live location with mac RoadTrip?

[jerbacher]

First of all, I'm pretty new to all of this so please excuse my lack of knowledge.

I just downloaded Garmin RoadTrip for my mac and I'm wondering if it works with a receiver or handheld to give live location etc. I have a Garmin Rino 130 and some of those USB receiver dongles are pretty inexpensive. I have the US TOPO maps and it would be cool to have live tracking on my laptop in the Jeep since the Rino screen is super small and B+W. Thanks!

 

[gjackson]

It will so long as you have a USB Garmin GPS. They don't offer support for their older units. You should just be able to plug in the GPS and go to the races.

cheers

 

[jerbacher]

It will so long as you have a USB Garmin GPS. They don't offer support for their older units. You should just be able to plug in the GPS and go to the races.

cheers

What about using a small USB GPS receiver designed for using with laptops?
Like this one: http://www.amazon.com/GR-110-GiSTEQ-Receiver-Windows-Compatible/dp/B001QKHMPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1239289926&sr=8-1

Will anything work as long as it is streaming NMEA?

 

[gjackson]

I'm pretty sure that RoadTrip only uses the Garmin protocol and not NEMA, but I'm not sure of that. If you want to use a non-Garmin GPS I'd invest in either Mac GPS Pro (www.macgpspro.com) or GPSy (www.gpsy.com).

cheers

 

[lostworldexpedition]

Jerbacher, I am on a similar product quest... I am considering using a Globalsat receiver for my Mac... I am thinking of a USB receiver (pic below), but they have a couple of Bluetooth receivers that sound interesting. Here is a link to their Mac products page

...If you want to use a non-Garmin GPS I'd invest in either Mac GPS Pro (www.macgpspro.com) or GPSy (www.gpsy.com).

Do you recommend one of those two software packages over the other? I do not mean to jack the thread, but I am looking for Mac GPS software that I can use in Central and South America... any

 

[jerbacher]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I tried both my Rino and a small USB dongle with my Mac and RoadTrip last night with no luck. That was before I read the response explaining that Garmin has its own protocol, which I didnt know. However, I could not get any of the Garmin Mac programs to recognize my Rino in any way. It is a serial connection with a RadioShack Serial-USB converter. It always worked on PCs, but doesnt seem to be talking to the Mac. I also have a Nuvi 200w that I'm going to try tonight, but its a very basic unit and I'm not sure if it will output information or not. We will see!

lostworldexpedition-
Not a hijack at all! This was going to be my next question, so thanks for saving me the typing!

Do you recommend one of those two software packages over the other?

 

[jerbacher]

Has anyone tried Roadnav? http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/index.php
I like it's freeness. Just so you know, I'm not concerned about getting turn by turn or anything from the mac. My nuvi works perfectly for that. I just want it for off-road topo information and realtime location/tracking. I'd like to be able to save waypoints, tracks, etc.

 

[jerbacher]

So, I pretty much got no where using RoadTrip. Absolutly no communication with my Rino through its serial port. Pretty annoying. I'd really like to at least be able to update the info on the Rino without using a PC, but it seems I'm out of luck on that. Also, I do not believe that RoadTrip has any kind of live tracking. Garmin offers nRoute on Windows for that, but nothing as of now for mac. I really want to stick with the Garmin software because i already own the TOPO maps and I really like the Garmin format maps since they are not scanned maps or anything like that. Its actual data.

If anyone has discovered any clever solutions, I'd love to hear about it.