The Joy of GPS - longish ramble

OK, I know some of you guys have been into GPS for ages but I'm still dazzled by the technology and have this urge to tell everyone about it! I reckon this is a biking issue rather than idle banter so here goes...

Until recently, I was of the opinion that GPS was for wusses. Anyone who couldn't use a map and compass to work out where they were deserved to get lost, so what if your OS map gets soggy in the rain and flaps around when you do 90 in the outside lane of the M4, it's all part of the biking experience? My sole concession to electronic mapping was a little app called Mapopolis which I ran on my Palm PDA and very useful it was too. I could carry streetmaps down to house number level for Kent and Greater London, no need for bulky A to Z or road atlases any more. But the great thing for the purist was you still had to work out where you were and your route, it's built in routing function was a little flaky and although it could be GPS enabled, mine wasn't!

However, this gadget sowed the original seeds of doubt in my mind and the thought of a little moving arrow with "you are here" on it sounded better and better. The only other option for bike navigation being A4 printouts in a transparent envelope taped to my tank, I was finding that steering with my knees while I used both hands to swap to the next page was a bit of a pain. Finally a few weeks ago during my annual quest for a "gadget" (I get this uncontrollable urge to buy a "gadget" around late November every year) I had narrowed it down to an Ogg player or a GPS receiver and I bit the bullet. I did a bit of research on the net and my final choice was between an Garmin GPSMap 60 CS and a Garmin Etrex Vista C as I wanted a multi purpose device rather than just a car mounted system. I have to admit that price played a big part in my final choice. I settled on the Vista C (http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexVistac/) as the best compromise, it's a newish design so incorporates a lot of the latest features like barometric and compass sensors, WAAS (not much use in Europe yet!) and is extremely portable (more so than the GPSMap 60) - think bulky (by current standrds) mobile phone rather than walkie talkie size. I picked mine up in a shop called AskDirect in Tottenham Court Road at less than on Ebay!

For various reasons, I didn't get to play with it until Christmas but early impressions are that it's going to be useful. I was initially a bit confused by Garmin's mapping software Mapsource. The basemap that comes with the unit is pretty sketchy - going down to trunk roads only, not street level - and to get the sort of detail I was after, I would have to buy an additional map package. Mapsource comes in two main flavours, MetroGuide and City Select, both of which apparently give the same level of detail but the former being a fraction of the price of the latter (which of course was the one Garmin recommends for the Vista C!) The difference I later found was that Metroguide does not support automatic routing while the Vista C is able to calculate routing on the fly and so needed the pricier City Select package which at first glance was more expensive than the unit itself!!! Garmin tech support told me that Metroguide maps could be loaded into my unit but obviously I'd lose the routing functionality but looking at the cost, I was seriously tempted to go for this option regardless. However..... another choice presented itself... the Automotive Kit!

This consists of a cigar lighter lead, dashboard mounting kit AND City Select Europe CD for around £160 (substantially less than the price of the same software on its own - go figure). Price for price, it's better value than my old Mapopolis app where county maps alone cost about $12 each so to build up the same coverage for all of Europe would be quite expensive. I got mine on Ebay from a company called Westwind Aviation who based on my experience, would happily recommend.

I haven't tried using this on the bike yet, I'm a bit worried it could be a distraction but I'm impressed with it in the car. You simply find the address that you want to go to (or you can download lists of waypoints from your PC), click on it and choose a menu option called rather surprisingly "go to", the box works out the route and displays it. There's a "chase camera" view that follows you from behind with upcoming junctions flagged switching to an overhead map view at the junction itself. If you go off course, it automatically recalculates the route and guides you back (which of course the MetroGuide maps won't do so worth the extra money for that alone). It's also probably as close to being a heads up display as I'm likely to get for a while, the speed readout being at least as accurate as the car's own.

As far a memory goes, this particular beast has 24MB which is enough to download the detailed maps for pretty much all of South East England i.e Kent, Surrey, Sussex and the coast as far as Portsmouth, Southern Essex and most of Greater London within the M25. For longer journeys and foreign trips I guess I'll have to do some juggling. Also, I tried loading up waypoints for all the local "safety" cameras with a proximity alert but was told that after only a dozen, that all the memory for proximity waypoints was in use, I'm not sure if this is because there are a finite number you can store or that my memory space is currently being used by roadmaps.

Battery life... well, it's early days but I'm still on the first set of Duracell AAs. I've got a couple of sets of 2000 mAh rechargeable Ni-MH batteries to use in the future.

Reception? Seems pretty good although reviewers have noted that the Etrex range generally has inferior reception to units with larger antenna but like I said, it was a compromise. It will probably not be so good in say, Central London but there's still the trusty old A to Z.

Cool Gadget Factor (out of 5):

Nice post, very informative. I too fancy a GPS providing I can get one that fits the bill at the right price. If you do a lot of miles I'm sure it's invaluable.


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I too recently got a GPS. I went for the Navman iCN510 which is a complete mapping unit. It also gives directions which is handy.

I've ordered the full street level maps for Europe too.

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If you can bring that down to Soho, Steve, I'd be interested in seeing it.


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[TSM]

http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=...=newsearch.srf

This is your gps location

[northwind]

I fancy one as well, but can't justify it just now. If I do go touring this year, I'll need one, since I'm terrible for getting lost- it'd be handy when I get left behind on rideouts too

Originally Posted by TSM

http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=...=newsearch.srf

This is your gps location

Within half a mile or so

As a long time 'map junkie' I also thought that GPS wasn't for me but then I realised that, even when I had a detailed itinerary in front of me, I half remembered road numbers and directions and 'wrong slotted' far too many times to be funny.

I bought an 'ex-demo' system on eBay which has Kane Navigation on a Palm Tungsten T2 SD card and a Fortuna GPS receiver. I used it for the first time on a trip to Brighton in mid-December and was impressed. For the Lincolnshire trip over Christmas I had it set to non-motorway roads and it took me down some interesting routes - I'll be using the same technique on a trip to Newport next weekend. The only major drawback I have found is that on long journeys, covering more than one map, "Take roundabout" is the only vocal cue for said deviations, exit numbers only being given on 'same map' trips. With all the gubbins stuffed into the tank bag map pocket and the SV tank shape tending to angle the thing away from the rider, I'm going to make a more permanent mounting for the PDA in the fairing so that its easier to see the route when necessary.

The bonus is that none of this stops you planning a route the old fashioned way, poring over maps for as long as you like, and then, when you've made your decisions, you can put in all the waypoints you need and not have to worry about the details.

A tip for 'dawdlers' like myself - use Michelin maps and follow the roads lined with green (scenic routes). You won't be disappointed.

Originally Posted by jonboy

If you can bring that down to Soho, Steve, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Remind me before the next meet, and I will...

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[TSM]

I have a XDAII PDA/Phone, with the complete TomTom Navigator software. With an external 512mb SD i can fit the whole of the UK/France & Major roads of Europe on it.

Plus because the PDA has bluetooth, presto connect to the GPS.