Novice GPS question re: Lowrance & MacGPS Pro

[DesertRose]

Hi everyone.

I've been eyeing the nicely ruggedized, big-screen Lowrance Baja 530C, for use in the US and when I'm in East Africa - plus it would fit nicely in the Tacoma where the radio/CD is (which we don't use any more).

But (being a newbie) I couldn't quite figure out if I'd be able to use MacGPSPro with it. The Lowrance is "NMEA compatible" so I think it is - but I had no idea what this means.

I wrote customer support at Lowrance and got this answer:

"You should be able to use the NMEA output from the receiver for realtime information. You will not be able to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracklogs."

Which was greek to us. "Realtime information" - does this mean I can connect the GPS unit to the Mac and view - what???

"You will not be able to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracklogs." Um - so shouldn't the answer have been NO- IT'S NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MAC. Why would I want to spend $500 on a receiver just to look at the pretty maps?

Help? Pretty unimpressed with Lowrance's customer support!

 

[crawler#976]

My knowledge is pretty limited - just what I've read about installing my GlobalMap 3500C.

NMEA 0183 (National Marine Electronics Association) defines a standard for data transmission between devices. Lowrance GPS's are networkable via the data port to Sonar, Radar, etc.

Lowrance can import text seperated data files - don't know how or what format yet...

The NMEA data port can be used to provide GPS data to a laptop. The laptop must have it's own software to display the data - IE OziExplorer.

Hope this helps some!

 

[whitethaiger]

....
But (being a newbie) I couldn't quite figure out if I'd be able to use MacGPSPro with it. The Lowrance is "NMEA compatible" so I think it is - but I had no idea what this means.

I wrote customer support at Lowrance and got this answer:

"You should be able to use the NMEA output from the receiver for realtime information. You will not be able to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracklogs."

This sounds like you should be able to use it with most mapping programs on a computer (Mac or PC) as far as the GPS is concerned. It will work as long as the program is able to detect the GPS once plugged in (probably USB).

Which was greek to us. "Realtime information" - does this mean I can connect the GPS unit to the Mac and view - what???

Depends on your software on the Mac. What they mean is that the GPS is constantly sending position data (and some other stuff like elevation, # of sats it is connected too, etc) to the USB port. Your software is then responsible to pick this info up and to show you something nice. If the software has calibrated maps it can display your position.

"You will not be able to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracklogs." Um - so shouldn't the answer have been NO- IT'S NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MAC. Why would I want to spend $500 on a receiver just to look at the pretty maps?

This does not necessarily have anything to do with a Mac. Some of these GPS companies use proprietary protocols to talk to their units. So if they don't tell us what the GPS wants to hear to receive/send waypoints, routes etc. we can't ask the GPS to do so.

Help? Pretty unimpressed with Lowrance's customer support!

Hope this helps some. Otherwise just ask more, someone will know something

 

[GeoRoss]

If you have questions about the Lowrance unit and MacGPS Pro, contact MacGPS Pro. Don't just go by their list of compatible units, sometimes one can slip by. For a long time MacGPS Pro was only compatible with Garmin units. They have added Magellen and some others, I just can't recall.

I can't say enough good things about MacGPS Pro. They have excellent support and listen to their customers. They are constantly improving the software and take their customer's suggestions seriously. I use this program alot, in the office and in the vehicle. It does everything that I need.

The downsides to MacGPS Pro. You cannot download maps from the computer to the GPS unit. I know for sure about Garmin and think it is likely the same for other mfgs. The problem is that most of the mfgs use proprietary software language and such for this operation (part of their revenue stream).

You cannot use MacGPS Pro as traditional in town navigation program, but for tracking your location in the field, it is fantastic.

If you have any questions about the program, let me know.

Ross

 

[gjackson]

By real time tracking they mean that with the GPS plugged into the Mac (and the GPS in NEMA mode) you will be able to see a real time display of where you are on the Mac (and on the GPS). So you can calibrate maps on MacGPS pro and have the GPS show your location on the map. You can get MacGPS Pro to record a track log for you, so that is good.

Not being able to transfer waypoints, routes and tracks means you cannot download/upload waypoint lists from the Mac to the GPS and visa versa. Though as said above, you can have MacGPS Pro record a track log independantly of the GPS.

So far as uploading maps from Mac to GPS, that is not possible with any software (that I know of) yet. (Barring running XP and Mapsourse on an intel Mac). Mainly because Garmin (and maybe Lowrance) have a propriety map format, and they don't like to give that out (though some outside parties do have it.)

Problem here is that you are reducing a powerfull and expensive GPS to a simple detector like the most basic GPS units. If you use the Mac and the GPS somewhat independantly, then this can be okay.

But talk to MacGPS Pro. As GeoRoss said, their support is fantastic and I cannot recommend them highly enough from that standpoint.

cheers

 

[DesertRose]

Thanks everyone - I'll talk with MacGPSPro.

Graham, I can't believe you mentioned Windows on a Mac - I won't let my Mac in the same room with a Windows computer!:mixed-smiley-030:

 

[gjackson]

Well, I can't lie and say there is NO software to do it when there is! But it's not really software, it's more like painware. :jump:

cheers

 

[gjackson]

MacGPS Pro just released v7.0. Looks like they made some nice improvements like being able to print well, and create pdfs.

The options for GPS on Macs is getting better all the time now that GPSBabel has a version compiled for OSX and Apple is supporting file transfer using Automator.

cheers