[BARC-List] GPS phone and street guide?

[Scott Ehrlich]

Not completely ham-related, but close (I think) - I wanted to get some
input and education of the following idea:

For about a year I have been "looking into" getting a GPS mapping setup
for my car - GPS receiver and a mapping program for my PDA.  My wife's
contract with her cell provider (Cingular) recently expired so I convinced
her to join me on Verizon Wireless.  We went to a local store, she ported
her number, and picked out a phone she liked.  I noticed her model was
GPS-enabled for eGPS 911 service.

Today I had a great idea - instead of me potentially having two devices -
a GPS receiver and, eventually, my own GPS-enabled phone (if this idea
could work), why not combine them into one?  Thus, my question - if I were
to upgrade my two-year-old, but very good, cell phone to a newer
GPS-enabled phone, could I then use _it_ as my GPS receiver for the
mapping software to use? (of course the phone would need to output NMEA
data)  I see no reason to have two GPS devices, and it would save money.
Has anyone else done this?

Thanks in advance.

Scott, WY1Z