MacBook Pro using as a sat nav ?

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scotjimland

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I would like to use my Mac with a GPS reciever.. and maps... the same way I used my Windows laptop with Autoroute, not as a primary sat nav but an aid for navigation , plotting routes, POIs etc ..

I will use my Garmin Nuvi for driving instructions..

As I understand, the Mac does not have a GPS chip but tracks by triangulation of mobile phone transmitters..

Some years ago I used my 17" Powerbook and Route 66 maps with a USB GPS reciever.. both now out-dated and don't work on the Intel mac.

so ...

what mapping software and GPS receiver work with OSX ?

anyone with a MacBook Pro doing this already ?
 
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I think it works if you use Bluetooth, something like this but you would want to check compatability with the retailer.
 
I have one of these

Feeding multiple devices overbluetooth. I do not use Apple gear, but on android there is a bluetooth GPS app to manage the NMEA data.
It sits on the dash with a good sky view and provides consistant and accurate position data.
 
bump..

so no one with a Mac uses it as a Sat Nav ?

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Maybe not what you're looking for (knowing me!) but there is a Mac version of Garmin BaseCamp that uses the same map software as your Nuvi and can transfer routes back and forward between them.
 
Surely it's too big to sit on the dash? And if you are only using it for route planning etc and not whilst actually travelling then why do you need it to have GPS? I would have thought Google maps or even at a push Apple maps would be perfectly adequate.

Not intending to knock your idea, just curious about what you're looking to achieve?
 
I use Apple maps on my MacBook Air and also harming base camp if I want to plan various routes. However, I usually do that straight into the Garmin 3598 it's very easy to set up a route with multiple destinations or waypoints and save it in the memory
 
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NickNic said:
Surely it's too big to sit on the dash? And if you are only using it for route planning etc and not whilst actually travelling then why do you need it to have GPS? I would have thought Google maps or even at a push Apple maps would be perfectly adequate.

Not intending to knock your idea, just curious about what you're looking to achieve?
Click to expand...

It's not for sitting on the dash.. it's for use by the passenger (navigator) in place of a paper map.. so you know exactly where you are at any given point in time.. and can also be used to plan the next stop or route .. same as I used with Route 66 and the Power book and also with my Windows laptop and Autoroute ..

Google maps only work with a data connection.. as do Apple maps .. by triangulation.. I want mapping software that works with a GPS receiver..

I already use Base camp.. on Mac and PC ... this is not the same as using the Mac as a Sat nav aid..


Think Windows and Autoroute with a GPS reciever.. I want this for Mac .. and it looks like a fruitless search.. so much for progress.

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Doesn't your sat nav tell you exactly where you are at any given time? Our Garmin does.

Just wondering what benefit you would get, given you already use basecamp and presumably use the Garmin when your driving
 
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We used that set up for travelling Europe. It was superb A regular satnav, but also on Siâns lap or on the dash, a Windows laptop running Autoroute. It gave us our location with the red dot, but it also gives us the big picture, enabling us, without using paper maps to see what we are missing just off route, and we can easily see if the satnav is routing us anywhere dodgy as well as spot villages and towns not shown on the satnav so we can pull off for lunch or an explore. I will be interested if you find a solution for the Mac.
 
Jim said:
We used that set up for travelling Europe. It was superb A regular satnav, but also on Siâns lap or on the dash, a Windows laptop running Autoroute. It gave us our location with the red dot, but it also gives us the big picture, enabling us, without using paper maps to see what we are missing just off route, and we can easily see if the satnav is routing us anywhere dodgy as well as spot villages and towns not shown on the satnav so we can pull off for lunch or an explore. I will be interested if you find a solution for the Mac.
Click to expand...


thank Jim.. someone who understands where I'm coming from.. and hopefully going to .. :LOL:

if I find a solution will certainly post .. (y)
 
ScotJimland said:
It's not for sitting on the dash.. it's for use by the passenger (navigator) in place of a paper map.. so you know exactly where you are at any given point in time.. and can also be used to plan the next stop or route .. same as I used with Route 66 and the Power book and also with my Windows laptop and Autoroute ..
Click to expand...

Jim said:
but it also gives us the big picture, enabling us, without using paper maps to see what we are missing just off route, and we can easily see if the satnav is routing us anywhere dodgy as well as spot villages and towns not shown on the satnav so we can pull off for lunch or an explore
Click to expand...

I get it now. I'd never thought of doing that.

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Thats exactly what we do but with 2 Android devices feeding from one GPS. Hence my posts, and searching for the apple equivalent.
 
ScotJimland said:
thanks.. now just need to match it up with compatible mapping ..
Click to expand...

Just had a bit of a read and as far as I can make out you should be OK with pretty much any mapping. All the device does is add GPS capability to whatever you connect it to so Google Earth or Apple Maps or any other mapping that supports GPS should see it.

One thing to be aware of if you want logging: On the GNS2000 in DBKs link the log files can only be accessed through a bit of software that you get from GNS and is Windows only :doh:
 
There is an App for the iPhone and possibly other Apple kit whereby you can track yourself on downloaded maps so that you are not incurring data charges downloading map data while you are using the system. Whether it has any potential for what you want to do I'll leave it to you have a look. I think you need to buy the maps you need and go from there.

The MapApp on iTunes but there website is:-

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I understand exactly what you're trying to do. I've been trying to find the same thing for 2 years for my MacBook Air. I've got CompeGPS Land for the Mac which, theoretically, works with an external USB aerial for the GPS. It works with the Windows version but I have never managed to get the aerial to work properly on my Mac. I've contacted CompeGPS several times but their fixes never work so I've abandoned it.

There is also MacGPS Pro which would be great if you only wanted to use US digital maps. I've never managed to get any other maps to work on it although the external aerial works. It is supposed to accept various formats of raster maps (not vector) but Trying find these is not easy.

I now use a Garmin Nuvi 2795 and do my planning on Base Camp. For places like Georgia (Caucasus, not USA) where we are now, which Garmin doesn't cover, I've downloaded OSM maps in Garmin format on to a micro-SD card which I put in the Nuvi.

So, there seems to be a gap in the market for this type of system on Mac. Not sure if this helps.
 
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