GPS in an iPod world

[eljay]

Everyone who has done a longer run knows that you will eventually have a problem saving your track data (unless of course you are rich and have a couple of GPS units, appeared in Star Wars at some time or have a back-up vehicle with your laptop on board)
You may also have either an iPod or some sort of removable hard disk (e.g. Archos or Vosonic) to save your pix or listen to your tunes.
It would be sweet if there were some way to use an iPod/mp3player/hard disk etc. to save tracklogs/data from a GPS unit.
Anyone know of such a program? Or anyone working on it?
Would be great if it went both ways (to and from unit) so you can carry a number of routes/tracks and maps.
If you could save direct from active memory, there would be no loss of data integrity, garmin applies algorithyms to get the number of points to 250 even though the active memory may have thousands.
Any ideas/leads folks?

 

[John Armstrong]

Be a market I'm sure. Quest 1 owners with lots of track space and limited map storage will like it, and 26xx owners with lots of map space and limited track storage will also be interested. IMHO of course.

 

[eljay]

I am sincerly hoping that some brilliant GSer will reply and tell us where to get or how to do.
We all know that you gotta be pretty smart to ride a GS in the first place so it's only a matter of time

 

[Kritou]

Two weeks ago I emailed Garmin to ask if they had ever considered putting Mapsource, Trip & Waypoint Manager, or a version of them on a U3 flash stick. These devices retail for about £30, have a 2GB capacity and are recognised by a PC as your CD/DVD drive and therefore autorun the installed applications on the host PC

It probably is pie in the sky but if it did work you could plug into any USB2 equipped PC and run Mapsource then upload/download routes tracks etc to your GPSR

 

[Vampire]

Track Logs

There are a number of solutions to this problem.
First choice, buy a GPS with a sizeable track log, like a Garmin 276C or the new Zumo.
The StreetPilot series is hopeless.
Too often, buyers ignore the fact that the StreetPilot, is, well, a street pilot, not really intended for long distance touring.
Its track log, at GPS resolution, is about 150 kms.
A 276C, at GPS resolution, is about 3000 kms.
Which brings us to the next point: you can configure how often the GPS records a track point.
The default is the GPS resolution, but you can change that to suit the type of touring your are doing.
If you are off road and need to know all the twists and turns, maybe 25m is appropriate.
But if you are cruising down motorways, maybe 5 kms will be adequate.
Set the track point interval recording to a value appropriate to your trip.
Then maybe you won't need an offline backup capability.

 

[eljay]

That would be an ideal platform, most GPS units (at least the newer ones) have a USB interface of some description and of course so do iPods and flash drives. Motorcycle travel requires serious thought about what you pack and how much space it takes up, would be great if you could take a full compliment of maps, all your favourite tunes, maybe some home movies and put in your top pocket.
I guess you guys are thinking I am just sitting here with nothing better to do than posting wishlists and waiting for replies to roll in but actually I'm sitting here watching the Joint Typhoon Warning Center sat maps because we are about to slammed by a Super Typhoon and plans for riding this weekend are gone like summer wages

 

[eljay]

You guys type so schnell!
Vampire, I know I can set recording and save 20 tracks etc. but that imposes limitations. Using a 76C by the way, could not afford 276
The reason I have been thinking about this is an upcoming trip either via Russia to Europe (from here) or if the documentation is just to difficult I am working on Plan B which is Australia, here - then Darwin - round the coast - back to Darwin then ship the bike back. Either way, would like to have routes/tracks/maps at my disposal and both would be quite a number of km's.
Anyway, I guess it is a wishlist. I saw an exceptionally small PC in Singapore recently, from Sony. Nice size, but a price too far for me.

 

[Timolgra]

Or you could use a map and highlighter pen for the obvious bits and the track log for the not so obvious. Obvious innit

 

[eljay]

Yo Tim, back to carrying paper (apart from the roll)
Like your "dead fish...", one of the best I've seen