Printable View
I am a AAA member and usuaully so to their site for printable maps and directions. I have downloaded Google Earth on my laptop and have enjoyed "playing" with it, but have yet to really figure out it's benefits.
I would like to know if anyone has a GPS receiver that can be connected via USB to a laptop. I've seen these products and they are so much cheaper than the all-in-one GPS recievers, but is this a case of you get what you pay for?
A USB or PC Port GPS Receiver is useless by itself. You need a digital mapping program such as MS Streets and Trips or Delorme for it to be usefull to you.
I have yet to get my hands on one personally, but used one a few times playing with it and they seem to be of good quality. Again, all you're buying is the GPS Satelite antenna and the ability to recieve GPS Signals.
-Brad
Thanks Brad. I knew that software would be necessary for USB port GPS to be functional on a laptop, but even with the purchase of software, this is considerably less expensive than purchasing a GPS for the automobile. (That is if you happen to already have a laptop of course!) If anyone else has any suggestions about a specific brand of USB port GPS receiver please post.
hi guys,
do you all know whether there's any software out there for apple machines? i've been using ms street and trips but i'm gonna be using a mac laptop for the trip so wondering whether there's something similar
I recently got Streets and Trips and I must say it is very good, however do have a few issues with it:
1. Everytime you load your route, it has to work out the entire directions again (can take a long time if you've got a long route with lots of stops)
2. It's really unstable!
- I have a route which I have programmed in 35 stops, I asked it to Optimize them to make sure I was going the best way. It couldn't handle this and crashed (I've tried 3 times and it makes no difference).
- It crashes if it can't find a route. I asked it to tell me how to get to the Everglades NP from Miami and it crashed.
- I like being able to specify not to use highways but this has never worked for me as everytime I change my preferred roads it crashes.
Because of these shortfalls, I still love using a paper map (I like to be able to spread everything out and see my whole route), but Streets and Trips is pretty good at telling me where nearby places are and taking the hassle out of the route finding bit.
Hamish.
I have never had S&T crash on me. Wierd. Maybe it's something with your system?
You might need to drop another stick of memory into your PC. Streets and Trips '06 can be memory-intensive sometimes. A 1 GB stick would be excellent, but a 512 MB stick will do the trick most of the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by hamdevguru
Be sure to run an anti-spyware software every so often. These tips might help you.
I've always found Mapquest gives me the structure I need, and from there I tend to use printed material (maps, guidebooks) to see slight deviations I can make from the route to enhance the trip. I'd probably avoid software that did offered that service, however, I prefer SOME element of discovery.Quote:
Originally Posted by packman
-M. Monetti
I love S&T because you can tweak it more and play with it. It's far easier to add stops and detours and get an idea of how many miles these add to your trip to get an idea if you will have time for them. And while I also like to explore areas on my own and find serendipitious things that I didn't expect along the way, I also find out about things using S&T that I never knew existed that are off the beaten track and that I might have missed without it.
Well, imho, anyway. YMMV. I think we should all just use whatever works best for us. There's no right or wrong way to plan a roadtrip.