The ultimate GPS
 

Is it just me, or is the topic around GPS so complicated when it could be so simply.

All you need is a device, the size of a iTouch, has different mounts for bike/car.

Can store all maps,oz maps, tracks4africa extra

So far so good, any garmin can do similar.

But how about sharing information, wouldn’t it be great to stay in a nice campsite and share it with other users, or find a new route.

Wouldn’t it be simply if every time you plugged your GPS into the computer, it synchronised new POIs and routes.

Then wouldn’t be also good, if you could then review other peoples postings, so could get up to date information.

Maybe, one day the manufactures will develop something like this, until then, it sounds like a project for the HUBB community.

I think the new Delorme PN-60W (w/SPOT) GPS does this? The 'w' stands for wi-fi, which allows for sharing of information like you have mentioned.

yes, there are many GPS that do parts, but not 1 that does them all.

For instance i can't buy tracks4africa ad upload, i can't upload by entire trip etc.

Make something foolproof and only a fool will want to use it. Your design sounds great to somebody who's never used a GPS before, but somebody with experience will pick holes in it right away: why pay to make a car GPS waterproof or useable with gloves? Why fit a bike unit with cigarette lighter sockets? What about wifi security? What if you have thousands of routes or POIs and don't want to sync them all?

My advice would be to buy a Garmin and learn to use it. They've been making marine and aviation GPS for decades and it shows. Once you're over your initial techno-fear reaction you'll appreciate why it needs to be that "complicated" :o)

The maps you mention only work on Garmin devices. In fact, Garmins are just about the only ones for which there are free maps available, because the manufacturers guard their map formats as trade secrets, so they can sell you map updates.

Then, on most bikes it will need to be waterproof and shock proof. That counts out most models.

Trust me, you don't want to share ALL tracks and waypoints, any more than you want to share all pictures in your camera.

Just like you will copy your pics to a computer, select and edit them, so you will want to select and edit tracks and waypoints. You then upload them to the appropriate places for some kind soul to collate them into something useful, eg. Ulrich with his GPS accommodation directory and OSM to turn your tracks into roads on the map which you can then load into your GPS to navigate with.

Yes, sharing is great, if only more people made just a small effort. It's not that hard.

The idea of an "open source" navigator has been bandied around. Not sure how this might work... OS navigation software is in the works, the hardware is the hard part, at least for us bikers. In a car or as a handheld a phone with GPS running an appropriate O/S will work.