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GPS and Powerbook- Need Help

P

Paperstreet

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 21, 2003
87
0
Detroit, MI (Or close enough to it.)
Alright. Here's the deal. My fiance and I are going on a roadtrip this august out west. I figured I'd get the Route 66 Mac software to have tons of maps and available directions available to me on my 15" Powerbook.

I also need a GPS unit. I'm thinking of the Garmin 60c. or 60cs.

What I'm asking you guys for is your impressions of:

The Route 66 software.
The Garmin 60c vs. 60cs- user experiences, etc...

Also, WILL I be able to hook the Garmin up to the powerbook and just use it as a basic receiver with the Route 66 software for realtime directions.

(I know I can't use the Garmin and the Powerbook together for downloading maps or sharing info, but I thought you COULD use it as a receiver unit.)

I'm basically looking to see if anyone else here has any experiene with GPS and mapping software and if anyone can give me any tips. If you haven't used it with a Powerbook, that's okay. This will be my first GPS unit and I've grown to know and trust the opinions and information given on this site, so I'm hoping there are some GPS users out there that can recommend some GPS models to me.

Thanks.
 
Route 66 is good for the price, but not a great program overall. It's a little slow, and the data can be a little scant in places, but it is worth the money.

Haven't used that particular Garmin unit, but I have an older Garmin and it is very good.

To use the two together you'll need an adaptor cable. Go to http://www.macgpspro.com/html/newhtml/datacables.html for a good cable solution. Make sure you go to Kensington's webpage to install the driver for the cable, as well.

There are a number of other mapping programs for mac that integrate with GPS (GPSy, MacGPS Pro, Nat'l Geographic TOPO), but Route 66 is a good starting point. Once you have the Kensington (or whatever the brand of your adaptor cable is) driver installed, it should work fine, and track your movements in real time.
 
Jeez man, don't freak out. How about no one probably knows, so that's why no one responded?
 
GPS with MAC

another option still if the mac has bluetooth, is to use the Pharos unit, which requires no driver. Just create a partnership and use with Route 66. Have not tried this personally, but that is what I have read on a couple other forums
 
Really, sarcasm eh... well, technically so was that one done you think dude ;). Either way it didn't help your case very much. You should be happy that you got even one good reply :cool:
 
Since I do some sailing, I purchased MacGPSPro software, a Keyspan serial to USB connector, a softchart map package for the coast of Florida and am using a friends old Magellan GPS and the combination worked flawlessly. I am interested in buying a Bluetooth enabled GPS to use with my ibook. It is not clear if Garmin has plans or not for Bluetooth so my questions are..do I buy a different brand bluetooth GPS, wait on Garmin, or since the Keyspan device worked so well, buy a Garmin or other brand GPS (which one) and use it.
As far as highway travel maps, the MacGPSPro software is supposed to convert a Maps On Us driving direction web page to a GPS route.
keith

Paperstreet said:
I'm also interested in this.

I'm taking a road trip in August, and I figured I'd take my 15" powerbook with the Route 66 software. I'd like to use a GPS unit too.

Any recomendations what I can use with my mac and this Route 66 software?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Paperstreet said:
Alright. Here's the deal. My fiance and I are going on a roadtrip this august out west. I figured I'd get the Route 66 Mac software to have tons of maps and available directions available to me on my 15" Powerbook.

I also need a GPS unit. I'm thinking of the Garmin 60c. or 60cs.

What I'm asking you guys for is your impressions of:

The Route 66 software.
The Garmin 60c vs. 60cs- user experiences, etc...

Also, WILL I be able to hook the Garmin up to the powerbook and just use it as a basic receiver with the Route 66 software for realtime directions.

(I know I can't use the Garmin and the Powerbook together for downloading maps or sharing info, but I thought you COULD use it as a receiver unit.)

I'm basically looking to see if anyone else here has any experiene with GPS and mapping software and if anyone can give me any tips. If you haven't used it with a Powerbook, that's okay. This will be my first GPS unit and I've grown to know and trust the opinions and information given on this site, so I'm hoping there are some GPS users out there that can recommend some GPS models to me.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
If I were you, I wouldn't bother asking any questions about GPS on this forum. Apparently, not many of the mac users on here use GPS.

This is a GREAT forum for mac related information, but not when it comes to GPS. When it comes to this, you're lucky if you get any responses. Most of them will be sarcastic, caustic, or rude.

I'd suggest www.geocaching.com. They have some nice all-purpose GPS forums.

I was surprised that more of the Mac users on here don't use GPS. Mac is such a technologically better computer and it would seem the majority of Mac users are technologically smarter and more 'up' on tech. It would seem intelligent to reason that many mac users would be on board with GPS, even if they don't use it WITH a mac. But alas, the posts don't lie.

Not much info here. Look elsewhere is my verdict.
 
Paperstreet said:
Wow. These responses are overwhelming.

Please, don't everybody try to talk at once here.

I guess I'll just go with a compass and a calculator watch. Forget the GPS and Mac. I guess that's overkill.
Click to expand...

I use MapPoint 2004 on my Toshiba laptop. Unfortunately in my research of the Mac platform I've found that mapping software suck badly or in almost all cases is non existent. The only real option for the Mac is Route USA 2004 and every review I've read says it's slow, buggy, printing sucks and in one case it was called beta software by someone on Amazon’s website. In fact another review said that using VPC with MS Streets and Trips (My MapPoint 2004 is S&T's big brother.) was faster then using Route USA 2004 natively in OS X which if true is pathetic. On top of that the available GPS units available for the Mac are few and far between. The unit I have is by www.pharosgps.com and specifically:
http://www.pharosgps.com/products/accessories/GPS_Receivers/PB009.htm]The unit[/URL] In my case the original unit was for my PDA but Pharos was smart enough to make these units modular so unplug the extension cable and simply go and buy a USB cable for your laptop and you are good. The above link is the whole unit itself.
I can’t really speak quality wise for the GPS unit since I’ve never owned anything else. The PC drivers can sometimes be a bit flaky in that its emulating a COM port through USB. Consequently, at least for me, sometimes my mouse goes nuts when I use the thing requiring a reboot. This has become less frequent since I upgraded to their latest drivers and yes they do support Macs. The unit will set you back aprox $160 or so. It IS a bit on the high end but unfortunately some of the other options that are cheaper are PC only. :(

As for my history with GPS. In 2002 I used MapPoint 2001 to go from MN to PA without even looking at directions. Just followed the highlighted line on the map from Point A to B. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever used. When I got tired at 4AM after driving all day I simply pulled over and did a search for the nearest hotel in the area and then simply drove until the little car symbol nailed the hotel. :) Did I mention how dang cool this tech is? I've talked to a number of Mac users who think such a thing is worthless but frankly at this point I won’t go near that Mac without this functionality and unfortunately it sounds as if unless the makers of Route USA get their act and software together I'll being going the VPC and MapPoint route. One thing that might make this moot. I'm looking at getting a Prius with built in GPS. So in the long run I'm probably not going to care one way or another. I'll still want a GPS unit on my Mac since I wardrive but mapping is going to be less of a priority so I guess everything in the long run works out. On a side not does anyone else think in the next 5-10 years GPS is going to become as standard as CD players in the car? It’s such a useful and functional tech that I can't imagine it not becoming a standard.
 
Paperstreet said:
If I were you, I wouldn't bother asking any questions about GPS on this forum. Apparently, not many of the mac users on here use GPS.

This is a GREAT forum for mac related information, but not when it comes to GPS. When it comes to this, you're lucky if you get any responses. Most of them will be sarcastic, caustic, or rude.

I'd suggest www.geocaching.com. They have some nice all-purpose GPS forums.

I was surprised that more of the Mac users on here don't use GPS. Mac is such a technologically better computer and it would seem the majority of Mac users are technologically smarter and more 'up' on tech. It would seem intelligent to reason that many mac users would be on board with GPS, even if they don't use it WITH a mac. But alas, the posts don't lie.

Not much info here. Look elsewhere is my verdict.
Click to expand...

haha, I really worked this guy up with 2 little sentences. Cheers to me!

CHEERS CHEERS CHEERS!!!!
 
Sorry, can't help you. My problem is that I CAN'T get lost. A GPS unit is a waste of money for me. Granted, there may be occasions where I don't initially know how to get somewhere, but mapping software alone can give me the directions. Once I've got that, even if I should wind up off course, I can still get to where I wanted to go. :cool:
 
have the tom tom palm bluetooth gps, discvovered by accident how to set up my powerbook to produce a serial port for the bluetooth, then in the typical mac way started route 66, and the gps showed up, even started giving the altitude, maybe not as useful as the rolling display uisng tom tom, but the map function is useful, just seeing where you are on a map is useful, i drive with the powerbook open, i haven;t tried getting lost on purpose and seeing if it reroutes me, but apart from that it works and works well
 
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