I've come to enjoy the convienence of the MINI's Nav System so much (even with all of it's shortcomings) that I've decided I want to add the capability to my Pocket PC for use in my other vehicle, especially since we have a big road trip coming up next month.

I've been looking at Tom Tom and Mapopolis. The Tom Tom seems to have a pretty slick display but from what I have read while it's great in Europe, it's not quite there for the US.

I've downloaded Mapopolis, and played a little with it (I haven't bought the GPS receiver yet so I'm a bit limited with what I can do) however it looks like a decent package as well, but I can't really tell since I don't have the GPS.

So which is better? I like that you can tell Tom Tom to avoid a specific road on it's calculated route (i.e. I-87 is blocked, find a new way), something that even the MINI can't do, but I can't tell if Mapopolis can do the same.

Finally, for those of you who don't have such a system and "prefer a map" save your time and energy, don't bother to reply because I really don't care and your not helping.

 

You might try a program called CoPilot Live, it has the voice recognition and speech technology and the capability to find detours. Here is the website for more information. http://www.alk.com/products/consumer/index.asp Hope this helps! :smile:

 

Would a PocketPC using a CF GPS receiver and clipped to a vent mount get a clear enough view of the sky to lock on to enough GPS satellites to work?

Since the GPS constellation is in a Geosynchronous Orbit I'm sure I'll be fine when we are headed South, but what about when we're headed in other directions? Will a GPS signal pass through the roof of the car?

 

I used to put my Garmin GPS12 handheld on the dash of my car and it picked up the signel beautifully and that was pretty old technology. Actually it was right after they took the signal deggredation off and GPS's finally became accurate to within 3 meters. I would think that as long as it was mounted in some kind of holder either on the dash or air vent it would work fine. You might try talking to someone at Mobileplanet, they could help you out. Their website is http://www.mobileplanet.com/Default.asp?

 

Yeah might as well. I was trying to avoid Mobile Planet only because they can be on the pricey side, but I might as well give them a shout.