Some Experimenting with GPS and Google
A New Toy!
Last week we purchased our GPS that will come with us on our trip. It is a Magellan eXplorist 500LE. For the GPS savvy, that is a disappointment i’m sure. Why did we cheap out, you ask? Why didn’t we buy a fancy GPS that tells you where the nearest movie theatre is?
Well, most car-based GPS units tell you:
- Where you are
- What road you are on
- How to get where you are going (in North America)
We want to know:
- Where we have been so we can show you!
- What road we are on
- Where we are right now
I think what Garmin and Magellan have to offer with their car navigation is great; they are easy to use, easy to read and are really handy in the city. There is just one hitch: they are both clueless when it comes to Central and South America. Garmin edges out Magellan with its world basemap, which includes major highways and cities. However, it is truly a dot-and-line affair; dots are cities and lines are highways!
So, why an el-cheapo handheld? Because we are cheap and it was on sale ($150 at London Drugs!). Ahh, but the savings in cost allows us to splurge and purchase the WorldWide Basemap! With these maps, we can see not only major cities and highways, but also parks, lakes, and contour lines. Also, we have Topo Canada, which provides Topographic maps as well as all the parks, roads, Forestry Service Roads (!), contour lines and detailed city maps. While the eXplorists aren’t as user-friendly as the 3.5″ car units, they do make up for it in simplicity. Also, they are water-proof and will survive much better in humid climates than the car counterparts.
This seems like the ideal setup for us; something small, simple, and cheap. Keep it simple.
Now, how will this benefit you, the avid NewWorldOverland.ca reader? Well, by using a great little app called GPSBabel we can convert our breadcrumb tracks into .kml files, which can be used with Google Earth and Google Maps!
