[Ham-Mac] map source on a mac

[John Rollins]

> Just to add another bean into this GPS pot.  Myself I use my Mac  
> laptop and 2004 Route 66 software to provide the Maps and directly  
> connect a USB GPS to provide the tracking.  Works great in the car  
> for tracks driving directions at least here in Canada and USA.  It  
> maps are a bit dated but it hasn't been a big issue for me  
> personally.  Even run under Rosetta on new Intel Macs.

I use Route 66 also, it works well enough most of the time.  
Definitely room for a lot of improvement there. The interface doesn't  
meet Mac OS standards that have been around forever, location  
searches are slow, routing isn't too bad but could be a little faster  
and more accurate, toll avoidance routing would be nice, and a lot of  
things need to be streamlined to make operation faster in general.  
But there's not much else out there that is anywhere close to  
current. The last copy of anything I have from DeLorme won't even run  
in X, and I don't use Classic anymore.

As for connecting the computer to GPS... I have an old Garmin eMap  
with serial/power cable and a Keyspan, and I usually let APRS  
software handle the map part. Won't help for routing, but it shows  
you where you are. Xastir works nicely for that.

Garmin has certainly left us hanging dry for a long time, let's hope  
that they give us something worthwhile. Once their Mac products come  
out maybe the other guys will take notice and start developing for  
the Mac again.

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John Rollins  |  KD7BCY  |  http://www.kd7bcy.com
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