wrote in news:a8347b07-841e-4181-a7f4-fd8bbb1531f8@
8g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
I am just starting toward my goal of being able to track real-time or
near-real-time points along a particular wandering and then download/
export/whatever those to Google Earth or a similar mapping tool.
Aside from the hardware itself, the goal is to do it for free.
It was all great until you said "free". I think Skip has the right
idea, though....Spot:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/f...ots.jsp?&glId=
0sKGa9AJRCF45FaX5L5g6PLcZGvSb3nMe
Looks like they had to do a bit of tacking in Buzzards Bay, today....(c;
They're in Vineyard Haven, tonight. The last fix was 14 minutes ago....
Take a look.
You might find Maemo Mapper, a freeware program the hackers wrote for
the Nokia N800/N810 Linux internet tablets very handy. MM will track
you in realtime on one of several different mapping programs like Google
Maps and Virtual Earth and lots of others you can switch between without
destroying your track. It saves the track data to a file you can copy
off and use with Google Earth or Virtual Earth to replay the trip in
standard format.
Just put "Maemo Mapper" into YouTube.com to see how well it works.
There are even instructional videos from some of the users posted to
help you.
All the open source freeware the hackers write for it are stored on a
Nokia sponsored website:
http://www.maemo.org/
Maemo Mapper is available free on:
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/maemo-mapper/
You DID say you wanted FREE, right? Once it's installed, its wizard
installer will ask you if you want to see the "demo repositories" for
all the map sources. Most of them are pay for sites, but their map
repositories are open to use, anyways.
If the tablet is connected via Bluetooth to a cellphone as modem, it
will have the range of the cellphone offshore to download more map tiles
on-the-fly. You can also get a Map Loader to download a ton of map
tiles from your favorite source to store on the tablet's memory cards
before you put to sea. That software is available at:
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/O...mapdownloader/
The free mapping softwares are all on:
http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/travel/
There's a new map software the boy geniuses are working on for the
tablet, now:
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/hike/
Hike doesn't use expensive maps. Hike runs off a PICTURE of a map,
taken with a digital camera like the one in the Linux tablet or a better
one in your cellphone. I see a GREAT use of Hike in a small yacht!
Take a picture of each nautical chart for your sailing area.....
Introduce the picture to the HIKE software and do its reference point
calibration procedure for each picture.....
Store them on the tablet's memory card to bring up any time you need
one...
No expensive chart plugs, no expensive charting software or hardware.
The N810 has an internal 12-channel WAAS-compensaged GPS built into it!
The N800's gps is via bluetooth externally, which has a great advantage
of portability. The N800 tablet must be within 60' of its GPS receiver,
which you'd leave somewhere for a clear view of the sky. Then you can
roam anywhere on the boat with the GPS data via Bluetooth without having
to worry about the tablet being in view of the sky. It just needs that
radio link to its tiny GPS receiver.
Maemo Mapper is so accurate on Virtual Earth it will place your car with
the GPS receiver up on the dash WITHIN THE VERY PARKING SPACE the car is
currently parked in.....or perfectly tracking down the correct LANE of
the interstate at 70 MPH. Your track even shows you changing lanes...
I don't know how long the track can be. I have two 16GB SDHC memory
cards and never traveled that far that it ever crashed.