sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information gps road map software for long distance

Since working for this telcom company I have been doing alot of seriosly long commuting of up to 4.5 hours and would like to consider investing into some GPS software that would help me in shoring my commute time by eliminiating mistakes in getting to the destination site.

The region I commute in is the lower half of British
Columbia Canada and includes Vancouver Island.

I have a older Garmin GPSIII kicking around so would hook this up to the laptop.

Thanks for your input

I use a program made by a company called DeLorme. It has a little GPS receiver that is powered off a USB port on my laptop. It works pretty good about 98% of the time. Every once in a while though, it will direct me to make a turn off a bridge when it thinks it's just a cross street. Also when a new road goes in, it takes them a while (years) before it's included. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. I think the latest versions include Canada also.

My Mio C-220 cost less than $200 and you can surely find about 3 others in its price range (well maybe more CDN).
https://www.google.com/products?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=HPIA,HPIA:2006-41,HPIA:en&q=mio-c220&um=1
I used the aforementioned DeLorme and laptop for a year before that. Trust me, get the portable one that fits in your pocket. It's completely self contained and you can keep your laptop for surfing the web and programming phone systems.

Carl

Does your GPS support NMEA 2.0 or better? if so use mappoint and get the pc cable for your GPS.

Well I'm not usually programming phone systems while behind the wheel, or surfing for that matter. Oh wait a minute that's a lie. Just last week I posted while on my way home. :p
I've thought about one of those dash units but I guess old habbits die hard. Plus I can plan routes, figure mileage etc... while in the shop.

But ya look so stupid to other motorist holding that big laptop screen up to the dash :-)

Carl

Cheap way out, Get Microsoft Streets & Trips for 29 bucks at Staples or some other office supply store. It is a world above Delorme which I used for a long time. If you want a inexpensive gps for the work truck, take your pick from the Christmas sales but stick with Garmin or Tom-Tom for reliability.

I have 5 GPS units, and I've had them for a long time. I use Lowrance waterproof I-Way 600 on my motorcycle, A Garmin 2610 in one truck and the wife and kid have Tom-Tom units. But as I said at the top of this post, MS Streets and trips is the best for just printing maps and directions with no GPS attachment (they have one, but like Delorme it is weak at best compared to a real GPS). I have been planning touring motorcycle trips for a long time, I feel qualified to respond to your post.

If you want some good forums on GPS units to check out email me and I'll send you the links.
Mark

surdel,
Do you have a cell phone? Some have built in GPS and software. Thats what I use.

I use the companys cell but really need a display that is large enough to display the road a head so I do not miss my turn off.

I may check out microsoft streets and trips for canada. May be the way to go.

Personally getting tired of these really long commutes and may consider working for another company since there is allot of work here in the lower mainland