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GPS for the Windows Mobile 5? 48

Posted by Cliff from the never-unfold-a-map-again dept.
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."
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GPS for the Windows Mobile 5? More

GPS for the Windows Mobile 5?

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  • I love the Tom Tom software. I installed it on my iPAQ and use a bluetooth GPS.

    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 Chand

    • Re:Depends on where you use it... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No shit, TomTom is a dutch company. Now you get a taste of how us euro people feel with US-oriented products :)
    • I want to say its the BEST GPS I have ever used... But its also the WORST one. God. The maps in that thing are ALTEAST 8 years old. Major interstates are not on it in Dallas. The only hope for TOMTOM is that the rider dosn't use the same maping company that the normal TOMTOM's run. But I am not going to use it till I know. Bleh, just rather buy the $99 map update for my Magellian 700. Why bother blowing money on something with bad databases.
    • Well I don't know how good the U.S. maps are in the TomTom, I can tell you all the European ones are excellent.

      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 jour
    • The newer TomTom bluetooth receivers are not as good as some of the other receivers on the market, but the package as a whole is excellent.

      I use the TomTom mobile version with my Nokia N70 on Symbian. I think it's called "Mobile 5" but that might be wrong. (Their naming is very confusing.) I should probably also point out I'm UK based -- I have the UK version + the European maps.

      I actually use the GPS more for skiing - speed, trip, profile &c.. I'd recommend GPSXC [gpsxc.com] for this - it even comes with a fu
    • I can tell you right now that their denver map is at least five years out of date.

      I'm a taxi driver in denver. Their maps don't even show the colorado mills mall. Searching for addresses on streets that span though multiple zipcodes is like pulling teeth. Example:

      14500 W Colfax (the colorado mills mall), comes up with the following choices of streets with which to search for 14500 and be denied due to its old database:
      W. Colfax (Edgewater)
      W. Colfax (Denver)
      W. Colfax (Lakewood)
      W. Colfax (Golden)

      Also, the
  • I run iGuidance on my PocketPC, I was running it under WM5 on my Axim x50V, until I realized that bluetooth support for WM5 is terrible.

    iGuidance has been working great for me so far.

  • I've been using Tom Tom for a while now and it works pretty well; the GPS units themselves are more flakey. You should find deals for less than $200 if you look around.

  • TomTom (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jcostantino ( 585892 ) on Sunday April 09, 2006 @12:14AM (#15093625) Homepage
    TomTom has great navigation instructions and the routing is great. But the database is terrible! I bought the most recent Fort Lauderdale database and entire subdivisions STILL don't show up! On top of that, the POI database is limited and sometimes inaccurate.


    I've noticed that it's not very helpful getting you to where you have to go unless you already know how to get there! We drove to Orlando, couldn't find the subdivision (existed for 5 years) because it wasn't on the map. On top of that, the only thing that almost none of the Disney hotels showed up on the map.

    • Both TomTom and Lowrance MapCreate (the software for Lowrance's GPS receivers) use Tele-Atlas as their data source for roads and POIs.

      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
      • Mapopolis uses Navtec data and so far my experience is that it is on par with DeLorme's road data, if not better. Both do such a good job that it's hard to tell.

        Recent Garmin street mapping products derive their data from Navtec also, I believe. I know MapSource MetroGuide 5 did, even its non-Navtec predecessor MetroGuide 4 was pretty accurate, although a bit out of date. Not sure about the products that come with their Que packages. Garmin's user interfaces and maps are very good though from past exper

  • IPAQ 6515 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Sunday April 09, 2006 @12:21AM (#15093640) Journal
    Hi,

    If you can, I'd suggest returning your current device and buying an Ipaq 6515. It has the GPS unit built right in - no attachments. It comes with TomTom and one free map of a city. You can purchase some of the other maps online. It has worked great for me for the east coast. A little flaky at times, but overall very reliable.

    I'd add that the device is not perfect, but it does work exceptionally well. A WM5 version came out recently and while it has a little less memory, you can send it away for a memory upgrade. Cingular is packaging it's 6515 for only 500 with a 2 yr contract, but I believe their version is running WM2003.

    • , I'd suggest returning your current device and buying an Ipaq 6515. It has the GPS unit built right in - no attachments.

      That's a bad idea. Why? Because your GPS receiver needs to see the sky. But - you need to see your PDAs screen. Often these two do not mix, for example in your car; you might want to have a GPS receiver horizontally on the dashboard, under the windshield, but the PDA in an upright position. A bluetooth GPS receiver offers more practical configurations to work with, to maximize GPS visibi

      • Re:IPAQ 6515 (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by MBraynard ( 653724 )
        You have no clue how well this thing works. You really out to shut your mouth when you don't know what you are talking about.

        The GPS receiver does not need the sky. It can sit inside my pocket. It can sit inside my car at whatever angle I want it to be at. It has no issues. I currently have it burried in from of the gear box in an area where I can see it well.

        • Re:IPAQ 6515 (Score:3, Informative)

          by wfberg ( 24378 )
          Geez, you're a might touchy about the capabilities of an inanimate object you happen to own.

          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
          • Your criticism of the device not working as well because it does not have an 'attachement' is totally bogus. That is my point. I drive around NYC and DC with sitting on the seat next to me or tucked into the console of the car straight up or in the hands of the person in the back seat of the car or whatever. It has never had a problem. I have an 02 Concord LXi.

            So for advice to ALL READERS of this site, the device works fine and others who have it will totally back me up on this:

            http://mobilitytoday.com/f [mobilitytoday.com]

  • Accuracy (Score:4, Informative)

    by figleaf ( 672550 ) on Sunday April 09, 2006 @01:01AM (#15093739) Homepage
    As far as accuracy is concerned I doubt these small devices can provide accurate voice instructions.
    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.
    • Tomtom has very good voice guidance.
    • Actually, I've worked with Nextel (now Sprint) phones which have voice directions that were pretty darn good. I know we also played with some device that had incredible voice driving directions.

      The flip side is that the phone had to be connected at the time, but with that caveat aside, it did a heck of a job.

      Directions aside, we did some cool stuff with GeoFencing and other nifty GPS tricks that let employees have no idea the level of which their employers are tracking them. Scary, but cool stuff.
    • actually they are often better (nicer, faster and easier to update) than most navigation systems which are built into cars.

      the only disadvantage is the lack of a gyro and a speedometer impulse connector so the software cannot estimate the current position when the gps signal isn't available for some time.
    • As far as accuracy is concerned I doubt these small devices can provide accurate voice instructions.

      They certainly can. I've got TomTom on a Palm TX, and the accuracy of its instructions is limited only by GPS resolution and map accuracy, not 'limitations of a small device'. Plus, I can use a dash mount to position the screen in my field of view. Try that with a laptop and any vehicle that's not an HGV.

  • Pharos GPS (Score:2, Informative)

    by cmarks03 ( 900042 )
    If your phone has bluetooth or a CompactFlash slot, you can get the adapters from Pharos (their iGPS-360 is the exact same as the one with Streets and Trips). The Bluetooth adapter runs about $100, and the CF adapter will run about $50. I've used a Pharos GPS for just over a year now, and I love it (though I use their Ostia software, not M$'s offering). You can check them out at www.pharosgps.com [pharosgps.com].
    • I have to agree with this one. You can get a removable GPS adapter that can be plugged in to a bluetooth radio or a serial cable directly to your handheld. These show up on a COM port on the device so that other software can easily use it. They also have a CF card adapter that I looked at, but didn't like because my big fat rhino-skin case keeps the CF flip top from going to a convenient location. The radio and serial versions both have a car power adapter so you can plug in both the GPS reciever and th
      • Doh! I forgot to change my mode from HTML Formatted to Plain Old Text, and I also didn't preview. Something must be wrong with me.

        Sorry about the lack of paragraphs in that.

  • Without a doubt I will say that I've never had a problem with the TomTom software on either the treo or the regular hardware unit. I assume the same is true for the pocket pc.

  • copilot ... (Score:2, Informative)

    by madhippy ( 525384 )
    I'd avoid copilot ... software is buggy and they tend to only fix things in new releases which cost $$$ to upgrade to ...

    I bought copilot 5 - should have stuck to tomtom ...
  • No-one has mentioned Destinator - I thought it was a bit better for US maps, but I could be wrong. Personally I use Tomtom and it's fantastic. However, I am in the UK and we seem to be kept reasonably up to date with maps and accuracy.

    As to comments over getting PocketPC devices instead of WM5, from my experience, the portable devices are just as good. I have a bluetooth GPS on the dash, so I don't have to either leave a map unit in the car, or remember to bring it when I want - it's always on me as it's

  • navigon or tomtom i suppose. (Score:5, Informative)

    by dunkelfalke ( 91624 ) on Sunday April 09, 2006 @04:31AM (#15094144)
    my job is actually writing a intelligent transportation system which uses a navigation software for pocketpc. we have reviewed maybe 5 different systems: tomtom, navigon, fleet navigator (the same software is also sold as falk navigator and marco polo), destinator and idrive navigator.

    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.
  • #1 TomTom [tomtom.com]
    #2 Mapopolis [mapopolis.com]
  • I invite you to slashgeo.org [slashgeo.org]. Quite smaller than slashdot (and only 6 months old), but it reach thousands of geospatial professionals and has over 8000 daily hits right now. It has an active GPS section [slashgeo.org] that will undoubtly interest you and of course, the usual Ask Slash section [slashgeo.org].

    "As a side note, I already purchased Microsoft Pocket Streets 2006"

    Stories in other sections, such as web mapping, might also interest you since it includes stories such as Open Source Alternatives to Consumer Map Programs [slashgeo.org]. A part of the story: "Open source tends to be lacking in consumer map programs ala Microsoft Streets and Trips [microsoft.com] and Delorme's Street Atlas [delorme.com]. There are several efforts to repair that situation. GMap [sourceforge.net], Roadster [linuxadvocate.org], and RoadNav [sourceforge.net] are three examples. [...]"
  • is DeLorme's Street Atlas 2006 [delorme.com]; at $40 it's a bargain. It has a little trouble detecting Bluetooth GPS in WM5 (but so does everyone else apparently), but you can work around it with a little registry hacking.

    I've used Street Atlas on the Siemens SX66 (WM 2003) and Qtek 9100 (WM5); it works well on both.
  • Haven't played with Windows Mobile 5, but I'll add my exp points just because people will be reading.

    For serious trips, I plug the laptop into our little AC inverter and use the full US Garmin MapPoint / NavPoint database. Without the laptop, I can drag my Garmin Legend around and leave it running so I still get to save my journey / hike track for later without worrying about running down the battery on my PDA. The database is great, my only serious gripe is that it doesn't seem to include subway stations

  • Mapopolis (Score:2, Interesting)

    by AdminGamer ( 967203 )
    TomTom has a pretty good UI, and I think that's what sells it more than anything.

    Mapopolis http://www.mapopolis.com/ [mapopolis.com] runs on Windows Mobile and Palm, and the updates to the actual software are free.

    You get a year's worth of free updates to the maps, which are based on NAVTEQ maps (ie, Google Maps, etc).

    While it's closed-source, they do have an open beta program they run which lets you try out the latest features and get suggestions put in. It's definitely more of a power-user's app, but with a free demo, yo
  • I have a T-mobile MDA, and I've personally evaluated MS Pocket Streets 2006, Delorme Street Atlas Handheld 2006, and TomTom 5. Far and away, TomTom has the best UI. It lets you easily set up a new route directly on the unit. Pocket Streets doesn't even DO routing, and I fought with Street Atlas for a week and STILL couldn't figure out how to generate routes directly within the program based on an address. Even Delorme admits their UI sucks and won't really do anything about it. Everything had to be done on
  • I looked into DeLorme, Mapopolis and a Taiwan-based package called PaPago. In a testdrive I was quite pleased with the timely prompts, sound quality and map accuracy of PaPaGo. It does feel good to put your trust on a package like this and get back to a known geography with its help. PaPago uses TeleAtlas, the 2nd digital map provider. NavTeq has the lead in several markets. The issue with DeLorme is that it uses the TIGER database that lacks updates in several places. But it would be good if the public d
  • I have a Garmin iQue M3. After reveiwing the maps and routing of Tom Tom, Que and microsoft streets, I went for the iQue. I love the address search and business seach, though some times it missess a residential address by as many as 5 houses and there are quite a few more Starbucks in the world than it can find. We had a heck of a time find coffee stops in Alabama and northern Georgia... We had to resort to actually calling a Starbucks (telephone numbers of businesses are included on the Garmin iQue) th
  • try www.gpspassion.com as a good place to start to find info on gps hardware, reviews etc.

  • TomTom, GPS and WM5 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by redjupiter ( 718554 )
    I recently purchased (first use of GPS for me) TOMTOM Navigator 5 with bluetooth, running on O2 ZDA Exec (I-mate Jasjar or HTC universal) over here in London. The software is pretty good and the instructions are very clear. Route calculations are very fast, fix acquisitions nor more than few seconds at most. Full post code search. Takes tiem to get used ot the instructions, for example, (not usre if it is a bug) ona roundabout in London it told me to take the fifth exit when there is none. Later as I was dr
  • If you are in the US of A, then get a Navteq based package. For Europe, get TomTom which is Tele Atlas based ...

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