maps) which is optimized for trucks
destinator is ok, but you can contact them about the sdk as much as you want, they never answer.
idrive navigator has the least features but the best sdk - you can build it completely and seamless in your application.
Re:Depends on where you use it... (Score:3, Informative)
My Mother was visiting me in England recently from Spain and bought herself a TomTom 700 while she was here and was planning to drive a car back. After I showed her how to program in a few routes and find Points Of Interest along the way, she was able to navigate from my front door in Manchester to her door on the Costa Blanca _and_ be taken to couple of hotels along the route to break up the journey.
She's no techie and she loves the simplicity, and no it doesn't really bother her that the U.S. maps are a bit old.
Avoid Tele-Atlas at all costs (Score:3, Informative)
Both of them have HORRIBLY inaccurate data. POIs will be often off by over a mile, and in some cases will not even be on the correct road. For example, TomTom thinks my local Pizza Hut is on an access road in the middle of a river. In one case I had TomTom route me one mile along a road and then make a U-turn, only to pass my initial starting point. (This road had no turn restrictions and was two-way. No, I didn't actually FOLLOW the route...) Both TomTom and Lowrance's software have incredibly annoying DRM that makes anything a chore even for a single average user. (For example, Lowrance requires a special USB SD card reader to work with their DRM. Forget about using your nice convenient built-in SD reader or a portable reader like the SanDisk MobileMate series - Lowrance's is HUGE. TomTom requires device-specific map activation, so if your device gets damaged or you upgrade, you're screwed.) I'll admit, I tried TomTom in a less-than-legal fashion, so a legit version might be improved, but research I've done indicates that this is not the case. I've seen a lot of similar complaints from people who bought the software and are out $150 on a nice-looking piece of junk with a great user interface. (Yes, TomTom's UI is light years ahead of anything else I've tried so far, but the data is so inaccurate that it doesn't matter. I could get better directions using a TIGER/Line dataset, and TIGER doesn't contain any information on turn restrictions and one-way roads! TomTom's turn restrictions and one-way info are just plain WRONG.)
Mapopolis doesn't have the best user interface, at least not on PalmOS. I don't know about WM5. The next-turn info takes up over half the screen, leaving little room for the actual map. On PalmOS devices, Mapopolis is barely aware of the 5-way nav pad, as a result there is no way to do most things without the stylus. (To be honest, TomTom is also touchscreen-intensive, but they make the icons and touch areas large enough for fingernail operation.) Unlike TomTom, Mapopolis allows for time-limited demos.
DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2006 Handheld has some great features and some major deficiencies. SA2006HH is by far the most compatible with the PalmOS 5-way nav pad. It used to have major compatibility problems with WM5, but DeLorme just released an update on Friday. DeLorme's data is by far the most accurate I have ever used. Unfortunately, their routing engine is pretty slow and their POI search engine is so slow that it might as well not exist. (To DeLorme's credit, TomTom's POI search engine is so inaccurate that it may as well not exist either.) SA2006HH also has the slowest map redraw of any of the handheld software packages I've used. SA2006HH's saving grace - it is the only package that supports topographic maps if you also buy DeLorme's Topo USA. TUSA is the best topographic mapping software I've used to date. TUSA 6.0 + SA2006HH costs less than TomTom ($99 for TUSA, $39 for SA2006HH. If you're already a DeLorme customer you can probably get a significant discount on those, most likely including if you purchase one and then the other once you've registered the first.)
So what do I use? DeLorme for hiking and geocaching, and I'm going to purchase Mapopolis for driving soon. I'll probably wait until this summer though, DeLorme usually releases new versions during late summer, so SA2007HH might come out with significant improvements then.
Re:IPAQ 6515 (Score:3, Informative)
GPS operates on microwave frequencies. Those signals are highly directional, you need a line of sight. In fact, if they were easily dispersed and bounced off of lots of things (the way AM bounces of the stratosphere itself for example) it would be pretty useless as a navigational tool. Now, I'm sure it operates in your pocket. Pockets don't insulate that well against microwave RF. So your receiver will still see the RF pouring down from the sky.
Most car roofs, and some specially coated (against the sun/heat) windshields do too (they usually have a non-shielded spot in the middle of the windshield where you can put an RF toll-token or a GPS receiver). Also, in built-up areas buildings on either side of the road will obstruct the line-of-sight to satellites, and your receiver will be best off lying horizontally on a flat surface, with no roof obstructing the view of the sky above it.
It is well possible that you never drive in built-up areas and have a rooftop that is made out of some sort of flimsy balsawood. That does not in any way discredit a piece of general advice given to ALL readers of this website. You're line of reasoning is basically "STFU". Yeah. Real helpful. I respond to that with a hearty "Cognitive dissonance or phallus symbol?"